This Old Camera: Konica C35 Automatic …Another Konica.

I will be the first to admit that I have a well documented Konica problem.

Almost fell for the pretty awesome Konica Hexar AF.

It took another favorite of mine to displace it, the Contax G1.

There is the quirky disco Darth Vader helmet Konica AiBORG.

The fun little plastic brick Konica C35 AF2.

And then there is the named like the AF but wildly different Konica Hexar RF.

So how did I land on the Konica C35 Automatic? Well, I will let a bit of a cut and paste fit from recent posts tell that story.

First off support your local camera shop. Mine always comes through. I had been looking for another camera… that I need like a hole in the head admittedly. But there was a perceived gap. An inexpensive, small, pocket-sized rangefinder having, but otherwise automatic 35mm camera. A few came close. The ridiculously named Canon Canonet QL17 GIII for example.

Canon Canonet QL17 GIII ready for day and night.

On paper, it is the package. I genuinely liked it. What went wrong? Nothing. It was me. While I appreciated the inbuilt metering this is where the small size worked against it. A small camera means small controls…

…that did not play well with my beef mitts. With this, another came along and displaced it.

So good that I wrote a post comparing it to the Contax T2. I like this camera so much that I still have it even though I have let the Canon Canonet QL17 GIII and Contax T2 go. Should be done. The only “ding” against the C35 was that it is fully automatic with no ability to manually override the camera’s intentions. Since it did such a good job I had no issues… but one. While eerily accurate there is no ability to hold focus so whatever you want in focus needs to be in the center of the frame. Why does this matter? This means no focus and recompose. Most of the time this is fine, but I really like the option to reframe.

I have been looking over the used market places for months. I had a number of false hits where I will see a camera in good or even great condition but will then see the word “Inoperative”. Still have not worked out how a camera can be both in excellent condition and also inoperative but that is a rant for a different day. So just like when I found the Konica C35 AF2 there I walked into my local camera shop. Saw it:

Well hello there Konica C35 cousin to AF2. Immediately realized what I was looking at. A C35 that:

Did away with the need for my beef mitts to set the shutter speed like with the Canon Canonet etc.
Added a rangefinder (which I like) that would allow for focus and recompose, unlike the C35 AF2.

Does not hurt that it is a bit of a looker. Touches of the Canonet aesthetic. Nice. So the ask:

Does it work?
- Yes.
No sticker on the bottom. How much?
- Chris looked it up and the price was little more than what I paid for a Lomography 35mm 3 pack recently.

Yes, please.

There was mention that it may have not been tested. At this price, I jumped at it. My son asked what happens if it does not work? To which I replied, if not it will make a fine shelf trophy at this price. I immediately put a roll of film in it and got to it. Will share more in a formal review, but here are the results of the first two film rolls in as many days.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Eric L. Woods (@ewoodsphoto)

Cut and paste fit concluded and we are back.

Now I will say that this is not the only camera sporting this list of functionalities and capabilities, but this is a fine example of the breed. The notes above covered a lot of territory so I will add some detail pics and some areas I wanted to point out.

Detail Pics

These pics are a good lead into this next section. I will list my favorite things about this camera followed by trying to come up with a list of things I did not like.

Likes

Excellent build and aesthetics.
- This is a good looking little camera.
- Easily as good as the Canon Canonet QL17 GIII mentioned above that I had. Far better than the C35 Automatic.
Compact.
- This camera is properly tiny. Rounded corners and few protrusions makes for a proper pocket camera.
Exposure works perfectly.
Bright, accurate rangefinder.
- By my memory a bit better and easier to focus than the Canonet.
Value.
- Picked up my copy for peanuts at my local camera store.
- While some prices on eBay are a bit extreme I see many examples for a reasonable price.
Technically works without a battery.
- It will just use the preset shutter speed.
Easy to source battery.
- A mercury battery is listed, but mine came with a standard issue 357 button battery in it and it works just fine.

Dislikes…

Had to dig deep, but lack of exposure control would be this camera’s only ding if you could call it that.
- But it fits the nature of this camera perfectly.
- Takes away the ability to force f/2.8 for instance but I could remedy this by using a variable ND filter if I wished like I did with the Canonet and Olympus PEN in the past. As with the Canonet the light sensor rests within the filter ring. Combined with the rangefinder focusing offering a bright view regardless it would make focusing a snap. May get one, but for now I am good.
- And it is hard to take issue with this when the camera does such a phenomenal job all on its own.

So here is the deal.

You take this good looking little camera, focus where you want to, reframe if you wish, check the exposure to make sure you are not out of the bounds based on the film speed, and press the shutter. And boom. Wind on and wait for the next moment you want to capture.

It is everything I love about the Konica C35 AF2 with the ability to focus and recompose in a smaller, better built, and better looking package. Nice.

Before I close with sample images I will say that this is not the only option in this tiny point and shoot meets rangefinder category. But if you are looking for a strong candidate… Here you go.

Before I start with the sample pics I wanted to mention that a local restaurant has already used one of my photos on their Instagram page.