Konica III Goes to the Parks

<p>Last summer I got interested in rangefinders, never having used one before. A Leica M3 with a lens being beyond my budget, I bid on a Konica III on eBay. It arrived a few days later, beautifully pristine, accompanied by the business card of a camera repairman in Illinois who had apparently given it a CLA not long ago. Unfortunately it did not come with the original Konica-branded metal lens cap; I had to buy a modern plastic snap-in cap. I am still looking for an original Konica III lens cap.</p>

<p><strong>1. Konica III with Seikosha MXL leaf shutter and Hexanon 48mm f/2 lens (1957)</strong><br>

<img src="http://craigd.smugmug.com/Photography/Photographic-Equipment/IMG7888/1181003140_tesCF-L-2.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p>With the help of a scan of the owner's manual from butkus.org, I figured out how to use it pretty quickly. The rangefinder was accurately calibrated, though as it does not feature parallax correction, framing at close distances can be a little tricky. The film advance/shutter cock is the big lever on the left side of the lens (on the right side of the photo above); it must be pressed twice before each shot. It's a definite advance over old-fashioned film advance knobs, but not as convenient as more modern right-hand, top-mounted levers. Aperture is controlled by the little tab that you can see below the lens. It's in a rather awkward location, requiring the camera to be turned over frequently; I understand the next version of the shutter moved this control to the top.</p>

<p>The funkiest thing about the Konica is the light value (LV) interlock on the Seikosha MXL shutter, which apparently was a trendy feature for a while in the late '50s. Basically, whenever you change the shutter speed, the aperture automatically adjusts to preserve the exposure level. One can think of it as a primitive shutter priority mode. It comes in handy when shooting in fairly consistent light: after metering once, you can adjust for the desired level of motion freezing or depth of field without having to think much about it. At other times, though, it's annoying, which is probably why the fashion for LV interlocks didn't last long.</p>

<p>I did some shooting with the camera last year, but was never happy enough with the results to post them. It wasn't the camera's fault; the 48mm f/2 lens is sharp and pleasantly contrasty, and mechanically the Konica behaved flawlessly. Part of the problem was that I needed to get used to framing using the bright lines rather than the entire viewfinder. The camera simply took more getting used to than just another SLR would have, though eventually I adapted and came to enjoy shooting with it immensely.</p>

<p>A few days ago, I got the camera out again for the first time this year. I loaded it with Rollei Pan 25, which I had never used before. During my lunch break one day, I took the Konica to Palo Alto Baylands Park, and the next morning we went for a brief walk in Menlo Park's Bayfront Park before going in to work. Here are a few of the results. All were shot with either a yellow or red contrast filter.</p>

<p><strong>2. Skipping bird (Palo Alto Baylands Park)</strong><br>

<img src="http://craigd.smugmug.com/Landscapes/201102-San-Francisco-Bay-Parks/01-skipping-bird/1181184825_dRpRv-L-1.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p><strong>3. Path with Bare Trees (Palo Alto Baylands Park)</strong><br>

<img src="http://craigd.smugmug.com/Landscapes/201102-San-Francisco-Bay-Parks/02-trail-and-tree/1181184848_wYev6-L-1.jpg" alt="" width="399" height="600" /></p>

<p><strong>4. Chiaroscuro trees (Palo Alto Baylands Park)</strong><br>

<img src="http://craigd.smugmug.com/Landscapes/201102-San-Francisco-Bay-Parks/03-chiaroscuro-trees/1181185074_haDwq-L-1.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p><strong>5. Bird pond (Bayfront Park)</strong><br>

<img src="http://craigd.smugmug.com/Landscapes/201102-San-Francisco-Bay-Parks/01-bird-pond/1181185642_7XmTo-L-1.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="535" /></p>

<p><strong>6. Reflected clouds (Bayfront Park)</strong><br>

<img src="http://craigd.smugmug.com/Landscapes/201102-San-Francisco-Bay-Parks/02-reflected-clouds/1181185605_qbJTe-L-1.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p><strong>7. Trees</strong><br>

