built in light meter, Price is about 1/4 what an M7 price is, The wwing open back and auto film load and advance and rewind. The AE and AEL settings. The flash sync (1/125 sec.). Strong bulld.

Camera will not work without batts(not realy a weekness to me). Rangefinder magnification (but only if you compair it to the M2 leica's viewfinder).

After owning and using a Lecia M2 for a while I was very impressed with this camra. It has a solid feal. I bought the camera body only(used) because I have three Leica lenses. The range finder is does no have the same magnification as on the M2, but in my view it is just as bright. The lens frame lines are not as thick as the ones on the M2. I have the Summicron 35mm f/2, 50mm f/2, and the 90mm f/4 (leitz Rokkor). All three of these lens focus just fine with me Hexar rf. The light meter is acurate, the camera is not any louder than the M2. All in all, if you like the Leica M series, you will love this camera.

Customer Service

Has not been needed yet

Similar Products Used:

Leica M2, Yashica Electro GSN,

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.

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.

Customer Service

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

Similar Products Used:

Leica M series and other older rangefinder syatems.

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.

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!

Customer Service

EXCELLENT

Similar Products Used:

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 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.

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).

Customer Service

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

Similar Products Used:

Contax G2 (sold) Canon EOS 3 Hasselblad XPan

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.

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

Customer Service

Not needed so far

Similar Products Used:

Leica M4P, Minolta CLE, Leica CL

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.

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

Customer Service

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

Similar Products Used:

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

Built-in drive system means a much smoother picture taking process- Leica's buttery smooth wind mechanism (yes, it's magnificent and quiet) is missed, but the "noise" made is much less than you'd expect, espcially if you are moving from ANY SLR. Build quality of both the body and Hexanon lenses are magnificent. Control placement is very well thought out and easy to pick up right from the start. You don't really need to read the instruction book to use this camera. The 1/125 flash sync speed is very useful for outdoor fill flash.

Smaller, easy to use flash units that match the bodies size are not nearly as convenient and don't have as many user options, but that is a complaint for ANY camera this size.

Right out of it's luxury box you can tell this is a quality product. This camera has a beautifully clear and sharp view/rangefinder that is much better/brighter than many have given it credit for, and a heavily center-weighted metering system that's very accurate as long as you are familiar with how to handle that type metering. I like the very conservative way Konica incorporated a minimal of modern conveniences to make the camera functionally smoother to shoot with, but also left many parts of the process up to the photographer. An M7 with a new type motor would have been my ideal outfit, but not at the price it would have cost- an M7 body alone would have cost more than the Hexar RF with both 50 and 90mm lenses combined. The Hexar RF is a great compromise between the ultra expensive Leica and much cheaper Bessa R series- fit and finish of both the body and lenses are up to Leica standards...maybe a tad higher where the lenses are concerned. The two I own right now, the 50 and 90 Hexanons, are so sharp I don't think you could ask for any more. I wear glasses, so the marginally lower magnification finder is great. I can easily see the 28mm viewfinder frame which is nice-I will be getting one of those soon! Do not put too much into what you hear about the "darker" rangefinder patch compared to a Leica M- having used an M6, M4 and M4p I can say this camera is just as easy to focus in low light as a Leica M. Maybe I'm just not snobish enough, I don't know. As an aside, Konica states in the instruction manual it does not guarantee the compatibility of any other lens system with the Hexar RF, so take that as a warning if you plan to use this with your Summicrons... it may or may not work. It DOES work perfectly with the lenses they designed the camera to work with (HEXANONS) and you don't need some other makers lens if you think they'll be sharper than the Hexanons- they won't be. The drive rate of 2.5 FPS is perfectly sufficient, and this from someone who switched from a 6 FPS Nikon F4. If you're buying a camera to shoot sports for a living you need to be buying something else. The flash unit sold with the outfit is TINY, but very good within it's limits. One auto option is good to approx. 10 feet and other to around 20 feet. Larger flash units would be easier to shoot longer distances and with more DOF, but will seem a little too big with this body. I will be buying a Metz 34 series that is almost as small, but with an extra auto position (f8) and a guide number of 111 (feet) at ISO 100. I have a Vivitar 285 and it works fine, but it seems a little too big for this body and does not handle well on a bracket since the tripod socket is off-center.

Customer Service

Not had to use yet.

Similar Products Used:

Leica M6, M4 and M4P, Contax IIIa at one time and several smaller rangeinder compacts, such as a Konica Auto S3, Canon GIII, Olympus 35SP.

A very sturdy, sleek camera. Has a self-timer (the Leica does not). Film loading is more conventional. You will not need the manual.

My only real complaint with this camera is the delay between depressing the button and the release of the shutter. It's no worse than a point and shoot -- but it isn't any better either. It'd say it's comparable with the T3 or the G2 -- however where those are autofocus cameras, the RF just feels slightly unresponsive. The motor wind is, again, satisfactory but it is not terribly snappy. The shutter is quiet, but the winder (and rewinder) makes a slight noise.

