Konica S (non-Auto)

[johnnyrod]

Well I failed to resist again and bought a Konica S on the Bay of Pigs. Will come after Christmas now, and is said to be working (including shutter and meter) except for the diaphragm which can't be seen - not entirely sure what that means but am presuming it's not going to be too hard to fix. Anyway this one has the 48mm f1.8 Hexanon lens that I have read so many good things about on RFF. There don't seem to be many non-Auto ones around; it's very much the same as a Contessa in that it's all manual but has the centre-the-needle type meter, this one on the top plate. Anyone else got one of these?

 

[btgc]

I just hope blades/pins aren't broken due to force applied to stuck aperture. Prefer this model to Auto because of more natural shape, traditional on-lens DOF scale instead of on-body and traditional (shorter, smoother) shutter release (too long and stiff on Auto). Lenses on all of them are great, I haven't used simpler 4-element 45/2.8 Hexar (vs 6 element Hexanons).

 

[johnnyrod]

Hmm hope your suspicions are wrong, hadn't thought of that. So far with the old cameras I've bought they've been fairly fixable - or at least I didn't pay too much for them! Not sure if this link will work but here's the ad pic
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTU3M1gxNjAw/z/MuAAAOSwv-NWatUb/$_57.JPG

 

[btgc]

I agree - while camera has not arrived it's not worth sweating about condition. Sometimes promising looks hide severe damage and sometimes description "diaphragm which can't be seen" can mean seller can't see diaphragm which is hidden behind shutter blades. Which in turn can mean seller just answered question you asked or seller tries to say "shutter not firing because it's stuck so no, aperture can't be seen". Just wait while it arrives.

 

[milosdevino]

I have one. It was working until the strap broke and it landed on the concrete. Last time I trust an original, 50 yr old, leather strap
Nice camera. The lightmeter probably won't work.
Reasonably easy to fix the shutter, I had to in order to get it going the first time.

 

[johnnyrod]

Well it's not good news. Getting inside was fairly easy, getting into the aperture blades, much less so. Eventually found that two of the blades are busted:
Broken aperture blades from Konica S by John Rodriguez, on Flickr
Unless I can get replacements then it's not going anywhere. Real shame as the glass is all beautiful, and yes the light meter does work. Will post in Repairs in vain hope!

 

[milosdevino]

Looks like you will be needing a parts camera.
These are reasonably cheap on the Japanese auction sites
https://www.jauce.com/auction/k204715739 &
https://www.jauce.com/auction/r136470398 as an example
but shipping and other charges are a pain.
I found it best to buy several cameras at once and have them shipped together.
If you go this route, watch out for GAS!

 

[CMur12]

Johnnyrod, nice-looking camera!

Hopefully, you can get a parts camera for a low price and get this one working.

- Murray

 

[btgc]

Bummer. And plain S isn't that common in this part of world, KAS2 are much more common than earlier plain S even if KAS2 is scarce compared to Yashica Electro 35.

That's a good advice, fetching parts camera from Japan. Even if it has fungus or body damage (not lens!) it is fine as long as aperture isn't broken. Or someone living in Japan could swap/sell just aperture blades if no other parts are needed. There's chance blades of same design can be fitted from other camera but then research should be done.

My first Konica - Auto S2, came with damaged lens barrel not keeping aperture blades in place so I can feel your pain.

 

[johnnyrod]

I didn't think there would be an easy answer! I'm reassembling it without the damaged blades as if I don't do it soon it'll be impossible. Am trying to find out what other cameras could share the same shutter, let alone blades, but it's pretty tough going.

 

[johnnyrod]

I'm trying to keep this and the repair thread under control but sorry for the many postings. I put the camera back together sans the two duff blades and so far not managed to turn up anything useful. I even found this
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Konica-Au...Film-Camera-Repairs-Spares-0620-/281856162056
which looked ideal, but the view from the inside suggests the iris blades are straight-edged so not compatible. Frustrating!

I've briefly looked at the Japanese links again, the stuff really is cheap, but yes the postage is a bit stiff - twice the purchase price sometimes! Have you dealt much with this sort of thing?

 

[btgc]

I've briefly looked at the Japanese links again, the stuff really is cheap, but yes the postage is a bit stiff - twice the purchase price sometimes! Have you dealt much with this sort of thing?

If you could try to get in touch with some RFFers from Japan to buy camera and dismantle aperture for you?

When I got my Konica III with broken aperture I ended up similar way, just repair shop in USA had to fetch parts from Japan as it appeared variety brought individually from Japan and very scarce in USA.

 

[milosdevino]

I've briefly looked at the Japanese links again, the stuff really is cheap, but yes the postage is a bit stiff - twice the purchase price sometimes! Have you dealt much with this sort of thing?

I've only done it once. If you look at the postage, I think it is the same all the way up to 3 kg. They will store cameras for you up to 120 days, so I bought 2 cameras and had them bundled into 1 package and shipped. It worked out cheaper that way than buying them here in Australia. I got 2 reasonably rare cameras and was quite pleased. The Japanese buyers seem to be very picky, and if you are prepared to clean/fix a camera, good bargains can be had.
Like I said, watch out for the GAS!
Ps. I have both the S and the Sii and I think the apperture mechanism is the same on both, I can't see why it wouldn't be.

 

[johnnyrod]

Thanks Milos, must be just the Autos that have the straight blades - ties up with Electro and Canonet as they have automatic Copal shutters as well. I will have a bit more of a look, as I am partial to a 120 folder - I have a Mess Ikonta but the uncoupled rangefinder and separated RF and VF slow me a down a lot and I miss shots. My eye was already caught by a Minesix, which are pretty expensive over here.

 

[johnnyrod]

I think the damaged one (left) is probably usable at a push but is possibly how they got jammed. The one on the right has the actuator pin sheared off and I can't see how this could be repaired as it is stamped during manufacture. Annoyingly the blade is otherwise fine.

 

[johnnyrod]

These ones look to be little pegs that are formed by pressing of the steel sheet, at least that's how they look, rather than pins having been put into holes. When the blades swing open and closed they sweep across the backs of the pins so there is no wiggle room for anything sticking out the wrong side. You can see the underside of the actuator pin on the left hand one in the pic above. What shutters did you have success with changing pins?

This one has been a complete pig to work on. Things like the cotter pin of the cocking shaft won't go through the hole in the baseplate. From what I read you're supposed to press it out from the shaft, which seems more than difficult in practice - I managed to persuade it through the plate in the end.

 

[johnnyrod]

Getting the lens off to expose the shutter was easy, and it's unit focus so shouldn't require collimating on reassembly (though not checked focus accuracy yet, but you see what I mean). It's actually a b'stard to work on form that point on. You have to cock the shutter in order to reveal the third screw holding the escapement in, stuff like that. Prontor ones are a good bit easier. But am hoping I can fix it up, people rave about the lens, and the meter looks accurate enough if a bit of a funny arrangement.

 

[johnnyrod]

I finally finished a test roll from this, and eventually got them scanned. A couple of examples:
lemurs by John Rodriguez, on Flickr
girasol by John Rodriguez, on Flickr
It does indeed produce very nice pictures, even in low light the sharpness is great (if you can keep it steady of course). The auto-parallax frame lines need adjusting for use below about 1.5m (assuming they will work at all ranges) but the rest is done. I'm keeping this one!

 

[zuikologist]

These look good - are they wide open without aperture blades?

 

[johnnyrod]

No I was lucky enough to pick up (most of) a completely trashed Beauty Lightomatic, and the blades are the same, so now it's fully working. These are both at f4.