Konica Hexar
© 2007 KenRockwell.com
Konica Hexar Silver. enlarge
I got this as a gift to the Retirement Ranch from Jim Greenberg in Pittsburgh. You can also find them used here. I usually get my goodies at Ritz, Amazon and Adorama. It helps me keep adding to this site when you get yours from those links, too.
September 2007
See more Hexar image examples at Free Digital Camera, which is this is if you want.
Top Specs Performance Recommendations
The Konica Hexar is a magnificsnet 1990s 35mm film camera that no one has ever seen. It is probably the best hand-held, low-light camera ever made. Even the noisiest version of the Hexar is more queit than any other 35mm camera I have ever used.
I was always curious, but I never saw one until 2007 when this one was given to me so that I could write about it.
The Hexar was developed by Konica, who was the world's largest maker of film, paper and professional photo lab gear, to show off what it could do. It was introduced in 1993. "Hexar" is related to all the other "Hex" product names Konica had been using for decades. When I started serious photography in the 1970s, Konica called its 35mm SLR lenses "Hexanon."
The Hexar was expensive, since it was designed by and for photographers with little or no compromise. It was not designed for snapshooters to have showy feartures which would allow camera stores to push them on easily impressed amateurs. Just as a great, high-priced camera today without enough meaningless megapixels wouldn't sell, the Hexar wasn't loaded with enough stupid features that get in the way of real photographers to let it sell well in the USA.
I forget for what it sold originally, since I never saw one in a store and all the magazine ads said "call."
Today you can get them used for the same price as a throw-away digital compact, and the Hexar works soooooo much faster and cleaner.
The Hexar is a handsome, pure camera. It has and does what you need it to, and doesn't have silly fluff features, like repeating flash, that get in your way.
The Hexar competed against the Leica Minilux, Nikon 35Ti, Contax G1 and G2 and T3 and TVs and other near-$1,000 35mm film compact cameras. Unlike its competitors, the Hexar is always ready to pounce on a shot. The Hexar's lens is always ready to go, it does not need to extend when the Hexar is turned on. Other compacts have a slow motor to exend the lens, which can miss shots. You can leave the Hexar's power ON all the time. It goes to sleep after a couple of hours, and wakes up instantly as soon as you touch it.
The Hexar has a standard 46mm filter thread. 46mm filters are inexpensive. I leave a UV on it all the time, so I never have to worry about losing the nice dedicated metal slip-on cap.
Konica Hexar Silver, with solid metal cap.
HISTORY
I get a little soft here, since the Hexar has always been a bit of a mystery to me. Don't take this as Gospel.
1993: Konica introduces the first Hexar. It's black and has no date-back. The date version came a little later.
1993: Also in 1993 Konica made 2,000 chrome "Classic" versions in a commemrative box and engraved something like "120th anniverasy, since 1873." If you were even sillier,m there was a Gold version, of which 500 were made, and the case, not the camera, was marked 120th anniversary. The Gold and Classic added autobracketing, otherwise they're the same as the other first Hexars.
Rhodium: The Rhodium version was pinkish silver, otherwise, its' the same camera as the black ones. It came out about 1994. Rhodium adds AF for IR film, manual GN entry, direct expsoure compensation entry, and multiple exposures.
1997: Silver. The Silver version is slightly different from the earlier versions. THe bad part is that it's silver, not professional black. The Silver adds all of the newest features which may or may not be in your copy of earlier versions as Konica invented them. Specifically, the Silver has :
Ability to key in the guide number of any external manual flash for full-auto flashmatic use.
Date-imprinting back (Mine has a sticker on the box that says "with AUTO DATE," so this possibly was an option.
Ability to tell the Hexar that you're using infra-red film, after which it will automatiucally compute the correct forcus! Not only that, it's smart enough that you can tell it if you're using Kodak or Konica IR film, and it adjusts optimaly for each. Heck, I have no idea for what film the single IR marks are on every other lens I own, and this Konica does both.
