I’ve talked about my love for the Konica Hexar before, and I am consistently amazed by the output of this unassuming camera. Despite its 90’s era design, unintelligible operating features, and limiting 1/250th top shutter speed, the Hexar has gained a cult-like following among street photographers as a silent but deadly shooter. Armed with a reportedly “identical” knockoff of the beautiful Leica 35 Summicron lens, the Hexar truly earns its chops when shot in “silent mode,” an inaudible method of operation made possible by mashing odd buttons in sync while turning the thing on. Why on earth the designers hid this awesome function beneath a Mortal Kombat like string of commands, only god knows, but once properly engaged the Hexar is scary silent. Like I’m not even sure that I hit the shutter silent. While this operation is EPIC on the street, it becomes much less EPIC when the shutter starts to stick. Imagine my surprise after a days worth of shooting, adoring and admiring the utter stealth of my “silent mode”  Hexar, only to find that the silence had occurred because my faulty shutter failed to fire. Apparently, the lofty Hexar is plagued by a notoriously week electrical connection between the shutter button and the body, a defect responsible for erratic focusing and…you guessed it, miss fires! At first it was an inconvenience, but the more I had the Hexar by my side, the more I noticed the problem worsening. My growing frustration led me to begin leaving the Hexar at home, afraid that if I brought it along I would end up missing something important. But one day I stumbled across an online forum that described a relatively easy fix, but still a fix that involved disassembling the body and exposing its guts to the elements. What choice did I have? Do nothing and be stuck with a faulty camera, do something and potentially ruin a cult icon. Did I have the technology, or steady hands to perform a procedure like that? Read on to find more.

The first step was relatively easy, simply peel back the leatherette covering and loosen the small screws holding the body together. After a small setback resulting from an inability to find a screwdriver small enough, I successfully removed the buggers and was ready to rumble.

Next step, unscrew the shutter board from the top of the camera (the green piece from the orange piece.) Sounds easy enough, but its damn stressful when your only tool is a 99 cent eyeglasses screwdriver from Duane Reade, and on top of that you have to make sure that all other wires/connections/welds remain untouched. The forum directions went even further, explaining how to unhook the ribbon connector (whatever the hell that is) to gain easier access. That whole idea went way beyond my pay grade, and I decided to improvise and see if I could complete the overhaul with as minimal meddling as possible. Instead of disconnecting the ribbon, I left it in place, and instead folded over the shutter board while I worked on the other side.

Eureka! That little black rubber dot is the culprit, and apparently all that is needed to make the fix is a quick swab and clean with alcohol. After prying the thing free, no small feat on of its own, I was left with three individual pieces. Each component received a thorough once-over from Mr. Q-tip and Mrs. Isopropyl Alcohol (its a weird marriage I know, but it works for them,) and was left to dry.

That little gold crab look-a-like serves as the link between button and board, so I crimped the legs back a bit to give it more bounce. With the cleaning finished, I worked my way backwards until the camera was whole again, and prayed to the almighty as I powered it up. BOOM, the shutter fired flawlessly, and it was like holding a new camera baby for the first time. Gone was the anger associated with missing shots, replaced instead with dreams of roaming the streets again in stealth, but this time actually capturing the scenes that caught my interest. And HOLY CRAP, the Konica captures them with the best of them.

Below is a random collection of images, only grouped together through their shared occurrence over the course of one roll of Tri-X (I do quite like the last few though)