FILM STARS Autofocus? It’ll never catch on

One day in late 1977, camera manufacturer Konishiroku UK (the predecessor of Konica) held a press conference to announce a revolutionary camera. To demonstrate its capabilities, a piece of film containing the image of a lens-testing chart was placed in the film plane of the camera, which was mounted on the front of a projector. Light from the projector shone through the film and, using the camera’s lens, the chart’s sharply focused image was projected onto a sheet of white card, held by a young lady in a kimono at the other end of the room.

When she moved towards the projector, the image naturally went out of focus. Then the camera’s shutter release was pressed and the image automatically snapped back into focus. This action was repeated several times down the length of the room. In this way, the world’s first autofocus camera was demonstrated and launched to the UK