KONICA HEXANON 60mm

Review and photo examples of Konica Leica L39 screw mount lens, Hexanon 60mm F1.2

Gallery

Photo example1（KONICA HEXAR-RF +VELVIA 50 +NIKON LS-50）

Photo example2（LEOTAX F +lomography Lady grey B&W400 +DiMAGE Scan Multi PRO）

Photo example3（LEICA M10）

Photo example4（KONICA HEXAR-RF +Fortia 50 +NIKON LS-50）

Review

The Hexanon 60mm F1.2 is a Konica Leica L39 screw mount, limited edition of 800 lenses, and is a reprint of the 60mm F1.2 lens with the same specifications that was planned by Fujisawa Shokai and released by Konishiroku Photo Industry in the past.
The one I owned was purchased second-hand at a camera store in Ueno in February 2008. I quite liked the lens serial number, which was 2 digits.
A feature of this lens is that while many large aperture lenses have a minimum focusing distance of 1m, even though it is a large aperture lens, it can get as close as 0.8m. Being able to get closer by an extra 0.2m is very reassuring, and the focal length is 60mm, which is 10mm longer than the standard 50mm, making it nice to be able to frame the subject larger.
This lens comes with a dedicated 60mm finder, but if you are using an M-type Leica, you will either be conscious of shooting slightly inside the 50mm frame, or you will use the EVF, so you will rarely use this dedicated finder. I thought so, but I used it with LEOTAX F, which is a Barnack Leica compatible machine. It goes without saying that the Hexanon 60mm mount is an L39 screw mount, so it can also be used with a Barnack Leica.
The LEOTAX F’s 50mm finder didn’t look very good, so I attached a 60mm finder and was able to see the shooting range quite easily. There were no particular problems with focusing.
The lens is also sufficiently resistant to backlight, so there is almost no need to attach a huge lens hood.
When I used it on Hasselblad’s X1D via the X-M mount adapter, the lens’ image circle seemed to have plenty of room, and I didn’t notice any extreme vignetting or image distortion in the shooting results. FUJIFILM’s GFX has the same sensor size, so you may be able to use it without any problems.

When I was creating an introduction page for this lens on another site, I received an email from an overseas enthusiast asking me to sell the lens.There are lens enthusiasts all over the world. Due to the extreme price increase, this lens is now relatively common on the used market, but to be honest, if you’re going to pay that price, I’d buy the Noctilux.
Even if a lens sells in small numbers, if it doesn’t sell well, the price will drop, making it a difficult question to decide whether to wait for the price to drop or buy it when you can.
Also, as of 2023, the predecessor of this lens, the old Hexanon 60mm, is priced at a price that can buy a decent luxury car.

Specification

Lens name	HEXANON 60(Old)	HEXANON 60(New)	HEXANON 50
Focal length(mm)	60	60	50
Max aperture	1.2	1.2	1.2
Min aperture	16	16	16
Lens Construction	8elements in 6groups	7elements in 6groups	←
Leaf blade	?	10	←
Min distance(m)	3.5feet(1m)	0.8	0.9
Lens length(mm)	55(from L39 mount)	51.5(from L39 mount)	52
Max diameter(mm)	60	64	68
Filter Size(mm)	?	58 Special silver filter	62 Special black filter
Lens mount	L39 screw	L39 screw	M mount
Weigjt(g)	?	388 Lens +L/M adapter	390
Release date	Year 1956(or 1955)	Year 1999	Year 2001
Price(Yen/No-tax)	¥78,000-	¥190,000-	Sold as a set with body