AVENON SUPER WIDE L 21mm F2.8
Avenon L39 screw mount 21mm lens
A review and Photo example of the AVENON SUPER WIDE 21mm F2.8
Table of contents
Gallery
Photo example for AVENON SUPER WIDE 21mm F2.8 with a Leica M9
Review
1．Usage
The Avenon Super Wide 21mm123 is a wide-angle lens with a focal length of 21mm released by the now defunct Avenon Optical Co., Ltd.
The characteristic of this lens is the large curved front lens and the large lens barrel, so it is designed to fit larger bodies such as the M5 rather than compact camera bodies such as the Leica CL or Minolta CLE. I used both the early silver and late black lenses, but I didn’t feel any big difference in terms of operability or image quality. I remember that the backlight resistance was also the same.
I used this lens with cameras with different sensor sizes: the R-D1 with an APS-C sensor, the M8.2 with an APS-H sensor, and the M9 with a full-size sensor. With digital full-size, there is distortion in the image at the periphery, and color casts can occur depending on the sensor. It has sufficient performance for sensors with APS-H sensors or smaller. Although not included in the sample, if you look at the night view photo taken with the Leica M8.2, you can see that eight light stripes are visible in the night view, so you can tell that the late black lens was used at that time. I used the old Silver one when I had the R-D1.
The Avenon 21mm finder I tried out with the Silver one wasn’t very good looking, but the Zeiss 21mm finder I had at the time had a clearer view and was easier to use.
I liked the 21mm angle of view, and I had many lenses from the same time, so I didn’t use this lens much. Looking at the HDD where I store images, I sold it after using it a dozen times. Avenon brand lenses were quite cheap in the 2000s, but as of 2023, they can be found on the used lens market, but prices are on the rise.
2．Lens overview
This lens comes in two versions: an early model with a silver barrel and a later model with a black barrel. The differences are the minimum shooting distance (1m vs. 0.75m), the number of aperture blades (6 vs. 8), and the addition of an intermediate stop to the aperture (stopping at 3.5 between 2.8 and 4). The silver version came with a dedicated hood and viewfinder. The black version was purchased as a single lens, so the accessories are unknown, but I have seen it being sold in a box with the lens alone on the second-hand market, so the black version may not come with a viewfinder.
3．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 offer 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 941 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.
There is not much detailed information about Avenon Optical Co., Ltd. on the web, except for a brief mention in an article written by Fumio Nakamura in Capa, and a review of the AVENON 28mm by Tsuyoshi Hagiya in the book “Leica Lenses of the World Part 2” (ISBN978-4-87956-065-0) that states that the president of Avenon Optical Co., Ltd. is “Tsuyoshi Abe.” To verify the authenticity of this information, it is necessary to search for past magazines, but much of the information compiled about Avenon on the web is of unknown origin.
Specification
| Item | Early type (silver) | Late typ (Black, 2000 Edition) |
| Focal length(mm) | 21 | 21 |
| Max aperture | 2.8 | 2.8 |
| Min aperture | 22 | 22 |
| Leaf blade | 6 | 8 |
| Lens Construction | 8elements in 6group | 8elements in 6group |
| Min distance(m) | 1.0 | 0.75 |
| Lens length(mm) | 49 | 49 |
| Max diameter(mm) | 64 | 64 |
| Filter Size(mm) | 58 | 58 |
| Weight(g) | 225 | ? |
Reference links
- Fumio Nakamura’s Old Lenses: Learning from the Past “AVENON SUPER WIDE 21mm F2.8″(Japanese text)
- Leica Lenses of the World Part 2″ Shashin Kogyo Shuppansha(Japanese book) Link to Amazon affiliate link
Update history
- 2024.9.7
- 2024.2.7:Update
- 2023.6.21: First draft
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