Just found my old 35mm film camera...

mr.si

mr.si

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Was sorting out a box of my old stuff at the weekend. Most of it went straight in bin/recycling, but I found my old 35mm film camera. It was just a point and shoot Konica Minolta camera with AF and an F2.8 lens on it. I'll find the model number when I get home. It's nothing special (I think) as it's a point and shoot.

But it's the camera my Grandad handed down to me, so I've obviously still got it.

Seeing the lens aperture, I got excited, so I've just gone to Boots to get robbed of £7 so I can have a go with it again.

I hope the film mechanism still works in it and that I put it in correctly!

Thought I'd share a random bit of excitement.
 
why not get over to the film section and tell them ,,,you might even get a few tips like go to the pound shop for your film ,,,it only costs ,, err a pound :D
 
Good idea. I thought general photography section but I suppose film is more relevant.

Moderators, please can you move this thread?
 
Cracking little camera, make sure you post up your results on here when you get your film back.
 
Welcome to film and conventional (although I wonder if it should be film and traditional, as surely digital is now conventional and film unconventional).

Looking forward to seeing your results
 
Welcome from me too and I endorse Steve point about what is conventional and what is not!:)
 
Like This One?
1230062_658899890801598_226305816_n.jpg

That lives in my car. Its far from a point & shoot! Its a zone-focus. meter-coupled, aperture-priority Automatic-Exposure Range-Finder... phew!
Basically, for the day a 'serious' amateur camera! Cos you can set the aperture! And non interchangeable lenses were the preserve of the expensive stuff in those days.

That 35mm f2.8 though is a cracker. Being a range-finder without mirror mechanism, and not being a 'compact'. its a 'true' focal length lens. Lenses in many compacts and certainly on SLR's are compensated either for the mirror housing or to reduce lens protrusion. That one, unencumbered by such compromises, then is a very crisp bit of glass, the fast-ish f stop is just bonus.

It was the AE metering that made it popular in its day though. Accurate, yet allowing manual control; it was almost point and shoot friendly enough you could let the missus take a snap with it on 'auto' when Dad wasn't playing with f-stops. And you didn't have to faff about with exposure charts, or a separate light-meter, or translating Exposure-Values to aperture and shutter settings, and dialing them in on the camera; or rely on film lattitude and hoping for the best at the chemiste!

And it was one of the first 'electronic' cameras to put this on the high-street at an affordable price. Its a true 'classic' camera as well as one that can take great pictures.

And mine that one was bequeathed to me by MY granddad too!

Couple of tips:

1/ Make sure that you keep the lens cap on when not in use.
There is no on/off switch for the light-meter; it relies on the sensor going infinity resistance when the lens cap is on to effectively switch it off and stop the battery going flat; which it will, and quite quickly if the caps left off.

2/ Make sure you remember to take the lens cap OFF to take a picture!!!!

3/ MAKE DARN SURE you take the lens cap off to take a picture! :-)
Looking through separate view-finder, VERY easy to forget, and many a shot has been lost to the inside of the Konika C35's lens cap!

4/ Now you have put the film in... bit late... but light seals on mine are going a bit tacky. For now, keep it in a soft case to minimise any risk of film fogging from light leaks when not taking a picture. When you have the film out, be worth giving it a duist out and checking the seals

5/ Restricted Settings Ranges

Possibly not such an issue this time of year; but used to newer cameras, the Konica has a relatively restricted shutter range; tops out at what was a pretty healthy in its day 1/650th shutter, and f16 smallest aperture. Fastest film speed is 800ASA, also quite quick for the day. But pretty restricted by today's standards!

Last set I had from mine, was in the summer, on a bright day. I wanted to try and get some shallow DoF shots?...?... Duh! F16-Sunny, on 100ASA film suggested something close to 1/100th at smallest possible aperture on that camera! f2.6 takes up five stops, to something around 1/3000th... which a modern Digi-SLR might just about deliver! So of course, shutter topped out and I grossly over exposed them all!

So if you want to go play at f2.8... just keep an eye on your shutter-speed, even on reletively 'slow' film!
 
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I got an update to this thread last night from Teflon Mike, must have been before the forum moved across as it's not here, so here it is!

---Quote (Originally by mr.si)---

Annoyingly, it won't let me set the ASA on it. It's stuck on 100, but I have an ISO 400 film.

Is there a particular time it needs to be set?

The toothed rotary bit seems to be jamed :(
---End Quote---


I use mine for exposure compensation, and can change it any time; your's however..... according to camerapedia, is a bit more interesting!

The worlds first 'production' Auto-focus camera with Honeywell patent AF system! Now there's a claim to fame.

According to blurb, when you wind the advance lever on, the lens is moved to one of the end stops against a spring loading....

Hmmmm... another good reason to always fire-off and leave the camera un-cocked, me-thinks, so no springs are in tension when left.... where was I.. Oh yes;

Apparently, the lens is advanced against focus stop, then when you depress the shutter, it releases a ratchet and lets the spring pull the lens 'in' to focus up to a stop set by cds 'range-finder'... which is probably meter-linked... in which case... could be that it wont let you change ASA setting if the shutter is cocked, as the mechanism is all 'set'.

But don't quote me!

Interesting thunks on the myriad C35's...

---Quote---
There are three versions of the *modestly-priced* C35:

- Konica C35 (1968 - Silver 1969 - black) ..Price in Britain £42.15.0 (*£42.75*, in April 1970)
- The non-rangefinder Konica C35V (1971 - silver), ..Price in Britain *£41.48* (April 1974)
- The Konica C35 Automatic with a more advanced flash control (1971 - silver) ..Price in Britain *£49.90* (April 1974)
---End Quote---

Quick Mars-Bar inflation calculation, and by my reckoning, these 'modestly-priced' little marvels of their time, hitting the high-street in the under £50 bracket... were NOT by any measure 'cheap'! I reckon that tat £45ish price tag in the early '70's equates to probably around £400 in today's money!?

These were 'serious' hobby cameras, valued about as highly then as a modern entry level DSLR in relative terms!


Couldn't find price for the later C35AF... but looking at the pictures it triggered a memory!


In 1981, my Dad took me to a camera shop in Edinburgh to buy me a Camera... well, he'd have struggled to buy a hamburger in a camera shop I suppose... but then again... knowing him.... he might have tried!....err... yeah! He wanted to buy me a camera for my 11th birthday, and he had a short-list. I remember it came down to three on the counter, and I distinctly remember the Pentax 110 SLR; I think that was the one he really wanted me to pick, because he wanted to play with it! But I was only allowed the 'basic' kit with single lens and no flash as the 'delux' kit with three lenses and flash was too expensive, and it looked a bit 'weird' and fiddly; so I didn't want it. One I DID pick was the Olympus XA2, which I recall was the most expensive, at ISTR just under £80. I could never remember what the other one was; but it had a built in flash and I almost broke it in the shop trying to take the flash 'off'! as it sort of popped up... I think it might have been that C35AF!
Click to expand...
 
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