Box Brownie & Konica C35

[Nicole]

I'm so excited, today I found out that my Grandma is sending me her old Box Brownie (no more info on it at this stage) and Mum's old Konica C35.
If anyone has any information on these cameras
(I am not familiar with them at all)
including any tips on care, maintainence and usage I'd be very grateful.
Thanks everyone.
Kind regards
Nicole

 

[David H. Bebbington]

I think the designation "C35" was used for quite a few models. I once had the original model, which had a metal body, chrome finish, a coupled rangefinder and auto exposure. The meter works with an LR44 silver oxide battery which is easy to get. The meter is of integrating type, if shooting landscape beware of underexposure if the meter "sees" too much sky. To get auto exposure, you have to set a ring to "A". Other positions of this ring allow you to set various flash guide numbers.You can then use a totally manual flashgun (no computer control) and the camera changes aperture as you focus to give correct exposure. The camera will only focus within the correct-exposure range in this mode. The lens quality (38 mm lens?) I remember as being quite good. All in all, quite a nice camera to use, very compact and portable.

Regards,

David

 

[Jeremy]

Nicole, Box Brownie's are really fun cameras! My suggestion is to take some alcohol and q-tips and clean off the glass on the camera, load up some 100speed film, and go shooting. I still haven't gotten around to getting my first roll developed, but I've shot with it a couple of times--looks like you're just carrying around a box.

 

[127]

A lot of the box brownies are 620 rather than 120.

Not a major problem if it is - you usually just need to file down the rims of the 120 film spool, and it will work fine. use the 620 spool thats in there as the take-up, and make sure you don't loose it - 120's work less well for takeup, so you need to keep reusing the same 620 take up spool.

Ian

 

[Nige]

I do what Ian suggests. Took me ages to work out how to open the thing too (it was my mothers also... I have some of the negs it took when new!)

 

[mdohoney]

Brownie boxes make nifty pinholes if you're willing to take them apart.
Check out the f295 website if interested.

 

[Nicole]

Wow, guys, thanks for all the tips. Santa went to a flee market and found another box brownie for me! ) Can't wait to have a play with them. Cheers and happy holidays, Nicole

 

[Niko]

Last summer i was looking for a rangefinder camera to carry with me anywhere i go. I ended up buying a Konica C35 (the original black one) from a local store with 6 month warranty. I like the camera very much. The lens is sharp. I like the way it reproduces the colours, there´s something different in them, i can´t describe them correctly, but they are sweet !

The exposure is automatic, but it´s easy to manipulate it, as the camera locks the exposure setting when you press the shutter button half way down. That was a feature i didn´t expect to find in an almost 40 years old camera !

Here are some C35 links, one of them has a downloadable manual:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/youngds/Classic35/KonicaC35/KonicaC35.htm
http://www.erikfiss.com/foto/cams/konicac35/e.html
Dead Link Removed
http://www.butkus.org/chinon/konica_c35/konica_c35-splash.htm

Niko