Hexanon 50mm/1.2 -- Where was it sold originally?

[35mmdelux]

Hello All;

Can someone tell me where Hexanon gear was originally sold. Perhaps I have not looked or inquired enough but Ive never seen them in any of the shops on my route. Tks.

 

[infrequent]

the 50/1.2 hex was part of a special production for the year 2001. its was only ever sold as a kit with a titanium Hexar RF as a numbered pair. of course some of this pairs have been broken up and the lens can often be found on evilbay. rarity might be a reason why its not easily seen in many brick and mortar camera shops.

 

[Goldorak]

Wasn't it specifically for Japan's domestic Market? You can find it on HeavenBay. Never heard of evilbay.

 

[FA Limited]

there's one at the matsuiyastore

 

[jmkelly]

Konica did a terrible job marketing the Hexar RF. I never saw one - regular model, much less the Limited kit with the 50/1.2 - in any of my local (West Coast) shops. I bought mine in 2000 online from Kurland Photo.

 

[tyrone.s]

As I understand it the Hexanon 50/1.2 was only available as part of a Millennium kit that Konica put together. In this kit each Hexar RF featured a serial number on the lip of the hotshoe: XXXX/2001. The lens and the camera featured a Titanium colour (looks quite silvery) as opposed to the normal black finish. The model also has the words Hexar RF Limited printed on it. The kit was only officially sold in Japan - and the manual for this version of the Hexar Rf was printed in Japanese only. A shame they used english and not Kanji on the camera itself really!

Like many (I guess), I have the body, but not the lens ...

Apart from any marketing shortcomings that Konica displayed, I think price might also have played a part in the (relative, presumed, mythical) failure of the Hexar RF to find a market. The camera shop that I bought my Hexar from in Adelaide SA is run by a Hexar RF user and he told me that the regular kit was something like (from memory) AUS$3000 when it came out (maybe more?). Big dollars!

At full retail the Hexar would have been a highly priced item without the highly priced cachet of say, that other brand. And back in the late 1990's, before the Internet was being used by literally everyone and most Aussie's were on 36k dialup connections, well it's not like every potential customer for a Hexar RF would have perceived the value or even gone out and researched it (although I'm sure some did).

Anyway, great camera. It would be interesting to find out how well the Hexar RF actually did in the market and how it fitted into the Konica business model.

 

[awilder]

According to Konica repair expert Greg Weber, the 50/1.2 M Hexanon was also made in black. I wonder if this was available as a separate lens?

 

[Erik L]

Konica did a terrible job marketing the Hexar RF. I never saw one - regular model, much less the Limited kit with the 50/1.2 - in any of my local (West Coast) shops. I bought mine in 2000 online from Kurland Photo.

pretty much the whole history of konica and minolta is just like this. part of the reason i got the minolta SLR is just the fact no lenses were selling and it was simply very cheap compared to the competition. i have to believe that any operations outside of japan werent taken seriously.