INTRODUCTION

The Koni Rapid Omega 200 is a medium format rangefinder camera made in Japan between 1973 and 1980.

The name would suggest that it was made by Konica, but this model was made by Mamiya.

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PERSONAL NOTES

The Koni Rapid Omega 200 is heavy, cumbersome, but it gets the job done. It is solidly built, and you can have a set with a few backs and lenses for cheap.

It has a darkslide so you can switch backs or lenses while film is in loaded. In this way, it's better than a Pentax 67, but overall it's not, this is not a SLR, it's a rangefinder, not a bad one, but not a great one either.

The main thing about this camera is that you can advance a frame in a quick manner, making it possible, when trained, to achieve about one image per second. On a medium format camera, that is quite something. If you really need to be quick, just get a Hasselblad 500el/m and it does the trick, and you get a much better finder, better style, and you'll have less decision to make because you'll have less money in your wallet !

It all comes down to the finder. It's fine, but not great. It has framelines that moves according to focus parralax, but it's not the brightest of the finders I saw, not the worst either.

CONCLUSION

Don't get me wrong, the Koni Rapid Omega 200 is a good camera, nicely done, but it's heavy for the experience you get. For the weight, you have a much better experience with a Pentax 67 or even a Hasselblad 500el/m. And for much less weight, I still find the Wester Autorol and Semi Leotax better medium format rangefinders.

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