Film Photography Lust: Konica Hexar Silver

One of my favorite cameras is a recently purchased Konica Hexar Silver. The Hexar has a classic rangefinder design that can be used as an auto-focusing point & shoot or fully manual camera. It's very easy to use in all modes and has the following features:

Basic Features:

Classic rangefinder size (think Leica M6), solid & nice ergonomics.
Extremely sharp Konica Hexar 35mm f/2.0 lens with built in lens hood.
Aperture range from f/2.0 to f/22.
Program, Aperture priority & manual mode (I've used it in Program mode primarily).
Autofocus is fast and true.
Hotshoe.
ISO set through DX coding or manually from 6-6400.
Very quiet shutter which makes it great for street photography or when you need stealth.

Negatives:

Manual focus is done through the up / down buttons on the top of the camera and honestly is not useful in most situations (possibly when on a tripod with a self timer).
Top shutter speed of 1/250.
Lens cap doesn't fit securely when the lens is fitted with a filter.
Exposure meter is on the outside of the lens (non TTL) close to the lens, so you need to be careful to keep your finger off of it while shooting. Also, therefore, when using a filter you need to adjust the ISO manually.

The top deck is very clean with an information LCD screen, shutter release with surrounding aperture dial, self timer button & easy to use mode switch. No clutter.

The only downside in my experience is that the maximum shutter speed means you need to be mindful of the film speed based on the lighting you will experience. A very day means you need slower speed film. Other than that it's a very nice camera that I've used primarily as a high end point & shoot.

I've shot my Konica Hexar regularly with different film types. Here are a few examples: