The Konica F was the first 35 mm single-lens reflex camera (SLR) produced by Konishiroku, released in February 1960.
[2] A year prior to the Konica F's introduction, a prototype of that camera was displayed at a photo show in Japan.
[3] A few years later, the company's 35 mm rangefinder cameras were sold under the Wards brand in the United States.
[1][4]: 28–29 The meter uses a large selenium cell panel on the front of the viewfinder pentaprism housing to detect light levels.
This type of sensor cell generates its own small electric current, so the metering system does not require a battery.
[4]: 25–26 This predated the Copal Square which shared a similar vertically-running metal-bladed shutter design, descendants of which are almost universally used in film and digital SLRs in the 21st century.
[1] Typical cameras of the time commonly used 1⁄250 or 1⁄500 s as maximum speeds, and other premium models used 1⁄1000 s. Several months after the Konica F, in late 1960, Canon released the Canonflex R2000, the second model to achieve 1⁄2000 s shutter speed, but it still used the older, horizontally running, cloth shutter design.
In 1965, Konica introduced the Auto-Reflex line of cameras and lenses, which do not share the same bayonet mount as the F and its immediate successors, up to 1964's FM model.