[Leica] Hexar leak, dud service

[lindnich at lindnich.plus.com (lindnich@lindnich.plus.com)]

Having owned a Konica Hexar RF for nearly four years it came as a
shock to discover that it suffers from a light leak from the
rangefinder. An early UK review of the camera commented on poor flare
performance so when I noticed flare into the light, especially with
the 28mm f2.8 Hexanon, I assumed this was what I was seeing. Only
after finding a comment on the web about a light leak from the
rangefinder did I check for this. I found light leaking from the
central window down a short tunnel which carries the cam-follower
pivot. Its easy to spot with the lens off by holding a small torch
against the centre window. The 28mm Hexanon adds to the problem by
exposing some bright brass and chrome of the rear helicoid to this
light and reflecting it directly towards the film. Now I see why the
Hexar is cheaper than a Leica!

Has anyone else on this list come across this problem?

This camera was bought new so I returned it to the dealer who returned
it to Konica/Minolta as they are now  called. They have had the camera
for eight weeks. They had my explanation of the problem from the
start, but they have so far only run tests on it. They haven't felt
inclines to believe my explanation. Even though two weeks ago I spoke
to one of their technicians, who proved to his own satisfaction that
light could be seen through the lens throat as explained above. He
didn't believe this was the cause of the problem!

Has anyone else on this list had problems of this sort with service
departments?

I complained to the manager of the service department  who wasn't
forthcoming with any explanations for the failure to fix the camera in
eight weeks. But he promised me the camera would be fixed this week.

I wonder whether I can trust these people to put the camera back
together properly.

For any Hexar owners wanting to check their camera for this fault the
quickest test is as follows:

With a lens fitted and a lens cap on, using auto exposure and 100 iso
film, point camera straight at sun and shoot. My camera gave an
exposure which sounds like one 15th second. Repeat pointing camera
towards a shady area; exposure is about 30 seconds. This simple test
was too difficult for Konica/Minolta uk service department to work-out
for themselves over eight weeks ;[

Of course, it took me nearly four years......


BWs Gordon Nicholson.







                         mailto:lindnich@lindnich.plus.com