Konica Minolta Hexar RF

Very High quality rangefinder Up there with the Leica for build quality. Excellent lenses and FULLY compatible with Leitz despite what the Leicaphiles would have you believe.

The excellent viewfinder , the metering and convenience of autowind and AE exposure. I use the camera with my M6 and M4-P outfit or on its own if I want only the one body. On a recent trip to Paris took the Hexar RF in preference to M6 as less obtrusive and the autoexposure helps to 'catch the moment' in street photography as one less thing to think about. very pleased with the results as I expected. Not a better camera than the M6 but certainly its equal. Have had no problems with focusing wide open with 90/2 and all my mixed bag of lenses appear to focus accurately even when blown up more than 15 X. The standard 50 f2.0 is a real good lense as is the 90 f2.8. Battery life seems very good.

The 50 f2.0 has an awkward filter size 40.5 mm ( same as Zeiss Contax II } and the pull out hood is rather short. Other than that the picture quality is superb. Battery dependant so need to carry a spare set of batteries as no mechanical backup speed.

Leica M series and other older rangefinder syatems.

Never gone wrong. However Konica service for spares such as lens caps and rear lens caps etc really excellent and much cheaper than Leitz

After I had vertical alignment problems with a Leica M6 TTL rangefinder, I decided to open my mind and my wallet to other M-mount alternatives. I have zero regrets. The M6 TTL was picked up by someone on eBay, and I will not buy another Leica rangefinder except an early Wetzlar model to collect. (Leica Camera Solms manufacturing quality may not be everything you expect it to be considering the prices you pay.) I haven't used the flash nor the 50mm lens that came with my kit; haven't sold them either since they will leave 'holes' in the nice wooden KONICA presentation case. Lenses used with this RF body are the MINT 90mm Tele-Elmarit which Ken Hansen sold me inclusive of original rubber lenshood and caps + filter for $450 only; a collectible screwmount "Japanese" market version of the 35mm/2 Summicron with present version optics and SM-M bayonet adapter which I picked up on eBay from an Austrian; and lastly, a previous version 28mm Elmarit I picked up on eBay from a NY Times photojournalist. All my humble results have been telling me not so subtly that this is the perfect marriage of Leitz optics with Japanese camera electromechanics. This combination is miles ahead of the CONTAX-Kyocera Carl Zeiss Combo. I shoot Carl Zeiss German lenses on Rollei 35mm equipment, and am disappointed to report that the CONTAX G2 Carl Zeiss lenses just don't speak the same language. If you need to buy this camera, buy it now, because the new MINOLTA-KONICA corporate consortium has rendered the KONICA HEXAR RF a species no longer produced on their assembly lines. Get a NEW one while you can!

To say that this system is better than any Nikon SLR with zoom lenses is an understatement. So is comparing with a CONTAX G2 and Kyocera-made "Carl Zeiss" lenses. Leitz lenses make the subjects come alive with an almost 3-D aura, and of course there's the famous Leica bokeh. The HEXAR RF is the best value photographic instrument for capturing images with your Leitz M-lenses; while the combination may lack TTL flash and Leica ergonomics, everything else about the experience permits you to find your own sweetspot in the equation of response speed, exposure accuracy and results that spell brilliant 35mm film imaging.

Leica M-series camera bodies fit better in the hand. This downside is not worth the extra thousand+ dollars for a Leica M7...which has no built-in winder. You tend to forget this after your first roll, esp. after getting your results back. You tend to ask yourself why you didn't switch out of your Leica M to a Hexar RF sooner, like I did.

Leica M6 TTL with same lenses Leica M2 w/external meter, same lenses CONTAX G2 w/45mm, 28mm and 90mm lenses Rolleiflex 3003 SLR with all kinds of Carl Zeiss and Rolleinar lenses

EXCELLENT

I use the Hexar RF as a complementary camera to my Canon EOS 3. Its small size and discretion are perfect for me in order to take pictures without causing any trouble around. I use it also because of its bright crisp lenses and my production has a much more higher quality than what I ever had with any autofocus cameras from Canon and Minolta, quality is as good as it is with my XPan. This is true also when taking pictures by night, I can go down to 1/8" (I never use a flash, this is a religion).

Excellent manufacturing and grip (robust). Excellent exposure. Excellent image quality. Perfect range of lenses from Konica. The price.

