How does my just received Hexar AF feel?

Υeah its an incredible camera, too bad its doomed to extinction... not supported and there will never be a digital version. Why? Try to explain to a digital user why this camera is so awesome. The most common response is, "but they've already made a digital version, the Olympus EP1" :bang:

The x100 is closer, if not for the cropped format and the fact that the Hexar's AF needs virtually no light to work. Have you noticed it never hunts, regardless how low the light?
 
Congrats, Juan.
I sold a minty Silver Hexar about a year ago, and I may very well buy one for my Cairo trip. I don't trust digital cameras.
 
Spyro said:
Υeah its an incredible camera, too bad its doomed to extinction... not supported and there will never be a digital version. Why? Try to explain to a digital user why this camera is so awesome. The most common response is, "but they've already made a digital version, the Olympus EP1" :bang:

The x100 is closer, if not for the cropped format and the fact that the Hexar's AF needs virtually no light to work. Have you noticed it never hunts, regardless how low the light?
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It gives me a security sensation I never had with any compact, SLR or DSLR with AF in the past. This is THE AF solution.

Cheers,

Juan
 
raid said:
Congrats, Juan.
I sold a minty Silver Hexar about a year ago, and I may very well buy one for my Cairo trip. I don't trust digital cameras.
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Thanks, raid... When we sell a camera and want it back, it means it's a great camera, or it worked great for us, or both!

Cheers,

Juan
 
Wow, I just realized this thread was moved lots of posts ago...

I apologize, mods... I had always thought Hexar AF was a RF, but now I can't understand why: it's even called a point and shoot in Steve's page, where I saw it first... Now that I've used it, I see of course it's not a RF...

Thanks,

Juan
 
The Hexar-AF's P-mode should be an example for every other camera manufacturer indeed. It's already super when used without flash. But when you're shooting with flash, it's just nothing short of brilliant. The exposure is split in two parts. It starts with ambient exposure as measured, and just before the end of the exposure, the aperture is set according the A=GN/distance rule and the flash is strobed. Much smarter than TTL systems that get confused by the subject's reflectivity..
 
This was raised somewhere above, but I don't think 1/250 is limiting at all as long as you understand the hexar af is not a camera meant to be shot wide open unless you're using it at night. It's a mock RF camera based on the old masters principal to set yourself at f8 and work from there.

You don't need 'bokeh' shooting out on the street (for which the hexar was designed), that's what big slr's with macro lenses are for, to take pictures of all the pretty flowers. The Hexar AF however, is the perfect tool for its purpose.

Congrats Juan, enjoy.
 
Neare said:
This was raised somewhere above, but I don't think 1/250 is limiting at all as long as you understand the hexar af is not a camera meant to be shot wide open unless you're using it at night. It's a mock RF camera based on the old masters principal to set yourself at f8 and work from there.

You don't need 'bokeh' shooting out on the street (for which the hexar was designed), that's what big slr's with macro lenses are for, to take pictures of all the pretty flowers. The Hexar AF however, is the perfect tool for its purpose.

Congrats Juan, enjoy.
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That's right!

And thanks! I'm trying to enjoy it for the first time in the street, but it's cold outside and it's raining! :mad:

Cheers,

Juan
 
ok, with a week left to get my Hexar AF in my hands, this thread is making the wait seem very long....
 
I've had Hexars of myself and have sold two dozen or more (made nice profits when buying them was cheap and invested in Leica M gear), and all this Hexar AF talk sometimes is enough to make me wonder: should I sell my M2 and L-Hexanon 35/2.0, which is a Leica screw identical twin of the Hexar AF lens?:eek::eek:
 
To Sam & others planning filters use on the Hexar AF:

Yesterday I did use my Hexar AF with 46-52 ring + 52 filter + 52-62 ring + 62 filter, and it worked fine: the test shots were inside home and were sharp, all of them. BUT today I went shooting outside, and by the end of the roll I focused at a distant point and noticed the camera was focusing closer than that... So, AVOID using 62mm filters: they're fine -as I found home- for focusing close to camera situations (all my today shots are well focused fortunately because I never focus far from camera), but for distant subjects, 62mm filters do interfere with the AF system... I was wrong yesterday when I thought if close focusing worked fine with 62mm filters (home testing), then distant focusing should be fine too, but it isn't... I just don't know the technical reason... So easy: 52mm filters work for all distances AF. By the way, although lens thread is 46mm, the collapsible hood is 52mm, so 52mm filters are "natural" to camera's AF infrared beams...

Cheers,

Juan
 
might require a steady hand

might require a steady hand

I shot my last 3 rolls of Kodachrome with the AF, 2 were K25 from 1990. With my first roll, I added +.3 EV, just knowing how old the film was, and got some blurred shots from very low speeds that the slower film required.

However, realizing that, i was sure to use flash and shoot in bright outdoors with the next 25 film (and shot it at 25), and these came out great.

Have never used faster than 800 in the 4 AFs I've owned, but that thread of exposing Portra 400 @ 1600-3200 is very tempting to try, at least once or twice.

