Of the many large, heavy 35mm rangefinder cameras I tried over the years, the Konica Auto S2 is one of two that I kept. (The other was the sublime Yashica Lynx 14e.) I liked it better than the vaunted Yashica Electro 35, better than the famed Minolta Hi-Matic 7. I don’t think this camera is objectively better than any of my other now-departed rangefinders — it just fits me better somehow.
Of the cameras that I own but don’t need, of which there are many, I’m trying to give them annual exercise. In August and early September, it was the Auto S2’s turn.
I’m pushing through some Fomapan films that I bought on deep sale not long ago. I’m also experimenting with Ilford’s ID-11 developer. I suppose I could have titled this post “Fomapan 200 in ID-11” as well, because that’s just what I did. I shot the film at EI 125, as I seem to have best luck with it there, and developed it at the ISO 200 time.
One thing I like about ID-11 over HC-110, which has been my go-to, is that I get longer development times. Sometimes HC-110 puts me too close for comfort to five minutes — I’ve gotten unpredictable results with development times faster than that. Yet HC-110 is a more convenient developer for how infrequently I develop film. It keeps so well and it stretches so far!
I brought the Auto S2 with me as I went about my business for several weeks until the film was gone. For whatever reason, I encountered a lot scenes that said “shoot portrait, not landscape” to me. I made some decent photographs, but nothing that should go into my portfolio. Here are some of them.
For a while I thought I’d focus my collection on 35mm rangefinder cameras. Instead, I fell in love with the 35mm SLR. But this Konica Auto S2 is a mighty nice rangefinder camera. I’ve updated my review here.
Some old film cameras have become very popular on the used market. Just try buying an Olympus Stylus Epic or a Canon Canonet QL17 G-III for bargain prices anymore. Yet plenty of highly capable cameras never catch on among modern film photographers and languish in relative obscurity. Like the Konica Auto S2.
This 1965 camera has everything you need to make lovely photographs today: a 45mm f/1.8 lens set in a Copal leaf shutter with top speed of 1/500 sec, a coupled CdS light meter driving shutter-priority autoexposure, and a rangefinder. You might consider it a limitation that it accepts films up to only ISO 400, but I don’t; that’s as fast as I normally go. It returns lovely results, as here on Kodak Gold 200.
For this camera’s turn in Operation Thin the Herd I chose Kodak T-Max 400. I found a fresh PX625 battery in my stash, loaded the film, and got busy.
I started Downtown in Indianapolis one chilly, slightly snowy day. I have been getting my hair cut at a barber shop on Delaware St. and then walking about with my cameras after. These electric scooters litter the street corners.
The Auto S2 nailed this gray-day exposure every time. The only thing I had to do with these photos in Photoshop is straighten them, as I proved unable this day to hold the camera level.
The more I shoot Downtown Indianapolis, the more I want to capture routine street corners and get as many buildings in as I can. The architecture here is varied and, while common, still interesting.
I took the Auto S2 on a sunny-day photowalk in downtown Zionsville. Bright reflections off light-colored surfaces and deep shadows did trip up the Auto S2 a little bit, but generally not so much that a little tweaking in Photoshop couldn’t help considerably.
The Auto S2’s controls generate no feelings of pleasure. You know that camera you want to use because everything feels so good under your fingers? That’s not the Konica Auto S2.
But the Auto S2 isn’t unpleasant to use. It’s neither clumsy nor cumbersome. Everything falls to hand and works well enough. The winder is a little grindy but winds surely. The shutter button doesn’t have too much travel (a common affliction, I find, among fixed-lens rangefinders). The focusing lever is about where your finger needs it to be. Still, the overall tactile experience manages rises only to “meh.”
What makes the Auto S2 remarkable is its lens, which really drinks in detail. The lens is why I put T-Max into it this time — its minimal grain promised to show me what this lens could do. It didn’t disappoint.
I didn’t shoot anything remarkable on either of these photo walks. I made no art. But every photo on this roll came back properly exposed and bursting with detail. The Auto S2 would make a wonderful companion on one of my road trips.
I’m surprised that I like the Konica Auto S2 best of the fixed-lens rangefinder cameras I have shot so far in Operation Thin the Herd. What it lacks in refinement it makes up for in consistent, solid results. The question is, do I need a camera like this? Would I shoot it often enough to justify keeping it? Because it never lets me down, I’m going to let time tell.