Multiple Exposures, and counts them up until you hit 9. It stops counting, but can keep going, if you want. It's not smart enough to compensate additive exposures automatically.
, direct expsoure compensation entry,
THe one thing the Silver lacks is the extra-super-silent mode. So? Have you ever used a Hexar, or just read about it on the internet as I did before I got one? THe Silver is the queitest 35mm camera I've ever used. It's so queit that I often don't know if I took a picture or not! I want the super-silent mode, but I'll bet you if I ever had one with it that I'd not use it. It's freaky not knowing if the camera fired ort not, and that's with my Silver without th emagic super queit mode.
Folklore suggests that
2003: Konica and Minolta merged.
2006: Konica Minolta sold to Sold, who dumped all the film products.
Hexar 1993 - Aug-97 |
Rhodium (pink) |
Classic (chrome) |
Gold (gold & brown) |
Silver Apr 1997 - |
Titaium (Titanium) 3/1999- |
|
| queit | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | |
| super-queit | yes | yes | yes | yes | maybe | |
| AF for IR film | no | yes | yes | yes | yes | |
| GN | no | yes | yes | yes | yes | |
| Multi-exp | no | yes | yes | yes | yes | |
| Date | opt | opt | yes | yes | yes | |
| Direct manual exposure entry | ? | yes | yes | yes | yes | |
| AE autobracket | no | no | yes | yes | no | no |
| cover | peble rubber |
4/97 $600 w/flash
Dec 2001 s$550.
12/99: Hexar M: $1,600.
121/99 bhp $539.95 QD
OPERATION
In PFL, if flash not yet recycled, Hexar too stupid to know and exposes as if the flash will fire.
KR
----------------------
-------------------------
Okay, this how it goes:
First make sure your camera is powered off.
Then:
1: Turn the aperture dial to F22
2: Turn the camera on and press SELECT. The display will show +/-0.0
3: Press SELECT again. The display will show [0]
4: Turn the camera off, then on. Do not press any buttons. Display shows [0]
5: Enter ROM with the exposure compensation buttons:
Press right button 1 time
Press left button 2 times
Press right button 3 times
Press left button 4 times
Press right button 3 times
Press left button 2 times
Press right button 1 time
The camera will rattle and buzz and the display will show the flashing number '232'
6: Turn aperture dial from f22 to f13 (between f11 and f16). Display shows A[38] Use the left exposure compensation button to go to A[00]
7: Turn aperture dial to f16. The display shows D[FB]
8: Set display to D[FA] with the exposure compensation button.
9: Power off. The display shows f16
10: Press shutter release button for 2 secs. f16 disappears, camera switches off
11: Press MF while turning camera on, and the display will show the much desired L[0]
It really works! My Hexar silver whispers, although I had to do the whole procedure twice because I made a little mistake which disabled all the other extra's like ABC and infrared focusing. Everything's working fine again though after following the instructions more carefully. Good luck, and remember that I can't be held responsible for camera's that stop working!
--------
How to add AE Bracketing.
Follow the steps as above.
At step 8, instead of setting D[FA] set D[FE].
Power off, then
hold the shutter release as described above.
You should then get Silent Mode, AEB as well as all the extra Hexar Classic features.
-----------------
May lose IR from above.
I always rated the Konica ir film at iso 8(25-on my nikon) and used a red-filter....on the hexar..
---------
Oh, by the way, to those who seem to have lost IR-Mode on the Hexar Silver after programming the Silent Mode, use the following procedure (exactly!):
load film, and switch camera on (P, A, or M mode)
IR film is non DX, so press the shutter release button to advance to frame 1. (Note that IR-Mode does not work with DX coded film!!)
switch to A mode, then press SELECT until ISO values are displayed.
Within 3 secs, press DOWN untill [---] is shown.
