KONICA Hexanon L 50mm F1.9

Review and Photo example of the Hexanon 50mm F1.9.

Gallery

The sample photo were taken with the LEICA M9

Review

Hexanon 50mm F1.9 is a standard lens with Konica L39 screw mount.

Once you’ve used all the major lenses for rangefinder cameras, you’ll start to pay attention to the minor lenses that are being sold on the market. This lens was one of the lenses I came across while shopping for lenses.

Until the release of its own Hexar RF, Konica did not release rangefinder camera bodies and instead focused on supplying lenses, and it appears that this lens was also sold bundled with other companies’ cameras.

The lens information for this lens is well summarized in “About Konica LTM Interchangeable Lenses”, which is also listed in the reference link. Since this lens is made in Japan, it can also be found on the used market. There is a wealth of lens reviews and information for an old lens, including the sites mentioned above.

As far as I have confirmed, there seem to be two variations of the lens barrel, with different designs for the focus ring and aperture ring. The one introduced here seems to be the earlier model. The earlier model had a special filter thirds, which was a strange size of 39.5mm, so I couldn’t find a suitable filter, so I put a series filter in a 50mm split cover hood for Canon’s 50mm F1.8 to protect the lens.

When I used it with the Leica M9, which has a 35mm full-frame sensor, I had the impression that it was difficult to use with a digital camera, such as ghosting when backlit and a decrease in the contrast of the captured image. This is thought to be because the structure of this lens is a double Gauss type, and fogging occurs due to balm breakage on the bonded surfaces.

Many older lenses have problems like this in lens condition, so if the price is reasonable, we recommend checking the actual item and previewing it before purchasing. In practical terms, you can buy the latest 50mm lenses fairly cheaply, so there’s probably no reason to actively choose one unless you want to enjoy old lenses. Even so, I end up buying lenses that somehow appeal to me, probably because I’m a lens gourmet addict.

Specification

Item	Hexanon	Hexar
focal length(mm)	50	←
Maximum aperture	1.9	3.5
Minimum aperture	22	←
Lens configuration	6elements in 5groups	4elements in 3groups
Leaf blade	10	←
Minimum distance(m)	1.0	←
Lens length(mm)	?	?
Lens max diameter(mm)	49	←
Filter diameter(mm)	39.5	19
Weight(g)	270	145
Release date	Year 1955	Year 1953
List price(Yen)	23,500	?