by Karen NakamuraKonica Autoreflex T
by Karen Nakamura
Overview and Personal Comments
The Konica Autoreflex T is an interchangeable-lens SLR made by the Konica Corporation between 1968 and 1970. It uses the highly regarded Hexanon AR lenses, which easily rival the best from Canon, Pentax, or Nikon. Unfortunately, Konica was not as good in its marketting as it was in technical design. They retreated from the SLR market, then the point and shoot, and finally in 2003 they merged with Minolta.
The proprietary bayonet AR mount isn't compatible with any of the other SLR system mounts.
| Camera
Name |
Autoreflex T | |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer |
Konica | |
| Place
of Manufacture |
Japan | |
| Date
of Manufacture |
1968-1970 | |
| Focusing
System |
Single lens reflex |
|
| Lens
Mount |
Konica AR mount |
|
| Shutter |
Hi-Synchro
Copal Square-S 1 sec - 1/1000 sec |
|
| Metering
System |
TTL
metering Needle in viewfinder gives current aperture EV 1.5-18 (at ISO 100) |
|
| Flash |
X Sync at 1/125 sec. M + X PC sync sockets on front Cold accessory shoe |
|
| Film
type / speeds |
Type 135 film (35mm standard) ASA 25-1600 |
|
| Battery
type |
2 x 1.35v PX625 mercury-silver | |
| Dimensions
and weight |
737g (body only) | |
| Retail
price |
¥19,500 (1963) |
| Lens | 52mm f/1.8 | |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Konica | Konica |
| Place of Manufacture | Japan | Japan |
| Date of Manufacture | ||
| Lens Construction | 6 elements in 5 groups | |
| Lens Mount |
Konica AR mount |
|
| Focusing range |
0.45 meters - infinity |
|
| Apertures |
f/1.8, 2.0 ~ f/16
(0.5 stop steps) |
|
| Filter Mount |
xx mm. |
|
| Dimensions and weight | ||
| Retail price | ¥ | ¥ |
Konica is Japan's oldest camera manufacturer. It was founded in 1873 as the Konishi-ya and it sold photographic supplies. It was renamed the Konishi-honten in 1876. In 1902, they built their own factory called the Rokuoh-sha. The company was reorganized in 1921 and called the Konishiroku Honten.
In 1936 they incorporated as the K.K. Konishiroku, then in 1943 they became Konishiroku Shashin Kogyo K.K.. In 1944 they merged with Showa Photo Industries.
The first Konica brand camera was the Konica I which came out in 1948. It was a coupled-rangefinder 35mm camera with a 50mm f/3.5 non-interchangeable-lens.
Konica's heyday as a camera manufacturer was during the period 1950-1970s when it came out with quite a few 35mm rangefinder cameras and their own line of 35mm SLRs. Wedding photographers in the 1970s fondly remember the Koni-Omega. However, despite electronic SLRs such as the FS-1 and FT-1, Konica did not successfully make the step up to auto-exposure, auto-focus SLRs in the 1980s. In the last two decades of the 20th century, they were reduced to mainly making point-and-shoots (the Hexar and Hexar RF were the two exceptions).
In Japan, Konica is famous as a film manufacturer. They started making film in 1929. However, most of their films were not exported or extensively marketted outside of Japan.
In 2002, they merged with Minolta and became the Konica-Minolta Corporation.
|
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