Hexar AF repairs

[k__43]

My wife's Hexar is completely dead after being in the shelf for a year without usage. (Karma, eh?)
It is not a battery fault. I tried another battery and a DC power supply already.

I opened up that little fella (at least as far as I was confident to go without a manual) and checked for power. It seems the upper PCBs (buttons) get power while the lower don't (motor drive) - which makes sense when switched off.

I'm looking for an easy fix here, since I just can't imagine this is something serious (as least not as far as my engineer guts tell me).

So one question I have is:
When switched off, the display is totally dead too, right? I somehow have the vague memory of a frame counter digit even in "Off".
If not .. I thought maybe corroded contacts on the pickups of the power switch but I cleaned that and measured and they have contact! at least it seems that way

From the bottom I was able to see a cylindrical white component with no markings visible from below on the PCB. I'm not quite familiar with Japanese electronics (the are a bit different, aren't they?). The only components I know that look like this are fuses, that thing seems to not have contact between it's terminals. So either it's blown or something else. Which leads me to that point: I'd really love a service manual!

 

[Richard G]

I've had the top off mine just to fix the shutter release button problem. You're correct that when it's off the LCD shows nothing. Never seen an online repair manual for it.

 

[k__43]

Make sure you clean that on/off switch while you're at it, Kay.

Never seen a service manual for it, sorry...

Good luck!

Thanks Johan, I did!

 

[alibosworth]

k__43: did you get anywhere with the AF?

I have one that started showing the slow startup time that other people have reported and then died entirely.I left the battery out for a night and it came back to life enough for me to rewind the film but it is now totally non responsive again.

Like you, I took the bottom plate off, hoping to see a bulging capacitor or something obvious, I did see two large capacitors but they looked good from above. After removing two screws which secure the flexible PCB I carefully lifted the circuit board just a bit and saw what looks to me like corrosion on one of each of the leads of the capacitors on the other side of the board. Unfortunately under there I also so some corrosion on some SMD resistors or something on a nearby PCB, which could make sense if the capacitors actually leaked.

If you are confident that you can do it carefully (you seem like you know what you're doing) you should check the underside of those capacitors, I'm curious if this is a main point of failure (I know bad caps are often to blame in other electronics) but also not too hopeful because apparently even the service companies in Japan will no longer service this camera and if this was the cause of many of the dead Hexar AFs I would think they would continue to offer service as replacing a few capacitors is very cheap and easy if you know what you are doing.

My wife's Hexar is completely dead after being in the shelf for a year without usage. (Karma, eh?)
It is not a battery fault. I tried another battery and a DC power supply already.

I opened up that little fella (at least as far as I was confident to go without a manual) and checked for power. It seems the upper PCBs (buttons) get power while the lower don't (motor drive) - which makes sense when switched off.

I'm looking for an easy fix here, since I just can't imagine this is something serious (as least not as far as my engineer guts tell me).

So one question I have is:
When switched off, the display is totally dead too, right? I somehow have the vague memory of a frame counter digit even in "Off".
If not .. I thought maybe corroded contacts on the pickups of the power switch but I cleaned that and measured and they have contact! at least it seems that way

From the bottom I was able to see a cylindrical white component with no markings visible from below on the PCB. I'm not quite familiar with Japanese electronics (the are a bit different, aren't they?). The only components I know that look like this are fuses, that thing seems to not have contact between it's terminals. So either it's blown or something else. Which leads me to that point: I'd really love a service manual!

 

[emjo]

Unfunnily enough my Hexar also died some time ago :bang:. I too noted corrosion on one of the electrolytic caps and after some analysis I got it up and running again 😀

I have made two blog entries on the camera and how it was repaired:

https://jabcam.wordpress.com/2016/04/27/topic-konica-hexar-af/


and

https://jabcam.wordpress.com/2016/08/24/topic-resurrecting-konica-hexar-af-from-the-dead/

Hope this can be of some use.

