Info 07: First shutter-priority SLR

From Dean Stanley:

I thought you should know that the Konica Autoreflex was actually in stores in 1965, not 1966 as is fairly widely believed.

I have a 1965 production model myself. It's actually quite interesting that Pentax as well as Praktica and Praktina showed this feature in 1966.

In actual use the external meter on the Autoreflex is as good as any TTL meter of the era.

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My reply:

Konica Autoreflex on sale in 1965. Okay, I updated my page by stating that the Asahi Pentax Memorica prototype was the first TTL shutter-priority camera.

Pentax prototype shown in 1966. The difference is the Pentax was TTL and was an electronic shutter camera. That's the reason because I believe it was ahead of its time, while the Konica, fully mechanical, was a camera of that era.

Non-TTL vs. TTL. Your statement can be true when you stick to standard lens or moderate wide-angle and telephoto. Things were already different in mid-Sixties when shooting ultra-wide and super-telephoto, as well as macro-photography. That's where TTL shows its superiority.

This said, thank-you very much for your interesting info about the Konica.

Dario Bonazza

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