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Konica I

The Konica I (or Konica Standard) is a fixed lens, 35mm, rangefinder camera introduced shortly after WWII by Konishiroku. There are a number of variants of the Konica I, but most feature a 50mm f/3.5 or f/2.8 lens set in front of a leaf shutter. Camera features are pretty standard, for the early 1940's, and the camera itself is relatively basic in design. It does have a combined rangefinder and viewfinder, which is noteworthy. Both the film advance and rewind is done via knob and none of the models include a light meter.

za/sd

Konica I with Kodak Portra 400 Film

During the summer of 2022 the supply of color 35mm film became extremely barren against a demand that remained incredibly high. Batches of several hundred rolls would arrive only to sell out in days, if not hours. At the beginning of August of that year we received a shipment of 400 rolls of Portra 400 and were casting about for a camera to serve as a companion piece for an Instagram post announcing our restocking. We settled on this Konica I that was in our queue waiting to hit inventory itself. What drew us to using this camera were a couple of factors. First, it has a generic enough look to it and lacked any obvious identification on the front of the camera. We were not necessarily featuring the camera specifically per se, but rather wanted it as a companion for the film itself, so we didn't want it to attract undue attention. But the other factor was that we don't get many of these Konica I rangefinder cameras through. At the time, this may have only been the second such camera we had sold. So it is always nice when we can generate a bit of content for this Museum for the less commonly seen cameras that pass through.

Konica I

Would you be surprised to learn that Konica's history dates back farther than that of Kodak? The company that would become Konica first sprouted up in 1873, with Rokusaburo Sugiura selling photographic products at Konishiya Rokubeiten in Tokyo. These initial efforts slowly grew, and the company became Konishi Honten and then Konishiroku Honten, a name they would keep until 1987 when they would rebrand the company after their popular Konica line of cameras.⁠

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By 1902, Konishi was selling the Cherry Portable Camera, the first Japanese consumer-oriented camera. By 1933, they were distributing their own film under the Sakura brand. An early example of this was Sakura X-ray film. They would follow that up, a few years later in 1940, with the announcement of Sakura color film, the first Japanese color film.⁠

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Shortly thereafter, the Konica I camera hit the market. The Konica I (or Konica Standard) was Konishiroku's first 135 format camera; it was produced in the years immediately following WWII. It is a pretty standard 35mm rangefinder for its time, featuring a 50mm f2.8 Hexar lens in a Konirapid-S shutter. In fact, perhaps the most notable feature of this camera is that it appears to be the first time in history that the name "Konica" shows up. Much like Leica or Yashica, Konishiroku devised the name by abbreviating their own name followed by "-ca," for camera. Initially, it was just cameras like these that sported the name, but eventually, the company itself took the name on.⁠

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We had this Konica I pass through recently and wanted to give it a bit of a spotlight. To be honest, we struggled finding much to say about it specifically because, well... the camera is very standard. So we chose to focus a bit on the history of Konica, which tends to get overlooked in favor to that of Kodak or Agfa or even Fuji. Sometimes it is nice to pick up a camera and feel a bit more appreciation for the history from which it was born.

za/sd

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Blue Moon Camera and Machine llc

sales@bluemooncamera.com
(503) 978-0333
(503) 978-0370
8417 North Lombard Street
Portland, OR 97203

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Konica I

Konica I with Kodak Portra 400 Film

Konica I

Blue Moon Camera and Machine llc