 

[splitimageview]

Very nice! I have some experience repairing circuit boards but that is a bit beyond my capabilities and equipment at the moment. I have a dead Hexar, and am curious if this is a common issue. I bought mine in that state, planning to convert the lens to M.

 

[johannielscom]

No solutions to the above problems, but a nice read on the great Hexar camera:

http://www.johanniels.com/index.php/camera-gear-articles/27-konica-hexar-af-the-ultimate

 

[bucs]

Dead hexar af

Dead hexar af

I have a dead hexar af also. Japancamerahunter won't accept repairs anymore. Maybe last resort is to convert the lens into m mount.

Not cheap though! Costs 65,000 yen!

Unfunnily enough my Hexar also died some time ago :bang:. I too noted corrosion on one of the electrolytic caps and after some analysis I got it up and running again 😀

I have made two blog entries on the camera and how it was repaired:

https://jabcam.wordpress.com/2016/04/27/topic-konica-hexar-af/


and

https://jabcam.wordpress.com/2016/08/24/topic-resurrecting-konica-hexar-af-from-the-dead/

Hope this can be of some use.

 

[splitimageview]

There is a new Hexar lens barrel coming out for M mount, similar to the barrel for the Minilux

 

[bucs]

Barrel

Barrel

Can you share the link? Thanks!

There is a new Hexar lens barrel coming out for M mount, similar to the barrel for the Minilux

 

[MIkhail]

Mine is fully functional (including the infamous button) but the display is completely dead. Well, not completely, some random lines are still there but you cannot make up anything from them. Mark Hama had it for a while but could not fix it - no parts.
I said "screw it" and just use it in full auto as point and shoot. Lens is still wonderful.

But I wonder how much can I get for it in such state, I would sell it...

 

[splitimageview]

Can you share the link? Thanks!

It's in the concurrent thread

 

[alibosworth]

I have a black Hexar that died after exhibiting slow startup times. I had hoped it was the two capacitors under the bottom plate because they showed corrosion on their negative terminals (under the PCB) but later realized that there are a bunch of darkened traces in the flexible PCB down there. I don't know what the cause is, but it is very obvious if you look for it. This convinces me that the circuit board has a fatal issue because even if I jumped a dozen tiny traces, the "rot" will probably continue throughout the rest.

I now have a second "parts" hexar which is pretty beat up but the circuit board looks great. It was sold as having a dead shutter, and it does the thing where it occasionally locks up and shows all segments in the display. At this point it needs a battery drain to restart, but pressing "select" shows "E11". I can't find any information about error codes but I've narrowed this issue down to the aperture blades because if fix the blades at anything larger (smaller?) than 2.0 or 2.8 then I can run off the shutter indefinitely without issue, but opening it up fully will cause it to lock quickly. Also rotating the aperture dial a bunch sequentially can cause it to lock occasionally.

My plan is to swap the circuit board from the second one to the first, but after taking off the front plates yesterday I realized that it is one board that wraps all the way from the bottom to the top. I was hoping the bottom board was distinct. I'm also worried that after swapping the board there may be focus calibration issues, because in theory each unit could be calibrated at the factory. I know that via the ROM/EEPROM menu there is some focus related values, but I'd need some real information about their use to even know where to begin.

Also, HOW has no one managed to get a hold of a service manual for this yet and publish it online? I'm thinking of starting a bounty pool for it - there has to be many people with a copy collecting dust somewhere, and it is such a huge shame to not have it available at this point.

 

[s_zemliakov]

Just won a Hexar at a very fair price on the bay only to realize shortly afterwards that the front lens ring is placed upside down, with the 'Konika Hexar Lens' at the bottom, and the '35mm F2.0 Japan' on the upper side of the lens. 🙁
I'm thinking this could be because of an improper reassembling done on the camera, so I wanted to ask if the ring could be easily unscrewed and placed properly or it is more complicated than that?