FUJINON 28mm F3.5 from TIARA

A review and photo examples of the SUPER-EBC Fujinon 28mm F3.5 M-mount modified lens.

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Review
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Gallery

The digital camera example was taken using the SONY α7sII.

The film camera example was shot using Minolta CLE + FUJIFILM 100.

Review

The Fujinon 28mm F3.5 is a lens that Ms-optics (Miyazaki Optical) took out of the SUPER-EBC FUJINON 28mm F3.5 mounted on Fujifilm’s compact cameras, the Caldia Mini Tiara (TIARA), Caldia Mini Tiara II (TIARA II), and DL Super mini, and transplanted it into the MS-28 helicoid for Leica M mount conversion developed by the same company.

If you send a camera to Ms-optics and ask them to modify it, they will return the original body with the lens removed, but this time I purchased the lens attached to a Minolta CLE from an Okinawa recycle shop for a reasonable price, even though it was treated as junk. Therefore, I do not know whether the original body was Tiara or Tiara 2.
Also, I do not know whether the hood is stuck or fixed, but I cannot remove it.
It should have originally been an L39 screw mount, but the M/L ring seems to be fixed and cannot be removed.

The nameplate of this lens only says “28mm F3.5”, and unlike the Kyocera T-Proof and Tessar lenses, there is no “Tess” or other notation indicating the lens on the nameplate. Therefore, in order to identify the lens used, I looked for a compact camera equipped with a 28mm F3.5 prime lens before purchasing. The only cameras equipped with a 28mm F3.5 prime lens that remained were either Fujifilm’s Tiara (Tiara 2) or Nikon’s Nikon Mini (AF600D), and I determined that the Tiara was most likely the case based on the shape of the lens front frame. In addition, I was able to confirm that it was definitely the Tiara by looking at the exterior photo of the modified Tiara lens on Hayata Camera Lab’s Miyazaki Optical Lens Modification page.

When I looked up the lens information on the website in the reference link before purchasing, I was a little hesitant to purchase it because it said that Tiara lenses are lenses from the film era, so you can’t expect good depiction in the peripheral areas and they don’t work well with digital cameras. However, as an Ms-optics modified lens enthusiast, I couldn’t resist the temptation to use this lens and purchased it.

The lens that came all the way here has the shape of an old Ms-optics lens when you look at the lens barrel. The helicoid is small and has a large inclination, so it is difficult to get your fingers on the lens and it is a little difficult to attach and remove the lens from the camera. Also, the aperture control is right on the edge of the front lens, so there is a risk of accidentally touching the front lens. The compact size sacrifices operability.

The digital camera used for the photo was the Sony α7sII.
The center is good, but the edges are not resolved. Some older 35mm full-frame sensors may cause color casts. The LEICA M9 and LEICA M typ240 are probably at a high risk of this. For practical use with a digital camera, I feel that the LEICA M8’s APS-H size sensor, Fujifilm X, and Sony α6x series APS-C size sensor are suitable.

The lens was attached to a Minolta CLE film camera, and Fujifilm 100 film was used.
The CLE that came with the lens had difficulty focusing on cameras with a faded double image, but it is compatible with film and there is no major breakdown in the image. The slightly loose image of negative film matches this lens well. This result also shows that there is a big difference in performance required between the film era and digital.

In backlighting, ghosting occurs depending on the direction of the sun and the lens angle. It disappears when you change the angle while looking through the EVF, so it seems that it can be avoided to some extent.
Since it is an old MS-28 helicoid lens, the minimum shooting distance is limited to the rangefinder coupling range of the M-type Leica, at 0.85m, which is not very close. It is a shame because the original Tiara can get as close as 0.35m. This will be compensated for by using an auxiliary helicoid when using a mirrorless camera.

Tidbits about the Cardia Mini Tiara
- Released in 1994
- Equipped with a 28mm prime lens in a compact aluminum body. Won the Good Design Award in 1995.

Trivia about the Cardia Mini Tiara 2
- Released in 1997
- An improved successor to the first model. Exposure accuracy has been improved, and changes have been made to the strobe.

The website explaining compact cameras in the reference link states that there seems to be a difference in the lens coating between the Tiara and Tiara 2, which makes the image look different, but since there is no way to compare them at present, the truth is unknown. I also looked online for lens configuration diagrams and looked at old camera magazines, but it seems that Fujifilm does not openly disclose lens configuration diagrams, and all I know is that it uses 4 groups, 4 elements, and aspherical lenses. I don’t want to buy a junk Tiara and cut it in half, so I don’t know the lens configuration. If you have any information, please let me know.

Specification and Competitor

Items	FUJIFILM TIARA	Nikon mini(AF600)	RICOH GR1
Focal length(mm)	28	←	←
Max aperture	3.5	3.5	2.8
Min aperture	16	←	←
Lens Construction	4elements in 4groups	3elements in 3groups	7elements in 4groups
Leaf blade	12(Ms-Optics modified	←	7
Min distance(m)	0.85	0.85	0.35
Lens length(mm)	18.2 Hood included	–	–
Max diameter(mm)	47.6	–	–
Filter Size(mm)	–	–	–
Hood	Cylindrical screw-in hood	Bayonet hood LH-6	none
Release date	1994 (Tiara) 1997 (Tiara 2)	2004	1996
Production number	15 (number of modifications as of 2016)	–	–
Weight(g)	60 Hood and M/L rings included	–	120