Konica Z-Up 140 Super (c. 1996–1998)

Name: Konica Z-up 140 Super
Brand: Konica

The Konica Z-Up 140 Super is a 35mm point-and-shoot compact from the late 1990s. It is a mid-range, fully automatic camera built around a 38-140mm Konica zoom lens, with a maximum aperture of f/3.5 at the wide end and f/10.5 at full telephoto. It is a lightweight snapshot camera for the casual shooter. Focus is autofocus with an infrared active system. Film loading and transport are automatic. The built-in multimode flash has red-eye reduction, and there is a 10-second self-timer. The shutter runs from 1/3 to 1/500 second, auto-selected. It runs on a single CR123 lithium battery.

One quirk: the camera powers itself off after five minutes of inactivity, and when it does, the lens retracts to the 38mm wide position. If you're shooting at 140mm and the camera goes to sleep, that's where you end up.

The production date is fuzzy. Wikipedia's chronological list of Konica cameras places the Z-Up 140 Super in 1996, while New Wave Pool, which film-tested the camera, says "circa 1998." Neither source is authoritative enough to settle it, so call it roughly mid-to-late 1990s.

Reception among the few who've used it is warm. New Wave Pool, a shop that tested one, said it "exceeded our expectations" and called it a great-performing, underrated zoom point-and-shoot that was a pleasure to test. A photography dictionary entry describes it as "a reliable and capable camera that captures the essence of film photography." Sellers consistently note its simplicity and ease of use, and one shop describes it as a mid-range compact. It's not a cult classic like Konica's Big Mini line, and it doesn't have the same devoted following.

Surviving documentation is thin beyond that. No original retail price has surfaced. No weight or dimensions are recorded. The detailed spec sheet (shutter range, aperture, focus type) comes from a single camera shop listing, so treat those figures as credible but not independently corroborated. Current asking prices in used listings range from about £88 to €150, with a Russian listing at 8,000 ₽. An original Konica soft case turns up occasionally, and the instruction manual is available at butkus.org.

Wikipedia (accessed 2026) lists the Z-Up 140 Super in its chronological catalog of Konica cameras, placing it alongside the Big Mini (1990) as part of the company's later compact output.