Konica Hexanon AR 200mm f3.5

Oldhand · Posted: Thu May 30, 2019 8:04 am Post subject: Konica Hexanon AR 200mm f3.5

A very nicely made lens that is quite heavy because of its massive glass elements.
The results are quite beautiful.
Tom

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papasito · