KONICA M HEXANON 28mm

Review and Photo example of the KONICA M HEXANON 28mm F2.8.

Gallery

The sample photo were taken with the LEICA M8

Review

Hexanon 28mm F2.8 is a wide-angle lens for Konica’s Leica M mount, and is the widest lens among Konica’s M mounts except for the bifocal lens 21-35mm.

After screwing in, the lens hood can be rotated approximately 120 degrees and moved to a position where it does not get in the way of the viewfinder frame. There is no mechanism to fix rotation, so the position may shift within the camera bag.

There is a detailed explanation of the lens in the technical report, but the lens is constructed to be nearly symmetrical based on a retrofocus structure. For a wide-angle lens, the front-most lens doesn’t have that much distortion, which gives you the impression that it’s a newly designed lens.

The exterior is based on black with red accents, and although it is not flashy, it gives a simple and sturdy impression.
Although it is larger than the aspherical Elmarit 28mm, it is smaller and more compact than the spherical Elmarit.
The Helicoid I used was smooth, and although it didn’t have a focus lever, it wasn’t difficult to use. The HEXANON 35mm F2, which was released later and had a thicker lens barrel than this lens, added a focus lever. This is thought to be because the lens diameter has become larger and thicker.

With its vivid colors and delicate depiction, it is a fully accomplished modern 28mm lens.
The camera used with this lens is a Leica M8, and the sensor is APS-H size with x1.33, so it is not possible to evaluate the image quality of the peripheral areas. I think it would be nice to have an example of a full-frame sensor, but I was in a fierce battle with the 28mm focal length I own, and I sold it before I bought the Leica M9 because I didn’t use it often.

The reference book, “All about HEXAR RF: Exploring the appeal of the latest rangefinder machine” (Aimook 205) is a good book that is full of information about HEXAR RF. However, since it was published in 2000, please note that there is no introduction to the body HEXAR RF LIMITED, lenses released after that, M-HEXANON 50mm F1.2 Limited, M-HEXANON 35mm, and M-HEXANON 21-35mm.

Specification

Item	Value	note
focal length(mm)	28
Maximum aperture	2.8
Minimum aperture	22	1/2 step
Lens configuration	7groups 8elements
Minimum distance(m)	0.7
Lens length(mm)	40,4	Distance from mount flange
Lens max diameter(mm)	52
Filter diameter(mm)	46
Weight(g)	230
Release date	1999
Price(Yen/No-tax)	¥113,000-

Focal length	Lens name	Release date	Technical Report
28mm	M-HEXANON f28 / F2.8	1999年	28/50/90mm-PDF
50mm	M-HEXANON f50 / F2	1999年	28/50/90mm-PDF
90mm	M-HEXANON f90 / F2.8	1999年	28/50/90mm-PDF
35mm	M-HEXANON f35 / F2	2000年	35mm-PDF
50mm	M-HEXANON f50 / F1.2	2001年	50mm/F1.2-PDF
21-35mm	M-HEXANON f21-35 / F3.4-4	2002年	21-35mm-PDF