Konica Hexanon AR 135mm f3.2

[Oldhand]

My son was gracious enough to lend me his copy of this lens for some trial shots.
I like it and I have included some images below.
OH

[iangreenhalgh1]

Nice work. This is one of the best 135mms and perhaps the best for close ups of flowers etc.

[hoanpham]

Yes, this lens is one of the best portrait lenses.
Haven't try on close range.

[TrueLoveOne]

Indeed nice samples! I have it too, should use it more, it's an amazing lens, very sharp from wide open!

[Raxar]

noticed some people say CZJ 135/3.5 is very sharp wide open but the hexanon 135/3.2 is far more better wide open! it is sharper and has better color rendering and much less CAs!

[guardian]

Agreed this is a wonderful lens. What has surprised me in the last several months, here in the USA, is that the price of this lens has become perhaps a third to a quarter of what it once was. For anyone not already an owner of this "must have" lens, now is the time to buy!

[stevemark]

I recently bought the Konica Hexanon 3.2/135mm. Using it on 24MP FF (A7II) i must admit that i'm very pleased with the lens. It has less CAs than the renowned four-lens Minolta MC/MD 2.8/135mm and slightly more detail resolution in the corners.

I agree that my Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 3.5/135mm (M42) doesn't reach the level of the Hexanon 3.2/135mm.

Stephan

[Raxar]

[WolverineX]

[Oldhand]

Beautiful autumnal weather here and the native dahlias are in flower.
These plus some other garden bits and bobs


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An enlargement of the image above. Note the cricket hiding in the blossom - you can just see its hind legs and antenna
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#6

[kds315*]

wonderful colors Thomas!

[Attila]

[uddhava]

[quidam]

WOW!! Excellent.

[Pancolart]

Now there is a lens i still need to try!

[stevemark]

[papasito]

There are two portraits taken with this good lens.

To me eyes, no lateral CA (at wide open)

Nice to use it again.


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#2

[Oldhand]

[Tracy]

Wow I’m loving all your gorgeous pics 😍 Thanks for sharing 👍

I’ve just bought this lens and now can’t wait to get it 😁 I’m new to mf lenses as I’ve always used af and I very much doubt my pics will be any way near as good as all yours 😏 But I’m hoping with plenty of patience and practice, I’ll get better 😉

[jamaeolus]

Tracy, welcome. You will find the crew here very helpful and prompt with replies. When I first started with my manual lens studies I came here with a question about something. I had a response in less than an hour and it was courteous and information packed. Most of our regular posters are generally knowledgeable and courteous (though occasional untoward attacks have been known to occur they are rare on here unlike most other sites I have engaged on the internet). As to the subject at hand, the Konica 135mm 3.2 is one of my favorite 135's and I have a bunch. IMHO Konica is generally near the top of the optical rendition pyramid for most of their offerings. Couple that with their short flange distance limiting use on the Canon and Nikon digital SLR's they tend to be undervalued compared to their image quality. Buy them now before the Cannon and Nikon full frame mirrorless cameras hit the market and drive up prices.

[papasito]

I have both lenses now.
The 135/3,2 and the 2,5.
The 3,2 is a bit sharper bit the IQ ir the 2,5 is excelent.
Very nice for portraits and for general use.

[Tracy]

for the welcome and both your replies Your advice is very much appreciated.

Which others of the Konica lenses would be good to add to my kit please?

[jamaeolus]

The 50 ish are all quite good. I personally have a soft spot for the 57mm 1.4. Whilst it is not as tack sharp wide open as the later versions the out of focus areas allow for some really nice bokeh. Any of the other 50's are pretty good, even the old 52mm 1.8 which is quite inexpensive. The 28mm 3.5 is a steal at around 30-35 dollars for a good copy. The 24 mm is a bit more but if patient you can get a good copy for around a 100. same for the 100mm 2.8 which is a very good lens. The ultra wides are pretty expensive. THe 85mm 1.8 typically runs around 150 if you are patient. Konica made many many lenses over the years and all the ones I have tried have been from pretty darn good through excellent stellar.

[pdccameras]

Cheers to the contributors to this thread who submitted such incredible images!


The 135 f/3.2 is superb.

The 57mm f/1.2 is really nice as well!

Best,

Paul

[RnR]

The 135mm f2.5 and 40mm f1.8 are worth looking out for as well.