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Konica TCX

 

The technical stuff:

Type: Single Lens Reflex

Lens: Konica Hexanon f1.8 50mm

Shutter: Focal Plane

 

 

When I first set eyes on this it was in with a bag of other cameras at the shop and all I could see was the lens and I thought it might be a rangefinder, it seemed too small for an SLR. This must be one of the smallest and lightest SLRs I have come across. It's another one of those cameras that's "in transit" and I would rather like to give it a good home. After a bit of research I have found out that this was a bit of a disaster for Konica because of the all plastic body which was not well received when it was introduced. The body was outsourced to Cosina, which accounts for it's similarity to the CT1. However, with the attachment of the legendary Konica Hexanon lens this is a very capable camera. In the middle of a harsh winter there are not many subjects to shoot but I took a trip up to the local park and it was a bright sunny day so I found a few nice challenging targets. The first thing that struck me, apart from the weight, was the brightness and clarity of the viewfinder which made focusing really easy and the camera coped quite well with the bright sunlight, although it would have benefited from a hood. The only downside to the shoot was the film itself, I was using a cheap Kodak 400 and this doesn't scan well so the pictures needed a bit of enhancement to get the best out of them, given the brightness of the day I would have been better off with a good quality 200 iso. Having said the detail resolution of the Hexanon lens made up for the deficiencies of the film, it is outstanding. As for the plastic feel and the weight I have to say I personally think this is a bonus. I understand that for professional use this would be too flimsy and would soon suffer from damage but I use my cameras with the care they deserve and don't generally throw them around.

This camera has now moved on to a new owner but before it went I loaded a second roll. Just for fun I thought I would try it with an out of date film to see what it would do. I have come across a few rolls of Kodak Gold 200 which expired in February 2001 so I used one of these, I was amazed to see that apart from being a bit more grainy than usual the results were fine.

 

 

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