Konica Hexar AF

First Impressions

I loved her right away when I took her out of the box. She is nicely designed and feals well in your hand. She looks like a hybrid between a modern camera and a classical rangefinder. And that is what this camera actually is. My camera came with a flash but I hardly use a flash even when I shoot indoor. I use mostly Ilford HP5 since you can push (or pull) it easily by two stops.

You can chose between P, A and M mode. Even in P the Hexar uses your selected aperture and if this is not possible tries to get as close as possible. In any case you get a warning in the viewfinder (+ or -) if the light conditions demand to change the settings. It has a fixed lense (35mm / 2,0) which is fine with me. I very rarely change lenses even on my other film cameras.

This is supposed to be one of the most silent cameras you can get. There are several versions (I have the Silver version) and from what I read they are all more or less the same. I got this camera to use it in public transportation or indoor which enables me to shoot silently and somewhat unnoticed.

Photos of my Konica Hexar AF

Handling

You can set everything you want with this camera (even ASA). But in every day life changing anything else but the aperture is a bit difficult with these small buttons and the user unfriendly menue. I am fine with this handicap since I mostly work with aperture priority and only make sure that the shutter speed is fast enough for what I am doing. Unfortunatly you can´t see the shutter speed in the viewfinder. But it shows in the display on top of the camera what is better than nothing.

The only sever downside of this camera is the autofocus. I don´t know if it is only my camera or a general problem: It often has a hard time to focus. Since the camera does not fire if it is out of focus (it shows a green light in the viewfinder, signaling that the focus is set) I miss shots regularly because of this. You can preset infinity but if you use so many different cameras like me it is hard to remember what button combination has to be pushed.

On the other hand I shot some of my favorite photos with this camera.Bbecause of the focusing issue I had not used the Konicar Hexar for quite a while. But now that I got her out again as I am writing this and since I reread some of the things about her I might change that again.

One thing about the lense: it is excellent. Contrast etc. are just the way I love it and you would pay the price I payed for the entire camera only for a similar lense of this quality.

Photos taken with my Konica Hexar AF

Relevant specifications

Film: 35mm
Production Time: 1993 - 2007?
Viewfinder: Green AF focus confirmation LED, too close focus warning, Plus/Minus LEDs for match needle and over/under exposure warnings
Frame lines: Parallax corrected with motorized framelines
Focus: Focusing system: active-infrared autofocus or manual adjustment
Max aperture: f/2,0 - f/22
Shutter speeds: 30 seconds to 1/250th
Film speed: ASA 25 - 5000, manual setting 6-6400
Power supply: 2 x 2CR5 (6 volt lithium battery)
Size: Length 137,5 (W) x 76.5 (H) x 64.5 (D) mm mm
Weight: 490 g without batteries
Price I payed: EUR 304