Nikon 35Ti vs Hexar AF?

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MatthewThompson

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I know they're not *really* in the same class, but for street/casual shooting and B&W work, are there any users that have experience with both? Looking to have a dedicated film camera to feed a darkroom I've been meaning to set up and both of these whet my whistle, so to speak. I'm selling a nice wide-zoom to finance, so I want to make an informed choice.

They both review really well, and are at the top of their respective games. Apart from size, can anyone compare/contrast them in the real world? Either is going to be a welcome break from a 5D (primes or not).
 
I have the Nikon, and once I had the Hexar in my hands.

The Nikon is smaller. It also has customized functions (4, I believe), and the leaf shutter is so quiet you don't hear it. The lens, a 35mm f2.8 Nikkor, is a tad slower than the Hexar's f2, but the size is the clincher for me. And with the Nikon you have a panoramic option absent in the Hexar.

There you go! 🙂 Have fun shopping!
 
Only had the Hexar, really wish that I hadn't sold it. The Hexar shutter is silent as well, film advance is near silent. Great lens, really great lens. Significantly bigger than the Nikon Ti. If size/weight are important, get the Nikon, if not, definitely get the Hexar. My avatar was shot with a Hexar. Crazy sharp with nice OOF rendering. (There is detail in the dog's head on the (wet) print.)
 

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I recently purchased a used Nikon 35Ti from a member on RFF and after using it for a while, I find it a very nice camera. Popular Photography once did an extensive test review comparing the Contax T2, Nikon 35Ti and Hexar AF and the bottom line was that the Nikon was the top of the group but all were actually pretty close in their final analysis. The Nikon's main advantage is a slightly faster shutter speed (1/500 in P mode, 1/330 in A mode) built-in flash, smaller size, panaramic setting, very close minimum focus to 0.4 m (only the Contax T3 focuses closer at 0.35 m) and Matrix metering (accurate most of the time so Nikon doesn't offer an AE lock when recomposing after performing AF lock). I've used the T2, T3, TVS and TVS III. The Nikon 35Ti was bested only by the T3 mainly due to it's smaller size and extra custom features.
 
Tried a Nikon 35Ti once, seemed pretty nice, certainly up to snuff technically.

Had a Hexar AF for about five years. Amazing camera.

Replaced Hex AF with Ricoh GR-1. Loved it. Smaller than all the above, has great 28mm f/2.8 lens. Broke it after a fall. Repair pending.

Currently use Contax Tvs (purchased from FrankS) as my take-everywhere compact. 28-56 zoom is necessarily slower than fixed lens on abovementioned cameras, but hardly a major impediment for me. In some ways it's my favorite of all.


- Barrett
 
GR-1 Repair Job

GR-1 Repair Job

amateriat said:
...
Replaced Hex AF with Ricoh GR-1. Loved it. Smaller than all the above, has great 28mm f/2.8 lens. Broke it after a fall. Repair pending.

...


- Barrett
Click to expand...

Where do you have your GR-1 repaired? Thanks,

Kind regards,
 
zleica said:
Where do you have your GR-1 repaired? Thanks,

Kind regards,
Click to expand...
These guys are said to handle Ricoh quite well, but I've yet to send mine off to them. Hope to finally do this in the next month or so, although I'm having so much fun with the Contax I could be further delayed. 😉


- Barrett
 
The Tvs was and still is the best featured P&S. You get a true electronic rangefinder manual focus ability with correct focus confirmation, panaramic feature, up to +/- 5 EV exposure compensation, LCD viewfinder frame adjust like the G1/G2 for correct framing and field of view. They are very inexpensive on the used market. Biggest drawbacks: slow lens, vignetting wide open requiring about 1.5-2 stops down for respectable control and despite it's advanced the finder, it only shows about 85% if the actual frame like every other P&S. The Tvs III was actually a better picture taker, smaller, better lens with greater sharpness and contrast (still has the vignetting issue), faster top shutter speed, and nice data back included.
 
