Konica MR.640 (1988)
The Konica MR.640 is a 35mm autofocus point-and-shoot released in June 1988. It's a weatherproof compact - the "MR" stands for moisture resistant, not waterproof - and it's generally regarded as the weather-proof cousin of the Konica MR.70 LX. The model name comes from its most distinctive feature: a button on the back switches the lens between two focal lengths, 40mm and 60mm. A small display on the camera shows which one you're set to. To keep the moving lens mechanism weather-proof, the optics shift internally within a protruding shell that has an integrated skylight filter.
Past the dual-focal-length trick, the MR.640 is a plain, fully automatic shooter. It uses an active 18-step infrared autofocus system with a minimum focus distance of 0.8m, a programmed electronic shutter running from 1/5 to 1/500 second, and DX film speed reading from ISO 50 to 3200. The lens is a Konica 40mm f/3.5 (3 elements in 3 groups) and a 60mm f/5.2 (6 elements in 6 groups). The on/off button cycles through flash-on, flash-off, and self-timer modes. The body is black plastic.
Sources agree that this is a simple, easy-to-live-with camera from an era when manufacturers were competing to make compacts that were pleasant to use. One seller notes it "just works and keeps on working," and observes that the MR.640 seems to be quite rare - few entries exist online or on eBay. Australian Analog called it "light, feature-rich & simple." Current used prices in Europe range from about €59 to €119. A PDF of the instruction manual survives at butkus.org under the name "Konica MR 640."
No original retail price, production end date, dimensions, or weight are documented. One listing mentions a "Quartz Date" version, but nothing else backs up that variant.
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