[Edgar_in_Indy]

Sorry for the semi-offensive title! I'm nearing 40 myself, so I'm probably already an old dinosaur to a lot of the "kids" out there. So I'll follow up my stupid thread title with an equally-stupid question: How do I work this thing???

I picked up an old Konica II rangefinder, and I want to test it to make sure the shutter fires. But for the life of me I can't figure it out. The only film cameras I ever used were point-and-shoot models from the 90's, but I know that with an old SLR I can test the shutter by advancing the film and then it will fire. But I can't find any kind of lever or mechanism for doing the same on this Konica, and I haven't been able to find the manual posted online. It has a lever-type control beside the lens, but it doesn't seem to be for advancing the film from what I can tell. I'm afraid to break the camera by doing something wrong.

Here's a picture of the camera. Any help is greatly appreciated!

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Last edited by Edgar_in_Indy; 04-25-2014 at 09:53 AM.

[lmd91343]

The instruction manual:

Konica II instruction manual, user manual, PDF manual, free manuals

---------- Post added 04-25-2014 at 09:51 AM ----------

Looks cool!

[blackcloudbrew]

I know nothing about your camera but I suggest you look hear for a manual. If you find one send the guy a few bucks too.

KONICA Camera Manuals

[stevebrot]

Very cool. The user manual in the above links should answer most of your questions. The camera itself dates from the 1950s and is very likely fully usable with the shutter and rangefinder adjustment being the most likely things to require service. The bottom plate looks kind of gnarly though.


Steve

(...it appears that there are at least three users on this site that know to look at the Butkus site for camera manuals )

[Edgar_in_Indy]

Thanks for the links.

So it looks like the knob on the right (when looking at the camera from behind) is the winding knob. I'm able to turn it, but I still don't get any kind of action that feels like a shutter release when I push the button, and I never see the aperture blades move. I've browsed through the manual and don't see what I'm missing, but I'll give it a more careful reading later and see if I can figure it out.

[jpzk]

Thanks for the links.

So it looks like the knob on the right (when looking at the camera from behind) is the winding knob. I'm able to turn it, but I still don't get any kind of action that feels like a shutter release when I push the button, and I never see the aperture blades move. I've browsed through the manual and don't see what I'm missing, but I'll give it a more careful reading later and see if I can figure it out.

Maybe you need some film in there ?
JP

[Edgar_in_Indy]

Maybe you need some film in there ?
JP

Good point. That may be it.

[nomadkng]

if almost 40 is a dinosaur, at 47 I must be of the Cretaceous Age...

[Swift1]

Have you cocked the shutter using the small level on top of the lens?

[TER-OR]

Cool little camera - take your time and read the manual carefully. These don't work the way even manual cameras in the 60s or 70s worked...

[LowVoltage]

It looks like most people have pointed you in the right direction. Feeling like a dinosaur? Ironically, busting this guy out and running some film through it might get you some hipster cred in the right environment!

"It's a Konica, you've probably never heard of it."

[lmd91343]

Forty seven Cretaceous? I must be Triassic!

I don't know that rf, but from the picture I can make a couple of guesses:
Winding the film does not wind the shutter. There should be an independent shutter cocking device on the lens barrel.
There is probably an interlock device between the shutter button and the film wind on knob, that does not allow the shutter to be released until after the film is wound. This is to prevent an accidental double exposure.

Before you potentially waste any film, check the rf. Does it align at infinity? Three feet? Check both the horizontal and vertical alignment. If not, adjust it. It should be easy.

The Canon, Leica, and Contax shutters are focal plane, where the film winding and shutter cocking are done by the turning the wind-on knob. This is more akin to the Zeiss Super Ikontas, Kodak Retinas, and many older cameras where the shutter is in the lens and the shutter and film advance operate independently.

[redrockcoulee]

Try cocking the lever on the right side of the lens accross from the k in your picture That should be done by moving it down.

[Edgar_in_Indy]

I've messed with the levers, and they do seem to have some relation to the aperture blades, but I still can't quite figure it out. Maybe it's mission impossible without film loaded in the camera. I think I'll just stick with my K-30.

Thanks for the help!

[Swift1]

You can try opening the back, then advancing the sprocket roller manually. On some older cameras, the mechanism that tells the camera that the film has been advanced (double exposure prevention) is actuated by the film moving the sprocket roller.
You should be able to roll it a few turns and then it should stop.