Most of my use with the AF has been some bulk buys (50-100 rolls) of expired Reala 100, at which I'd gotten best results exposing at ISO 50, although the box speed would work if post processed and shadows brought up.

JSU said:
Methinks the Hexar AF and Efke KB-25 are made for each other, add a ND 8 for the brightest of sunlight if f-2.0 is really desired, or just use a O-56 filter which is good for a stop and a half.
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After using my Hexar AF for a few days with 100 to 3200 film, with and without NDs (and other filters), both on harsh and soft light, I think now I understand why some people can't get along with it: just because they're fools! Just kidding... Now, seriously: As I said before, I bought the camera for low light situations where focusing is hard/impossible. I wasn't wrong with my choice, and I'm so very pleased there. It's an unusual camera, though... I really see it can fool some people, and it can (must) be used in very different ways:


A planned session camera... You want half body portraits with a nice 35 wide open, you want beautiful bokeh, and this time you just don't want to focus, and you don't want to wind film, just interact and “work” your subject. Then the Hexar AF is your tool. How is it used then? Depending on the light you decide for the session, you choose a film that's OK for your lens at around 2.8, and that's it. In case light changes a bit, automatic shutter speeds for your desired aperture will allow you to forget about technical details and use your time for aesthetic ones only, so you keep shooting, and forget about light. Your subject will be with you all the time, and won't be disturbed by size or noise.


Street shooting on a sunny day... You pick slow film if you prefer wide apertures (or not so slow and filters, as I did with 3200 on direct sun at f/2), set your aperture, and just shoot. Even in manual mode, as the light will be the same.


Street shooting on overcast... You set your camera on P, with say Tri-X at 400. You already know if you have all the overcast light on a scene, you'll be at around 1/250 f/8. So you set a medium aperture, and depending on the light, the camera will change speeds and/or apertures to make your settings fall between its max. shutter speed (1/250) and the min. shutter speed you like (1/60 in my case). This mode gives you an amazing range of different quantities of light you can handle... More than eight stops! From bright overcast to places where that light doesn't reach totally and scenes' light is really lower. All that, without thinking of your camera or touching it to vary settings as usual with other cameras... So you can easily go from good light to dark places quickly, and you don't miss shots focusing or metering or changing settings.


Now, I see why some people can feel upset with the Hexar AF. Because they might want to do all this at the same time with the same film, whenever they want to, and that's just not possible: it was designed for a photographer that's used to know what's the light every moment, and that's why the camera works with a narrow set of “no shake speeds”... I use 1/60, 1/125 and 1/250, no more, so I need to use them the same way I use just one speed/aperture with any manual camera to expose correctly. Although the Hexar AF can do all those different things in such different lights and situations, it can't do all of them in auto at the same time without adjusting a few things... That's why I guess it disturbs some people: if they're in the shadows, then direct sun can be too much for the camera and you need precise filtering (most people don't even use NDs) so it can't be done (unless you know how to do it...), or if you want f/2 suddenly, you can't do it because 1/250 is not enough: and what I mean is you can't just place an ND and forget about light, no, you need to know the precise light you have because your camera has just a few usable shutter speeds...


So, this isn't really a point-and-shoot... This is a camera that requires a lot from the photographer, so it's not for everyone.


For normal shooting I'm using my R3A with my 28 3.5 on, prefucused at 8 feet and at f/8: small, quiet and fast, reliable for 80% of the scenes I get walking the streets. If the other side of the street is sunny, I aim and shoot with my XA at f/11 prefocused at 8 feet too, for a very different development. And if the light is really low and no film gives me f/8 to avoid focusing, and I see my R3A gives me low speeds at f/8, I aim and shoot with my Hexar AF set at f/2 and it does the rest...


I can't do it all with the same camera if I'm looking for vanishing moments and street shooting (people). Of course if there's time and the goal is getting an image of a building, or a landscape, and I don't care about harsh or soft light, or about good exposure and development for wet printing, any camera can be enough. They all make an image.


Cheers,


Juan
 
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Good points.

It's worth pointing out it's very easy to change film half-way through a roll on the Hexar when necessary.

I wish the much-lauded Fuji X100 was on the record as offering us a Program Mode as intelligent as that of the Hexar. (let alone that fast, silent focusing).
 
Try to go lower than 1/60, Juan. One of the coolest features of the AF is to be able to set minimum hand-holdable speed. And for your fleeting moments on the street, 1/15 or 1/8 should still work. A quiet camera is a vibration free camera :)
 
ferider said:
Try to go lower than 1/60, Juan. One of the coolest features of the AF is to be able to set minimum hand-holdable speed. And for your fleeting moments on the street, 1/15 or 1/8 should still work. A quiet camera is a vibration free camera :)
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Thanks for the advice, Roland!

OK, I'll set it to its native 1/30 again... If see I'm doing fine there, I'll go on to 1/15...

Cheers,

Juan
 
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