arhphotographic

I recently came across this camera on that well known auction site. I didn’t have any Konica branded cameras in my collection and when I saw it came with a Tamron lens fitted with the Adaptall mount, the deal was sealed.

Tamron came up with a series of lenses that could be fitted on to any camera via a mount. Since I often go out with a number of different cameras with different mounts this Adaptall mount means I can reduce the number of lenses I go out with. 🙂

The Konica is a shutter priority camera. When fitted with a lens that has an ‘A’ setting on its barrel, you choose the shutter speed and the camera will choose the correct aperture. The actual aperture number is displayed in the camera’s viewfinder.

Moving the lens off ‘A’ the camera will continue to display the aperture it would choose for your selected shutter speed. You can then either select that on the lens or over/underexpose by choosing a different aperture.

As mentioned in the title, the camera is predominantly made of plastic but not the sort that creaks as you hold it. I mostly used a metal 28-80 mm Tamron lens which made the camera feel good in my hand. There is a very well placed grip on the right hand side that really helped to instill confidence when holding it up to my eye.

The camera can be used without batteries, a single AAA that powers the meter, but you do have to make sure it is turned to the On position.

There is no dedicated exposure compensation dial. However, you can change the film speed dial, which is situated below the rewind crank.

On a couple of occasions the exposure went beyond the aperture range of the lens. In the viewfinder window there is a mark on the exposure scale that indicated underexposure. Even though the shutter fired there was nothing recorded on film.

The camera has, to me, a very satisfying shutter click not too loud or too soft.

I was initially put off the Konica TC-X because of its almost all plastic construction,. Having now put a film through it I actually found it a very satisfying experience and my view of these type of cameras has changed.

Is it a plastic fantastic?

As a predominately aperture priority camera user I could have found this shutter priority camera an awkward one to use. However having an aperture scale to look at in the viewfinder removed this potential problem thus allowing me to use the camera as I would normally. Changing the shutter speed dial with my index finger while keeping my eye to the viewfinder was actually ok. As a result the camera really did allow me to concentrate on composition. So on this basis I would have to answer the above question with a resounding Yes!