C41
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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The Konica Auto S Date (1966) is a variant of the Konica Auto S fixed-lens rangefinder, distinguished by an integrated date-back mechanism that imprints the date directly onto the film frame during exposure. It carries a **Hexanon 47mm f/1.9** lens -- a marginally shorter focal length and fractionally faster aperture than the original Auto S's 48mm f/1.8 -- paired with the same battery-free selenium exposure meter and coupled rangefinder of the base model.
Reference
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C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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Ilford HP5 Plus is a flexible ISO 400 black-and-white film with classic grain and strong push-processing tolerance.
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Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
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About this camera
The 1966 Auto S variant: Hexanon 47mm f/1.9, selenium meter, coupled RF, integrated date imprinting.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 35mm |
| Lens | Hexanon 47mm f/1.9 |
| Year | ~1966 |
| Shutter | ~1/30s - 1/500s, mechanical leaf |
| Flash sync | All speeds |
| Meter | Selenium (no battery required) |
| Modes | Manual |
| Battery | None required |
| Date back | Integrated, imprints on film |
The Auto S Date emerged mid-decade as Konica expanded the Auto S line with specialized variants alongside the mainstream Auto S2 (1965). The addition of a date back addressed a commercial photography need: documentary evidence with built-in date stamps was useful in insurance, civil engineering, legal, and journalism contexts where handwritten captions could be contested or lost. Konica offered similar date-back options across several models in this era.
The slightly revised Hexanon 47/1.9 specification -- compared to the 48/1.8 of the original Auto S -- likely reflects a lens revision made during the mid-series production period, though both remain closely comparable optically. The model was produced in small numbers relative to the mainstream S2 and does not appear to have had a direct successored variant; the Auto SE and Auto S2 absorbed the upper end of the line.
The Auto S Date is a niche piece within the already-specialized Auto S collector series. Its selenium meter, like the original Auto S, makes it fully functional without any battery or adapter, which is increasingly significant as finding period-correct PX625 equivalents requires additional effort with CdS-metered bodies. The date-back mechanism is its defining feature and primary differentiation from the standard Auto S, adding documentation utility that was genuinely novel for the period.
For collectors, it fills the gap between the original Auto S (1963) and the feature-upgraded Auto S2 (1965, CdS, shutter-priority AE), representing an intermediate variant with a unique feature set. Rarer than either flanking model.
Fixed Hexanon 47mm f/1.9. No interchangeable lens capability. Standard leaf-shutter flash sync at all speeds accommodates clip-on or cold-shoe mounted flash units. Date-back mechanism uses no separate battery in typical implementations of this era; winding advances the date display mechanically.
C41
Kodak Portra 160 is a professional C-41 color negative film with fine grain, soft contrast, and natural color.
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Kodak Gold 200 is a daylight-balanced C-41 color negative film with warm color, moderate grain, and a classic consumer-film look.
View profile →Konica Auto S Date
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