Avenon L39 screw mount 28mm lens
A review and Photo example of AVENON 28mm F3.5 with a digital camera.
Table of contents
Gallery
- The sample photos were taken with the Leica M8.2.
- The sample photos were taken with the EPSON R-D1.
Review
1．Overview
The Avenon 28mm is a wide-angle lens with a Leica L39 screw mount released by the now defunct Avenon Optical Co., Ltd. in 1982, 1992 and 1997.
This lens has undergone several minor changes, and on this site, the models released from 1982 to 1997 are called the early model, and the lens released in 1997, when major changes were made, is called the later model.
The differences between the early and later models are the shape of the focus lever, the number of aperture blades and the minimum focusing distance.
The difference between the focus lever is that the early model has a pin shape as seen on old Leica-Elmar 50mm lenses as shown in the photo above, while the later model has a bifurcated shape similar to the six-element Summicron lens.
The difference is that the early model has 6 aperture blades and the later model has 10.
The minimum focusing distance is 1m for the early model and 0.75m for the later model. *1
The early model is available in silver and black, and the later model is only available in black. If you are looking for a later model, you need to check the shape of the focus lever and the number of aperture blades.
The lens configuration remains the same for both the early and later models, a Gaussian type with 6 elements in 4 groups.
The lens coating may have evolved over the years, but I do not have detailed information.
The early model comes with a trumpet-shaped screw-in hood and a viewfinder.
The later black model was purchased as a single lens, so the accessories are unknown, but I have seen it sold in a box with just the lens on the second-hand market, so it is believed that the later black model does not come with a viewfinder.
In addition to the 28mm lens, AVENON also offered a wider 21mm lens.
- *1: Wiki states that the minimum shooting distance for all AVENON 28mm is 1m, but the later model with a two-pronged focus lever has a scale of 0.8m engraved on it, and can be extended further to 0.75m. The rangefinder scale can be seen in photos of AVENON 28mm for sale on eBay and other sites.
2．Usage
The focal length of 28mm is very versatile, so I took the Avenon 28mm out more often than the Avenon 21mm.
As you can see from the actual photos, it has excellent performance when used with sensors smaller than APS-H, but it’s unfortunate that the minimum shooting distance is 1m.
It’s a compact lens, so it looks good on a compact camera. I mainly used this lens with the R-D1 and M8/M8.2. I sold it before using the M9, so I wasn’t able to check the image quality on a full-frame camera.
Avenon lenses were traded at a fairly reasonable price in the 2000s, but as of 2023, you can find them on the used market, but the prices are on the rise, and they cannot compete with modern lenses in terms of depiction, so I think it’s unclear whether they are worth that price in practical terms. Collectors want to get their hands on them, so they probably don’t care much about the price.
Would I get this lens again? To be honest, it’s a bit of a tricky question. There are many unique lenses with a focal length of 28mm in both the LEICA-L39 screw mount and the M mount, and the rangefinder lenses with a focal length of 28mm that I have on hand are the first symmetrical ELMARIT-M 28mm, the CONTAX G 28mm, and a few Ms-Optics lenses, and among the 28mm lenses I used, the Avenon 28mm had a weak presence.
3．Summary.
To sum up the AVENON 28mm F3.5, it depends on whether you have the urge to try using a double Gauss type 28mm, which is rare for 28mm. Since there is nothing particularly special about the image quality, it is a lens that you would buy if you saw it at an acceptable price.
There are surprisingly few double Gauss type 28mm lenses, and among the lenses I own or have owned in the past, the only one I can find is the Ms-Optics APOQUALIA G 28mm. The Chinese Brightin Star 28mm F2.8, which I was a little interested in because of its thin shape, is also not a double Gauss type.
28mm F3.5 lens
Contemporary 28mm F3.5 lenses for rangefinder cameras include the Voigtlander COLOR SKOPAR 28mm F3.5 and MINOLTA G-ROKKOR 28mm F3.5, and modern CANON S 28mm F3.5 and W-NIKKOR 28mm F3.5.
