As of today I have 27 different Konica cameras listed on my camera post list. I was intending to post number 28 this week, but it just didn’t work out that way.

Previously I said I didn’t like the FP-1 due to it being fully automatic with no override. Well, I have found a Konica camera that I dislike even more…the FC-1.

Here is a video of one.

A normal looking camera you might think, so why don’t I like it?

Three reasons:

1. It feels so horribly plasticky.
2. The Autoload system. You place the film towards the end and keep loading until you reach frame one. So no half frame first frame shot…no reason for it really other than avoiding that.
3. The battery holder.

What the actual ****

Of course on a few examples for sale, this is missing. And of course the “first” FC-1, I bought had this essential part missing. So I bought another, phew it was there. It meant I could try it in the original camera and find out if it worked.

This post, where I got the photo from, says the battery case connects the batteries in parallel rather than series. Looking at the actual case I do have, I don’t think that is true. The metal connectors seem to go from the negative of one battery to the positive of the next. It is just done side to side and not as a stack. In parallel it would have a strip of metal along the top and bottom??

So what the heck was the point? Plus to get the batteries out of the case you have to stick a pointy thing in a small hole to push it out. Not very convenient. Plus if it breaks or you lose it, then you are screwed.

I tried the new case in the original camera, it worked. Ooooh, both cameras worked but I only had one holder. Could I make one?

Maybe. But I was very reluctant to damaged the one case I had.

The first thing I tried was using a silicon kitchen filler to make a mold. It was something I had lying around so I squeezed out a blob of it and with the case wrapped in cling film, I pushed it in to make an impression.

Just before that was set I pulled out the case incase it got stuck. Then I left the silicone to set…it didn’t fully. I think the clingfilm affect it somehow. Never mind, it was solid enough so I used it anyway. I poured in some epoxy resin to make the actual case. Once that was almost set I pushed in some old batteries to make their impression. Strangely the epoxy had a strange funkiness to it too. I sanded it down to the right size as pushing in the batteries changed the height. It also helped get rid of the gunk covering the outside. Then it was a case of drilling some holes to make space for the wires to connect the batteries.

Brilliant…nope, it didn’t work. I just couldn’t get the thing to be the right shape, size, or connect properly. Hmm, so I tried making one out of cardboard stacked together and glued. Then I used a drill to make the battery spaces. Brilliant…nope, the drill destroyed the cardboard. My dad suggested buying a 3D printer but as this is the only thing I actually might need one for, I didn’t see the point.

So then I did a search for a broken FC with the battery pack included and found one on eBay for £2.99 minimum bid. Offered the seller £5 and he accepted £4. How about that for honesty? I seriously couldn’t make one for that??

AND then I realised…Hey that means I definitely have 2 working versions of this camera and one probably broken version. Three copies of a camera, I don’t even like???

And with all that fussing, the weather, and covid…I didn’t get a chance to finish a film in one of the cameras with the battery pack I do have 🙂

What a doylem!

I will finish the film this week at some point. I am sure it actually works, but you already know my opinion of this camera.