Konica Hexanon 135mm f3.5 vintage lens review

-

 Some of you might remember that I was putting together a set of Konica Hexanon lenses, but unfortunately I had to sell them to pay the bills.

I was sad to let them go, not only because they were all in great shape but also because I really like Konica Hexanon lenses as they have that vintage look without an overpowering character.

There are at least three versions of the 135mm: the big and heavy 2.5 I showed you a few years ago, the highly praised 3.2 and today’s subject the 3.5.

So let's take a closer look.


The lens is made of metal, it weighs 315g, it is 83 to 99mm long and it has an external diameter of 63mm, with a 55mm front thread. It has a built-in sunhood.

The iris has 6 blades, the aperture is clicked and it goes from f3.5 to f22 without half steps, plus auto.

The focusing ring is rubberized, it turns 160 degrees and the minimum focusing distance is 1.5cm.

It has a Konica AR mount.

The lens itself is well built, compact and balanced. The controls turn smoothly and are easy to operate.


It is very sharp and with good detail even wide open and it only gets better by stopping down.

Chromatic aberration is present in high contrast areas at wider apertures along with a little bit of blooming.

Colors are fairly neutral, with good contrast and lacking only a little bit of saturation.

Specular highlights have soap bubble edges and backgrounds are generally smooth.

Flares and ghosting are very well controlled.


Honestly there is not much to be said about this lens: it’s good.

Wide open it has that combo of chromatic aberration and blooming that we’ve seen in all lenses from this line, plus it is very sharp.

It might not have that cinematic quality of the 2.5, but it weighs half as much and it is way more portable.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Yashica 135mm f2.8 ML - Lens review

-
Image
  Last winter I bought three Yashica lenses and a camera body fo quite cheap, because they were not in the best conditions, especially the 135mm.  The optical elements were dirty, the aperture had been poorly de-clicked and, worst of all, the focusing helicoid was completely off and needed to be recalibrated and lubricated, so I gave it to a lab to be fixed and cleaned and now it works perfectly.  Yashica is one of those well know names in the industry, with a history dating back to the late '40s and in 1975 they introduced the Contax Yashica bayonet mount in collaboration with Carl Zeiss. They had three ranges of lenses: the basic one was the DSB, which had single coatings, above that was the ML, with multi coatings, and the top of the line was the Zeiss AE series.  Now, back to this lens.  The body is made of metal and weights 410 grams; it is 76mm long when focused to infinity and 90mm when fully extended, with a 52mm front thread and, my favorite featur...
Read more

Soligor 28mm f2.8 C/D - vintage lens review

-
Image
Soligor was a supplier of photographic equipment based in the United States and Germany, active mostly between the ‘60s and the early ‘90s. They had a very comprehensive catalog of lenses, made in Japan by manufacturers like Tokina and Tamron, covering a wide array of focal lengths and they were available for all major camera brands. Soligor lenses were also sold under alternative brand names like Hanimar, Porst or Super Carener, in different geographical areas. From my research, the 28mm 2.8 alone has at least 21 different versions, so chances are that yours looks different than mine. Specifically, the one I own is part of the C/D line released in the mid-1970s as a premium line of lenses. The Soligor 28mm is made out of metal, it weights 200g, it is 33mm long when focused to infinity and 37mm when extended, with a 49mm front thread. The iris has six blades, the aperture is clicked and it goes from f2.8 to f22 The focusing ring is rubberized and it turns 180 degrees an...
Read more

Canon FD 100mm f2.8 - Lens review

-
Image
 Canon FD lenses have grown in popularity in the last few years because they're cheap, easy to find, reliable and with cheap adapters you can mount them to modern digital cameras. Mirrorless like Sony's or Canon's EOS R and RF will work best and will be easier to adapt, but you can use Canon FD lenses on your DSLRs too, although you might need a different adapter with a focal reducer, due to the incompatible flange distance. Personally, I'm not a fan of focal reducers, as they cad degrade or alter the quality of the image produced by the lens.  Anyway, these Canon FD lenses are completely manual and have no electronic, and this one specifically is part of the so-called nFD, or new FD, series, introduced in 1979.  Everyone seems to love them so, back in 2017 when I was getting into vintage lenses, I was eager to try them. Luckily, a friend of mine owned two of them and he was kind enough to let me borrow them for a few weeks.  Right off the bat this lens sounds p...
Read more