Sometime last year I started jonesing for a “point & shoot” film camera. I think it was in early Spring when I was doing a lot of hiking and walking about. I often brought a camera with me, but even my simple Nikon N80 with a decent lens was a bit of a bulky kit. And I was always worried about banging the lens on a tree, or arousing suspicion by walking around with an “expensive” SLR camera. Thus began my thoughts of a simple, point & shoot film camera - one that I could carry anywhere, get good results, and not have to worry about it breaking or something happening to it.

The problems with most of those type of cameras are many: poor build quality, poor lens quality, plasticky design, dodgy electronics, etc, etc. There are some fantastic P&S cameras out there though, like for example, the Contax T series and the Nikon 35Ti and the Nikon 28Ti. Unfortunately, those cameras are prohibitively expensive and difficult to justify the purchase. I think my favorite out of that bunch is the Nikon 35Ti with its square, metal construction and its wonderful analog display. While not as expensive as the Contax versions, it still is pricey, with prices ranging from $500 for a beat-up example to $1500 for a pristine one. Hardly something I’d feel good about putting in harm’s way on a muddy trail or in a questionable area of town.

With those thoughts, I wrote down a quick “must-have” list in terms of what I wanted in a simple camera:

Small form factor
Sturdy, metal construction
Good looks – can’t scream 1980’s or 1990’s.
Sharp lens
Rangefinder focus
Minimal things to go wrong (ie, no LCD display, no plasticky sliding bits, etc)
Fully automatic or semi-automatic exposure
No whizbang electronic beeps or gimmicks

Using my list to narrow down my camera choices, I quickly narrowed in on the Konica C35 Automatic (or “Flashmatic” as its known in Japan). There are a lot of great reviews out there on this camera, and in spite of such reviews, the prices for a nice one are still reasonable.

Here are the stats for the camera:

Year Introduced: 1971
New Price: $50-$60 USD
ASA/ISO: 25-400
Lens: 38mm (with 46mm filter threads)
Aperture: f/2.8 - f/14
Shutter: 1/30 to 1/650th
Exposure: Auto
Focus: 1m- Infinity
Weight: 380g

I found a “EXC ++++” example on eBay for less than $50, that came complete with original leatherette carrying case, user manual, wrist-strap, and original box. It even had the original desiccant packs in the box. The only thing it was missing was the lens cap, but from what I’ve read that’s fairly normal as it was a plastic slip-on piece that often fell off to be lost forever. The lens cap is important, however. But I’ll get to that in a bit.

This purchase took place last year, and then it sat in the box on a shelf in my den until late last month. Life gets in the way, you know. Finally, I took it out of the box to give it a good cleaning and take it out for a test-run. This was one of the few camera purchases I’ve made in recent years where it actually matched the seller’s description and needed no cleaning on my part. The only thing I had to do was put a new battery in it, load film, and go!

10-pack of SR44 batteries for $12.00 at WalMart

Before I get to the shots, its worth mentioning the battery issue with this camera, which is common with many older cameras. The original battery was a 1.35V PX675 Mercury battery which is no longer available – you know, with Mercury now being bad and all that. Wein does make an expensive replacement called the MRB-675 that has the correct 1.35 volts, but it costs more than what I paid for the camera. The common wisdom is to use the more readily available 1.5V LR44 or SR44 batteries. These are super cheap BUT have the issue of putting out slightly more voltage, which can throw off the light meter slightly. I chose to use the SR44 battery in my camera, for two reasons – 1. I had some already and 2. The SR44 keeps constant voltage thru its lifespan versus the LR44 which drops as it gets older.

Because the SR44 battery is 1.5V instead of 1.35V, you have to adjust your ISO on the film speed selector to make up for the difference, usually by about 20%. So, for example, if you are shooting 400 speed film, you’d want to set it at 320 on the camera instead. If you forget, and leave it at 400, the latitude of negative film would probably still get you a decent result, but I like to error on the side of putting more light on my negatives.

I’ve read posts where people have complained that the battery doesn’t last long, but that’s really a simple fix. Put the lens cap on when its not in use. The C35 doesn’t have an on/off switch, so any time that light is hitting that light sensor in the front, it is draining energy from the battery. A lens cap solves this. Remember my missing lens cap issue? Well, instead of trying to find a Konica slip-on cap for it, I found a 46mm threaded black aluminum cap instead, on Amazon for $7. This solved any battery issue AND also is less likely to fall off.

OK, enough about the battery. Let’s see those shots from my first roll. I shot a roll of Reformed Film Labs 400 color film, which I think is Kodak Vision 250D with the remjet removed. I developed the film in UniColor C41 chemicals and scanned the negatives with my Nikon CoolScan V scanner. Some light dust-removal was done in Photoshop.

Below are some of my favorites.

As you can see, the C35 did a decent job of nailing exposure. No complaints there. From a user standpoint, the focus throw is very short and takes very little movement to go from 3 feet to Infinity. Most of my shots were at infinity, but for the closer ones, the rangefinder focus was easy enough to use, although it is a little small and dim. The shot with the tree bark was at about 4 feet, and it did a decent job of nailing it.

There’s something very freeing about just being able to compose, focus, and shoot. Having a camera with automatic-only exposure can be both a blessing and a curse though. It’s going to nail it every time, but you give up artistic decisions like shooting wide open with a fast shutter to blur out the background. That’s OK. I have other cameras for that.

Really my only complaint about this set of images are the weird color shifts and random scratches on the film. This is the second roll of Reformed Film Labs 400 that I’ve shot and both had the same issues in different cameras. I didn’t cause any of that in my developing process, so I think the issues with the film stem from the remjet removal process.

While I’ve only shot 1 roll through it so far, I am happy with my purchase and the user experience. I also recently picked up a cheap 46mm Orange filter to shoot some B&W film with it. I’m looking forward to putting it through its paces a little more.

I’m not the biggest fan of wrist-straps when it comes to carrying a camera, so I may be replacing that with an actual neck/shoulder strap. I know some people like them, especially for small cameras, but I don’t like things tethered to my wrist and honestly, I can be a bit clumsy. There’s a good chance that anything dangling from my wrist would make an unintended impact with a tree, wall, door, trashcan, etc. A longer strap would be best for both myself and the camera. Also, the light seals don’t look to be in the best condition, so even though there were no leaks on this first roll, I see a seal replacement in its future.

Stay tuned for a long-term review – I plan on writing a follow-up after I get a few months in with it in different situations with different film stocks.

Jeremy