Thank you so much for this video. My grandma gave me her camera before passing away last year. She used to love taking pictures of me and my sisters and she would always bring her camera wherever we would go. I have a lot to learn to be able to properly use it, but thanks to your video I am now really excited to begin !
Bought one of these on a whim a year or two ago as I'd never tried one but heard good things a great many times - I've shot a T4 and nT3 for a number of years. This FT-1 quite honestly surprised me by how much I enjoy its handling. Great winder (though I prefer manual normally), great viewfinder, great meter and a much better heft and build quality than I was expecting. It just feels fantastic in the hand eh? Really enjoyable shooter.
Hi Seth, that's dedication, they are a bit fragile in the electronics side, a working one is a wonderful camera and the lenses are amounst my favourite bits of glass, enjoy...
In a lot of ways it's the best camera they made... Although the Autoreflex is nice because it has the half-frame switch also... and the T3 is probably the best manual camera they made apart from the Konica FC-1 which was the manual version of this camera's time period from Konica. Small correction in 1979 the FS-1 came out with the first internal motor wind, so in the 70s proper Konica made the FS-1 as the first internal motor drive camera. The chrome camera looks nicer to my mind and along with the Olympus OM is one of the best film cameras by look of any film camera ever made. They had a 1/1000 shutter and a 2.5fps internal motor drive (up from 1.5 with the FS-1). While the Nikon and Canon had a faster shutter, the Konica had Auto TTL metering still as a benefit. You could have correctly exposed flash photography which was a big deal in the era of manual and cube flashes. The only problem with the auto winder is that it will eat the end of your of film if you're not careful and go past 36 or 24 shots. You have to be careful toward the end of the roll. It has it in the manual that it will eat the sprockets on the last bit of the film. I have tested this theory a number of times with my FS-1 and it proves to be true, the winder simply loses grip of the sprockets meaning that you can leave the last few frames of your film entirely exposed to be fogged when you open the film door. It's an imperfect system, but it was the first attempt at an auto winding system. If the camera is making funny noises like this, the first thing you should do is change the batteries. It should load the film as soon as you close the back. If it's not you might have already burnt out the motor. It has no circuit breaker or fuse to stop you using flat batteries, so as soon as the motor seems to be moving a bit slow, then change the batteries or you'll burn the motor out. Nobody likes or wants them but they are a total dark horse camera. In all honesty there is no reason not to like them, they just got a bad reputation from people who didn't understand their nuances or wanted something with a faster shutter speed. In all honesty especially if you're in the UK you will rarely use 1/2000 or 1/4000. An ND filter is also useful to have which will stop the obsessive need for more shutter speed.
Thanks for all the useful information, Konica seems so underappreciated, I have 6 TC cameras that were given away and they still work just fine, great value lenses also, quality kit at very affordable prices
The Photographer's Bag they are very good cameras at bargain prices, but it won’t be for too long. Konica is a big brand they were always the dark horse between Nikon, Canon and Pentax. They were a very good brand they just didn’t adapt well enough with the times.
Hi there. I have the same camera but in silver/black. Got it second hand. When I picked it up I noticed that the shutter curtains were a bit out of alignment. I straightened them up, then replaced the corroded batteries with new ones. I get the flashing red led when I press the timer delay, but when the led stops flashing...it won't take a picture. Likewise, when I press the shutter button, I get nothing. Do you know if there is a way to set the mirror in the up position? Perhaps, that will help me to verify that the shutter curtains are able to freely move. Or, if you have any suggestions on what I could do to run a few basic tests, that would be great as well. Thank you. Cheers
Hi, the electronics on these suffer from deteriorated foam insulation, the corrosion might have spread along the cables, you should be able to fire the shutter with the back open, observing the shutter blades, the following link is to a video showing how to remove the top cover and tackle the issue, please keep us posted on how you get on... ruclips.net/video/xx-EsmiCWXo/видео.html
I bought a tc-x for travel long ago, but somehow I was stupid enough not to get the 50mm f1.8. Instead I bought a Tamron 28-80mm f3.5. The tc-x meter just stopped working a year or so. Nowadays the viewfinder is just too dark for me. Is the FT-1 viewfinder any better?
Hi, the TC-x was built by Cosina and is known for its dull viewfinder, the FT was built by Konica and does have a brighter viewfinder so may help with your issue of focusing, can't beat a prime lens but pick up one of the earlier examples, the lens that came with the TC-x was not as good.....