I’m a sucker for a fast lens. Whenever that magic f number sinks below 2, I’m a goner.
And so I can’t believe it took me more than a year to shoot the f/1.8 Konica Auto S2 that a friend donated to my collection. But at long last, this camera has come up in the to-shoot queue.
I’d never heard of the Auto S2 before this one fell into my hands. But a quick Google search yields reviews by all the usual film-camera collectors, who all love this black-and-silver rangefinder camera. Produced starting in 1965, the Auto S2 succeeded the earlier, similar Auto S. The S2 bettered the S with a slightly faster lens (f/1.8 vs. f/1.9) and moved the meter’s CdS cell from the body to the lens housing, where it adjusts for filters. A dreaded, banned 625 mercury battery powers that meter, enabling shutter-priority autoexposure. Everything else about this camera is mechanical.
The 45mm f/1.8 Hexanon lens is of six elements in four groups. It’s set in a Copal SVA leaf shutter that operates from 1/500 to 1 sec. The S2 supports films from ISO 25 to 400. In its day, f/1.8 at 1/500 sec on ISO 400 film was about as good as it got when you needed to shoot in low light or to stop motion.
The Auto S2 has a couple super nice features. First, not only does the aperture show up inside the viewfinder, but it also appears on a readout atop the camera. But more importantly, the Auto S2 makes focusing and framing easy and accurate. You focus by moving a lever on the lens barrel. It’s easy to find your left index finger while your eye is at the viewfinder. The rangefinder patch is bright and large enough even for my middle-aged eyes. And then frame lines in the viewfinder adjust as you focus to show how the photo will be framed. They are pretty accurate. A pet peeve of so many viewfinder and rangefinder cameras I’ve used is that the viewfinder shows considerably less than the lens sees. That’s not a problem with the Auto S2.
This is a big camera, and heavy, though not unbearably so when it’s strapped across your shoulder.
If you like big, heavy rangefinder cameras also check out my reviews of the Yashica Electro 35 GSN (here), the Yashica Lynx 14e (here), and the Minolta Hi-Matic 7 (here). You might also enjoy my reviews of the smaller Canon Canonet 28 (here) and Olympus 35 RC (here). Or check out all of my camera reviews here.
I dropped in an alkaline 625 cell and some Kodak Gold 200, twisted the aperture dial to Auto so I could enjoy the autoexposure, and got busy shooting. And right away I found my two disappointments with the Auto S2: the flimsy feel of the shutter button and the ratchety sound and feel of the winder. I’d expect as much from a cheap point-and-shoot, not from a heavy camera otherwise so well built. But they worked reliably enough through my test roll, which began on a trip to photograph The Pyramids.
What a great landmark these buildings are on Indianapolis’s far Northwestside. I wrote about their history here.
I hadn’t visited New Augusta in a while, so I drove over there with the Auto S2. My subjects ended up being ho-hum, but the photos at least show you that the lens is sharp and contrast is good.
I spent a while on the railroad tracks around which New Augusta was built. I’m more a roadfan than a railfan; perhaps you can tell me what the heck this thing is. But as you can see, the lens is capable of some nice, smooth blurred backgrounds.
I drive over these tracks almost every day on my way to and from work. Multiple times, actually, as they run diagonal to the streets in this part of town. Fortunately, they get light use. I’ve been stopped by trains on them only two or three times in the more than 20 years I’ve lived in this part of the city.
On a later outing I shot Kodak T-Max 400 in the Auto S2. The camera and film performed flawlessly.
I shot the Auto S2 around downtown Zionsville (above) and downtown Indianapolis in the early winter. Some 50+-year-old cameras don’t like the cold but the Auto S2 functioned fine.
I had a great time with the Auto S2 on this chilly day. My litmus test for a camera is to answer the question, “if this was the only camera you could keep, would you cry?” Answer: nope.
I liked the Konica Auto S2 a little better than my Yashica Electro 35 or my Minolta Hi-Matic 7, but not as much as my delightful Yashica Lynx 14e with its outstanding f/1.4 lens. In a fast-lens contest, that Yashica wins hands down. But either of these cameras is a great choice.
If you like old film cameras, check out all of my reviews here! To get Down the Road in your inbox or feed reader, subscribe here.
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