NickTrop
Veteran
My facination with Japanese fixed lens rangefinders went back a few years ago when I wanted to get a Canonette G-III QL for my father for his birthday. I never understood why he stuck with the fixed lens camera for so many years, when interchangable lens SLRs "seemingly" offered so much more. I bought him an SLR when his Canonette died one day. He used it a few times, but he seemed to lose interest in photography, so I picked up a Canonette off eBay to surprise him a couple years ago on his b-day. I ran a roll of film through it to check it out before I gave it to him - and as a lifelong SLR (and digital) user, it was an instant epiphany.
Since then I have acquired a bunch of these cameras - the Yashica GSN, Fujica Compact Deluxe, the Lynx 14, a Yashica CC... All are really wonderful cameras. I have no quibble with any of them and each has its own strengths, and they all have top-notch image quality. The Yashica does the best with color imo and has a pleasing signature, the Fujica is a recent one - an "unheralded" classic, the Lynx is big but is the best in low light... etc.
I have often thought about "stepping up" to a Hexar or a Contax or a Leica. These are wonderful cameras, I'm sure, but they're simply more than I'm willing to spend.
Well, I just got my first two rolls of XP2 Super back from the lab taken with a recently purchased Konica Auto S3 ($83 + shipping. A bit pricey for an old rangefiner but this was CLA'd, new light seals, and battery voltage adjusted). I'm blown away. The images have a quality that's difficult to describe. To me, it has that high quality optic look that I "think" prints from a Leica might have. Or, to put it another way, if someone handed me the prints taken with this camera and said they were from a Leica or a Hexar or a Contax, I would "get it" and notice the difference. (Does that make sense?) While I wouldn't say, subjectively, that the resolution or "fine detail" is noticeably better than any of the others, these pictures just have more "pop" and more of a three dimensional quality or more depth or sophistication (hope I don't sound like a loon...) or something. I don't know, it's hard to describe. There's just something about them, a quality that's absent in the others.
The fill flash system, if you've ever read up on this thing, is another fantastic bonus... It's simple to use and it just works. Perfect exposures with backlighting and daylight flash everytime. I made sure I tested this out and it delivered the goods.
This camera completely erased any desire I might have had for stepping up. I know giving up interchangable lenses is a minus, and the camera doesn't have a manual mode, but I have my SLR for that. In terms of the end product - pictures, I don't see how any camera in 135 can have an appreciable improvement in quality over this camera - at any price.
Anyway, my vote - in a tough genre with many excellent cameras, goes to the Konica Auto S3.
Since then I have acquired a bunch of these cameras - the Yashica GSN, Fujica Compact Deluxe, the Lynx 14, a Yashica CC... All are really wonderful cameras. I have no quibble with any of them and each has its own strengths, and they all have top-notch image quality. The Yashica does the best with color imo and has a pleasing signature, the Fujica is a recent one - an "unheralded" classic, the Lynx is big but is the best in low light... etc.
I have often thought about "stepping up" to a Hexar or a Contax or a Leica. These are wonderful cameras, I'm sure, but they're simply more than I'm willing to spend.
Well, I just got my first two rolls of XP2 Super back from the lab taken with a recently purchased Konica Auto S3 ($83 + shipping. A bit pricey for an old rangefiner but this was CLA'd, new light seals, and battery voltage adjusted). I'm blown away. The images have a quality that's difficult to describe. To me, it has that high quality optic look that I "think" prints from a Leica might have. Or, to put it another way, if someone handed me the prints taken with this camera and said they were from a Leica or a Hexar or a Contax, I would "get it" and notice the difference. (Does that make sense?) While I wouldn't say, subjectively, that the resolution or "fine detail" is noticeably better than any of the others, these pictures just have more "pop" and more of a three dimensional quality or more depth or sophistication (hope I don't sound like a loon...) or something. I don't know, it's hard to describe. There's just something about them, a quality that's absent in the others.
The fill flash system, if you've ever read up on this thing, is another fantastic bonus... It's simple to use and it just works. Perfect exposures with backlighting and daylight flash everytime. I made sure I tested this out and it delivered the goods.
This camera completely erased any desire I might have had for stepping up. I know giving up interchangable lenses is a minus, and the camera doesn't have a manual mode, but I have my SLR for that. In terms of the end product - pictures, I don't see how any camera in 135 can have an appreciable improvement in quality over this camera - at any price.
