Hexar AF - different versions?

[Odot]

I dont remember where i have read this, its been a while but if i remember correctly, there are different versions. Does anyone know what the difference is between them in terms of IQ, etc? Thanks!

 

[Paul Howell]

You can read here, I think there was only 2 versions.
https://www.cameraquest.com/konhex.htm

 

[Lachlan Young]

There is the Hexar AF with a fixed lens and the Hexar RF with Leica M mount.

Optically speaking there are no variants among the AF's, but there are earlier black finish ones (some with data backs) which have the silent mode, and the later silver etc ones where you need to access the deeper programming settings to turn it back on. The lens has stupendous MTF performance, if you can live with some distortion.

 

[Huss]

Lovely camera but I can't live with that extremely low top shutter speed.

 

[Paul Howell]

Never owed on, but when it was released a friend lent me on for a travel shoot I was doing for a local daily, (sadly long gone) for the most part quite nice, lens is excellent, and in quite mode ideal for street work. In those days my go to street camera was the Canon QL 1.7, not as fast the Konica, not pocketable, otherwise performed just as well.

 

[craigclu]

Had a couple of these over the years (not currently). Lovely optics. I never noticed the distortion issues in the type of use I put them to but I suppose this could be an issue for some. It was quite easy to program the second version to access the silent mode ability, especially as you only needed to do the tedious, non-intuitive steps one time. My problem leading to less use than I should have put them to was the wonky interface. I consider myself a reasonable techie but I must be thinking in a different language than those who designed the camera. I always felt like I was fighting the interface and trying to get it to do something that it was resisting. I admit to being a bit of a Konica fanboy over the years and really wanted to like the AF but never warmed to it. I have and love an RF. It's become my favorite rangefinder that I'm much more comfortable with and I find other bodies spending more time in their bags than in use.