Konica Hexar AF Hexar button fix step-by-step

Gregoris said:
I got it off ebay, no returns accepted. My heart is not in it for returning it, because it is in otherwise excellent condition and also it seems to me, after reading your comments, that this kind of problem comes to all Hexars eventually so even if I got another one, chances are that this thing will probably happen again.

Reading the walkthrough for the repair and I initially started getting worried about how to not disconnect the soldering on the hot shoe after removing the top plate. Do you place your camera on its back? These things are really fragile.
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I keep the camera upright but stack a few books up against the back door, that I can lay the top plate on those. Also doubles as a hand rest for the rest of the work.

Gregoris said:
What is the most challenging part of the whole surgery to you, johannielscom?
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It is prying the two-way tactile switch open. You need to open it to get to the brass crab-looking spring in the shutter button. I used a needle point to wiggle the switch top off the foot so I could get to it. If you force it, something will break and you will have a switch that cannot be assembled again.
Luckily, I never broke one in servicing over 20 cameras but I always had sweaty palms doing that bit...:eek:

If you're located in the EU I could clean it for you but if outside EU the NL customs will have your kidney for shipping and customs so you might wanna look for somebody in your region that can do it for you. shoot me a PM if you are in the EU or mail me at contact@johanniels.com.

Also, check out my website for a nice Hexar portal page...:rolleyes::D
 
This is extremely belated, but I just wanted to say thanks to the OP for posting this step-by-step guide. I had the infamous sticky shutter button issue back in June 2013. I saw this guide, but was hesitant to do it myself. A year prior, I'd used a local camera shop to get an SLR of mine repaired through a third party affiliate of the shop, so I decided to try them out (didn't know where else to go). I went in, with a print out of this step-by-step guide in the OP, explaining that I'm 99% sure this is the problem, but I'd rather someone else do it.

The shop took it in, thankfully, and stated it'd probably take 3-4 weeks to come back. That was a tough blow, because I loved using my Hexar anytime I went out shooting, but better that than annoyingly press the shutter and get nada.

Got the call to come in to pick it up and was told there'd be no charge. I tested the camera outside and sure enough, the sticky shutter button was still there. It turns out the repairman didn't do a thing because he "couldn't replicate the issue." Pretty simple, press the shutter, and 3/4 of the time, it won't do anything. The step-by-step guide was even sent along with the camera. I complained at the store only to smugly be told that "there aren't a lot of places willing to do these kinds of repairs on film cameras."

A bit frazzled, I decided to just do it myself. It was a bit nerve wracking and the metal piece attached to the plastic base was incredibly difficult to get off. But it all worked out and the shutter button was fixed thanks to this guide. So thanks to bensyverson for posting the guide, it was incredibly helpful.

Gregoris said:
Hello everyone. After many months of hesitating I eventually got hold of an original black HEXAR AF in pristine condition. I load the camera with film and realise that the shutter is doing all sort of weird things, not being able to hold down focus but mostly being unresponsive when I press down to take the shot. If I press hard enough it sometimes works, but really it is best described as random. I dreaded having to face that possibility and unfortunately here I am with this problem.

First of all, does that sound like the problem you are all experiencing?

I am really not a fix it guy at all, as someone else also said, but at least he was successful. I messed up cameras and lenses in the past trying my hand at repairs, but none was worth as much as this Hexar and really, I only just bought it and feel very frustrated that the first thing I have to do is perform surgery on it...

Is it really something that anyone half-competent with his hands can do, or are you all at a "semi-pro" level of craftmanship?

Thanks in advance.
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I'm not really a fix-it person myself, which is why I tried to send it off to a repair shop initially, only to have that backfire. My repair of the sticky shutter button on my Hexar AF was the first and only repair I'd done. I was a bit nervous and shaky, but I got it done eventually. I'd give it a go if you really want to use your Hexar badly like I did. If you're still really hesitant, find someone in your area who knows what they're doing.
 
Hi, I have problem I am hoping someone here can help me with.

I did this procedure step by step, and after putting the camera back together I can't get it to fire the shutter anymore. It focuses perfectly but doesn't fire the shutter. Before trying to repair the camera the shutter was pretty much ok, it just showed slight signs of the shutter button problem so I thought I would clean the button. Now its not working at all.

Does anyone know what I could have done wrong?

I didn't use cleaning alcohol just a cloth because that's all I had. Could that be the problem?

At one point a might have gotten on to those PCB traces a little bit with the screwdriver. But not very hard. Is it possibly that I broke something there?

Any help is highly appreciated! :) I really need my hexar back ;)

Thanks a lot :)
 
Hey, me again. So i got myself some cleaning alcohol and did again but the camera is still not firing the shutter.

I attached a picture where I bumped in a little with the srcew driver.
 

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Rather than attack mine myself, I got in touch with a local camera store, to get their opinion and see if it was likely to be a simple fix (which I still wouldn't have undertaken myself).

The initial feedback was that it could be something very simple like a loose connection, or something much more catastrophic.

It's currently back with the store I bought it from while they have someone go over it. Hopefully, it'll be a relatively simple fix.
 
So me again, with the non firing shutter.

I finally found the solution to my problem and I thought I would share since I likely won't be the last poor soul to run into this issue:

It seems like the "crab thingy" really was the problem.

However, it was a little weird because in my case I had to flatten the crab thing a little bit because I apparently I bent the legs down too much preventing it from getting into contact with the base of the shutter button thing.

So after trying a variety of different postions for those legs I eventually almost flattend them out completely and voila... it works :)

The legs are still a tiny little bit bent though.
 
How would you rate the difficulty of this operation from 1 (Piss Easy) to 10 (Impossible to DIY) and what were the tools you used? Also, have you tried your hand on camera repairs before and was it successful?

I'm asking because a trip to a repair man here would cost a minimum of 150 Euros...
 
Johannielscom, I sent you an email some weeks back, after the brief posts exchange here. Did you not receive it?
 
Hi! I just recently aquired a Hexar AF myself and was looking at anything that is related to Hexar AF and came across your link to fix the sticky button. Unfortunately, the first three photos are down? Can you please take a look at it? Thank yoU!
 
forgive me if i am missing the obvious but does anyone happen to know where to find the original article with accompanying photos? the links i can find seem to be dead...

cheers in advance!
 
emraphoto said:
forgive me if i am missing the obvious but does anyone happen to know where to find the original article with accompanying photos? the links i can find seem to be dead...

cheers in advance!
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That's because it has vanished from the SilverGrain Wiki a long time ago.
Also, the Photo.net review with the umpty pages responses was shortened considerably, omitting most relevant info.

Have a look on my website www.johanniels.com, in the Camera Gear section you can find a portal page in the Konica Hexar that contains lots of links, clips, documents and info.

Cheers!
 
Replacement Shutter Button

Replacement Shutter Button

I have a Hexar Af with the dodgy shutter button, repeated cleaning has not been successful with the problem returning after a short while.
The Silvergrain article (archived on scribd) says you can replace it by "glueing and suitably wiring" the ALPS part. Has anyone done this?
If so, how easy is this to do, which way round do you place the new part and what does "suitably wired" mean exactly?
I have a number of the ALPS parts and am ready to fix it but don't want to cause further damage!

Thanks!
David
 
Valdas kindly saved the photos from this thread and sent them to me. It helped me perform the fix.

Here are my photos of the process. Feel free to duplicate if they're any use to you.











 
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