A nice little camera. More affordable than a Leica -- but still not cheap. The lenses are very good, and the camera body is sturdy and very, very well designed. I've owned it for about a year, and can't say I'm in love with it -- I tend to grab my G2 or my M6 first. We will never end the debate between the possibly overpriced Leica and other cameras. However, the Leica M7 offers a few things that the RF and others do not -- such as a mechanical shutter when batteries fail, a manual film-advance lever (which I would prefer over the RF's sluggish shutter release and motor wind), and a much quieter shutter. It's like a Mercedes -- a Chevy will get you there, but some people just like the feel of a Mercedes. I own all of the above cameras, and the neither-here-nor-there RF would be the first I'd let go of.

Customer Service

Not needed.

Similar Products Used:

Leica M6, Contax G2, Konica Hexar 1, Minolta CLE, Rollei 35.

Build quality Tack sharp lenses

Konica name does not retain value. Controversy as to whether or not it can use Leica lenses without a hitch.??? No TTL (rediculous ommission)

As a camera company goes, Konica finishes a distant 3rd to Leica and Contax, but they have this uncanny ability to turn out the occasional gem. This is one of them. I notice that these reviews get too caught up with making comparisons. When I read thru them I tend to take more of an interest in the negative views. In this case 19 reviewers rate this a 5 while 3 would have you believe it's terrible. Quite a differentiation! Well, make it 20 reviewers rating it a 5 as I feel that this is an excellent camera with top of the line lenses. The thing you must realize is that it is a manual range finder. There is a definite learning curve and it is not for everyone. For 1200 bucks, (body, lens and flash), this is a steal, just like I think the G2 outfit is a bargain. I learned a long time ago that you cannot argue with the Leica cult. They simply have a hard time realizing that there are some new kids on the block that will turn out equally impressive results at rediculously low prices (when compared to Leica). Not a knock on Leica, just a statement of fact. Have the bucks and want to get into a system that will retain its value (and deliver outstanding results), buy Leica. Want a rangefinder system that will deliver Leica-type results for a FRACTION of the price, go Contax G2 or Konica RF. You simply cannot go wrong with any of the 3. My vote goes to Konica for overall value.

Customer Service

Not used to date.

Similar Products Used:

Contax G2 Leica M6 classic Mamiya 7II

Robust feeling (like Nikon FM2), specs - features, size/weight, focal length preview, position of dials, not-so-critical position of eye before viewfinder, lack of red dot on front panel :-) good viewfinder alignment on delivery, good sound-level, wide viewfinder-area around frame of my 35mm, viewfinder spot is quite visible, shutter-delay-story is rubbish IMHO (my FM2 and my EOS-50 were slower and that was fast enough for me....)

Lenses don't change as easily as on CL or FM2 or EOS-50 ; viewfinder magnification might have been a bit larger ; instruction manuals are easy to understand but skimpy ; not so easy to come by ; and of course, you have to pay for what you get! I got a lot of quality, so ....

I bought it some 3 months ago and have now shot some 40 films (print only). I bought it to get rid of to much automation on my EOS 50 (otherwise good camera!) and to tote a smaller package around (my lenses were bulky and heavy, 1,4/50, 2/100, 2/35 : adds up to too much!). Besides, I wanted to make pictures instead of working around someone else's ideas of automated comforts - annoying in the end ! I had fond memories of handling my Leica CL that broke down too often - especially for a Leica. Well : I now have exactly what I wanted ! Mechanical (almost...), small, not too heavy, RF, feeling of good engineering, easy handling. My pictures are a lot sharper than those taken with my EOS-combo. Lightmeter works well (spot-on, behaves like Nikon 60/40-metering : the inner 1/3 is the most important area). Lenses (35 / 50 / 90) : not OK, but terrific (better than my Canons !). I was afraid of flare : not visible (use the sunshades! Try to make do without filters!). I followed the Konica advise : stop down to at least f 4 to ensure flatness of image on the film. But, I also use my 35 and 50 wide open - haven't seen any unevenness. For technical features : it depends of course on the subjects of your pictures. I never had any need of my Canons USM-autofocus (fast and silent though it is!) so I don't mind deciding for myself on my point of focus. So fsaying farewell to autofocus is no hardship on me - but for you it might ! I don't miss the other electronics wizards either - but you might ! So think hard about your photo-subjects and the things you do and don't like about your way of handling your camera at the moment, then decide if you can do with less built-in help. That even applies to the flash! Yes, I'm happy with my Konica. No, I don't regret the lack of red spots on the camera-front (even after a lot of M4- and M6-handling). These red spots are quite expensive these days - I prefer to use my cash instead for buying good film and getting around. This way I can use my machine ! I didn't just want to own it, I want to use it. A secondhand M4 with a 2/50 would have cost me quite a bit more than I paid now for more gear. And for durability : neither machine is happy with a rainstorm. And I don't plan to go to very cold (almost Arctic) or very hot (Congo-like) spots. I don't like to go there so why would I need a camera to withstand what I would

Customer Service

No opinion on it - YET - my trusted dealer (did busisness with him for some 15 years) assures me it's more than adequate (at least over here in Holland).

Similar Products Used:

Yashica 124G (8 years); Olympus 35 SP (7 years) ; Leica CL (5 years); Minox 35GT (10 years) ; Nikon FM2 (10 years) ; Canon EOS 1000Fn (5 years) ; Canon EOS 50 (5 years) ; Canon G-III (6 months) ; Olym