5 Frames on the Costa del Sol with a Konica C35 and Kodak Gold 400

I’ve been a (very amateur, very occasional) analogue shooter for about 15 years, since film was last “hipster”. My first camera was a Diana F+ that I still have (and still love, light leaks included.) Then life happened and the cameras went into a drawer.

A cheap Agfa point-and-shoot pulled me back two years ago, and I fell for film all over again. This time I wanted proper vintage analogue, which in the AI era is quite a bold statement. That’s how I ended up on the Norwegian marketplace, rescuing a Konica C35 that came with one promise from the seller: it “should work”.

She’s 58 years old and she did not work straight away. Even though she’s all mechanical, she uses a battery for the light meter. There was some “verdigris” (green corrosion) in the battery compartment, which I cleaned with isopropyl alcohol and a cotton swab. The advance lever was stiff too, like a true nearly-60-year-old who hasn’t worked out in a very long time. But, being trigger-happy, I loaded her anyway and took her to a metal festival in Sweden. In theory I took great photos. But, as happens with film, the roll came back from the lab nearly empty. (I never found out exactly why. Probably my loading or a rewind that stopped early.) Before the next roll I gave the stiff advance lever a proper workout, working it again and again until the mechanics felt smoother, then loaded a fresh roll. This time I took more care loading and rewinding, and took her to Spain with a roll of Kodak Gold 400 in full sun. Now we’re talking!

The C35 is fully automatic: no aperture control, no shutter speed control, just focus, film speed and a needle in the viewfinder that tells you what it’s thinking. Mine told me to stop, a lot. 400 ISO in Spanish sun is a lot of light for a camera that tops out at a fairly modest shutter speed, and I haven’t learnt to respect the needle yet (I’m a rebel, ok?) I got carried away, but the goal was to test her limits. In hindsight, some of these would be better on 200 ISO, but I still love the results.

Konica C35 just became my favourite (out of my small roster), and is currently loaded with Kodak Portra 400 for the Oslo autumn. Looking forward to learning more and more about her and see what she’s capable of in different settings.

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