[Leica] Living with the Konica Hexar RF

[JGong <jgong@cisco.com>]

It's been three weeks since I received the camera from cameraworld.com .
First of all, the price that the LUGGERS seem to object to is out of line;
I paid $1600 including shipping.  This compares with an M6 + 50mm Summicron
at approx. $3000. Do the arithmetic and it is apparent that the Konica is
not as expensive as its detractors make it out to be.

I've been listening to the criticisms on the LUG and have tried to remain
objective about them.  Additionally, Stephen Gandy has a very extensive and
excellent writeup about the system on his website, at www.cameraquest.com.
 In addition to the specs, he starts a lively rumor about whether or not
Konica has left room for an even greater automatic M body... I'll leave it
up to you to decide how much truth there is to that.

First, the body.  After all, no one in their right mind ON THIS LIST would
buy the system for its lenses!  The body is close to the size of an M6 TTL.
That makes it taller than the "classic" M6.  Build quality is high. It
feels solid when holding it.  No flimsy sheet metal feel like the Leica CL.
More substantial feeling than the Minolta CLE. The rubber armor covers most
of the body. I like the feel of it.   It resists scuffs better than the
rubbery finish of Contax cameras. The black paint that covers the rest of
the body is finished in a textured finish. I'm not sure what to make of it.
As long as it's durable, I don't really care. I don't consider it any
better or worse than the Leica black chrome or the gloss black of my old
Nikons, just different. The shape is controversial. It's blocky looking.
Not as elegant to look at as an M. At first glance, it looks like an M5 to
me. There is a small raised grip that makes it easy to balance the heavier
M lenses.  In fact, with my 75 mounted, I like holding it more than that
lens on an M with or without the M grip. A side benefit is that the 75 has
come out of my bag and is used frequently instead of being an occasional lens.

The controls are high quality plastic. Classic M6 owners would puke at
this. I don't find this to be a problem. After all, the M6 TTL went with a
plastic shutter speed dial too, and I didn't croak over that change. The
shutter dial reminds me of typical high quality Japanese cameras. i found
it to be convenient and the movement is solid. Likewise, the on/off and
motor winding mode switch is conveniently wrapped around the shutter
release button.  The shutter release does not have a thread to accept
standard shutter release cables. There is a self timer. Although I haven't
used it yet, I have missed this feature occasionally on the M6. This
feature will undoubtably be used in the future. The metal lens release
reminds me of the CLE -it's raised and not protected. Although I haven't
accidently released a lens unintentionally, I may be on borrowed time. The
lensmount is metal. It is typical Japanses quality. Excellent but not as
finely finished as Leica's.  I did not have any gripes about the
smoothness. The lenses come on and off as easily as my M bodies.

The motor is quieter than the Contax G2. I compared mine side by side. Both
are WAY LOUDER than the M6 shutter release. For stealth operation, there is
no comparison. M wins. The motor was not a big advantage for me. It might
be for some other users who need to fire off rapid frames.

The cockpit is an important part of any camera. There are pluses and
minuses when comparing the Konica to an M6. When comparing the views side
by side, the reduced magnification finally becomes apparent. .6x and .72x
are very different. You wouldn't notice the difference unless you could do
a side by side comparison. Because of the lower magnification, an M user
would probably be disappointed. Small objects will be harder to focus on.
The framelines and focus patch are dimmer than the M's. I actually like the
dimmer view because it detracts less from my subject. I've also been the
victim of frameline flaring on some M bodies. I haven't put the Konica up
against all types of lighting conditions yet, so I'm not sure if the
adverse situations like strong sun or side lights will cause the flaring
problem.

The end result, however, is positive. The photos I'm taking with this
camera and the 75 summilux and 90 APO are spot on where I focus. I don't
know if it's just the pleasure of using this camera, but my percentage of
in-focus results seems to be higher with these lenses now.

There has been mention of the inaccuracy when focussing at infinity. I seem
to have this problem too. It's not noticeable until someone points it out.
I hope it's a simple adjustment.  Also, vertical alignment on the focus
patch seems to change depending on how you put your eye to the viewfinder.
When you're properly "seated", everything is fine; if you move your head up
and down like I do when using a 24mm lens, then vertical alignment steps out.

As Stephen mentions on his website, the Konica has the best display of
chosen shutter speed for a rangefinder camera. Bright red illuminated
numbers on the left side are how they are presented.

I've been using the camera in AE mode. This is the only reason I bought it.
Although "classical M users" have the procedure of presetting exposure
values and then shooting, I never got into this habit, having only started
to using the M system about 3 years ago. So, letting the camera choose the
proper shutter speed for me is comfortable and liberating in that I don't
have to readjust exposures depending on what corner of a room I'm in.
Exposure has been proper for prints and slides in most cases. It's not
program mode, so it won't try to compensate for backlighting or high
contrast situations. M folks don't need a lesson on this...

I haven't anything substantial to share about the 50mm lens which came with
the system. It seems to be built well.  Small, solid, smooth focus and
aperature. The focus and aperature rings are made of hard plastic. Once
again, another minus for Leica owners. I've had a few shots which were
extremely sharp at f2. These were subject distances of about 2 meters,
using a flash. Then I've had some handheld, close range shots at f2 which
were abysmal. These results are surely my fault for bad technique.
Nevertheless, I don't have any reason to use this lens when a Leica
summilux is already in my bag.  Too bad there isn't any resale value to
this lens...


Is there a point to this message?  Yes, let me summarize:

- - This camera has received a lot of negative reaction from people on this
list with casual acquaintance. I wanted to balance this out with an owner's
point of view. You don't really know a product until you paid for it and
lived with it for a while.
- - This camera will not sway a "classic M" user. If you don't value AE,
1/4000 max shutter speed, 1/125 flash sync, motor advance and rewind, there
is no compelling reason to want this camera.
- - If you value the features, however, I think you will be delighted with
this camera.  I'm MUCH happier with this Konica than I was with a CLE. 
- - It has caused my Contax G system to sit on the shelf the past month. The
positive focus confirmation of the M manual focus system and AE have pushed
me squarely back to using the Leica M lenses exclusively.
- - Hey Mike Johnston, are you there?  With this camera, I get the same
feeling you wrote about in your Aria report in PT. Lightweight, compact, go
anywhere with a camera and not worry about the technicalities kind of
freedom. It has just enough automation without being encumbered by feature
overload.

What's missing?

- - TTL flash.  Not a show stopper for me, but it is for some buyers.
- - flash sync at any shutter speed. This would be especially useful for
outdoor fill flash. But then, we're talking about a different kind of camera...