Konica Autoreflex T (T2)

When I bought my Konica T3 I wasn’t prepared for what I got. I never expected it to be such a magnificent piece of engineering, easily surpassing any camera in its range. Today fate put an Autoreflex T (unofficially known as T2) that came before the T3. This time I was ready for it! Same superlative build, classic design with that lovely triangular shaped prism housing and removable hotshoe. Don’t be fooled, this is a large and heavy camera.

 

For a 1970 camera, the viewfinder is a delight, relatively big, bright and, heresy Mr. Dan James, full of information! The viewfinder information is truly amazing considering that it is all done mechanically. Konica called it the Polymechanical viewfinder. This viewfinder deserves a moment of glory, let’s see what it shows:

-Shutter speed

-Maximum aperture of the lens in use

-Aperture selected in auto mode

-M for manual mode

-Metering range (changes according to the ASA setting)

-Battery check

Bear in mind that all this is done mechanically, no Leds, bulbs or electronics, it is truly amazing.

 

The camera is not short on features either. It is a fully mechanical camera with a shutter priority mode. No battery means no shutter priority, but a 100% fully functional camera. It also features mirror lock-up (with self-timer), depth of field preview, full open TTL metering and it features the AR lens, here it is an early example of the famous Hexanon 50/1.7 still with the EE in the lens ring diaphragm instead of the normal AE. In Konica tradition, the shutter is in metal and vertically run. It is a bit loud, but the hefty build muffles most of the excess noise.

 

I feel a bit sorry for Konica, I have some of their cameras that are truly outstanding and second to none in build quality. They lost the direction at some point with fatal consequences, but their legacy is not to be ignored.

 

Done