Konica Hexar AF - Won't turn on anymore

[Unicron]

Hello,

I have a Konica Hexar AF that I purchased in 2012 that worked fine until a few years later I got an error message while shooting. I took the battery out after that shoot and the camera sat for years in a case in my closet while I shot with other cameras.

A friend of mine asked for the camera so last week I cleaned up the battery contacts and put in a fresh battery. The camera turned on and appeared to be fixed. Today I went to turn it on to put a test roll through and nothing happened. The camera looks like it might be dead...I tried another fresh battery but nothing happened. Not sure how to even begin to diagnose what might have happened.

Has anyone come across this before and if so how did you fix it? Or has this camera bit the dust...

Thanks in advance.

 

[nathantw]

My Hexar AF died a couple years ago. It was working great up until I left it in the car for a couple days. I took it out and found it didn't work any longer. I took the bottom plate off because I saw a Youtube video of someone that put a jumper on one of the ribbon wire traces and that fixed it. I found that many of my wire traces were corroded. I tried fixing the traces but since I didn't disassemble the entire camera it was impossible to really get a sense of what needed to be done. It looked like a capacitor was bad, so I purchased a couple and made a mess. I ended up just throwing it into a box and calling it a day. It was a friend for over 20 years. Since that time I saw a brand new old stock rhodium model that kept going down in price. When it hit $700 it was gone. Last year I found another for a reasonable price (less than $550) and I purchased it. I hadn't used it as much as I used to. I'm sure the pandemic contributed to that.

Back to your problem. I hate to say but it might be done.

 

[Unicron]

I was afraid of failed electronics as I knew that was an issue with these when I bought it. Even when I first got the camera I had to do the shutter fix by removing the top plate and cleaning it and that was in 2012. Today, I took the bottom plate off and it looked relatively clean but I'm not an electronics expert. The caps looked okay and I didn't see any visible corrosion. If I dismantle it and post pics here would that be helpful? I bought the camera for $300 and I'm sure anyone that could fix this would probably charge that much for parts/labor. I'm kinda stuck wondering if I should just keep it as a paperweight or give it to my friend for free with the caveat that it might be hundreds of dollars to repair.

 

[nathantw]

Since you purchased it for $300 in 2012 you definitely got your money's worth. It's great to hear that your wire traces were clean. It might just be something minor that's blown out. I would seek a person that can repair it or at least look for that video of that person that fixed their Hexar AF on Youtube. It might be worth a try. Truthfully, if you're not thinking of buying another Hexar AF then I'd give it to your friend since you're not going to do anything with it. I knew beforehand I was going to buy another one which was why I declined a person that asked for the broken one. Apparently there were a couple parts that I needed from the broken one to put onto the new one so it was good I kept it.

Just an FYI, I had to fix the sticky shutter too. I think all Hexar AF need that fix.

Good luck!

 

[gijsbert]

You could contact https://www.instagram.com/pppcameras/ , I've seen Hexar AF in the posts - for the shutter repair at least - they might have some ideas.

 

[Mikejd2000]

Since you purchased it for $300 in 2012 you definitely got your money's worth. It's great to hear that your wire traces were clean. It might just be something minor that's blown out. I would seek a person that can repair it or at least look for that video of that person that fixed their Hexar AF on Youtube. It might be worth a try. Truthfully, if you're not thinking of buying another Hexar AF then I'd give it to your friend since you're not going to do anything with it. I knew beforehand I was going to buy another one which was why I declined a person that asked for the broken one. Apparently there were a couple parts that I needed from the broken one to put onto the new one so it was good I kept it.

Just an FYI, I had to fix the sticky shutter too. I think all Hexar AF need that fix.

Good luck!

hi looking for a dead body for the lens, if you ever want to get rid of the lens but keep the body, would love to have it please me know
Mike

 

[John Koehrer]

There are a couple of notes on the interweb re: this. The issue seems to have been dirty contact in the release switch
or cold solder joints to the flexible circuit beneath or adjacent to the switch.