Immediately press MF once to display [750] (corresponding to Konica IR750 film) press MF twice to display [850] (corresponding to Kodak's 850 film) (the numbers correspond to the wavelength the films are sensitive for)
after 3 secs, the display will show [iso 100], acknowledging successful setting of IR value.
for correct exposure, consult the data sheet of the film
-------------------
Multi-exposure
switch from Off to P-mode while pressing SELF
the display will show 0 left of number of shot, e.g. 0[03] with each exposure, the left number increases, e.g. 1[03], 2[03] etc..
switch to Off, and the film is transported to the next frame.
more than 9 exposures are possible, but not indicated.
Manual selection of flash guide number
switch from Off to P-mode while pressing SELECT
keep pressing SELECT and use UP/DOWN for GN selection
when releasing SELECT, camera displays [PFl].
switch to Off, and the selection is deleted.
when required GN number is not available, select nearest lower number, e,g. GN24 not available, then select GN23.
Infrared auto focus
load film, and switch camera on (P, A, or M mode)
IR film is non DX, so requires pressing the shutter release button to advance to frame 1.
switch to A mode, then press SELECT until ISO values are displayed. Within 3 secs, press DOWN untill [---] is shown. press MF once to display [750] (corresponding to Konica IR750 film) press MF twice to display [850] (corresponding to Kodak's 850 film) (the numbers correspond to the wavelength the films are sensitive for) after 3 secs, the display will show [iso 100], acknowledging successful setting of IR value.
for correct exposure, consult the data sheet of the film.
Fast exposure setting (fast related to setting, not exposure!)
select aperture in M-mode.
partially press shutter release button.
display shows proper shutter time.
press UP or DOWN, and that time is selected. This allows for a very quick spotmetering. When now the composition is changed, including DOF, the measured time still is used.
Auto-bracketing
switch to M-mode and press SELECT until [+/- 0.0] is shown.
use UP/DOWN to select increment, from 1/3 to 2 stops.
when pressing shutter release, three exposures are taken.
Important:
though engaged in M-mode, switching to A or P is possible before pressing shutter release.
bracketing varies shutter release time. When in P-mode this is outside of the range 1/250 - camera shake critical speed, the aperture is changed.
autofocus is activated before the first exposure and maintained for second and third.
shutter release time indication shown in A or P mode is only calculated for the first exposure. Under low light conditions, the shutter time may end up under the camera shake critical speed. When in doubt use a tripod.
when the aperture/shutter time combination falls entirely out of the range of the Hexar, the exposure is not made. This results in only 1 or 2 exposures.
when the film is full, the bracketing is stopped, and the film gets rewinded.
when using bracketing together with EV-compensation in A or P mode, the entire bracket moves up or down the amount of the compensation.
no bracketing is possible with flash or T(time) exposures.
bracketing has to be cancelled by setting the EV to [+/-0.0] again.
Top Introduction Performance Recommendations
Distortion: Barrel, use +2.0 in Photoshop CS2's lens distortion filter to correct it.
Ghosts: Yes, a big orange blob opposite the light.
7 elements in 6 groups
No shiutter cocking
0.7x vf
290 step AF, 2-channel active IR. IR film compensation. Spherical aberation compensation.
15 or 4 degrees
0-16 or 3-18 EV
6-6400 ISO
No remote or cable release
mid-roll rewind, pauses at --- for film tip out.
Battery: 2CR5
Rear Sync
Top Introduction Specs Recommendations
HX-14 flash real GN 28' @ ISO 100 (GN 8.5m @ ISO 100)
Acrophica: Leica Summicron , but really a 1958 Nikon 35/1.8 W-Nikkor RF lens.
Top Introduction Specs Performance
s.
More INfo
Frank Van Riper, The Washington Post, September 9, 1993.
PLUG
If you find this as helpful as a book you might have had to buy or a workshop you may have had to take, feel free to help me continue helping everyone.
Thanks for reading!
Ken
Caveat: The all the ads below come from third parties. I don't see them before they appear on your screen. See more at my Buying Advice page. Personally I get my goodies at Ritz (the store, not the hotel gift shop), Amazon and Adorama.