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Are there any Konica AR fans here?

Started Nov 7, 2019 | Discussions thread
SQLGuy
SQLGuy Forum Pro • Posts: 12,664
Re: Are there any Konica AR fans here?

Hiphopapotamus wrote:

I'm in the process of having my Konica FT-1 Motor rebuilt from the ground up by my local film camera repairer and former official Konica repair person. I'm just wondering who out there is an AR mount fan.

They were a bit of a dark horse brand that could keep up with the Canon, Nikon and Pentax cameras, but were never really marketed to their full potential. By the time they released their first motor drive camera they were steadily going out of business leading their last SLR to be made by Cosina.

It's a shame, they made very good mechanical cameras and even the FT-1 was and is an amazing camera, for the motor drive and winder, but mostly manual functional with AE, and S mode as well as Auto TTL for flash.

I've missed shooting 35mm film, and medium format gets suitably expensive after a while to shoot and to scan, so I've pulled out my old FT-1 and I'm in the process of getting it dusted off.

Are there any dedicated Konica/Minolta film forums out there or boards worth checking out? I dare not posted in the adapted forum, because it just invites more people to break film cameras for their lenses (and drive up prices as a result).

There's no breaking of cameras necessary for AR mount. There are plenty of decent, cheap, AR adapters. I have broken a couple of fixed lens cameras to make adapters or adapted lenses, though. For the most part, I try to start with something where the body is already damaged or missing parts. E.g. I took the mount from an Argus C44 to make a C44 adapter... but the body was terribly water damaged. That mount was about the only good thing on it.

Anyway, there is a photography with classic lenses group on Facebook that includes a lot of film photography with classic lenses on classic bodies. I think you'll get a lot more use out of the AR lenses on a full frame mirrorless, though.

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A7R2 with SEL2470Z and a number of adapted lenses (Canon FD, Minolta AF, Canon EF, Leica, Nikon...); A7R converted to IR.

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