Konica Hexar AF. Brilliant lens, but I sold it anyway!

<p>Yes, you read the title correctly. I bought a black Konica Hexar AF. I shot two rolls with it and then promptly sold the darn thing. The lens is absolutely amazing. I have never used another quite as sharp as this, not even the Carl Zeiss Planar 45mm f2 *T. I sold it because the darn shutter speed tops out at 1/250 of second. I think that really limits its use. It limits its use for me at least. With fast film speeds I am stuck with small apertures. With slow film speeds I am stuck with open apertures. I know that I could use filters, but that is a real pain. I have to screw on the filter and adjust the ISO setting because the meter is not through the lens. Another reason I gave the camera the heave ho was the poor function control design. I really thought the operation of the camera was not well thought out. Many functions are just to darn to hard to set. You just have to hold and to turn too many darn buttons for my taste. I also dislike the fact then when you shut off the camera you have to reset all the customizations you set before shutting the camera off. I must say the silent mode is amazing. It is so quiet I wondered if I even took a darn picture. The camera`s body and body finish are top notch. Konica did not scrimp on building one excellent camera body. I won`t say anymore. If you buy this camera you are buying it for the lens, which is a Hexnon 35mm f2.</p>

<p>The films used were Kentmere 400 and Ilford 50 PanF.</p>

<p>Enjoy.</p><div></div>

<p>Photo 1</p><div></div>

<p>Photo 2</p><div></div>

<p>Photo 3</p><div></div>

<p>Photo 4</p><div></div>

<p>Photo 5</p><div></div>

<p>Photo 6</p><div></div>

<p>Photo 7</p><div></div>

<p>Last one</p><div></div>

<p>Damn...you beat me to it. I picked up a Konica Hexar Classic (silver bodied) recently and shot a roll of Tri-X in it. I agree with you that the camera is not the most intuitive to use (for one thing I find the under and over exposure indicators very confusing at times) and the buttons are EXTREMELY fiddly, not to mention oddly placed. I also find it irritating that I have to take my eye away from the viewfinder to check my shutter speed or aperture (when in program mode)...that said...I think Konica came up with a whole host of features which make this a magnificent street shooter if you know how to use it.</p>

<p>As you said, there's no denying the quality of the lens. Mroe than the sharpness, there's a creaminess which the lens produces when combined with Tri-X that I love.</p>

<p>I think I'm going to hold on to mine for a while longer before I decide whether to keep it or not (who am I kidding...I never sell my gear).</p>

<p>Here's a shot I took in the Brooklyn Museum (recently posted in the Leica / RF POTW thread).</p><div></div>

<p>Yeah, that's sharp...I borrowed a friend's copy for an afternoon some time ago, and found the fussy handling too much for me. Really, the lens is all you want! Great pics, <strong>Mike</strong>, the Irish bar just has to be a classic. Thanks for another fine post.</p>

<p>Great series. Very sharp. I especially like the pub door. I've always wanted to visit an Irish pub, but none near my home (deep south USA). FWIW, my Irish ancestor (Gammill side of family) came to America in 1767 aboard the HMS Nancy with his two brother to claim 100 free acres of land. He was only 16. Thanks for a great post.</p>

<p>Very nice, but what's the Omar Khayyam line about wine makers?</p>

<blockquote>

<p>"I often wonder what the vintners buy<br /> One half so precious as the stuff they sell."</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Of course, then I'm another who has the intent, sometimes, to sell, but never somehow gets around to it.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I bought one of these about 8 months after they hit the market and really got a kick out of the silent mode. In fact it might have been just a little to silent as I would sometime have to check the exp count to see if the thing went off or not. Like has been said, it was a very well built camera. I used mine as a tag-a-long camera for weddings with Ilford XP2 film and it worked great for that. I did have one problem and that was that the viewfinder circle that was suppose to indicate your focus area was off by about half the circle. I sent it into Konica for repair, but when I got it back it was no better than it was before I sent it. I sold it a while later and always said someday I was going to get another, but never did. Still a darn nice camera. JohnW</p>

<p>As Michael says, a camera is really the quality of the lens, and also an accurate shutter and meter. Some very nice images that have been posted, fine tonality and contrast range, but I am left wondering about the out of focus rendering. For example, in "Political activist", the light toned car in the background has a very much less than creamy double line ("ni-sen"?) bo-ke and it can also be seen in the last of Michael's images in the tree branches. The 1980s Leica Summicron 35mm RF lens was often quoted as the one to compare to for smooth or creamy bo-ke and the Hexar was one they compared that to in articles, but I am a little disappointed with the bo-ke of the 35mm Hexar, although it is no doubt a very fine lens overall. Even if their operation is a bit quirky these little cameras have a lot going for them (as did the subsequent Hexar RF interchageable lens camera, which I sold at one point and miss occasionally). I guess that one way to get around the shutter speed limitation might be to use a neutral density filter over the lens ij very bright light or with higher speed films.</p>

<p>I've run a couple of hundred rolls of film through my black Hexar AF over the last couple of years and taken it from the London Underground, across Britain, to Italy, Spain, Slovenia, America ... my preferred way of working is to load a Pentax 645N with Kodak Portra 400NC or Fuji Velvia 50 and keep the Hexar AF loaded with black and white film. Even as I find myself increasingly using the medium format camera, the Hexar is a perfect safety camera and for those times when one doesn't want to wield a massive chunk of metal like the Pentax.<br>

The silent mode is amazing for:</p>

<ul>

<li>Churches and cathedrals</li>

<li>Museums</li>

<li>Candid snapshots</li>

<li>Undergroud/subway</li>

<li>Low-light scenes - that f2 lens makes a world of difference</li>

<li>Anywhere one would like to make a discreet image</li>

</ul>

<p>I'm not sure it's overly complex, either. It's a wee bit fiddly to turn the silent mode on/off, but otherwise fairly straightforward. The AF always seems spot-on, but I find the metre to be too sensitive to light sources in the frame.</p>

<p>Love the pub. What is the shop that's open 12AM-8PM??</p>

<p>What might be the going price for a lightly used Konica Silver model. Am thinking of putting mine up for sale. I just never use it anymore,has flash, no scratches, clear lens and all, original box and manuals etc..Meaning beautiful to look at. Obscure for me to use if one uses it only once a year .. I hate to sell stuff so I am unschooled in selling but I got to learn I guess. Used to be a consignment place here that made it a breeze.<br /> No more consignment place. I think I have an eBay account, used it once. To buy, well of course a book... I must have paid around five hundred from B and H new.<br /> Any thoughts?</p>