Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/03/30
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]
I recommend the Hexar RF to any one who is interested in the new M Winder. For $500 hundred more you can have a proper motorized titanium
M mount body with AE. I felt so guilty for liking my Hexar I actually went out and bought a special edition black paint M6 just to please
the Leica gods :{
"Dante A. Stella" wrote:
> The numbers
> ----------------
> As a preliminary manner, Erwin's calculations (if you believe them) show that a 0.6 RF is perfectly suitable for any of the lenses
> listed below. As a practical matter, I have used a 50/1.2, an 85/2 and a 135/3.5 close up and wide open, and they work. I'll take it
> on faith that the 75/1.4 works too. I think Dan Honemman found that it did.
>
> The phantom problem
> --------------------------
> This RF thing is something of myth. A few people bitch, a lot of people repeat. I think I addressed this here, but I have had two
> Hexar RF bodies, one early and one later in production. The first one looked like it focused past infinity, but in reality it didn't.
> The second one doesn't look like it focuses past infinity. A lot of it is psychosomatic. Even assuming that the RF went past
> infinity, it would have you focusing just in front of the subject. This is not all bad, since it maximizes depth of field (no one
> cares about what is behind or inside the subject), and since focusing behind is disastrous. Maybe it's a step designed to enhance DOF
> with lenses that would be iffy to focus otherwise. We'll never know the answer.
>
> The Hexar mythos
> ----------------------
> Konica is inscrutable. No one can explain the strange products they make. You either like them or you don't. Leica users either love
> them or hate them.
>
> There is no explanation of why the Hexar RF has certain features and lacks others. The company will meet your questions with silence.
> Even when they repair something, there is none but the most cryptic explanation.
>
> Just think of it as a Zen conceit.
>
> "Stanislaw B.A. Stawowy" wrote:
>
> > > If the KM-mount lens focus well on a M6, why many users report that Hexar-RF
> > > can not focus well with Leica lens? Is this a QC issue? Adjusting the
> > > Hexar-RF body will cure this problem?
> >
> > Just to cite Stephen Gandy:
> >
> > ********************
> > Viewing area is 85% at 3 meters, and becomes less as the lens is focused to infinity which increases the lens' angle of view (yeah,
> > weird I know, but optics are like that). The Hexar has the SAME rangefinder baselength: 69.2 mm as the Leica M. Curiously, the
> > Hexar's image magnification is lower at .6 (same as the Leica CL) instead of Leica's .72 or .85, resulting in an effective
> > rangefinder baselength of 69.2 x .6 = 41.5 which is 83% as accurate (all other factors being equal) as the .72 M6. In practical
> > terms this means the Hexar will be easier to use with the 28 and 35 for eye glasses wearers, but won't give the focusing accuracy
> > needed for the 50/1.4 or faster, 75/1.4, 90/2, or 135/4 wide-open at the closest focusing distance.
> > ********************
> >
> > With all that said, I don't see a reason why Hexar shouldn't be used with some
> > Leica lenses. Rangefinder is so easy to adjust thing...
> >
> > yours truly curious
> > -----