Konica Autoreflex A
I mentioned in a previous post that a couple of the cameras I have been using over the summer have been making me want to tear my hair out.
The most frustrating one is a Konica Autoreflex A which I bought in a charity shop in Kendal back at the end of the winter. I’d never tried a Konica lens before and had heard good things about them, so when I spotted this camera in a display cabinet in the window, I dived inside to ask if I could take a look. Everything looked fine and the price was great, so I snapped it up.
Konica Autoreflex A
The lens, a Hexanon AR 52mm f/1.8, turned out to be a little gem and I got some great results with it on a Sony digital body. The body sat on a table, occasionally winking at me. It was solid and beautifully built and the mechanics seemed to operate OK. There’s a little dink on the top of the prism housing, but apart from that it looks to be in perfect condition. So, really liking the heft and precise ergonomic feel to the camera, I thought it might be nice to reunite the lens with the camera body and see if I could get it going.
Konica Autoreflex A top plate
I did some research and discovered that this is the stripped down, basic version of the Autoreflex T, which is looked at as a rather poor relation to that much admired classic. Shutter speed is restricted to a maximum of 1/500th and there is no self timer or mirror lock-up switch.
Konica Autoreflex A left side
The biggest pitfall I found was that the light meter was designed for mercury batteries. I encountered this with the Spotmatic F, but for that camera, it’s not a problem to use a modern alternative of a close but different voltage. The Konica, though, is different. There are adapters but a pair of those is a pricey option if you don’t even know whether the camera is otherwise OK. Some people make a small electronic modification which seems fairly simple, but is a fair bit of work to invest in an unknown quantity. Zinc / air hearing aid batteries are another option, though people tend not to use them, as they no longer meet the electrical specification after a short while - a few months or so, apparently. However, they are r-e-a-l-l-y cheap - so I bought six for less than £3. Swapping batteries every now and then is not something I mind doing and if it turned out it was a dud, then there would be no real loss.
Konica Autoreflex A right side
When the batteries arrived, I checked the meter out and it seemed to be giving an accurate result when compared to a digital camera, even though I had read that it might be off by a stop or so. In the manual setting, you set the shutter speed and the meter tells you what aperture is required. There is a shutter priority option too, the EE setting (EE stands for ‘Electric Eye’, of course!) - select the shutter speed and the camera does the rest. Both settings seemed to work fine.