Anyway, my vote - in a tough genre with many excellent cameras, goes to the Konica Auto S3.
smileyguy
Established
Well I'm buoyed by your comments! I also have a Konica Auto S3 that I bought about a year ago or so. (I won't tell you how much I paid for it... 
) I'll have to go and do some more shooting with it. I have it in my bag all the time along with my EOS 3. I sort of use my SLR as my colour camera an my RF for b&w. No particular reason, I just do. I may flip that when I get my next roll of b&w.
I will have a look at some of the pics from my Konica but I really have nothing to compare it to when it comes to "pop" or Leica "glow" that I have heard about. Can someone point me in a direction for samples of that type of thing?
Glad to hear someone else is happy with their S3. I wanted a flash with mine and I think one was available at time of purchase but I didn't know that it went with that camera (there was a table full of cameras and accessories and I was a bit baffled). However, I did end up with a bunch of filters for it--UV, yellow, red, blue, polarizing. Good clean fun and all for $10CAD... Ooooops! I said I wasn't going to tell you how much I paid for it.
Enjoy.
) I'll have to go and do some more shooting with it. I have it in my bag all the time along with my EOS 3. I sort of use my SLR as my colour camera an my RF for b&w. No particular reason, I just do. I may flip that when I get my next roll of b&w. I will have a look at some of the pics from my Konica but I really have nothing to compare it to when it comes to "pop" or Leica "glow" that I have heard about. Can someone point me in a direction for samples of that type of thing?
Glad to hear someone else is happy with their S3. I wanted a flash with mine and I think one was available at time of purchase but I didn't know that it went with that camera (there was a table full of cameras and accessories and I was a bit baffled). However, I did end up with a bunch of filters for it--UV, yellow, red, blue, polarizing. Good clean fun and all for $10CAD... Ooooops! I said I wasn't going to tell you how much I paid for it.
Enjoy.
NickTrop
Veteran
Hi Smileyguy -
You can use any flash with the Konica S3, I'm using a Canolite D on mine, as an example. You dial in the flash's Guide Number on the ring on the lens barrel. The red maker is meters, the white is the GN in feet. When you attach the flash, a diagonal red marker will appear on the right side in the viewfinder. As you change focus, the marker will move up and down, keep it above f1.8 but below the "red" zone.
For fill flash in daylight, or backlighting situations, (again, make sure your GN is set) focus on the subject, then move the shutter speed control. Adjusting shutter speed will still effect the aperture, as noted by the movement of the needle in the viewfinder.
You want to adjust shutter speed so that the aperture needle is aligned with the diagonal "flash" marker decribed above that appears when you insert a flash unit into the hot shoe.
Pretty simple, actually. Much easier to try, that to "try to describe". You'll get it. It results in perfectly exposed backlit scenes, and fill flash... An excellent, truly useful, and unique feature.
You can use any flash with the Konica S3, I'm using a Canolite D on mine, as an example. You dial in the flash's Guide Number on the ring on the lens barrel. The red maker is meters, the white is the GN in feet. When you attach the flash, a diagonal red marker will appear on the right side in the viewfinder. As you change focus, the marker will move up and down, keep it above f1.8 but below the "red" zone.
For fill flash in daylight, or backlighting situations, (again, make sure your GN is set) focus on the subject, then move the shutter speed control. Adjusting shutter speed will still effect the aperture, as noted by the movement of the needle in the viewfinder.
You want to adjust shutter speed so that the aperture needle is aligned with the diagonal "flash" marker decribed above that appears when you insert a flash unit into the hot shoe.
Pretty simple, actually. Much easier to try, that to "try to describe". You'll get it. It results in perfectly exposed backlit scenes, and fill flash... An excellent, truly useful, and unique feature.
BillBingham2
Registered User
I started 35mm life with a Konica III many years ago and loved the lens. The enitre camera served me well for many years. Still have it, but haven't used it in almost 30 years. On and off over the past 10 years I have lusted for an S3 but never pulled the trigger. IMHO, it is the best of the class. A close runner up is the Olympus XA.
Over the years, Konica has made some great glass. Never the type of glass that got the headlines (e.g. nothing ultra wide or ultra fast), just great stuff.
I would suggest an old Vivitar manual flash that you should be able to pick up cheap. Any flash will work, just turn it to manual, adjust the guide number and you are set.
They are great cameras.
B2 (;->
Over the years, Konica has made some great glass. Never the type of glass that got the headlines (e.g. nothing ultra wide or ultra fast), just great stuff.
I would suggest an old Vivitar manual flash that you should be able to pick up cheap. Any flash will work, just turn it to manual, adjust the guide number and you are set.