<img src="http://craigd.smugmug.com/Landscapes/201102-San-Francisco-Bay-Parks/03-trees/1181185773_bvrtZ-L-1.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="535" /></p>

<p>That's a beautiful and unusual little Konica, Craig. I've never seen one in the flesh, and I've often wondered just how practical the rather unorthodox winder lever would be. As you say, it's probably better than a knob wind, but it never became a common feature. The finish on the Konica III looks to be superb; that era seemed to produce some nicely-built cameras, and I have a couple of early Ricohs which could well be stable mates to the Konica. The Hexanon lens seems to have performed well; nice pics, especially #5. Thanks for posting.</p>

<p>That's a quirky little camera! Well worth going out on a walk with after one gets used to its quirks. Konica lenses from this era were very good so would love to see some colour shots when you go out next!</p>

<p>That's a nice looking camera and I quite like the film wind lever (although I have not tried one).<br>

My 1950s Rolleicord also has the interlock (wrongly called LV in the manual as it is actually EV) Whilst it could be a useful feature, I find it more annoying as it is linked if you move the aperture but not if you move the shutter speed (or the other way round - I can't remember!).<br>

It's the sort of thing which I would disconnect if I was taking the camera apart for another reason but not something I would do for the sake of it.</p>

<p>The lens alone is worth the price! Konica's old ad for this camera. I had one of these many years ago and sold it to a friend. He still has it and it still works perfect and yes, "The lens alone is worth the price". Great little camera and very well made.</p>

<p>Beautiful pictures, and the camera is on my 'must get one before I die' list. I've never had a bad Hexanon lens, and I would love to see how it performs with color film as well.</p>

<p>Nice pictures, nice camera.</p>

<p>Yeah, the LV/EVS sort of linkage can be a pain, although you can sort of adapt to it. Lots of cameras had it for a while. My Contaflex has the feature.</p>

Wow what a nice looking camera. I am so jealous! I've seen so many rangefinders this year that are just not so standard and I want them all! Yours appears to be in excellent condition and that it was serviced is something not too many can claim! I think your photos are excellent too. I'm glad you found the RF groove.

<p><strong>Craig</strong>, that camera is a stunning example. Bee-u-ti-ful! Very good results with Skipping Bird and Trees as nice images. Thanks and welcome to the joyful rangefinder madness.</p>

<p><strong>John</strong>- Wasn't that the Konica Auto S2 tagline? Maybe they used it for all their early cameras.</p>

<p>LOUIS - Yes, I think Konica reincarnated the saying for the S2. I know they used the phrase for a long time and rightfully so. JohnW</p>

Also used that slogan for the Auto S. How many elements was the 48mm f2 Hexanon? BTW, great photos. Rolleipan 25 is good film to show off that Hexanon's resolution.

<p>Thanks, Mike. According to Camerapedia, the Konica III's 48mm f/2 Hexanon has six elements in five groups.</p>

<p>A scan of a vintage advertisement for the camera may be found here:</p>

<p><a href="

<p>Rick, thanks for the kind words. It gives me an odd sense of accomplishment to own a model of vintage rangefinder that you have never held in your hands!</p>

<p>Starvy and Jody, yes, I have it in mind to put some color film (probably Velvia or Provia) into this camera. I mostly shoot color in cameras that have built-in meters, but I've had several B&W rolls recently from meterless cameras that came out with pretty consistently accurate exposures, so it's time to try some slide film. Anyway, I have a Minolta Spot Meter F that I can carry around if I want to.</p>

<p>Thanks to everyone for their comments.</p>

<p>I think my final assessment of the LV interlock is that it isn't useful enough to justify its presence, even if it does come in handy on occasion. The OM cameras had a better solution -- make the shutter speed and aperture both controlled by rings around the lens axis, rotating in opposite directions with one-stop clicks, so that the exposure level can easily be maintained by turning both rings the same number of stops in the same direction to achieve the desired level of DOF or motion freezing.</p>

<p>Someday I'd like to get a Konica IIIA, a very similar model but with a larger viewfinder (1x!) with parallax correction and a later generation shutter/lens without the LV interlock. For that matter, I'd like to get the earlier models too!</p>