From 1999 to 2003, a young photographer in New York went out almost every night with ten rolls of film and a small camera in his pockets. That was Ryan McGinley. Most of the pictures that took him all the way to a solo show at the Whitney Museum came out of that camera. It was a Yashica T4.

A Point-and-Shoot from Kyocera and Carl Zeiss

Yashica started out as a Japanese camera company. In 1983 Kyocera bought the struggling Yashica, and Kyocera also ran the Contax brand in partnership with Carl Zeiss. The T series of automatic cameras came out of that partnership. The T4 arrived in the early 1990s. Sources differ on the exact year, giving either 1990 or 1992.

What matters most on the T4 is the lens: a multicoated Carl Zeiss Tessar 35mm f/3.5 with four elements in three groups. Tessar is the name of a classic lens design that Carl Zeiss has used for a very long time. It is sharp in the center of the frame with crisp contrast, and many reviewers say it produces results you would not expect from such a small camera.

Close-up of the Yashica T4's Carl Zeiss Tessar 35mm f/3.5 lens.
Carl Zeiss Tessar 35mm f/3.5 lens. George Rex, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

What It Can and Can't Do

Using it is simple. Turn it on, frame the shot, press the shutter. The camera sets focus and exposure. It chooses a shutter speed on its own anywhere from 1 s to 1/700 s, and the closest focusing distance is 35 cm. It reads film speed from the DX code, from ISO 50 to 3200. Film with no DX code, or outside that range, is set to ISO 100. It runs on a single CR123A battery and weighs a little over 170 g.

The T4 Super that followed (also called the T5 in some markets) added two things: weather resistance, and a small “Super Scope” finder on the top of the camera. You could look down into it and frame from waist height, which made it good for shooting discreetly below people's eye level.

Size was also what led McGinley to this camera. He said he bought one after reading a piece in the skateboarding magazine Big Brother in which the photographer Earl Parker praised the T4. It fit in his pocket, so he could take it out every night. He shot ISO 1600 film under the fluorescent lights of bars and used the self-timer to photograph himself. He reportedly pulled it out even in spots where water was splashing.

Below are three early works from the period when McGinley used the T4. Their titles and dates were checked against the artist’s official archive.

A figure in red sneakers sits on a high ledge.
「Sace (Canal Ledge)」(2001). A figure in red sneakers sits on a high ledge. Ryan McGinley
Dash’s face framed by a camouflage hood, with shelves behind him.
「Dash (Supermarket)」(2000). Dash’s face framed by a camouflage hood, with shelves behind him. Ryan McGinley
Dash holds his arms out on a bridge at night.
「Dash (Manhattan Bridge)」(2000). Dash holds his arms out on a bridge at night. Ryan McGinley
The Yashica T4 seen from above at an angle, showing the shutter button and small top display.
Angled view of the Yashica T4's front and top. George Rex, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Why Is It So Expensive Now?

The T4 was once a common secondhand camera. How did a single point-and-shoot get this expensive? Reviews published abroad in 2025 put a T4 in good condition at $500 to $600. Everyone agrees the lens is still good. But many say the price owes less to performance than to the story of famous photographers using it and to trends on social media.

So if you buy a T4 now, check a few things first. Point-and-shoots are hard to repair. Make sure it powers on, that the lens cover opens and closes properly, that the flash fires, and that the LCD display still works. For the same money, it is also worth comparing other prime-lens point-and-shoots from the same period.

What the T4 left behind may be less the camera itself than a way of shooting. A camera small enough to carry in your pocket at all times, ready to shoot the moment you take it out. That is also why McGinley's early photographs still feel so alive.

Shot on the T4

These openly licensed photographs identify a T4-series camera in their descriptions or tags. They show detail in nearby flowers, rich street colors, and layers of gray in black and white.

Red cafe walls and signs against a deep blue sky.
Red cafe walls and signs against a deep blue sky. Boots own-brand film. SomeDriftwood, CC0 1.0, Flickr
Cherry blossoms and slender branches close to the camera against a pale blue sky.
Cherry blossoms and slender branches close to the camera against a pale blue sky. Fujifilm C200. uemura, CC BY 2.0, Flickr
A white boat moored at the water’s edge beneath deep green leaves.
A white boat moored at the water’s edge beneath deep green leaves. Kodak Ektar 100. GR, Public Domain Mark 1.0, Flickr
A bird above the railway tracks, with layers of gray in the clouds.
A bird above the railway tracks, with layers of gray in the clouds. AgfaPhoto 100. uemura, CC BY 2.0, Flickr

Info