Konica Autoreflex T4: manual and user guide
The Konica AR-mount SLR with shutter-priority automatic exposure. Its original manual, then the essentials for using it.
Manual scanned and put online free of charge by Mike Butkus, whose library runs on donations. The link opens his model page, where you can download the PDF.
Getting started
- Batteries The light meter takes two 1.35 V mercury batteries: Mallory PX-13, PX-625 or Eveready EPX-13. Unscrew the compartment cover with a coin, anticlockwise, put in both batteries + side up and screw the cover back on firmly. Press the check button: if the indicator lamp lights up, the batteries are good.
- Loading In the shade, pull the back catch and open the back. Put the cartridge in its chamber, slide the film leader into a slot in the take-up spool, work the lever while pressing on the cartridge and check that the sprockets engage the perforations before closing the back. Advance and fire until the counter shows 1: the rewind knob should turn, otherwise start again.
- Sensitivity Lift the outer ring of the shutter speed dial and turn it until your film’s ASA value shows in the window, opposite the index mark. Let go and it springs back into place. The scale runs from ISO 25 to 1600 (ASA).
- Your first photo Pull the advance lever out to its first stop: the light meter’s red index appears. Set the aperture ring to the AE mark, until it clicks, then choose the shutter speed: the manual suggests 1/125 s outdoors and 1/30 s indoors. The camera sets the aperture by itself.
- Rewinding At the end of the roll, don’t force the lever if it jams. Press the rewind button under the body, which stays pressed in, then lift the crank and turn it in the direction of the arrow until it no longer resists. Open the back out of the sun: the counter returns to S.
What it can do
- Shutter-priority automatic exposure: you choose the shutter speed, and it stops the lens down to the right aperture. Metering is done at full aperture.
- Shutter speeds from 1 s to 1/1000 s, plus B (bulb).
- Self-timer adjustable from 4 to 10 s.
- Copal Square shutter with a built-in multiple exposure device.
- Viewfinder with a split-image rangefinder and microprisms, showing 90% of the image.
Which lenses?
- Konica II bayonet mount, for Hexanon AR lenses. The lens in the manual is a Hexanon AR 50 mm f/1.7, which focuses down to 0.55 m.
- Automatic exposure only works with an AR lens bearing the AE mark.
- With a preset lens or a lens with a normal diaphragm, metering is done stopped down: you line the needle up with the index mark.
The flash
- Electronic flash syncs up to 1/125 s. M, FP and FM flashbulbs sync up to 1/30 s.
- Direct-contact hot shoe on top, and a socket for flashes with a sync cord.
- A Konica X-28, X-20 or X-14 connects simply by sliding it onto the shoe.
Good to know
- When you’re not using it, press the switch under the lever and fold the lever back: the light meter switches off and the shutter button locks.
- A mercury battery lasts more than a year, then drops off suddenly instead of fading gradually.
- If the camera is stored for a long time, take the batteries out and keep it somewhere dry.
- The Butkus page points out that it takes mercury batteries and links to mercury-free replacements.
Autoreflex T4 specifications
- Format
- 135 film in 20, 24 or 36-exposure cartridges, 24 × 36 mm frames
- Mount
- Konica II bayonet, Hexanon AR lenses, automatic exposure with the AE mark
- Shutter
- vertical-travel metal focal-plane, Copal Square, B and 1 s to 1/1000 s
- Exposure
- shutter-priority automatic, or manual using the needle in the viewfinder
- Metering
- through the lens, two CdS cells, EV 1.5 to 18 at ISO 100
- Sensitivity
- ISO 25 to 1600 (ASA)
- Viewfinder
- pentaprism, 90% coverage, 0.89× magnification, split-image rangefinder and microprisms
- Flash
- direct-contact hot shoe and cord socket, X at 1/125 s, M, FP and FM flashbulbs up to 1/30 s
- Power
- 2 mercury batteries, 1.35 V (Mallory PX-13, PX-625 or Eveready EPX-13)
- Dimensions and weight
- 136 × 91 × 46 mm, 530 g (body only)
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The Konica Autoreflex T4 in the workshop
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