Whenever I go back home myself and some high school friends have taken up the habit of buying disposable cameras. We are attracted to the grainy aesthetic, particularly in low light, where their poor performance creates a cursed appearance. The experience of shooting on film, and waiting for development became attractive to me, so I began to explore options for compact point and shoot film cameras. This led me to an ebay listing for a Konica C35EF. Supposedly the first with built in flash. I was immediately attracted to its design, and I was also attracted to the price. (With shipping I ended up paying around $45.) So I made an offer and within a few days I had the camera in my hands. It looked to be in decent shape and best of all it functioned.. mostly. Two extremely corroded AA batteries had once powered the flash, and despite my best efforts at cleaning the contacts I could not get it to work. This was not a big issue for me, I was still excited to use the camera. And I had a perfect opportunity, my car was at a mechanic a little over a mile from my home, so I took a walk to retrieve it and on the way shot a roll.
Before I discuss the quirks of this camera I would like to start with my conclusion; shooting on the Konica C35EF was a delight. That is not to say the pictures came out perfectly. I have a few notes notes, firstly almost every picture came out over-exposed. This could be because of the light meter battery I used. The unit called for a 1.35v PX-675 battery. Instead of this I used a 1.45v hearing aid battery. I’m not sure if this accounts for the over-exposure I experienced but it’s worth noting. Next is the most frustrating quirk of this camera. Initially when seeking out a compact film camera I was interested in one with autofocus. My primary interest was something I could point and shoot. (I did end up buying an autofocus point and shoot a few days later, a Minolta Freedom Tele which I will write about after I get the roll I shot on it back from the lab.) The Konica C35EF did not have autofocus, and its focusing system was my biggest frustration. I love manual focus, but I have only used manual focus on SLR and Mirrorless cameras where, though a viewfinder or live preview, I can see exactly what is in focus. Being a compact camera, the C35EF does not have a viewfinder that sees through the lens. Further, its lens uses a zone-focusing ring. With set positions for 1 meter, 1.5 meters, 3 meters, and infinity. Noted with numbers (in both meters and feet) on the top of the dial, and with adorable illustrations on the side and visible in the viewfinder. I would like to write this off as a quirk with my particular unit, like it was broken or something, but more likely it was my inability to judge distance that led to many of my photos having focus that was just slightly off. See below in my attempt at a selfie.
Even the pictures that were in focus did not come out especially sharp. This was actually an attractive quality for me, and I particularly like the way many of these shots rendered.
When shooting I was worried about the condition of the camera, considering it was manufactured in the 70s, and is not as rugged as some other cameras I have from the era. Luckily, although a few shots, see below, showed some signs of light leakage, most of the roll came out fine and the camera mostly performed as well as I could expect.
Below is a picture from the C35EF followed by one of the same location taken on a Kodak Funsaver.
Comparing these two shots is especially interesting to me. For one the picture from the disposable camera is adequately exposed, whereas the Konica is very over-exposed, but the Konica to my eye is significantly sharper. That picture, mind you, is the most over-exposed of the roll I shot and I don’t think it looks entirely bad. I think the exposure as it is shows off the grain structure of the Fuji Supieria X-tra 400 I shot on, which I like. Anywho I don’t have anything more to say about this camera so enjoy a few more pictures.
