hexar af models?

[izo]

hello, haven't been here for a while..
anyway, i must ask: which af models are there?
till now, i know there's:
-black
-silver
-rhodium
-titanium
-gold
anything else? is that true that titanium model was limited edition (i know gold version was for some anniversary or something)?
if somebody knows, please tell what were production figures for every model, and how much is approximately every model worth today, eu market (don't have to be exact number). i'm most interested in titanium model, somebody is selling it.
thank you.

edit:
here is some info, but not on titanium
http://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konica_Hexar

 

[izo]

ok, found this, too
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisbouman/3311785477/
but still, more info will be great..

 

[sahe69]

There's also the Classic. which looks like the Silver, but has black rubber in place of the leatherette.

I had an unused Titanium which I sold recently for 450 (or was it 500?) euros. I may have got more from eBay but took the easy option and sold it on a domestic forum. I've no idea from the production figures, but this seems to be one of the rarest models, along with Rhodium.

 

[Ming The Merciless]

I have a black stealth mode version and a silver non stealth mode version. I paid around $370.00 USD for the black one over a year ago. As soon as I bought it I noticed prices for the Hexar AF's shot up to between $400.00 & $600.00. Just about a month ago a store on Ebay had the silver model and I also got that for $370.00. I don't think either one I own is a collectors item but I sure love using these two out on the street.

 

[izo]

aha. i was expecting something like that..
this hexar af fever grabs from time to time, these time happened just by browsing some photo adds on domestic web market, so i have chance to see it in fisrt hand before buying it, big plus for me.
but price is ridiculous, 1100€. he mentioned it is limited edition, only 500 (which i already see it's not true) were made etc. just to be clear, here it's really small market, didn't really expect to see this kind of camera in ad, but it can happen, obviously. so basically, price is just shoot in the blind.
this is top of the camera

just one more thing: does all this special editions come with special box, flash etc? must ask about this too, but price really turns me down..

 

[sahe69]

Yep that's a Titanium. 1100 euros is definitely too much, you should get 2 pcs for that price and even then I wouldn't call it a bargain.

My Titanium was in a normal grey cardboard box and did not come with a flash if I remember right.

The Rhodium on the other hand was in a wooden box with the flash and all sorts of fancy stuff, like a Japanese phone card made out of Rhodium (?)

 

[ampguy]

I've had 4, but now only have 2. All were black original ones with silent mode. However, I rarely use silent mode, so if I were looking for one now, I wouldn't worry about that and the programming that into it. I think a date back model would be cool.

 

[Frank Petronio]

I've had four of them over the years but no longer. I am now scared of the sticky/funky shutter switch issue seeing that they are getting to be rather old for electronic cameras. Maybe I've just had a string of bad luck, but I've had three 20-yr old cameras fail in the past six months due to electronics, corrosion, etc. Also the 1/250 max speed gets really old after a while and while the AF is excellent, I am never quite sure what exactly is in focus.

Also it is so damn quiet and smooth, that even in regular mode it is hard to know if I took the picture!

But for $400 the lens is as good as anything out there and my pictures are indistinguishable from those made with Leicas, etc.

 

[izo]

uf, just realized now, i posted this in wrong section. i thought i was in rangefinder/fixed lens section. sorry for that. admin, if this can be relocated, please do.

 

[KoNickon]

I have one of the original black models, with data back. I don't know whether this was a variant of all the models or not, but according to Stephen Gandy's writeup this is apparently very rare in the original version.

 

[izo]

i don't understand this "original" thing. they're all same camera inside i think (ok, some minor differences in "software), just with different body finish, that's all..
as for me goes, i don't care which model is (probably would like black version most), since my goal is to use camera. but since there aren't any chances to get this camera here (except ebay etc), titanium would be just fine, but not with that doubled (or maybe even tripled) price.

 

[Alex Krasotkin]

I have 2 of them, Silver and Classic, and recently bought another Silver one. I must confess, that I have done at least 30% of my best shots with this little jem, therefore will continue to buy and use them.

 

[izo]

just to spice a little bit, i contacted the seller etc. he is not a photographer, but he did have very interesting things to sell. on the list there are 3!! konica hexars (classic, titanium and silver in kit with flash and one additional flash), ricoh gr1s!, leica r6 with 50/1.4 lens.
now price is little bit less, he wants 900 for titanium and 750 for other two. he try to convicted me that this are e-bay prices, but i know that's not true, prices are about 400, 450€ for buy now situation..
anyway, i will probably go check all that in person, maybe i can manage to reduce price to normal ground. still very surprised by exotic cameras, at least exotic here, where i live. and 3 of them, not to mention ricoh etc. i guess he have some relative which gave him this as s present or something, i hope those aren't stolen (he did provide me serials etc, so i doubt).

 

[dfoo]

I had a hexar AF and sold it. What I loved: The lens, and how quiet the camera was, and the super P mode! What I hated was the shutter button, and auto focus (was too easy to miss, and you have no idea since there no little feedback in the viewfinder besides the framelines), and the tiny little irritating buttons! The 250 top speed didn't bother me at all.

This camera could have been great with a couple of small changes. Oh well.

 

[izo]

What I hated was the shutter button, and auto focus (was too easy to miss, and you have no idea since there no little feedback in the viewfinder besides the framelines), .

what's wrong with the button and doesn't camera have some kind of focus confirmation (either visual or by sound)?

 

[ampguy]

focus has a lock indicator

focus has a lock indicator

but there is no MF on the lens collar, it's an odd button pushing sequence.

also Roland (ferider) has a thread here with details on how to fix the lazy shutter.

 

[dfoo]

what's wrong with the button and doesn't camera have some kind of focus confirmation (either visual or by sound)?

The button gets sticky. There is no indication of where you've actually focused no (other than the framelines). I missed a bunch of shots over Christmas because I was shooted at a large aperture, and wasn't really focusing where I thought I was.

 

[Paul T.]

The button gets sticky. There is no indication of where you've actually focused no (other than the framelines). I missed a bunch of shots over Christmas because I was shooted at a large aperture, and wasn't really focusing where I thought I was.

Look in the top left of the viewfinder; there's a little bar which indicates focus distance. PLus, given that there is true parallax correction - the framelines shrink with distance - I've always found the focus crosshairs to be very accurate.

I have misfocused on this camera, but it's quite hard to do so compared with most other AF cameras.

And yes, I see no reason why you'd want a LE of this camera. Better two black ones. Personally, I do use the silent feature; i find it annyong you have to reselect it each time you switch the camera on, but that's the only irritation with an absolutely brilliant camera.

 

[izo]

i never say i want LE version, but i thought it is only chance i have (till i didn't realized, he have two additional ones on sell) to get camera here and not buying it on the net.

 

[dfoo]

Look in the top left of the viewfinder; there's a little bar which indicates focus distance. PLus, given that there is true parallax correction - the framelines shrink with distance - I've always found the focus crosshairs to be very accurate.

I have misfocused on this camera, but it's quite hard to do so compared with most other AF cameras.

Sure, I know that, I used the camera for close on 3 years. However, in the end I got tired of the ergonomics. It is pretty easy to mis-focus when compared with an SLR or rangefinder because the viewfinder has no focusing patch or field of view.