I pulled out the old Hexar to use as a walkin' around camera because I wanted to shoot with a 35mm length lens, and don't have one yet for the Leica / Voigtlander. I remember the Hexar fondly - but it has shortcomings: top speed of 1/250th.
(I thought that it went to 1/500th in Program mode, but I haven't been able to confirm that - and it might have been another one of the early designer cameras I was thinking of).
That is a serious drawback for walkin' around stuff. And, although the viewfinder is sharp and contrasty - the way the frame lines are shown (they move in a bit for parallex correction) doesn't give you that great sense of what exactly is in the frame that you have with a manual focus rangefinder.
On the plus side: the camera is very easy and comfortable to hand-hold at your side. You don't need (nor do they make) any sort of grip for it. And in "silent mode" (which was removed from the camera at some point for legal reasons) - in "silent mode" it is the quiestest of any (including Leica) rangefinder - and that's saying something.
The quality of the lens is also excellent. But all in all the camera isn't a substitute for a nice manual rangefinder.
5 comments:
Love my Hexar...I've gotten used to the 1/250 second top speed, carry around a 2x nd filter. Still not really a replacement for a true rangefinder...so if you feel like giving me one of your Leicas!
No; can't sell / get rid of this thing. It was the first auto-anything camera I ever bought / used; and I'm attached to it. There are some conditions where no other camera quite does the job (investigative work).
Hexar AF... CLASSIC?! HA! An impossible classification of an expensive camera made no earlier than 1993.
Now if you want to use a REAL classic, try out that FED-2(e) I gave you.
You will not have experienced the true meaning of the word, "Classic" til you've shot with one of these 16-Ruble Glorious Soviet Marvels of the 1960's, each one hand-adjusted by Brezhnev-regulated, Vodka-assisted technicians.
-- SteveR
Hexar Top Plate:
"HEXAR CLASSIC - 120 Years since 1873"
I actually have to call it The Classic to differentiate it from the AF Hexar. Plus that's what they called it.
Steve - I will admit that your FED is older - but a classic - not to our capitalist eyes. Age and bad engineering does not a classic make.
Now where did I park my Edsel.
"...Age and bad engineering does not a classic make..."
Dave,
Shhhhhhh - talk like that can get you sent to a re-education camp in Siberia....
Best regards,
Comrade SteveR
P.S. - as far as engineering - the shutter is exactly a 1932 Leica II design. The viewfinder/rangefinder is actually pretty good for a 1952 design - 69mm rangefinder baseline combined VF/RF vs. 38mm baseline and separate RF and VF for the screw-mount Leicas.
Now when it comes to materials, - ahem - that's another story... as is the vodka-induced "QA" in the machining and assembly of these "classics"
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