[hinman]

The purchase of a Konica AR Hexanom 40mm f/1.8 pancake come with a Konica Autoreflex TC camera that looks like this



More information on this page www.buhla.de - Konica Autoreflex TC Main Page

The camera looks quite solid and I am about to purchase some PX 625 mercury replacement batteries to give it a try, is there anyone who has prior experience with Konica film cameras? Is it worth the effort to give this film body a try? How does it compare to Pentax film cameras like the SuperProgram or the like?

Thanks in advance for your input,
Hin

[BigDave]

hi hin,

hexanon lenses are excellent and konica auto reflex was a great camera. I still have 3 T3's and an A3 that I will not give up. The auto aperture system was quite accurate given that the batteries are good.

nice fine and good luck with it!

regards,

[hinman]

I have been enjoying the AR Hexanon 40mm f/1.8 pancake on my NEX 5N. It performs quite well for me on the NEX 5N




My Autoreflex TC body is almost like an unused body. The trouble is I already have gone from a number of film cameras down to one film camera on Pentax K mount with Ricoh xr-p. Tonight, when I try to shoot some empty frames on both cameras, the Autoreflex is much louder and with a bit more vibration than my xr-p. The Ricoh has a higher pitch of noise in the shutter and it is much more dampened in the shutter with the Ricoh -- one needs to own one to appreciate the Ricoh, especially on xr-p model.


It is a shame that I can't use the Hexanon lenses on my K-mount bodies due to different registration distance. The pancake with the 40mm f/1.8 is very attractive in terms of price and performance.


Thanks,
Hin

[Tom in Delaware]

The Autoreflex TC is a fun camera to use. You are shooting in shutter priority mode with it, this forces a bit of rethinking. The shutter clanks and you get the impression that more is going on in there than the mirror simply flopping up and down. I have gotten very good images from mine with the superb Hexanon glass. Try it.

[ronnies]

Remember, you don't need batteries to use this camera in manual mode. It's entirely mechanical apart from the auto mode and meter.

Meter is switched on by pulling the wind on lever out, and switched off by pushing the little 'off' button on the back below the wind on lever.

Ronnie

[Nesster]

Heh, +1 on the shutter priority thing, it does take getting used to.

One of my brain farts was to assume the camera knew when a flash was on it. WRONG! I got a nice set of examples of what happens when the shutter speed is > than the flash sync speed

Another brain fart was mis-interpreting K/A on a Vivitar 200mm as Pentax KA. Of course the EE on the aperture ring should have raised a flag. But $20 later I had it at home, and discovered it was a Konica mount. But it mounted on the K100D, and metered, and focused to about 20 feet. Here is a sample; in a pinch one can use the Hexanons on a Pentax, but they'll behave like they have extension tubes on them

[eddie1960]

Heh, +1 on the shutter priority thing, it does take getting used to.

One of my brain farts was to assume the camera knew when a flash was on it. WRONG! I got a nice set of examples of what happens when the shutter speed is > than the flash sync speed

Another brain fart was mis-interpreting K/A on a Vivitar 200mm as Pentax KA. Of course the EE on the aperture ring should have raised a flag. But $20 later I had it at home, and discovered it was a Konica mount. But it mounted on the K100D, and metered, and focused to about 20 feet. Here is a sample; in a pinch one can use the Hexanons on a Pentax, but they'll behave like they have extension tubes on them

the 40 1.8 would actually be a pretty cool lens in the right situation on a Pentax then , good for upper body portraits

[Nesster]

the 40 1.8 would actually be a pretty cool lens in the right situation on a Pentax then , good for upper body portraits

Surely it doesn't cost much for someone to try & post a sample

[hinman]

I quickly try the 40mm f/1.8 on my K20D and I have no good pictures to show. It is not feasible without modification. I have seen someone going the extra steps to modify the Konica AR but I won't go there. The aperture actuator will bump into the SDM golden contact area limiting the use of aperture to f/8 and smaller apertures. I seem to get focus in a short distance like 6 feet. I will report back if I try more in detail.

Now that you get all me more interested in the Konica AR, can I ask you to pick out the best Konica AR film camera based on your past experience. If I get more Konica AR lenses, I may as well keep a good Konica AR body to enjoy film -- that is the CBA reason that I know I will regret later on.