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The hexar af has much faster focussing, the lens Extends and aperture blades go into place upon manually setting the focus distance (and stay there) or upon half press of the shutter release making it extremely fast with shutter lag similar to a leica mp; the viewfindernis better and it can be used in metered manual mode; it also has a hot shoe. The pinpoint focus system of the hexar is more precise than the active focus of the nikon. Get the hexar!
 
I have both right now (also have the 28Ti, which incorporated some improvements over the 35Ti). I think whether you choose 1 or the other depends on what you're looking for in a shooter. The way I see it, the 35Ti, though it has more manual controls than your typical point & shoot, still feels & handles like a point & shoot. Similarly, I think the Hexar, though it is more automated than other fixed-lens RFs, still works more like an updated autofocus version of an old-school fixed-lens RF (e.g., Canonet) or a downscaled Kyocera Contax G2/G1 than an upgraded point & shoot. Bottom line, the 35Ti can fit in a pocket, but that comes w/a cost; the Hexar works more like a "real" camera, but can't fit in a pocket.

Specifics:

I haven't noticed a huge difference in autofocus speed, but would give the edge to the Hexar. The Hexar definitely has the better VF. The 35Ti has a good VF for a point & shoot, but the view is squintier & the framelines are small; also, the 35Ti's parallax correction is more rudimentary (extra framelines are added down & to the right, as opposed to the Hexar's single set of parallax, & focus-distance, corrected framelines that move & change size). On the other hand, I like the fact that the 35Ti actually shows shutter speeds numerically in the VF, whereas the Hexar only has under/overexposure lights & shows the shutter speed on the camera's external LCD display, which I find annoying & inconvenient.

As far as lens quality, both have been good performers so far, but I prefer the Hexar's faster lens, both for shooting in dark environments & for greater control over DoF. If you shoot mostly outdoors or do a lot of landscape-type stuff, your preference might be for the 35Ti. I haven't shot either camera enough in tricky lighting conditions to tell if the 35Ti's matrix metering is really all it's cracked up to be (I normally prefer having AE lock), but the Hexar's external, non-TTL, metering (the sensor cell is actually on the outside) seems to work fine. I was initially worried that I might accidentally block the sensor (located approx. where a self-timer is on a Leica M3, Contax IIa, etc.), but that hasn't happened AFAIK.

Both have quiet leaf shutters, but I think the 35Ti actually has a louder film advance than the Hexar, even when the Hexar isn't in "silent" mode; this is probably because of the 35Ti's smaller size. The 35Ti actually seems to be denser & more solid than the Hexar on account of its titanium shell.
 
awilder bought the 35ti from me. Nice camera, I just wasn't using it enough. I used to have a Hexar AF... wish I hadn't had to give it back. (a very VERY extended loan from the konica sales rep, I had the camera about 2 years!)

So, some pluses and minuses for each:

Hexar: positive: Amazing lens, f2.0, unbelievably quiet (in the normal mode no one else would hear you take the picture, in the silent mode, the photographer can't even hear the camera!), comfortable grip, great viewfinder, hotshoe, full manual mode (and A and P)
negative: limited top shutter speed (same issue applies to the 35ti), odd unintuitive controls for quite a few functions, generally quirky, very basic auto flash system (although the GN mode they added later was nice to have), no built in flash,bulky size.

35ti: positive: Very good lens, smaller unobstrusive body, well built, illuminated frame lines, very good auto-flash system, built in flash, matrix metering (w/ flash as well), cool control layout, useful (if somewhat hidden) custom functions.
negative: limited top shutter speed (as hexar), no full manual mode, no provisions for external flash, not quite as nice a v/f (but still good), and not as quiet.


Either camera is a great shooter. If I had to pick I'd take the Hexar though.
 
