hoot
green behind the ears
Hi,
in a recent discussion on 1:1 viewfinders on a different thread on RFF, I found out about the existence of the Konica IIIa and have bought a Konica IIIa to use as my main (and ideally only) street camera. I am very pleased with this purchase, and have already passed a few rolls of film through it on several occasions. However, it has two annoying quirks that are hampering my use of the camera.
First of all, the rewind lever is quite difficult and even painful to use. When folded out, all I can grab onto is a tiny, rough knob that sits atop the lever itself. I'm wondering if there was once some additional part that was supposed to attach to this small knob for easier use, and be removed again when the lever was folded back into the body. If not, perhaps such a part could be made, or borrowed from a different purpose.
Second of all, I find that the linked aperture/shutter wheels are of limited practicality. In effect, there is little occasion for me to want to change the aperture or shutter setting while retaining the same exposure value. I am more likely to quickly change just one or the other when passing from bright sunlight into dark shadow. Because of the difficulty of doing this quickly, I have already missed more than one potentially good shot.
Since I love being able to use a mechanically-released leaf shutter in combination with a 1:1 range/viewfinder (just these specs make it seem as though this camera was tailored for me), and the Konica IIIa seems to be the only available camera combining these features, I would be quite sorry to forsake it in favor of a camera that was easier to use. However, both of these quirks pose quite a serious hurdle, since I want to think about anything but my camera when concentrated on getting good street shots.
If anyone has any ideas, they would be quite helpful. Thanks in advance.
in a recent discussion on 1:1 viewfinders on a different thread on RFF, I found out about the existence of the Konica IIIa and have bought a Konica IIIa to use as my main (and ideally only) street camera. I am very pleased with this purchase, and have already passed a few rolls of film through it on several occasions. However, it has two annoying quirks that are hampering my use of the camera.
First of all, the rewind lever is quite difficult and even painful to use. When folded out, all I can grab onto is a tiny, rough knob that sits atop the lever itself. I'm wondering if there was once some additional part that was supposed to attach to this small knob for easier use, and be removed again when the lever was folded back into the body. If not, perhaps such a part could be made, or borrowed from a different purpose.
Second of all, I find that the linked aperture/shutter wheels are of limited practicality. In effect, there is little occasion for me to want to change the aperture or shutter setting while retaining the same exposure value. I am more likely to quickly change just one or the other when passing from bright sunlight into dark shadow. Because of the difficulty of doing this quickly, I have already missed more than one potentially good shot.
Since I love being able to use a mechanically-released leaf shutter in combination with a 1:1 range/viewfinder (just these specs make it seem as though this camera was tailored for me), and the Konica IIIa seems to be the only available camera combining these features, I would be quite sorry to forsake it in favor of a camera that was easier to use. However, both of these quirks pose quite a serious hurdle, since I want to think about anything but my camera when concentrated on getting good street shots.
If anyone has any ideas, they would be quite helpful. Thanks in advance.