Poor manufacturing (viewfinder) : focussing is not aligned with infinity (the range finder is not aligned), this a pure non sense and there is nothing to do !!!!!! However, once you know it you just have to adapt yourself. Speed information often disappears in the viewfinder (even in darkness), I've been told this is a bug and ther is nothing to do again. Lack of brightness of the viewfinder (compared with Leica M7). Range Finder not adapted for lenses higher than 50 mm.

Contax G2 (sold) Canon EOS 3 Hasselblad XPan

If you need nothing, you can call them and they will do it perfectly.

Intelligent update to the Leica concept. It has almost all the strengths of the Leica plus some of it's own.

High-performance shutter allows me to work at f5.6 most of the time (1/4000 sec in bright sunlight on 400 ISO film). Built-in winder allows me to continue shooting without taking the camera away from my eye. Easy film loading (at last). Plus the Leica qualities of small size, discretion, high-performance lenses, nice feel. Much cheaper than the Leica.

Slight delay between pressing the shutter release and the shutter firing. You need to anticipate just a bit compared with the Leica but so far it hasn't posed to problem in my pictures. It feels nice but not as nice as a Leica.

Leica M4P, Minolta CLE, Leica CL

Not needed so far

This is something of an odd camera to exist at this time: most of its strengths are subtle at first sight, but grow on you with time and use. Neither a hair-shirt machine nor jammed with useless bells and whistles, it's a camera that doesn't distract the user from its singular reason for being. Konica, to it's credit, didn't try and reinvent the wheel here; the Hexar RF's design gives Leica its propers for intelligent rangefinder design (overall layout, sensible size and heft, high build quality and, of course, the rangefinder itself), while freely adapting ideas that are hardly new but proven and useful (aperture priority AE, motorized film wind/rewind, and, yes, a swing-open film back with film-reminder window). There's nothing revolutionary here, nor does there need to be - this is simply the tried-and-true interchangeable-lens rangefinder concept, gently but determinably kicked closer to the 21st Century

The usual (and still valid) classic rangefinder virtues such as: crisp viewfinder/rangefinder window with all the valid framelines available from 28mm to 135mm; lack of viewfinder blackout (vs. SLRs), lack of vibration (vs. SLRs with quick-return mirrors), lack of excessive noise (vs. SLRs with all their mirror-box escapement); straightforward and logical control layout with "everything you need and nothing you don't". Add to this: aperture-priority AE, together with tight, center-weighted TTL metering and solid electronic shutter timing, for a level of exposure accuracy unknown in any other true rangefinder camera (at least until the M7 came along afterward), and solid and sensible motorized film advance and rewind designed into the camera, as opposed to being indifferently added-on. Given all this, Konica intelligently resisted the temptation to make the RF a tricked-out "non-SLR", a la Contax's G series. They've taken a bit of heat for this from some quarters of the photography community, but earned the enthuiasm of those who were simply looking for an intelligently updated rangefinder they had hoped Leica might give them, but didn't (at least not until the Hexar forced the issue somewhat). And then, there are the lenses, which are, in a word, wonderful, and quite capable of holding their own against their equvalents in the Solms parthenon. But, if you have, or desire, Leica glass, feel free to put one on a Hexar - the rumors of incompatibility are rather exagger

There are only two potential weaknesses, but the key word here is "potential": - Battery dependency. Yes, it's true - if the batteries die in a Hexar RF, it's dead in the water. The Leica M7, by contrast, has two mechanical shutter speeds to fall back on in the event of battery failure. But, the M7 batteries last for roughly 65 36-exposure rolls of film before being exhausted; the Hexar RF is good for up to 120-140 36-exposure rolls of film between battery changes. And remember, the Hexar's batteries (a pair of small CR2 lithiums) don't just power the meter and shutter, but the film drive mechanism as well. Between it's energy efficiency, and the fact that you can carry TWO sets of spare batteries in the space of a film canister, they typical Hexar RF user should have no fear of boldly going where no Radio Shack has gone before. - Lack of TTL flash. Some feel this is the one area where Konica really dropped the ball. This point is debatable, but I hardly think this is a glaring omission - I've never been much of a fan of on-camera flash to begin with, and TTL's impact on my opinion has been negligible at best. However, if your experience/opinion is otherwise, and you use on-camera flash a lot, you should take this into account when sizing up this camera.

SLRs: almost all the relevent brands Non-SLRs: quite a few

Not needed yet. (But came with three-year warranty)