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BTMarcais mentioned the illuminated framelines on the 35Ti, a very usefull feature in near darkness when I was shooting fireworks pictures on 7/4. They come on automatically in low light and are quite helpful in framing and getting the camera level with the horizon. The "T" shutter speed option is also a nice touch for these types of time exposure shots.
 
1 caveat re: the frames on the 35Ti. If you use the custom settings to default to "no flash" (i.e., you must push & hold the tiny flash button on the lower front whenever you want to use flash), you lose the automatic illumination & have to activate it manually w/another button on top (it then stays lit a for a few seconds). The 28Ti improved on this by having a dedicated switch on the lower front that activates/disables the flash so those settings do not affect the framelines (which are automatically illuminated in low light).

Another quirk of both the 35Ti & 28Ti is that you have to use 1 of the custom settings to disable the (cropped) panoramic framelines, which normally clutter up the regular framelines. None of these are difficult to reset, but it certainly helps to have the manual if you buy 1.

awilder said:
BTMarcais mentioned the illuminated framelines on the 35Ti, a very usefull feature in near darkness when I was shooting fireworks pictures on 7/4. They come on automatically in low light and are quite helpful in framing and getting the camera level with the horizon. The "T" shutter speed option is also a nice touch for these types of time exposure shots.
Click to expand...
 
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Thanks furcafe! I was tempted to use the custom "flash off" setting but really like the auto illuminated framelines in low light. I think now I'll leave it alone and turn off the flash by pushing the button as needed.
 
I'm going through the same ordeal. I looked at all the info I could find for the 35ti & Minolta TC-1 and if I had the opportunity I'd get the TC-1. I owned a Hexar AF and regret selling it. If I had the cash or the proper gear to offer for a trade I'd like to go for the TC-1, but I don't. So I've decided to try and get a Hexar AF and have gear to trade in the RFF classifieds. I know I'll be happy with the Hexar as I've missed the speed and quality of the pictures it takes.....
 
johnny9fingers said:
I'm going through the same ordeal. I looked at all the info I could find for the 35ti & Minolta TC-1 and if I had the opportunity I'd get the TC-1. I owned a Hexar AF and regret selling it. If I had the cash or the proper gear to offer for a trade I'd like to go for the TC-1, but I don't. So I've decided to try and get a Hexar AF and have gear to trade in the RFF classifieds. I know I'll be happy with the Hexar as I've missed the speed and quality of the pictures it takes.....
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I got to shoot with a client's TC-1 some years ago. I liked the perfect-circle Waterhouse stops (hence the crazy-lovely bokeh), but the flip side of this feature was (1) you only had a handful of f/stops, and (2) you only had aperture-priority AE. Given the stiff price of the thing (both then, when it was new, and now, on the used market), I couldn't deal with it. Great picture-taker, though.

I (somewhat reluctantly) ditched my Hexar AF to buy the first of my two Hexar RF bodies. I also had the Ricoh GR-1 at the same time, which was getting used a lot more than the Hex AF (sometimes, size does matter, guys), which cushioned the blow a bit...at least until I dropped the Ricoh and did enough damage to disable it. Had a few El Cheapo p/s cameras before getting the Contax Tvs earlier this year, and taking that camera as far South as Florida (Al, Raid and Michael: sorry I missed you guys!), and as far North as Upstate New York. And the film keeps a-rolling.

I suppose the moral here (heh, assuming there is one), is that if you manage to get hold of any of the really good cameras mentioned in this thread), you've got the goods to do Really Good Stuff, with minimal qualifications. But, for me at least, it really helps if the thing fits in a pocket, or, failing that, a small belt pouch. 🙂


- Barrett
 
The true beauty of the Hexar was the speed and silence. I could have the camera in one hand point in the direction of the subject, rest it on a table or just against my body, and snap a few quick shots and no one even knew I was taking their picture. Of course, it took a while before could shoot like that without looking through the veiwfinder. I need to get this camera again....
 
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