Hi all,

I am looking for another backup camera for my M series. I usually bring along my GR1 when shooting with my trusty M6 & M2. I have to admit, sometimes it is just too late to capture the moment when I am with the full manual cameras. M7 is of course TOO expensive. Not to be offensive, looking at the early electronic R-series that Leica has produced jointly with Minolta (namely, R3,R4,R5,R-E,R7), it can take quite a few decades for Leitz to get it right with their R8. I hope this will not be the case for M7, being the first departure / step forward from Leitz's lengendary Mechanical M philosophy

So the choice for now, narrows down to a high quality p&s. Can anyone let me know your thoughts/experience with the T3 or Hexar Silver. Since I have already got the GR1 (28mm), I will only be looking at 35mm focal length.

Many Thanks.

-- Jeff Yiu (jeffyiu@quamnet.com), March 24, 2002

Answers

there is an excellent t3 user site with several exhaustive reviews so i won't say too much here. suffice it to say, i simply love the t3. the lens is sharper in the center (not the edges) in the "meat" of the aperture range than the 35mm summi asph, it has a 2.8 max aper that is actually usable throughout most of the shutter speed range due to the double shutter mechanism, it has a top speed of 1/1200th, the camera is tiny but AMAZINGLY solid, it accepts filters (i use the heliopan) and a hood (which may be used together with NO vignetting despite what the instructions say), and it has a great viewfinder with suspended britelines and a decent amount of info in the display. but the real beauty of the camera is this: (a) it has the most amazing set of programmable custom functions of any camera i have owned. mine is set so that it comes on (i.e. stored in memory) with no flash, + 1/2 stop expos comp (yellow filter always on), mf set to 3 meters WITH THE CAMERA PREFOCUSED TO THAT DISTANCE and (b) it fires IMMEDIATELY when you press the shutter release when prefocused, much faster than the hexar rf it replaced. it is simply ideal for candid street shots. when i went abroad recently, i invariably went out with two cameras -- the t3 and a brooks veriwide (f5.6, modified to take new horseman 6x9 backs). i came back with many keepers. i can't say enough good things about the camera. indeed, it is because of the performace of the t3 that i am going to get an m7. it made me realize just how crucial AE -- if coupled with compactness and immediate release -- can be to good street shooting (something i already knew, but sadly forgot, from when i owned an EL/20mm f2.8 combo many a year ago). if the t3 came in wideangle and tele versions, i wouldn't bother. oh, and MAKE SURE YOU GET THE COOL AND COVERT BLACK LEATHER HARD CASE (but just use the bottom half).

-- roger michel (michel@tcn.org), March 24, 2002.

i owned, and at the time loved, a hexar classic (my reference above was to the hexar rf). it is /was a great camera, but does not come close to the t3. the t3 lens is so much better, the camera is built better and more compact, the t3 has MANY more useful custom settings, and, most important, the t3 releases much faster.

-- roger michel (michel@tcn.org), March 24, 2002.

I've been using a Hexar for about six years and I find it to have one of the best lenses I've ever used. That and complete control, including the ability to use independent flash, full manual control, and film speed control, make it far less like a "compact" camera and much more like the descendant of an older fixed lens rangefinder that it really is.

I generally decide how good a lens is by how large I can enlarge the negatives. I can pretty much do the same with the Hexar as I can with a modern Leica lens, 11x14 with Tri-X.

Besides, pictures never lie...

Couple, Hexar (AF), Copyright 2000 Jeff Spirer

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), March 24, 2002.

Nikon 35Ti. It has a 35/2.8 lens and high-quality construction. They have been pretty reasonably priced in the used market. Another option is the Konica Hexar.

-- Chris Henry (henryjc@concentric.net), March 24, 2002.

Well, I've not used the T3, but I do own a Hexar Silver. I've previously noted on this forum that the technical picture quality from the Hexar does not impress me very much. I suspect the problem is with an autofocus system that is less than perfectly accurate, though, as it is not stepless and hence a subject distance falling in between the steps (focussing distances used by the lens) will not be rendered as sharply as possible. And before anyone asks, yes I do know how to use an AF camera, and yes I have had my Hexar checked out by Konica.

All of that said, I must state that the Hexar is a great camera, just not b/c of the lens. It is quick, stealthy, has a pretty good finder, and as Jeff noted above, allows full manual control. If you want one, buy it now, while they're still available. You can buy the latest "Silver" version and send it to Andrew Nemeth (of this forum) to have the stealth mode added, and then you'll have about the quietest camera out there. Neato.

-- Douglas Kinnear (douglas.kinnear@colostate.edu), March 24, 2002.

I usu. swear up and down by the Hexar (AF), the black original one that I have (with upgraded Rhodium ROMs). However, just these couple weeks in China, where it was quite wet in Anhui Province (Huang San, where parts of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was shot), I found the AF malfunctioning- always focussing to short distance. Yikes indeed! I thought me beloved Hexar were broke. But once we headed to drier climes, it was fine- or so it seems. I haven't developed the roll yet (it was a back up to my M) to see.

Other than that, I find the bokeh and sharpness, the ease of use, the quietness (quieter than the M6), 1/250s flashmatic, all make this a GREAT camera. It feels a little clunky and less solid now that I've held the M6, but its images def. rival those of a 35 Cron Asph, IMO. And it's faster as a street camera for me.

-- Tse-Sung (tsesung@yahoo.com), March 28, 2002.