Konica C35

The 1968 Konica C35 is a 35mm camera that was the first of a wave of small compact cameras that swept the marketplace in the late sixties and early seventies. Others of similar size and specification soon emerged, including the Fujica GER, Minolta Hi-Matic F, Ricoh 500 G/GX and, most successfully, the Olympus 35RC.

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Four Konica models

It could be said that Konishiroku was a follower of fashion and that it merely "took up the baton" of the earlier 60's Minoltina and Olympus Trip 35. If you look at the competitors, the importance and influence of the Konica C35 is clear to see - they have coupled rangefinders, a programmed shutter, and a CdS cell mounted in the lens housing, and they measure around 115mm wide by 80mm wide.

However, its appeal was obvious from its 1968 launch - it was compact, light and a simple to use camera that took good photographs because it could be focused accurately and had an excellent lens. It was an outstanding sales success throughout the world.

There are three basic variants: Konica C35 (silver 1968, black 1969), the non-rangefinder Konica C35V (1971; in Japan, the Konica C35E&L) and the Konica C35 Automatic (1971; in Japan, the Konica C35 Flashmatic) with a more advanced flash control.

The same basic chassis then had a different shutter/lens assembly incorporated and emerged as the more expensive black Konica Auto S3 (1973, in Japan, the silver Konica C35FD). This name and colour change was obviously to distance itself from its cheaper brethren. The C35 had no manual exposure, but the C35FD and Auto S3 had a shutter-priority system.

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Konica C35

Konica C35 specifications

• Available in black or silver
• 38mm f2.8 four-element Hexanon lens - 46mm filter thread
• Coupled rangefinder - baseline 12mm
• CdS meter (19-27 DIN, 25-400 ASA)
• Self timer
• Closest focus - 1m, 3.3ft
• Copal B mat programmed shutter
• Combined aperture/shutter blades
• Speeds 1/30 to 1/650
• Lever wind, double-exposure prevention, resetting frame counter
• Brightline finder
• Needle indication of shutter speed and aperture visible on right hand side of viewfinder
• Width 112mm (actual 120mm with strap lugs) Height - claimed 70mm (actual 75mm) - Depth 52mm
• Weight 380g (13.4 oz)

Price in Britain £42.15.0 (April 1970), black version £4 extra

• Konica X-14 matching flashgun available
• Set to 1/25 automatically for flash

Konica C35V specifications

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Konica C35V

• Available only in silver
• 38mm f2.8 four-element Hexanon lens - 46mm filter thread
• Zone adjustment by four click stops (with pictograms)
• CdS meter (19-27 DIN, 25-400ASA)
• No self timer
• Closest focus - 1m, 3.3ft
• Copal B mat programmed shutter
• Combined aperture/shutter blades
• Speeds 1/30 to 1/650
• Lever wind, double-exposure prevention, resetting frame counter
• Brightline finder
• Needle indication of shutter speed and aperture visible on right hand side of viewfinder
• Window lower right to few focus positions on lens
• Width 112mm (actual 120mm with strap lugs) Height - claimed 70mm (actual 75mm) - Depth 52mm
• Weight 340g (12 oz)

Price in Britain £41.48 (April 1974)

• Konica X-14 matching flashgun available
• Set to 1/25 automatically for flash

Konica C35 Automatic specifications

Konica C35 Automatic

This was a later version of the C35 and had "Flashmatic control" and is identified by the "Automatic" badge

• Available in silver
• 38mm f2.8 four-element Hexanon lens - 46mm filter thread
• Coupled rangefinder - baseline 12mm
• CdS meter (19-27 DIN, 25-400 ASA)
• Self timer
• Closest Focus - 1m, 3.3ft
• Copal B mat programmed shutter
• Combined aperture/shutter blades
• Speeds 1/30 to 1/650
• Leverwind, double exposure prevention, resetting frame counter
• Brightline finder
• Needle indication of shutter speed and aperture visible on right hand side of viewfinder
• Width 112mm (actual 120mm with strap lugs) Height - claimed 70mm (actual 75mm) - Depth 52mm
• Weight 380g (13.4 oz)

Price in Britain £49.90 (April 1974)

• Konica X-14 matching flashgun available
• "Auto Flashmatic system automatically activated when flashgun is mounted on Hot shoe": this was the catalogue description of a system which adjusted the aperture as the camera was focused

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Konica Auto S3

Konica Auto S3 specifications

• Available in black (the Japanese-market C35FD version was silver or black)
• 38mm f1.2.8 six-element Hexanon lens - 46mm filter thread
• Coupled rangefinder - baseline 12mm
• CdS meter (15-30 DIN, 25-800 ASA)
• Self timer
• Closest Focus - 0.9m, 3ft
• Copal seven-speed shutter
• Shutter-priority automatic
• Speeds - 1/8 - 1/500
• Lever wind, double-exposure prevention, resetting frame counter
• Brightline finder
• Needle indication of aperture visible on right hand side of viewfinder
• Auto Flashmatic system with indication in viewfinder
• Width 112mm (actual 120mm with strap lugs) Height - claimed 70mm (actual 75mm) - Depth 60mm
• Weight 410g

Price in Britain £82.90 (April 1974)

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Konica C35, C35V, C35 Automatic and Auto S3

http://www.ukcamera.com/collect/images/c35competitors2.jpg C35 designers probably looked at these: Minoltina S & Fujica Compact

http://www.ukcamera.com/collect/images/c35competitors1.jpg After C35 arrived: Ricoh 500GX, Olympus 35ED & Minolta F

External links

• Konica C35, C35 Automatic, and C35V at D. Scott Young's Classic '70's Compact 35mm and Other Rangefinder Cameras
• Manual for the Konica C35 Automatic (in HTML and PDF versions) at Mike Butkus's camera manual site
• Konica C35 at Alfred Klomp's camera pages
• Konica C35 Automatic at Erik Fiss Photography

• Konica C35 at [ Matt Denton's site]
• Konica Auto S3 at []
• Konica Auto S3 at [ Cameraquest]

In Japanese:

• Chart of Konica C35 models, Minor changes to the Konica C35, Konica C35, Konica C35E&L, Konica C35 Flashmatic, Konica C35 Automatic (photo only), Konica C35FD, Konica C35FD exposure meter repair, all at Rangefinder

Further reading

In Japanese:

• Miyazaki Shigemoto (宮崎繁幹). Konika kamera no 50nen: Konika I-gata kara Hekisā RF e (コニカカメラの50年：コニカI型からヘキサーRFへ, Fifty years of Konica cameras: From the Konica I to the Hexar RF). Tokyo: Asahi Sonorama, 2003. ISBN 4-257-12038-X Pp. 61–6.