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.
View profile →tlr-medium-format
The Konica Koniflex III is the final model in Konishiroku's twin-lens-reflex line, introduced in approximately 1957. It carries forward the 120-format 6x6 platform and the Hexanon 85mm f/3.5 taking lens established by the original 1953 Koniflex, while refining the viewfinder system over the Koniflex II - the primary area of improvement in this generation. The crank film advance introduced in the Koniflex II is retained.
Reference
Recommended film stocks for the — format your camera takes.
C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
View profile →BW
Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
View profile →BW
Ilford HP5 Plus is a flexible ISO 400 black-and-white film with classic grain and strong push-processing tolerance.
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About this camera
The last and most refined of the Koniflex TLRs; a 1957 close to Konica's medium-format chapter.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 120 film (6x6, 12 exposures) |
| Taking lens | Hexanon 85mm f/3.5 (fixed) |
| Viewing lens | ~ (matched viewing lens) |
| Shutter | ~1s - 1/400s, leaf shutter |
| Film advance | Rapid-wind crank |
| Flash sync | ~ |
| Focus | Manual via front-element focusing knob |
| Finder | Waist-level with improved magnifier; ~sports-finder frame |
| Meter | None |
| Battery | None required |
Konishiroku introduced the original Koniflex in 1953 as a direct bid to participate in the mid-range Japanese TLR market that the Rolleicord, Yashicaflex, and early Minolta Autocord were competing for. The Koniflex II followed in approximately 1955 with a crank-advance mechanism. The Koniflex III arrived in approximately 1957, completing a development arc of roughly four years across three generations.
By the mid-1950s the Japanese TLR market had become crowded. Yashica-Mat variants, the Minolta Autocord, and multiple Ricohflex models provided strong mid-range competition, and the Rolleiflex and Rolleicord remained the premium reference point. The Koniflex III's finder improvements reflect the industry-wide recognition that the waist-level finder experience was a key differentiator in TLR usability, and that users wanted a credible sports-finder option for faster work.
Konishiroku did not produce a Koniflex IV. The TLR market began contracting in the late 1950s as Japanese SLR development accelerated, and Konishiroku's medium-format ambitions shifted to the rangefinder-based Koni-Omega press system. The Koniflex III is consequently the last Konica TLR, and production quantities are believed to have been modest relative to contemporaries.
The Koniflex III closes the brief but complete arc of Konica's TLR program. As the most refined iteration, it offers the best finder experience of the three Koniflex models and represents Konishiroku's highest expression of the TLR format before the company moved on.
For collectors, the III is notable both as the final model in the series and as a vehicle for the Hexanon 85mm lens - a designation that would later carry significant weight in the Konica SLR era. Because production was limited and the camera is less well-known than contemporaries like the Yashica-Mat 124 or Minolta Autocord, intact, functioning examples are genuinely uncommon. The camera does not appear frequently in English-language collector literature, which both reflects and reinforces its relative obscurity outside Japan.
C41
Kodak Portra 160 is a professional C-41 color negative film with fine grain, soft contrast, and natural color.
View profile →Konica Koniflex III
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