Konica Auto S2 images

[edhebert]

I've been spending a few hours a week tinkering with the restoration

of a Konica S2. I finally got it to an operable state, and when off

to shoot a test roll.

 

Man, this lens is bitingly sharp. Here are a couple of images from

that test roll. It's just plain ol' Kodak Gold 100. I did a small

amount of unsharp mask to retrieve detail compromised in the scan.

But the detail shown on these scans is pretty much it's as seen on

the negative. God bless the Hexanon lens. I'm struggling to find

significant differences in sharpness comparing it to a Summicron.

 

The camera itself is looking pretty sweet too. I replaced a

corroded battery wire, got the shutter into operable condition,

removed the fog from the rangefinder, and gave it a good scrubbing.

As the piéce de resistance, I put on some granite kid goat leather

from cameraleather.com. I'll take some pictures of it with a

digicam, and post them a bit later. For now, here's a couple of

snaps.

 

Not bad for $9.00 from the auction site!<div></div>

[edhebert]

I uploaded the larger scan. Here's a smaller sharpened version (at least with the first scan you'll see the raw unsharpened file).<div></div>

[edhebert]

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[connealy]

Nice work; will look forward to seeing some more pictures. The Japanese cameras from that era are clearly one of the great bargains these days -- great lenses and features, as well as being pretty easy to work on. Also a nice reminder of the great leap in manufacturing techniques made by the Japanese in those years.

[edhebert]

here are a couple of images of the camera itself.<div></div>

[edhebert]

<div></div>

[edhebert]

and one more<div></div>

[john_shaeffer]

So what is involved in replacing the corroded battery wire? I think my S2 has the same problem, although the shutter seems to work well.

 

I also have an Auto S that looks like it came off the production line. The meter on that one works well. In fact there are two settings for the meter, one for regular light and one for low light. Unfortunately, the highest ISA/ASA setting on the S is 200, if you want to use the meter on the camera.

 

The lenses on the S2 and the S remind me of the Planar lens that came standard on the Rolleiflex SLRs a few years later. Pretty sharp at f8 and wider. The Konicas are good for handheld pics in low light.

[edhebert]

you may be able to get away with just cleaning the battery contacts with an electrical contact cleaner to remove corrosion. One of my wires had corroded so I had to snake the wire through the entire lens assembly. I had the camera in a million pieces, and was a learning experience to say the least. The Auto S and S2 are both usable without battery - you only lose the auto exposure capabiliy.

 

I've got to say that in my opinion, this lens performs *exceptionally* through the entire range of apertures - not just above f/8. It's a very admirable lens even at f/1.8. I have no complaints about its optical performance whatsoever. I also use many old Konica Autoreflex SLRs. I believe the Hexanon ARs were among the best family of lenses made in their day. They're still competitive today.

 

The S2 has ASA settings to 400, which is a bit of a pain if you like faster films. Obviously with very little brainwork you can easily calculate manual exposure settings for higher speed films using the on-board meter (which seems pretty accurate to me).

[douglas_green1]

This is no surprise for those who know about it. The lens on this puppy is actually quite legendary. It is optically equivalent to the Leica Summicron of the same era (circa late 1960s). I have a warm spot in my heart for this camera, as it was the first serious camera I ever owned. About 30 years ago, I did some serious comparisons between this Hexanon lens and the also legendary 50mm f2 Nikkor-H from the same time frame using my dad's Nikon FTn, and the Hexanon was, IMHO, slightly superior, although that may have been due to mirror shake on the Nikon F (I didn't lock up the mirror, because it wouldn't get used that way in real life).

[douglas_green1]

BTW, I'm sure that there are some great shots you can get of the nice older homes around Benefit Street, or down around Blackstone Blvd. I wouldn't be surprised if the yellow door shot came from there. (I went to college in Providence, and lived on the East side for several years afterwards).

[edhebert]

the door is in fact on benefit street. I've got reams of photographs of the old architecture of this area - if you're interested let me know.

[douglas_green1]

Been there, done that. I lived on the East Side of Providence for around 7 years. When I was there, the beauty of the city was very under-appreciated. Although now, with Waterfire and the downtown revival, it's much more properly recognized. I used to hang out on Benefit Street so much, I'm surprised that they never named a sandwich after me at Geoffs.

[jim bob]

The auto S2 was my first 35 mm camera -- purchased at a military exchange in Viet Nam for about $35.00. Because of in-country local film processing options, we shot mostly plus-x and tri-x. Great little camera!

[daniel_iggers]

I just shot a roll with a Konica Auto S, which has lens that I think is a very similar to the Auto S2 - a 47mm f/1.9 Hexar. Most of the shots were at 1.9, 2.8 and 4. I was disappointed. Nothing really stood out. (Maybe it was the photographer, not the lens?) Any comment on how close the lenses are?

[douglas_green1]

Not the same lens. The lens on the Auto S2 is a 6 element clone of the Summicron. I have an Auto-S that I've used for parts, and the lens appears to be more primitive, and I've never heard the type of praise about it that the 45mm f1.8 Hexanon ALWAYS gets.

[jaroslav_ilnytskyi]

I compared slides (Provia 100F) and b/w negs (Delta 100) done with Konica Auto S2, Olympus RD and Pentax SMC-M 50mm f1.7 viewing with 16x loupe. As for me, Konica is a touch ahead of other two, not really much, though. Excellent craftmanship, precise mechanics, a joy to use indeed!

[ruslan safin]

i just got it yesterday from a freind. :) will enjoy!