@@thephotographersbag fairly new to Konica but I have an A1000, T2, TC, and TC-X. Drawn to Konica for the lenses. Just trying to get a decent body. Picked up cheap auction bodies and have some little glitch. The TC-X actually has the clearest viewfinder and I like the light meter visual but I did have to pry out and clean battery corrosion. Happy with my lenses but still searching for a solid body. Thanks for the video.
My uncle gave me his chrome FT-1 before he died. It seems like the batteries were left in it for years, and they burst or whatever. I can't get the battery section off to clean it up. :-/
i just got one of these, and it is a constant whirring sound. do you have any idea why or how to stop it? it was my grandfathers and i really want to get it working
@@ad8469 try removing the batteries, open the back, insert the batteries with the back open and see if it still happens If it does, see if the take up spool on the right is turning...
Hi, not really sure, it came free when I bought some Hexagon lenses, guessing it was dropped, maybe with a flash attached, the camera does work fine, yet more repair work! , Have a great weekend 😁
Thank you SO MUCH! I got my uncle's konica a couple years ago. Now that I finally got it fixed, I'm so excited to actually use it 😃 thanks for teaching me how to load this chunky guy. Did you ever find out what was happening with yours?
Hi, happy to hear and you are most welcome, they are good cameras with fantastic quality lenses, I have 6 or 7 of them so plenty of working experience ones....any problems please come back to me....
Thank you so much for this video. My grandma gave me her camera before passing away last year. She used to love taking pictures of me and my sisters and she would always bring her camera wherever we would go. I have a lot to learn to be able to properly use it, but thanks to your video I am now really excited to begin !
Thanks for the rundown. I just inherited 3 of these lol. No clue what to do with that many.
Beautiful, one of the nicest designs of the era.
Bought one of these on a whim a year or two ago as I'd never tried one but heard good things a great many times - I've shot a T4 and nT3 for a number of years. This FT-1 quite honestly surprised me by how much I enjoy its handling. Great winder (though I prefer manual normally), great viewfinder, great meter and a much better heft and build quality than I was expecting. It just feels fantastic in the hand eh? Really enjoyable shooter.
Hi, thanks for sharing your experience with the camera, they are a bit of a bargain and the lenses are really good, best wishes and enjoy . .
finally just got a working version of this camera after four tries! great video!
Hi Seth, that's dedication, they are a bit fragile in the electronics side, a working one is a wonderful camera and the lenses are amounst my favourite bits of glass, enjoy...
In a lot of ways it's the best camera they made... Although the Autoreflex is nice because it has the half-frame switch also... and the T3 is probably the best manual camera they made apart from the Konica FC-1 which was the manual version of this camera's time period from Konica.
Small correction in 1979 the FS-1 came out with the first internal motor wind, so in the 70s proper Konica made the FS-1 as the first internal motor drive camera.
The chrome camera looks nicer to my mind and along with the Olympus OM is one of the best film cameras by look of any film camera ever made.
They had a 1/1000 shutter and a 2.5fps internal motor drive (up from 1.5 with the FS-1). While the Nikon and Canon had a faster shutter, the Konica had Auto TTL metering still as a benefit. You could have correctly exposed flash photography which was a big deal in the era of manual and cube flashes.
The only problem with the auto winder is that it will eat the end of your of film if you're not careful and go past 36 or 24 shots. You have to be careful toward the end of the roll. It has it in the manual that it will eat the sprockets on the last bit of the film. I have tested this theory a number of times with my FS-1 and it proves to be true, the winder simply loses grip of the sprockets meaning that you can leave the last few frames of your film entirely exposed to be fogged when you open the film door. It's an imperfect system, but it was the first attempt at an auto winding system.
If the camera is making funny noises like this, the first thing you should do is change the batteries. It should load the film as soon as you close the back. If it's not you might have already burnt out the motor. It has no circuit breaker or fuse to stop you using flat batteries, so as soon as the motor seems to be moving a bit slow, then change the batteries or you'll burn the motor out.
Nobody likes or wants them but they are a total dark horse camera. In all honesty there is no reason not to like them, they just got a bad reputation from people who didn't understand their nuances or wanted something with a faster shutter speed. In all honesty especially if you're in the UK you will rarely use 1/2000 or 1/4000. An ND filter is also useful to have which will stop the obsessive need for more shutter speed.
