Konica

A company with a long and storied past, it originated in 1873 as a drug store, Konishi-ya Rokubei Ten. Over the next century the company would change it’s name multiple times, settling on Konishiroku Photo Industry Co., Ltd. after WWII.

The company produced 35mm rangefinders, 35mm SLRs and various designs of medium format cameras. Their most successful innovation, arguably, was the development of the Konica Autoreflex series of SLRs. In 1968, the Autoreflex T became the first 35mm SLR to combine an auto-exposure mode with a built-in TTL metering system – a ubiquitous combination in today’s camera models.

The Autoreflex cameras were well-built and rugged and had a great complement of system lenses (Konica K/AR mount). One of the most notable lenses they produced was the 35-100 f/2.8 – a fast zoom with incredible range (and price) for the early 1970s.

Even though Konica cameras were well-spec’d, they never received the same amount of love as Nikon, Canon or Pentax. They ceased camera production in the mid-1980s, only to pick it back up again in 2003 after merging with Minolta to become Konica Minolta. But sadly, by 2006 they withdrew from the camera market completely. Thus ending an era of two once-great camera companies.

The good news is that the Autoreflex line of cameras have held up relatively well over the decades. And it’s still possible to find these cameras and lenses in good working order on the used market. I recommend them highly.