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Are there any Konica AR fans here?

Started Nov 7, 2019 | Discussions thread
neilt3
neilt3 Veteran Member • Posts: 3,008
Re: Are there any Konica AR fans here?

Hiphopapotamus wrote:

SQLGuy wrote:

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.

There is a trailor load of people who are buying AR lenses to adapt to mirrorless cameras which is a shame, because it ruins perfectly good camera bodies that are left to rot. In the case of the FT-1 exposed to the elements the rubber gaskets rot, and it ruins the camera body.

I would rather keep my FT-1 for what it does best.... shooting 35mm film.

And good for you too .

I don't have any Konica myself , but use a lot of other stuff .

Minolta A/F and M/F , Pentax SLR s ,  Canon and Nikon 35mm stuff , range finders and a load of different TLRs , other medium format such as Bronica ETRSi , Kiev 88 , as well as large format , 5"x4" & 7"X5" .

.

I don't know of a specific Konica group or forum apart from on Flickr , but Photrio ( formally APUG) and the Range finder forum will have people keen on those cameras .

 neilt3's gear list:neilt3's gear list
Minolta DiMAGE 7 Minolta DiMAGE 7Hi Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z5 Konica Minolta DiMAGE A2 Konica Minolta DiMAGE A200 +68 more
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