Thanks for all the useful information, Konica seems so underappreciated, I have 6 TC cameras that were given away and they still work just fine, great value lenses also, quality kit at very affordable prices
The Photographer's Bag they are very good cameras at bargain prices, but it won’t be for too long. Konica is a big brand they were always the dark horse between Nikon, Canon and Pentax. They were a very good brand they just didn’t adapt well enough with the times.
Hi there. I have the same camera but in silver/black. Got it second hand. When I picked it up I noticed that the shutter curtains were a bit out of alignment. I straightened them up, then replaced the corroded batteries with new ones. I get the flashing red led when I press the timer delay, but when the led stops flashing...it won't take a picture. Likewise, when I press the shutter button, I get nothing. Do you know if there is a way to set the mirror in the up position? Perhaps, that will help me to verify that the shutter curtains are able to freely move. Or, if you have any suggestions on what I could do to run a few basic tests, that would be great as well. Thank you. Cheers
Hi, the electronics on these suffer from deteriorated foam insulation, the corrosion might have spread along the cables, you should be able to fire the shutter with the back open, observing the shutter blades, the following link is to a video showing how to remove the top cover and tackle the issue, please keep us posted on how you get on...
ruclips.net/video/xx-EsmiCWXo/видео.html
Hey one of the springs for my battery isn’t there so it won’t turn on. Do you know where I could get a rechargeable one that would fit?
Is there a way to shoot multi exposure on this camera?
I bought a tc-x for travel long ago, but somehow I was stupid enough not to get the 50mm f1.8. Instead I bought a Tamron 28-80mm f3.5. The tc-x meter just stopped working a year or so. Nowadays the viewfinder is just too dark for me. Is the FT-1 viewfinder any better?
Hi, the TC-x was built by Cosina and is known for its dull viewfinder, the FT was built by Konica and does have a brighter viewfinder so may help with your issue of focusing, can't beat a prime lens but pick up one of the earlier examples, the lens that came with the TC-x was not as good.....
@@thephotographersbag fairly new to Konica but I have an A1000, T2, TC, and TC-X. Drawn to Konica for the lenses. Just trying to get a decent body. Picked up cheap auction bodies and have some little glitch. The TC-X actually has the clearest viewfinder and I like the light meter visual but I did have to pry out and clean battery corrosion. Happy with my lenses but still searching for a solid body. Thanks for the video.
Konica and Ricoh were two camera makers that left too soon.....
Agreed,
My uncle gave me his chrome FT-1 before he died. It seems like the batteries were left in it for years, and they burst or whatever. I can't get the battery section off to clean it up. :-/
I don’t know why I haven’t joined the Konica camera system years ago when I started in photography. I’ve always stuck with Canon and Minolta.
Hi, it's not to late to start with Konica, however Minolta and Canon are both good choices, welcome to the channel......
The Photographer's Bag thanks.
i just got one of these, and it is a constant whirring sound. do you have any idea why or how to stop it? it was my grandfathers and i really want to get it working
Hi, does the noise happen as soon as you put batteries in it?
Does it have a film in it?
@@thephotographersbag it happens as soon as the batteries are put in, but i have not put film in ot
@@ad8469 try removing the batteries, open the back, insert the batteries with the back open and see if it still happens
If it does, see if the take up spool on the right is turning...
@@thephotographersbag it stops turning when the back oepns
what happened to the hot shoe?
Hi, not really sure, it came free when I bought some Hexagon lenses, guessing it was dropped, maybe with a flash attached, the camera does work fine, yet more repair work! , Have a great weekend 😁
@@thephotographersbag I got like 20 topcaps... if youwant a hotshoe assy, give me a message ;)
@@goiko1986 Hi, not sure what you ask, please drop me an email at
thephotographersbag@gmail.com
Thank you SO MUCH!
I got my uncle's konica a couple years ago. Now that I finally got it fixed, I'm so excited to actually use it 😃 thanks for teaching me how to load this chunky guy. Did you ever find out what was happening with yours?
Hi, happy to hear and you are most welcome, they are good cameras with fantastic quality lenses, I have 6 or 7 of them so plenty of working experience ones....any problems please come back to me....
who did you find to fix yours? I can't find anyone
My shit is buzzing hella how do I fix that?
Hi, not sure about this, maybe a Doctor?
Never actually seen one of those in the flesh.
How to unload can u make A video for unload ? Pls