KonicaBig Mini Jr (BM-20)

The Konica Big Mini Jr (BM-20) is a product of a period when Contax, Nikon and Minolta were trading punches over who could put the best fixed lens in the smallest body — a fixed-focus compact paired with a Konica 34mm f/3.5. Some backstory: the simplest rung of the whole Big Mini ladder: same 34mm f/3.5 optic family, but focus-free instead of autofocus, which is why it is smaller and cheaper than a BM-201.

Format

35mm

Year

1994

Lens

Konica 34mm f/3.5

Shutter

1/80s – 1/250s (automatic, f/3.5–f/16)

Min. focus

1.0 m (close-focus selector)

Flash

Built-in auto

Battery

1× CR123A

The Konica 34mm f/3.5 is the everyday-light specialist — not a low-light hero, but contrasty, sharp and honest at every aperture. Film supply is a non-issue: any 35mm cassette from any lab works. A single CR123A lithium cell powers everything including the motor; still cheap and stocked at most camera shops. The built-in flash will fire whenever the meter decides it should, so learn the override before your first night out. Minimum focus is 1.0 m (close-focus selector), close enough for a coffee cup or a face but stops short of true macro. Something that catches new owners off guard: offered in red and black — the red version is one of the few genuinely cheerful-looking 90s compacts. The 35mm field of view sits halfway between observer and participant; it suits anything where you want the viewer to feel in the scene.

Quietly underrated, the Konica Big Mini Jr (BM-20) is the kind of camera people brag about owning five years from now and ten times the price. File away for later: focus-free means zero AF hunting: at f/8 in daylight everything from about a metre out is acceptably sharp, so it shoots faster than its autofocus siblings.

• §1The simplest rung of the whole Big Mini ladder: same 34mm f/3.5 optic family, but focus-free instead of autofocus, which is why it is smaller and cheaper than a BM-201.
• §2Offered in red and black — the red version is one of the few genuinely cheerful-looking 90s compacts.
• §3Focus-free means zero AF hunting: at f/8 in daylight everything from about a metre out is acceptably sharp, so it shoots faster than its autofocus siblings.
• §4It shares the CR123A battery with the rest of the Big Mini family, so spares are still easy to find.