I stood at the ready, estimated my focus, and fired my first shot with the Konica C35EF. The needle had indictated an aperture of between f/5.6 and f/8, and the shutter had readily fired at my direction. Since I was just a few minutes from home, this shot, and the ones to follow, were pretty much snap shots, and by no means critical; yet I still had my hopes they would turn out. Still, this was a camera that, merely an hour earlier, seemed destined to be sidelined for a while, as my attention focused on more "elegant" members of my collection.
It was this adoration to one of these more revered cameras that actually forced this situation to begin with. I had just received a trio of 12 exposure rolls of expired 100 speed "mystery film" from Ultra Fine. While they surmised it to be Konica film, the labeling strongly suggested it was of Ferrania/Imation origins. There was no better way to find out than to shoot a roll of it, develop the results, and check the film rebate markings. It seemed a perfect creative diversion to couple with errands on a pleasant October afternoon.
My chosen vessel for this bit of photographic sleuthing was an elegantly designed and well loved folding compact camera of German origin. I had been waiting for a suitable chance to test out this camera, and this seemed ideal. I threaded the mystery film into the take up spool, and needed to only take up the slack and advance the film to the first frame to get this show on the road. However, no amount of winding or other manipulation would make the take up spool spin on the German mini. My little project suddenly needed an alternative device upon which to expose frames. Sure I could go with any number of other tried and tested members of the collection, but the thought of shooting this guess-focused camera had me looking forward to a new shooting experience that I was now deprived of. With my time limited, I recalled the Konica C35EF, which I brought up from the basement, loaded up with the film, and set out to shoot.
It was this adoration to one of these more revered cameras that actually forced this situation to begin with. I had just received a trio of 12 exposure rolls of expired 100 speed "mystery film" from Ultra Fine. While they surmised it to be Konica film, the labeling strongly suggested it was of Ferrania/Imation origins. There was no better way to find out than to shoot a roll of it, develop the results, and check the film rebate markings. It seemed a perfect creative diversion to couple with errands on a pleasant October afternoon.
My chosen vessel for this bit of photographic sleuthing was an elegantly designed and well loved folding compact camera of German origin. I had been waiting for a suitable chance to test out this camera, and this seemed ideal. I threaded the mystery film into the take up spool, and needed to only take up the slack and advance the film to the first frame to get this show on the road. However, no amount of winding or other manipulation would make the take up spool spin on the German mini. My little project suddenly needed an alternative device upon which to expose frames. Sure I could go with any number of other tried and tested members of the collection, but the thought of shooting this guess-focused camera had me looking forward to a new shooting experience that I was now deprived of. With my time limited, I recalled the Konica C35EF, which I brought up from the basement, loaded up with the film, and set out to shoot.
The late 70's/early 80's look of the Konica C35 EF (known as the "Pikkari" in Japan) looks right at home in an office setting of the same era. All we need to complete the picture is a dot matrix printer!