Of the Contemporary lenses, the MINOLTA G-ROKKOR 28mm F3.5 was repurposed from the compact camera TC-1 and has a unique style of rendering, so we compared it with the COLOR SKOPAR 28mm F3.5.
The AVENON 28mm is a very orthodox double Gauss type, while the COLOR SKOPAR 28mm is a modern lens with a design that seems to have been ingeniously designed in the front lens. Both lenses have no problems with the depiction of the center, and the difference between the lenses seems to be evident in the depiction of the periphery, but since all the examples of both lenses were taken with cameras with sensors smaller than a 35mm full-frame sensor, it is not possible to judge the quality of the periphery.
- The lens construction diagram for Avenon was traced from an old flyer, and for Voigtlander it was taken from a PDF published by Cosina. The size and position of the diagram have been adjusted by us, so it is not exact.
About AVENON
In addition to the Super Wide and 21mm, Avenon Optical has released three types of lenses with L39 screw mounts: 28mm, Avenon P.H AIR LENS, and pinhole lenses. Lenses other than pinhole lenses are supplied to other companies on an OEM basis and released under the Kobalkux brand.
They also provide a service to convert CONTAX-G mount lenses to rangefinder-linked Leica L39 screw mounts, and I have a CONTAX-G 28mm converted to an L mount.
Nakamura Fumio has contributed a review of the AVENON SUPER WIDE 21mm on page 94 of the book “Leica Lenses of the World Part 2” (Shashin Kogyo Shuppansha, ISBN978-4-87956-065-0), and Hagiya Tsuyoshi has contributed a review of the AVENON 28mm on page 96. In the second edition of the book I own, the lens configuration diagram of the 28mm in the review by Tsuyoshi Hagiya is correct for 4 groups and 6 elements, but the configuration of the rear group of lenses is different from the flyer created by AVENON. The lens configuration diagram posted in the specifications and comparison was based on the diagram in the AVENON flyer.
There is not much detailed information about Avenon Optical on the web, but it is mentioned briefly in an article contributed to Capa by Fumio Nakamura mentioned above, and in the review of the AVENON 28mm by Tsuyoshi Hagiya in the book “Leica Lenses of the World Part 2” (Shashin Kogyo Shuppansha, ISBN978-4-87956-065-0) mentioned above, the name of the president of Avenon Optical is stated to be “Tsuyoshi Abe”. In order to verify the authenticity of this information, it is necessary to search for past magazines, etc., but much of the information compiled about Avenon on the web is of unknown origin.
Specification and Competitor
| Items | Early type(silver,Black) | Late type(Black) | Color Skopar |
| Focal length(mm) | 28 | 28 | 28 |
| Max aperture | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| Min aperture | 16 | 16 | 22 |
| Lens Construction | 6 | 10 | 10 |
| Aperture blade | 6 elements in 4 group | 6 elements in 4 group | 7 elements in 5 group |
| Min distance(m) | 1.0 | 0.75 | 0.7 |
| Lens length(mm) | 17.4 | 17.4 | 25.8 |
| Max diameter(mm) | 51 | 51 | 50 |
| Filter Size(mm) | 43 | 43 | 39 |
| Lens hood | Screw-in cylindrical trumpet type | Screw-in cylindrical trumpet type | Threaded cylinder LH-1 |
| Lens mount | L39 | L39 | L39 |
| Weight(g) | 100 | 100 | 163 |
| Release date | 1992 | 1997 | May.2002 |
| Price(Yen/No-tax) | ? | ? | Silver ¥45,000 Black paint ¥48,000 |
Reference links
- THE MAP TIMES AVENON 28mm (Japanese text)
- “Leica Lenses of the World Part 2” Shashin Kogyo Publishing Amazon Affiliate link
Update
- 2025.4.1
- 2024.9.7
- 2024.2.7:Update
- 2023.6.23:First draft
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