Heavy metal
the tank by canon, minolta, konica
By Brian Grossman
20 February 2008
Manual focus 35mm quality reached its zenith in the mid 70s. Goaded by the introduction of the Olympus OM-1, the original compact 35mm SLR, by the end of the decade every major manufacturer began to push light weight auto exposure plastic to the forefront of the market. The AE-1 sold five million units. Minolta had its XG line, Koncia the TC and T4 and Nikon introduced the EM, the crappiest camera the company ever built (the FM-10 is made by Cosina).
The truly great 35s remain the all-metal full-kilo "built like a tank" classics of the mid 70s. My personal favorites are the Canon FTb, Minolta SRT-202 and Konica T3. They'll never make 'em like they used to.
First a prefatory word about Nikon and Penxax. I don't collect classic Nikons because classic Nikon collectors are truly a hard-core bunch. It is generally accepted that the FM and F2 Photomic are the best manual exposure mechanical 35mm SLRs ever built by anyone and the Nikkormat line is a case study in how to produce a top-quality entry-level camera. Trouble is prices for these gems, not to mention classic Nikkor lenses, are through the roof and beyond my budget. This stands in marked contrast to the situation with Pentax.
Apparently some years ago photography instructors began telling their students to buy K1000s for class. This is probably because they were cheap and plentiful. The K1000 was after all a budget economy camera and designed, built and marketed as such. Unfortunately this has resulted in the K1000 achieving an utterly undeserved cult-like status among many young photographers and the prices of K-mount lenses and cameras are unjustifiably inflated as a result. If this essay can convince one photography student to buy something other than a K1000 I'll have done a mitzvah.
My personal favorite tank is the Canon FTb. It is a manual exposure camera with a match-needle system much like the AT-1, the manual version of the AE-1, only with superior all-metal build quality.
The FTb has a unique metering system shared only with its big brother the F-1. The metering area is a slightly shaded 12% rectangle which is easier to use than a spot meter and far more accurate than the typical center bottom weighted pattern of most 35s of the manual focus era. Other than all the interchangeable finders, screens and prisms which few photographers ever really use, the only advantage of an F-1 over an FTb is a top shutter speed of 1/2000 and a split-image rangefinder in addition to the microprism focusing aid. Because the F-1 was marketed to professionals it is difficult to find one today that hasn't been beaten about; prices for a good survivor are sky high. FTb's are plentiful, affordable and worth every penny.
The 202 is the top of the Minolta SRT line which began in 1966. If you go to members.aol.com/manualminolta/index.htm you'll find a wonderful website which details all the nuances of the SRT line and all the other Minoltas of the manual focus era. All the SRTs were built on the same tank-like frame, had speeds of 1 to 1/1000 plus B and match-needle manual metering. The 202 has a split image rangefinder in addition to the microprism collar; both shutter speed and aperature are visible in the finder.
SRT series Minoltas are cheap, plentiful and easy to overhaul. Minolta's superb Rokkor lenses are much more affordable today than comparable Nikkors or Pentax SMCs.
The main advantage of owning a Konica Autoreflex is the ability to use the legendary Hexanon lenses which were literally the standard-setting Japanese lenses of their time. Their legions of loyal fans claim they are the only Japanese lenses comparable to Zeiss glass. The classic Nikon guys may have better cameras, but I have better lenses.
Konica is a bit of an oddity in that it made many great lenses but few great cameras. The Autoreflex T3 is the best of the line. It has an early needle capture shutter preferred auto exposure system in which an arm physically grabs the meter needle and sets the indicated aperature, similar to the rare but great Canon EF. If you depress the shutter release halfway you can capture the needle before the shutter trips thereby effecting a simple mechanical but highly effective auto-exposure lock function. Like the Canon AE-1 or EF you can set the aperature manually by turning the aperature ring off the auto setting to the desired aperature. Not as handy for manual exposure as the others but built every bit as solid.
All of these cameras are completely mechanical and will function and fire at all speeds without batteries. They only need a battery to power the exposure meter. They all have speeds from 1 to 1/1000 plus B, stop-down depth-of-field preview levers and mechanical self-timers. They'll all accept a standard cable release for tripod work. They are incredibly durable and utterly reliable. Once overhauled they'll work perfectly for years without service. The simplicity of their perfection is an art in itself.
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