Hello folks of world:

I have just received 6 rolls of colour negs back shot with the M6(2) and the Black Hexar (4)(I shall now refer to it as the SR71)and the colours are bright, NO flare shooting street lights at night (I almost miss the polygon artifacts and rays)and hand-held shots at 1/8th are great- not perfect but better than anything else w/o tripod.

Thanks to some tips from respondants, I found all the instructions on the Net and now know how to activate the Stealth mode: wonderful!!! Tomorrow I get 2 rolls of Provia-100 & 400 - back and am sure the exposure will be bang on.

With 4x6S from the minilab I can not tell any difference. Tomorrow I order some 8x12s (I can't do colour here in Sing.) and later tonight I will process some Acros negs.

OOH AAAHHH OOOHHH AAAAHHHH.

-- RICHARD ILOMAKI (richardjx@hotmail.com), December 10, 2001

Answers

Before the Hexar came the S-3. 38mm/f:1.8 lens every bit as good as my 40mm Summicron. RF focusing, shutter preferred autoexposure, hi- eyepoint, seems to run 10 years or more on a mercury battery. I found a cache of 3 still in factory packing for $150/ea. Best camera I've ever had for street shooting.

-- Wiluhm (bmitch@home.com), December 10, 2001.

Sounds like someone is in the middle of a new "camera honeymoon"! Have fun with the Hexar and post some of your best shots.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), December 10, 2001.

Richard,

Are you talking about the Hexar AF with fixed 35mm f/2.0 lens? I have picked that camera up about ten time with the intention of buying one, but that 1/250th of a second top speed always changed my mind... heck the 1/1000th of my M makes me stop down more than I want sometimes.

Still, a camera and lens for less money than an old used pre-aspheric is enticing. Christmas is coming and I need a "toy", so maybe I'll pick up another and try to buy it before I over think the purchase.

-- Al Smith (smith58@msn.com), December 10, 2001.

Great camera, but I never got one because, it is the same size as an M. but can't change the lenses, so seems like unnecessary duplication. I always shoot all my shots at 1/250th unless I have to set lower when the light goes - eliminates camera shake - difficult to ensure with an electronic shutter - does it give shutter speed readout in the v/f?

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), December 10, 2001.

About the Konica Hexar... Keep in mind that this is a pretty old model. If you want to buy one brand new, you can only now buy the silver chrome body "Konica Hexar Silver". Unfortunately, Konica disabled the "silent mode" for this camera - so you can only use it in standard mode.

However, here in Australia it is possible to have the stealth mode re- enabled. (Shameless commercial plug...) I offer a service to have this done to your camera, see nemeng.com/equipment/ hexar.html for more details, price etc.

BTW, I have a 4-month old stealth-modified Konica Hexar Silver for sale. $US 425 plus shipping. Contact me directly if interested.

About the camera - practially the 1/250th top speed limit is no big deal as I mainly use the camera for indoor work. The lens is surprisingly good, hard to tell apart from a 35mm M Summicron ASPH at f5.6-f11 (at 1/2 its price!). You've got to watch the autofocus though. Point the cross-hairs in the viewfinder even slightly off subject and you'll get perfectly focused backgrounds with subjects completely out.

-- Andrew Nemeth (azn@nemeng.com), December 10, 2001.

I think it's a great camera, I have used mine for six or seven years now. The autofocus does take some practice, but far better a narrow zone than a large zone for af. Not sure that it's about Leica Photography though....

Malibu Hard, Konica Hexar, Copyright 2001 Jeff Spirer

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), December 10, 2001.

My experiences have been similar to Richard’s. I think I def. can tell 4x6 snapshots with the Hexar apart from those done by most other P&S’. Great camera, but I never got one because, it is the same size as an M. but can't change the lenses, so seems like unnecessary duplication. I always shoot all my shots at 1/250th unless I have to set lower when the light goes - eliminates camera shake - difficult to ensure with an electronic shutter - does it give shutter speed readout in the v/f?

As others have mentioned, you can carry a 2x and/or 4x ND filter for bright situations. Most neg. film seem to be forgiving of overexposure.

The VF is too simple/just right, depending on your perspective. You get the moving parallax framelines, which also help you know approximately where the camera’s focussing. The focus is spot focus via the cross hairs in the VF. I’ve never had an incorreclty focused shot over the 4 years I’ve used this camera. A flashing LED for when you’re below shake speed (on P mode), flashing LED’s when the distance is too close. And meter readings (+/-) when you’re in manual mode.

It’s a great camera. The stealth mode is superquiet- but b/c of a licensing disagreement, it’s not found models after the first release. I find it a little bulky compared to the M6 with 35 Cron/Asph. And the build quality is no where the near the same.

-- Tse-Sung (tsesung@yahoo.com), December 10, 2001.

That link again:

My experiences have been similar to Richard's....

-- TS (tsesung@yahoo.com), December 10, 2001.

Boy you guys are lucky!

I've been trying to track down a Hexar with silent mode for over a year now, here in England, and no joy. Well I did find one but the guy wanted $800.

If anyone has any ideas please let me know.

Thanks,

-- Ravinder Walia (ravinder_walia@hotmail.com), December 10, 2001.

Ravinder

Morris Photographic in Oxford had one for around £300 some months back. They crop up in AP all the time; I got mine for £250 (with dateback, and mint).

I use mine in tv studios and the pro publicity photographers are always staggered by the silent mode. The lens is easily leica quality, especially a stop or two down -- and the 250th sec never bothered me. And Annie Liebovitz uses one...

-- Martin Davidson (martin@foxcombe1.demon.co.uk), December 11, 2001.

Ravinder--

See Andrew Nemeth's posting above...You can buy a new Hexar Silver and send it to him to have the stealth mode added, and it will still cost less (or around the same) as a minty older Hexar which has the stealth mode already. And you'll have a brand new camera with warranty. I had this done to my Hexar Silver, and it is functionally just like the older versions. (I didn't have it done through Andrew, though I think you can trust him to do it properly and return the camera to you.) It's well worth it, 'cause the stealth mode is the BEST thing about the Hexar.

-- Douglas Kinnear (douglas.kinnear@colostate.edu), December 11, 2001.

Though I use the stealth mode of my Hexar Classic very often, I respectfully disagree with Douglas. The best thing about it is the LENS!

-- George (gdgianni@aol.com), December 11, 2001.

Hmmm...That's what everybody says. The lens on mine must be a lemon, or the AF is out-of-whack, 'cause the results often aren't too sharp. But it's still a helluva camera. The quietest and fastest-shooting camera I've used.

-- Douglas Kinnear (douglas.kinnear@colostate.edu), December 12, 2001.

Douglas, getcher camera to New Jersey for a CLA or whatever else. You should generally have you sox knocked off when you take snaps with this one.

-- Tse-Sung (tsesung@yahoo.com), December 12, 2001.

Well, I've had it CLA'd and my socks are still on my feet :-) How large are your prints? My prints start at 8"x10" and go larger from there, so perhaps the lens performance just doesn't hold up at such enlargements but is fine at smaller sizes. Or perhaps I've been spoiled by some truly great 35mm optics (Summicron and a couple of nice Nikkors).

To keep this in perspective, though, if a picture works, it works -- and somewhat more or less sharpness rarely affects the picture's impact. I think photographers (including me, at times) are more obsessed with sharpness than are viewers. But when you slave away over the enlarger for hours on end, trying to produce nice prints, well, you tend to get obsessive, I guess.

-- Douglas Kinnear (douglas.kinnear@colostate.edu), December 13, 2001.