They are great cameras.
B2 (;->
NickTrop
Veteran
Hi Bill -
Agree. Have an old manual Vivitar flash, but I tend to use an old Canolite D with the compact rangefinders (not the GSN, though, use the Vivitar with that...). The verticle flash units are just lighter and better suited to the compacts. Like I said, I have a bunch of these things, and they're all excellet pic takers and outstanding values, but the Konica is a stand out. Makes me want to check out the earlier S2 but I have too many of these things already : )
Nick
Agree. Have an old manual Vivitar flash, but I tend to use an old Canolite D with the compact rangefinders (not the GSN, though, use the Vivitar with that...). The verticle flash units are just lighter and better suited to the compacts. Like I said, I have a bunch of these things, and they're all excellet pic takers and outstanding values, but the Konica is a stand out. Makes me want to check out the earlier S2 but I have too many of these things already : )
Nick
vrgard
Well-known
I have one of the earlier S2's in good condition if anyone is interested. If not, I'll get around to putting it up in the classifieds one of these days.
N
Nick R.
Guest
I always thought that the Konica Auto S3 had the best color rendition of the fixed lens types. Try it with some kodak 100UC. With summer fading fast, it's a great film to shoot fall foliage.
dll927
Well-known
Konica cameras went the way of all flesh long ago, but on a slightly different note, if memory serves me correctly, it was a Konica that was the first SLR with auto exposure. It was a "shutter-priority" model, and it seems that aperture-priority cameras won the day (Canon AE-1 excepted). I think it was called something like Konica Auto Reflex.
NickTrop
Veteran
Great suggestion, Nick. I never used UC100 only 400, which I love. Gonna get me a roll. Thanks for the suggestion.
smileyguy
Established
Hey Nicktrop, thanks for the "aha!" suggestion. I had an older flash unit sitting around from a Minolta SLR that I sold a while back but never put two and two together. I tried it out today with no film in the camera and everything fires fine. It even shows the little band in the viewfinder for lining up all the needles etc. I'm thoroughly excited now to try it out with a roll of film over the next couple of days.
Woohoo!
Woohoo!
Bill58
Native Texan
I want an S3, but damn they're expensive!
raid
Dad Photographer
I have read comments that the S2 was the overall better Konica camera than the S3. I have never used the S3 but I have the S2 and I find its lens as sharp as the early Summicron versions.
Raid
Raid
cbass
Nutmegger
Bill58 -
Wow, your collection of fast fixed-lens compact RFs is impressive.
If you are having trouble finding an inexpensive Auto S3 try looking for a Vivitar 35ES instead. It has the same basic chassis as the Auto S3, but it carries a 40/1.7 lens and a simpler GN-based flash system. The Vivitars are somewhat rare but are often less expensive than their Konica and Minolta cousins.
Someone else can probably verify this but I believe the Konica Auto S3, Minolta Hi-Matic 7sII, Vivitar 35ES and Revue 400SE were all built by Cosina. All are excellent cameras. I always lusted after a black Minolta 7sII but could never afford one. Last year I finally chanced upon a lightly used Vivitar 35ES for about 2/3 the price of the 7sII.
Wow, your collection of fast fixed-lens compact RFs is impressive.
If you are having trouble finding an inexpensive Auto S3 try looking for a Vivitar 35ES instead. It has the same basic chassis as the Auto S3, but it carries a 40/1.7 lens and a simpler GN-based flash system. The Vivitars are somewhat rare but are often less expensive than their Konica and Minolta cousins.
Someone else can probably verify this but I believe the Konica Auto S3, Minolta Hi-Matic 7sII, Vivitar 35ES and Revue 400SE were all built by Cosina. All are excellent cameras. I always lusted after a black Minolta 7sII but could never afford one. Last year I finally chanced upon a lightly used Vivitar 35ES for about 2/3 the price of the 7sII.
N
Nick R.
Guest
raid amin said:
I have both and I think that for color the S3 does a better job. I find its colors sharper and more saturated. However, Raid, judging from your taste in older, vintage LTM glass, you might like the S2 better. That's what its colors reminds me of.
raid
Dad Photographer
Nick: The S2 is larger than the S3 so this could be viewed as a negative factor, but it seems to be built more ruggedly than the S3. Also, the S2 is a manual camera whereas the S3 [I could be wrong here] is automatic.
Yes, I like the Sonnar look with some of old lenses.
http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=611665
Raid
Yes, I like the Sonnar look with some of old lenses.
http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=611665
Raid
Last edited:
