I picked up a Konica Big Mini from a charity shop today for the very reasonable price of £5. Pleased!
It did have a very unsightly accumulation of dust in the lens, or at least behind what appears to be some sort of filter, or lens protector on front. I was a little concerned initially, but it turned out to be two screws and a very quick job.
There are two screws, one either side of the extended lens.
Unscrew these and pull the front part of the lens off. Bit of a blow and a wipe and all the nasty little bits of fluff were gone!
Put it back together and I have a nice clean lens!
Im looking forward to trying this camera out, I’ve read a lot of very positive opinions on it. I shall post my thoughts as soon as I have had a chance to run a film through it.
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I started taking photos at the age of 9. Since then I've taken photos for a hobby, sold cameras for a living, and for the last decade I've been a professional photographer.
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20 Comments
Cleaning a Konica Big mini lens ...
June 16, 2013 at 6:20 pm[…] I gave it a little bit of a clean. Konica Big Mini by Hamish_Gill, on Flickr have a looksee here Cleaning the dust out of a Konica Big Mini Lens im genuinely chuffed to have found one of these, it is supposed to be at very least on a par with […]
Konica Big Mini – Yeah, it’s not bad …
July 8, 2013 at 9:51 pm[…] I did a little write up on cleaning the lens of this camera, so if you have bought one and its a little dusty in the lens, have a look here. […]
Urban Hafner
September 3, 2013 at 6:58 amNow that I have three of those I’m thinking of getting an IR gel and convert one into an IR camera. The gel would just go where the protective filter sits …
Hamish
September 3, 2013 at 7:04 amI’d like to see that! I suppose you might have issues with focus for closer work, but landscapes should be fine…?
João Peixoto
May 20, 2015 at 11:29 amHello there Hamish. I just bought one konica big mini BM201 for a good price and I had the very same problem. After reading your post I tried it myself. Everything went fine and it was clean once again but… Now the lens doesn’t slide in and out so smoothly. Seems like the motor is being forced therefor making a strange slow working noise. Do you have any idea why this happened and if I can fix it? thanks…
Hamish Gill
May 20, 2015 at 11:44 amHave you either tightened the screw to tight or left it too loose?
João Peixoto
May 20, 2015 at 11:53 amNeither one or the other. I wonder if it can be the battery. I bought a new Panasonic Photo Power CR123A (Lithium 3V CR17345). The camera still marks it as full, but I don’t know if testing the motor so many times made it slower…
João Peixoto
May 20, 2015 at 11:54 amI tested now without the lens cap and it still is slow (not so much but still slower than before). So that must not be the problem :/
Hamish Gill
May 20, 2015 at 2:38 pmIf it works, I wouldn’t worry anyway … As long as it takes pictures, that’s al that really matters!
hugo miguel
February 20, 2018 at 5:30 pmHello Hamish, i’ve got a konica A4, and the film doesn’t wind, the camera works fine without film, everything works fine except this issue. Do you got any idea how to solve this problem?
Hamish Gill
February 21, 2018 at 10:04 amYou might want to try changing the battery in the data back
hugo miguel
February 28, 2018 at 3:16 pmHi Hamish, I already found the problem, the problem is with the Film Sprocket, i will try to open and fix.
Thanks
Hamish Gill
March 1, 2018 at 10:22 amCool, good luck!
Craig Schroeder
February 20, 2019 at 4:31 amI had an A4 and got great results with it. Mine started to run automatically to the film end, shooting each frame non-stop. I was told that the electronics were wonky on these and winder-related issues were somewhat common. let us know how things turn out, please.
Brett Chesterfield
November 10, 2018 at 11:39 amHey Hamish,
Any idea where I could pick up a light seal kit for the Konica A4? Got a little rectangle light leak that is in the left of my landscape exposures and the top of my potrait exposures.
Hamish Gill
November 10, 2018 at 9:16 pmWhat colour is the leak?
Brett
November 20, 2018 at 8:57 amWhite!
Brett
November 20, 2018 at 10:06 amIts a soft white, that appears to come from the film canister side.
Keiran
January 29, 2019 at 10:37 pmMe too brett after taking the front off to clean the lens, i imagine we’ve damaged the light baffles by taking it apart.
Brett
April 22, 2019 at 1:15 amThats a shame Keiran! I have not taken mine apart, but its not a consistent light leak. So strange.