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Hexar AF opinions?


farnz

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I only used the Hexar RF - the one that could accept M-mount lenses. The AF had a fixed "Summicron 35 v.4 copy" which was too limited to interest me - definitely a minus in my book..

Some useful background in this Camerquest profile, especially noting some changes between early and late versions, and "secret controls."

https://www.cameraquest.com/konhex.htm

The RF version had two faults that made me give it up after 6 months - a "Woody Woodpecker-sounding" motorized film advance" "HEhhEhhEhhEHHHHHHehhh!.........."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s637-5A9Gro

And a viewfinder in which the RF images would split or align even without touching the focus ring, if one's eye moved away from dead center behind the large eyepiece. Useless for consistent focus with anything longer/faster than a 50mm at f/4.

Which was too bad, because I really liked the concept of a motor-incorporated M-sized body, and a finder that showed more space around the 28mm framelines.

The AF had a quieter (even near-silent) motor, and avoided the whole viewing/focus issue via AF.

Edited by adan
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@adan Thanks for your comments, Andy.

I have 2 Hexar RF's so I'm familiar with them and always felt that with 1/4000th shutter speed, auto-film threading, auto-wind-on and autorewind is what the M7 might have been.  The film advance noise has never bothered me but I came to the RF from a Pentax MZ whose wind-on noise regularly woke the dead so perhaps I was more 'acclimatised'.😄 

The reason I asked about usability of the AF is that I've read reports of its loud wind-on "making it unusable for street photography", which I mark down as a slight exaggeration probably but wanted to garner independent opinions so hopefully others might chip in too.

Pete.

 

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On 6/28/2019 at 10:24 PM, farnz said:

I'm considering buying a Hexar AF as a compact, lightweight walk-around camera and I'm interested in the opinions of those who have owned and used one please?  Pluses and minuses?

Pete.

Hello Pete,

go for it, I had  a Hexar AF for years and might get one again soon ! 

The lens is really stunning. Try get the black version which comes with the silent mode option built in ; the silver version needs programming to "hack" this mode in !

Please find attached some useful quick reference cards !

Cheers, JM

 

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The minus points about the Hexar AF is a weak shutter button and fitting a e46 filter can damage the front lens element when focussing at the 0,60m minimum distance, so an extra e46/e46 step up ring is required to avoid this issue.

Shot with a silver Hexar AF and Kodak E200:

in Mumbai by JM__, on Flickr

Jabal Sabir, Taiz, Yemen by JM__, on Flickr

Jabal Sabir, Taiz, Yemen by JM__, on Flickr

on the road, Taiz, Yemen by JM__, on Flickr

Cheers, JM

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The lens can be adapted to M mount :

Street wise by JM__, on Flickr

and some say it is similar to the 35 Konica L39 f2 lens .

Best, JM

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I bought mine in 1998 and it's my oldest working camera that I still use. It's a love and hate relationship. Sometimes the lack of information in the viewfinder in combination with the fastest shutter speed of 1/250 drives me nuts. Love the lens and the silent mode. It's a visual notebook on my trips.

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