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Home >> Photography >> Film Equipment Konica S2 Compact Rangefinder Camera
We have come into a time where something old is something new again, or at least rediscovered and appreciated. I'm talking about the current love-in for rangefinder cameras. These simple, classical designs that evoke romantic notions of wandering Europe and capturing life in action with a minimum of fuss or attention to one's self (Cartier-Bresson anyone?) The Leica rangefinder is obviously king of this domain and its quality workmanship and styling stir a scene in the mind's eye of finely aged Cognac, Cuban cigars and perhaps a bit of Scottish tweed thrown in for good measure. The Leica rangefinder was the dominant 35mm camera until Nikon altered the professional photographer's world with the introduction of the F camera body and the allures of the SLR design. Then came imitation in the form of many Leica-like copies from Japan and elsewhere, the best of which is perhaps the cult-like (in its own right) Canon 7 rangefinder that is compatible with Leica's 39mm screw mount system. Then in the 1970s the lens-changeable rangefinder seemed to have died and Leica once again had the market to itself. Skip ahead nearly two decades and now Leica finds itself in the company of Japanese designed and manufactured rangefinders once more. One Japanese company, Cosina, even took to securing the rights to a venerable and old German name, Voigtlander, to give its products more of a luster then the budget design Cosina is more well known for (Phoenix and Cambridge lenses among many others). Then there is Konica, another old Japanese optical company that is now better known as a film company then a pure camera company but still capable of very excellent designs such as the fixed lens Hexar compact rangefinder. The Hexar was very well regarded despite some limitations to its design thanks to the high quality and Leica-like 35mm f2 lens used (old Leica-like as opposed to new Leica-like). Now Konica has parlayed the success and praise of the Hexar to the Hexar RF, a full lens-changeable rangefinder that could be regarded as the modern day Leica that Leica should have produced. Skip back thirty years to the time when the rangefinder design was still popular enough that the point and shoot cameras of the day copied the same features and styling and we discover that Konica has been making Hexar-like bodies for a long, long time. Enter the Konica S2.
I fell for the hype and marketing of the photographic magazines regarding the renaissance of rangefinder cameras and fell hook, line and sinker for the benefits of a quiet rangefinder camera. I wasn't silly enough to spend big bucks on a rangefinder kit though even if I could find one of the very rare Canon 7 bodies. Neither was I going to buy into the new rangefinder designs from Voigtlander or Konica's Hexar RF (both still pretty pricey systems compared to SLR designs - the Voigtlander is pretty expensive considering the body sells for about $750 US but is based upon a sub $200 body). I paid all of $80 for this Konica S2 and that's about right since the meter didn't work but the rest of the camera was in good working order and very clean. It has a 45mm f1.8 lens so it's really just a general picture-taking machine instead of the wide-angle street shooter's delight. It's quiet but not Leica-quiet but enough so that it won't call attention to itself like a motor driven SLR would or even a cheap Yashica FX-3 would with its loud metal shutter. The film-winding lever is a tad ratchetity and is probably the noisiest aspect of the S2’s operation. Other features:
Viewfinder has parallax correction as you focus in to the minimum distance of the lens It's fully manual with battery power for the meter only - the meter, built into the lens, is turned on via the lens cap. Place the lens cap on and no juice runs through the meter but pull the lens cap off and the meter is on all the time there is light to activate the meter Meter reading visible from the top deck and inside the viewfinder too Self timer feature available This camera is old enough to have an M and X flash sync mode. X for strobe flashes and M for old style flash bulbs that require a bit of extra time to charge up to full blast. I learned the hard way this difference when I had the camera set for M flash sync and was using a modern day strobe - all the flash images were grossly underexposed as the flash went off and dissipated well before the shutter actually opened to make the exposure. It has a Copal shutter that can sync at all shutter speeds from 1 second to 1/500 There is a built-in lens hood that is pulled out for picture taking and can be pushed back with the lens cap It has a flash shoe but it's not hot and one has to use a flash that is PC sync capable as that's is the only flash connection available
The camera works well and took some very clear and sharp looking slides and prints. I didn't do any major testing of the camera beyond ensuring that it could still take pictures so I don't have anymore to offer you. With the meter broken I had to think about some shots when I was too lazy to bring out my Sekonic handheld meter. Sunny 16 and using the old grey matter to stop down or open up as required by the subject matter was the way I shot on some occasions. Using print film the results were quite satisfactory and would have masked any errors I made due to the latitude afforded by modern color print films.
I bought this camera as a bandwagon, flavor of the month impulse to be a part of the in thing with rangefinders without spending the money on a real rangefinder kit. Now it sits in my cabinet with barely a touch from me. Thank goodness it only cost me $80 for this now glorified paperweight. Maybe I'll use it to teach my kids some photography since it's all manual and relatively simple to use. The way it's built and the minimal use the previous owner put it through, the Konica S2 should last another 30 years so maybe I can even teach my grandchildren the old fashioned way to take photographs instead of the new fangled, optical-digital holograms that are bound to be used by the time I hit my golden years. Maybe by that time all I have to do is think about the image and it will be created for me as a hologram. I'm sure Canon will be able to evolve its Eye Control Focus for Eye Control Thought Imaging so that the infrared light bores away into our minds and creates an image. Arthur C. Clarke, move over as I'm going to take up science fiction.
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Correspondence & About this website Copyright © 1998-2008 Edwin Leong |
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Keeping
in mind that even compact cameras of the 1960s and 1970s were built
like the proverbial brick outhouse, it should come as no surprise that
the Konica S2 is solidly built despite being a "compact" camera.
But why the heck did I buy something like this camera that's as old
as I am? 
The
viewfinder is a true rangefinder with the requirement for two images
to be superimposed upon each other for proper focus. But the rangefinder
window is a bluish tint, which seems apros-pos for all the compact cameras
of this era. 
Although
the S2 only takes a battery for meter powering, it wants an old mercury
type cell instead of a modern alkaline button cell so meter readings
will be off if using newer batteries due to slight voltage changes.
Easy fix, just buy and use Mercury cells. Modern fix, have the camera’s
meter recalibrated for the newer batteries. Environmental fix, dispense
with the batteries and either use Sunny 16 and your brain or get a battery
independent Sekonic handheld meter.
The camera, as a budget priced item for
even its own heyday does not touch a Leica in terms of tactile pleasure
and smoothness but then $3500 CAN for a new Leica M6 is pretty offensive
as are the used prices for older Leica gear. This would be an intriguing
camera to use for non-serious applications with some Ilford Delta 3200
or Kodak TMAX 3200 on the street or in some dimly lit settings. I'm
not in a big hurry to do so as the idea of film-based compact camera
no longer interests me. My idea of a compact camera nowadays is digitally
based and would be either the Nikon Coolpix 990 or Canon G1, unfortunately
for a lot more money then the Konica S2.
