Tips and tricks

How to press the buttons Filters and short focussing distance Using non DX films Hexar Silent Photography Hexar S-Mode (sort of, anyway..)
How to press the buttons
This is of course personal but for me it is the best way to use the camera. Use your middle finger to press the release button and your index finger to press the up or down button. This way you can look through the view finder while adjusting settings. It will also reduce the possibility that one of your fingers covers the photocel on the front side of the camera.
Filters and short focussing distance
The camera was designed to get the highest quality pictures possible and that means NO filters. Lucky for you the Konica engineers where kind enough to add a filter screw thread (size 46mm). If you really want to use filters be careful. When you try to focus at a distance of 60cm your camera may display an error message EEE on the LCD panel. This is caused by obstruction of the lens by the filter mounted. This message stays there even when you have switched off your camera. Removing the battery will clear the lcd panel error message. You have to remove the filter before using your camera again. If you want to use filters, focussing at a distance 60cm, return your camera to Konica support service and they will add a very thin metal ring to your camera which will keep the filters just out of range of the autofocusing lens and the problem will be solved. PS: I do not know if this problem is solved on the newer models.
Using non DX films
The camera automatically sets the ISO value to that of the loaded DX-film. There maybe situations where you may want to adjust filmspeed and you don't like to do this with the exposure adjustment (0+-2 EV). One way to do this is tape the filmcartridge DX-code and set manually the ISO value you want. Switch your camera to A mode and press the Select button for more than 1 second. Adjust the ISO value with the Up or Down button. The camera will use this ISO value for all next films until you load an DX-coded film or remove the battery.
Hexar Silent Photography With the Silent Mode, the Hexar is an extremely quiet camera. Some circumstances may however require even less obtrusive operation (e.g. ceremonies in church, candid photography). The following considerations will be helpful in achieving this. The causes and solutions to noise from the Hexar Focussing The noise of focussing is lessened by the Silent Mode. It can be completely eliminated by manually selecting focus in advance, and sticking to that. Combined with a fixed Aperture for a hyperfocal setting, this approach would be most effective. Aperture The noise of the aperture opening up or closing down is not affected by the Silent Mode. It can be completely eliminated by manually selecting the aperture in A-mode or M-mode in advance, and sticking to that. Combined with a fixed Focussing for a hyperfocal setting, this approach would be most effective. Film Advance The noise of film advance is lessened by the Silent Mode. It can not be completely eliminated, but the film advance can be delayed by keeping the shutter release pressed. Release the shutter when the Hexar's hidden under a piece of cloth, or the sound is camouflaged by other noise. Film rewind The noise of film rewind is lessened by the Silent Mode. One's best bet however, is to make sure that film rewind does not need to occur. Shutter The noise from the shutter is not affected by the Silent Mode. It is however by far the least obtrusive noise generated, even by Silent Mode standards. The only solution would of course be to not press that shutter release at all :-) Switching on/off When switching off, the aperture opens up completely, and the lense moves back to its base position. When switched on again, the aperture closes down to the one selected immediately. The lense will move again when focussing takes place either manually or automatically. This means that for candids, switching off and on again of the Hexar should be avoided. Taking the above at heart, your Hexar should make a whisper sound like a bang by comparisson.

 

Hexar S-Mode (sort of, anyway..)

Yep, it's true, the Hexar does not sport a shutter priority mode. Programmed aperture preference (P-Mode), Aperture priority (A-mode) and full manual (M-Mode), it's all there. But there's no way to crank the selector button all the way up to an S-Mode.

What the Hexar does have though, is a user programmable camera shake critical speed. Combined with the P-Mode, it offers a programmed shutter preference mode with full stop speed settings from 1/4 to 1/60th plus 1/250th.

Here's how it works:

• Select P-Mode.
• For the slower speeds (1/4, 1/8, 1/15, 1/30, and 1/60), set the camera shake critical speed to the shutter speed required -attainable by keeping the Select button pressed.

  Set the aperture wheel to 22.

  This very small aperture will cause the Hexar to use the slowest shutter speed available to it. This will be the selected camera shake critical speed, and when there's still too little light -as is often the case with f22 and the slower films the Hexar particularly favours- will automatically open up the aperture to one appropriate to the camera shake critical speed.

• For the fastest speed (1/250), turn the aperture wheel to 2.

  This large aperture will cause the Hexar to use the fastest shutter speed available to it. This is the shutter top speed of 1/250, and when there's still too much light -as is often the case outdoors with f2- will automatically close down the aperture to one appropriate to the camera shake critical speed.

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