Hexar Landscapes

It's been in and out of my "things to sell on Ebay" list more often than a fiddler's elbow but it's still here. Looks like the Hexar AF isn't going anywhere soon. It's earned its place in my camera bag because of its outstanding fixed 35mm f2 lens. In common with the Zeiss lenses on the Contax, it produces negatives that just seem to have something about them: a crispness and character that's very nice indeed.

I'm also coming to terms with its vague viewfinder - something I've moaned about often enough in the past. It's a cross you have to bear when using rangefinder-type cameras. If I want the Hexar's lens I have to put up with the Hexar, simple as that.

It's not usually thought of as a landscape camera but I had it with me the other week when I was out with the Contax outfit shooting some gritty and bleak scenes. There were no surprises as far as framing is concerned when I reviewed the Agfa APX 100 negs so I must be getting used to the viewfinder. Exposure was good in most of the frames. When there was a lot of snow about I used the Hexar's exposure compensation buttons to dial in about one-and-a-half stops of over-exposure. I've found that whilst +2 stops might be needed where the snow is sunlit, in the dull, overcast conditions in which I was shooting, +1 to +1.5 stops is plenty.

The film was developed in Spur Acurol-N, a developer that was sent to me for review by the manufacturers. I'm just feeling my way with it and will write up my impressions later. Don't read too much into the pics in this post as they've been breathed on in Photoshop, a necessary evil given my scanning abilities (or lack thereof) and the fact that I'm darkroomless for the time being.

The photographs do give a good impression of the Angus countryside around my Carnoustie home for most of the year, however. Temperatures hovered around 0-3C for a few months and it was quite miserable - especially since our boiler packed up and we were without heating on and off for about five weeks. It was lovely to see the temperature "soaring" to 8C today and the sun poked out from behind the clouds for quite lengthy spells as well. I narrowed my eyes, concentrated hard and tried to pretend I was in the South of France. It didn't work.