I got my CLA'd/Repaired IIIa back

[julianphotoart]

A few weeks ago I reported on a broken 1958 Konica IIIa I bought. On the recommendation of an RFF member, I had it fixed by Greg Weber in Nebraska. He did a great job.

A few people asked me to post photos of the camera, and of photos from it. I thought I'd use Kodachrome, but chickened out. Instead, true to the Konica name, I used discontinued Konica Impresa 50 C-41 film. I've had it in the freezer and brought out a roll for this occasion. So, if I can upload them right, here they are. Note in the sunset shot that one should not take photos of sunsets with this camera. This photo and others shot into the sun had wonderful rainbow circles of varous sizes. By modern standards the lens isn't "tack sharp". I looked up that this camera, in 1958, cost $129.00. That's a lot.

The camera has three great things: (1) the huge plunger to cock the shutter; (2) a really weird dial that links the f/stop with the shutter speed (Dante Stella's site talks about it); and, (3) the 1:1 viewfinder.

Anyway, I'm glad I bought the camera and had Greg Weber fix it. It's a tank, and is a good remedy for GAS.

 

[JoeFriday]

wow..he really DID make it 'brand new'... it only takes photos from 1958! 🙂

 

[Doug]

I'm impressed that it has an RF frame illumination window too, not so common with other RF cams... Does it have moving parallax compensating framelines?

 

[julianphotoart]

I'm impressed that it has an RF frame illumination window too, not so common with other RF cams... Does it have moving parallax compensating framelines?

It apparently has a remarkably accurate parallex-compensating frameline. When searching the web for any (non-Japanese-language) history of this camera model, I found this thread where the writer mentioned the parallex-compensating feature while responding to a thread from Dante Stella. He said:

BTW, I remember reading your review of the Konica IIIM. I have one with the 1/2 frame adapter and 50mm F1.8. FWIW, the lens is a remarkable clone of the Planar. The reason the camera was disco'd was it was too costly to make and higher priced cameras with fixed lenses did not sell well. So it disappeared after
about 2 years. The one feature that distinguished it from many other
Rangefinders was the parallax compensation frame in the viewfinder. This was the most accurate every produced in a rangefinder and showed the precise frame of the photo at any focus distance including close up. It was never duplicated due to cost in subsequent models. For anyone else on this list that is fascinated with rangefinders, this is a true collectible. If you can find a IIIA or IIIM (M is for meter)
with the 50mm F1.8 at a reasonable price, grab it. [Signed Peter K (Peter Kotsinadelis)]