Konica C35 AF - opinions?

[RH Designs]

A while ago at a local auction I picked up a job lot of camera stuff including a Mamiya C3 which was the reason I bought it. But also in there was a Konica C35 AF. I just put that on the shelf as a typical basic 35mm compact, but it seems the model was the world's first AF compact and something of a milestone. So I just put a couple of batteries in it, and it all seems to work. So, anyone got one of these? Is the lens any good? A 38mm f/2.8. Just interested to know more and whether it's worth putting a film through it!

 

[dynachrome]

I remember when this camera came out. The lens is very good. The main problem to look out for is that the F system is rudimentary. If you have two people standing near each other and about 5 feet from a wall, the AF sensor will go right between them. The wall will be very sharp and the two people will be unsharp. If you can work around situations like this and of the camera is working properly the results can be very good.

 

[RH Designs]

Thanks for the info. I remember my father buying an early Pentax AF compact which suffered exactly that problem so he traded it in for an Olympus XA, and I've always resisted moving from my OMs to an AF system as I'm a bit of a control freak . Still, if the lens is good it might be worth playing with.