Konica C35 AF

Introduced: 1979
35mm Auto focus & Auto exposure

Lens: Hexanon 38mm f/2.8, 4 elements in 3 groups
Shutter: Programmed Leaf shutter with 3 speeds - 1/60s, 1/125s & 1/250s
Exposure: Fully automatic - 25-400 ASA





The Konica C35 AF was the first auto focus camera.  It worked well enough that a lot of them sold, even though at $283 it was fairly expensive.  Within a year and a half Canon followed with its Sureshot auto focus camera. Today it is hard to find a camera without auto focus and it was the Konica C35 AF that started it all.

I have been doing this blog for about a year now and was surprised to see that I hadn't done a post about this camera before. Especially since I got this camera in a box with some other stuff at the same time that I was starting this blog.  I can't honestly say that I would have sought this camera out.  Still since it is very inexpensive in relationship to its place in photo history I think it is a nice addition to any frugal camera collection. 

When it works the auto focus gives pretty good results with the Hexanon lens. Still a lot of time the focus isn't very good or not where I would have liked it to be.

I imagine the Konica C35 AF was a wonder to those who were challenged by manual focusing.















Even though it was a ground-breaking camera, the Konica C35 AF is not collected much.  A good example can easily be found for under $20. Because it has a good lens, is pretty quiet, and has auto focus and auto exposure some might find it good for street photography.

In 2008 Jason Schneider named the Konica C35 AF as one of his top twenty most historical cameras. 

A post about the Konica C35 AF in ClassiCameras.