William J. Gibson www.wjgibson.ca

CAMERA COLLECTION
Konica Auto S2 Rangefinder 35mm film

Sample photos
first roll of film put through this camera.

A labelled photo of the top of the camera is at the bottom of this page.

Setting exposure:
Full manual or auto exposure control. ISO is set using a lever on the bottom of the lens barrel. Range: 25 to 400 ASA. There is a meter display on the camera's top plate. I haven't tried auto exposure because I prefer using a hand held meter.

Shutter:
Copal SVA - B 1 2 4 8 15 30 60 125 250 500

Lens:
Non-interchangeable Konica Hexanon 1:1.8 45mm. Meter cell located on lens front top. Appears as a small white circle in accompanying photos of the front of the camera. Built in hood can be pulled out for use, pushed back for more compact carrying. Not all examples have the built-in hood.

Rangefinder/Viewfinder:
This camera has a split image rangefinder/viewfinder with parallax correcting brightlines. Mine is a little foggy but still quite useable.

Focusing:
Focusing ring is closest to the camera body. This camera has a very short focus throw. Seems to me to be about 30 degrees.

Film Loading:
Pull up rewind lever to open camera back. Standard manual loading.

Aperture Ring:
The aperture is set using a ring second closest to the camera body. 1.8 2.8 4 5.6 8 11 16

Other features:
Self timer lever part of lens. Flash X or M - cold shoe, sync cord pin located camera front right.

Conclusion:
Easy to use. Using this rangefinder is quite straightforward if you are used to rangefinders. Lens quality seems very good.

Someone who looked at this page commented: "Among the troops I served with in Viet Nam in 1966, the Konica Auto S2 was the overwhelming favorite among the low cost 35 mm cameras. It cost about $35 brand new and was much favored over the Canon equivalents. For the more well heeled and willing to spend $100-150, a favorite was the Beseler Topcon Super D."

All text and images on this page Copyright © 2010 William J. Gibson