I was a bit let down by the Autoreflex TC shutter loudness and vibration. I actually can bear with the loud shutter but there is just too much vibration that I can feel the vibration on my left hand fingers seconds after the shutter. And I just brought out my M42 mount Prakita MTL5 to compare on the loud shutter. Even my Prakitca wins in the shutter vibration and loudness -- the Praktica is much more dampened as compared to the Konica. But there is something to be much like in the black metal chassis in the Autoreflex TC -- it is solidly built and it looks very sturdy.

Cheers,
Hin

[stevebrot]

I was a bit let down by the Autoreflex TC shutter loudness and vibration. I actually can bear with the loud shutter but there is just too much vibration that I can feel the vibration on my left hand fingers seconds after the shutter.

How does the mirror bumper look?


Steve

[LesDMess]

This is my first - and currently only, Konica. Closes Pentax era I have to compare it to is the 1964 Spotmatic. My impressions of it is that it is a solid body but doesn't feel as refined because the film advance is ratchety, shutter activation requires a lot of force and the shutter is certainly not as quite as the Spottie or the other closest Pentax I have - the 1973 ES II. It does have mirror up before firing when using the timer. This and it's weight would lead me to believe it should have very negligible vibration. Of course this camera is old and I am not sure this is how it should be.

[stevebrot]

...shutter activation requires a lot of force and the shutter is certainly not as quite as the Spottie...

The high effort of shutter actuation may be due to the shutter-priority exposure automation. IIRC, your finger is pre-loading the aperture stop-down. The reason why the shutter is so noisy is that it is the original Copal "Square" vertical-run metal shutter (same as in my Ricoh Singlex TLS). The Copal is incredibly robust, but the toughness comes at the price of stealth.

I remember with these cameras first came out. They caused quite the stir. Exposure automation in an SLR was not common and the Autoreflex T was the first with TTL EE.

The Konicas will accept M42 lenses with an adapter, should you decide you like the camera


Steve

[BigDave]

the T3 and A3 were solid cameras. I never used the ar T, so can't attest to the differences. Shutter activation is smooth, or should be, and film advanced should be smooth also.

As for not knowing about the flash up top, this WAS a pre-TTL flash camera! I always liked the shutter priority. It would make it easier for action photography, set the SSp and the aperture could float as necessary. I've always found I have plenty of time to work in manual mode when concerned with achieving the correct DoF.

As for shutter vibration, the TC is much lighter than the T3, so the weight of the T3 absorbed much of the shutter shock. I've done a lot of macro work with the T3 with exceptional results.

I've used both Kodak E6 and Fuji emulsions with exceptional results. The same with print films. Enjoy it!

regards,

[sunny16]

At one time I had a quite a collection of Hexanon lenses and three cameras (T3n, FC-1, and the TC-X.) As some of the others mentioned, I found the shutter priority a little hard to get used to as the main way of shooting. Not a huge deal, but more thinking involved (not always a bad thing.) The T3n was a tank and it did everything I ever asked it to. The FC-1 was also nice and noticeably quieter (so maybe a good option from what you are saying.) HOWEVER, the problem was that it was an electronic camera so if any of those 1979 circuits went, you're S.O.L. It also had a very specific plastic battery holder that if it broke, you were also not going to be able to use the camera again. It took me two purchases off ebay to get one that had everything included and working (oh, it also had a one-of-the-kind wired shutter releases, so that was hard to find as well.)

I ended up consolidating down to just Pentax after the mirrorless cameras came out and demand jumped for the lenses (before then the lenses could be had for very little because they're not easily adapted to other mounts with the short registration distance.) In my opinion I somewhat "put up" with the camera bodies in order to use the lenses. They do live up to the hype.

[hinman]

Thank you for all the feedback and comments.

I have been looking at the black camera with the urge for another opportunity to shoot on film. And @Steve, I do find missing foam bumper on the mirror but I am not cool enough to fix it. Though the loudness of the shutter, there is something in the black camera that attracts me -- it is the film camera envy in me for CBA. Here are few snapshots when I stare at my Konica Autoreflex TC this morning with a Industar 50-2 mounted through a M42 to AR mount adapter.





And I do have the Tamron adaptall-2 adapter for Konica AR mount




All that I truly miss is not another film camera but an Epson 700/750 for film scanning. There are times that I am torn in between spending money on film gear versus digital. And there are definitely times I just wish that I can pull the trigger and forget about the digital.

Hin