KONICA M HEXANON 28mm

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

Gallery

Photo example by LEICA M8

Review

M HEXANON 28mm is a wide-angle lens for Konica’s Leica M mount.
Among Konica’s M mount lenses, this is the widest-angle lens other than the 21-35mm bifocal lens.
After screwing in, the lens hood can be rotated 120 degrees and moved to a position where it does not get in the way of the viewfinder frame. There is no fixing device, 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. You can tell that this is a newly designed lens because the front lens is not very distorted.

The exterior is based on black with red accents, and although it is not glamorous, it has a simple and sturdy impression.
It is larger than the aspherical Elmarit 28mm, but smaller than the spherical Elmarit, making it a sufficiently compact lens.
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.

With its vivid colors and delicate depiction, it is a fully accomplished modern 28mm lens.
The camera used with this lens is a LEICAM8, 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 M9 because I didn’t use it often enough.

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