Canon Claims 23rd Straight Year of Number 1 Share of Global Interchangeable-Lens Digital Camera Market

[Michael Clark]

To be honest, the only Konica I was tempted to buy was the Hexar RF with interchangeable lenses. Yet, I resisted (being broke...)

I was really lusting after an AE-1. But I found a used Konica FS-1 at a great price that was well less than half what a new AE-1 would cost. This allowed me to buy a zoom lens to complement the 40mm Hexanon prime that the camera had on it. The same Camera World location in Charlotte, NC had a used Kiron 28-210mm f/3.8-5.6 with a non-functional zoom lock knob that they sold me for a great price a couple pf weeks later. For a "super zoom" in the mid-1980s it was a pretty decent lens.

The FS-1 was one of the few bodies back then that had a shutter priority mode, just like the AE-1, instead of only aperture priority or manual. Though I didn't realize it at the time, the vertically travelling electronically controlled shutter was another advantage over the horizontally travelling cloth shutter curtains of the AE-1. And the built-in film winder was ahead of everyone back then, even if it was only something like 1 or 1.5 fps.

 

[becceric]

I was really lusting after an AE-1. But I found a used Konica FS-1 at a great price that was well less than half what a new AE-1 would cost. This allowed me to buy a zoom lens to complement the 40mm Hexanon prime that the camera had on it. The same Camera World location in Charlotte, NC had a used Kiron 28-210mm f/3.8-5.6 with a non-functional zoom lock knob that they sold me for a great price a couple pf weeks later. For a "super zoom" in the mid-1980s it was a pretty decent lens.

The FS-1 was one of the few bodies back then that had a shutter priority mode, just like the AE-1, instead of only aperture priority or manual. Though I didn't realize it at the time, the vertically travelling electronically controlled shutter was another advantage over the horizontally travelling cloth shutter curtains of the AE-1. And the built-in film winder was ahead of everyone back then, even if it was only something like 1 or 1.5 fps.

I enjoyed my FS-1 and FT-1, and found them both quick to adjust while shooting. I really liked the FT-1's more rounded contours. Yep. They were 1 fps. And the shutter/advance mech didn't freak out and open the blades while advancing the film like my T-3n and T-4 did.

In the mirror box, both had an unpainted metal strip right below the shutter blades. This caused a flare on the film during very bright days. Unbelievable that two generations had this issue. Some flat black paint solved it.

 

[Michael Clark]

I enjoyed my FS-1 and FT-1, and found them both quick to adjust while shooting. I really liked the FT-1's more rounded contours. Yep. They were 1 fps. And the shutter/advance mech didn't freak out and open the blades while advancing the film like my T-3n and T-4 did.

In the mirror box, both had an unpainted metal strip right below the shutter blades. This caused a flare on the film during very bright days. Unbelievable that two generations had this issue. Some flat black paint solved it.

I think the FS-1 I bought used had been traded in for an FT-1 not long after the FT-1 came out. It's been 40 years but I'm pretty sure that is what the salesman at Camera World in Charlotte, NC told me. The building they were in is long gone and the U.S. 74 freeway passes over where it was. Back in the 1980s U.S. 74 was a street level road that passed a block or two from the camera store. My FS-1 still had a nice form-fitting cloth-lined leather case on it, the lower half of which stayed on when you shot with the camera. I guess the case for the FS-1 wouldn't fit the FT-1 so the previous owner left it on when they traded it in?

I never noticed a flare issue. I did tend to shoot in more subdued lighting most of the time when I used the 40mm prime, though. The length of the 28-210mm lens I used on daylight probably eliminated most off axis light long before it reached the light box. It could vignette pretty heavily in the frame at wider angles of view.

 

[becceric]

I think the FS-1 I bought used had been traded in for an FT-1 not long after the FT-1 came out. It's been 40 years but I'm pretty sure that is what the salesman at Camera World in Charlotte, NC told me. The building they were in is long gone and the U.S. 74 freeway passes over where it was. Back in the 1980s U.S. 74 was a street level road that passed a block or two from the camera store. My FS-1 still had a nice form-fitting cloth-lined leather case on it, the lower half of which stayed on when you shot with the camera. I guess the case for the FS-1 wouldn't fit the FT-1 so the previous owner left it on when they traded it in?

I never noticed a flare issue. I did tend to shoot in more subdued lighting most of the time when I used the 40mm prime, though. The length of the 28-210mm lens I used on daylight probably eliminated most off axis light long before it reached the light box. It could vignette pretty heavily in the frame at wider angles of view.

I enjoyed that 40mm lens. It made my Hexanon 52mm f/1.8 feel slightly claustrophobic.
While irrational, I'd like to see Canon make an RF f/1.8 40mm. I can't bring myself to get the 2.8.

 

[Michael Clark]

I enjoyed that 40mm lens. It made my Hexanon 52mm f/1.8 feel slightly claustrophobic.
While irrational, I'd like to see Canon make an RF f/1.8 40mm. I can't bring myself to get the 2.8.

I'm still kicking myself for not picking up an EF 40mm f/2.8 STM pancake from the Canon USA refurb store before that lens was discontinued. It's one of those things I always meant to do but never quite got around to it. I do use the EF 35mm f/2 IS quite a bit, so I really have no need for the 40mm.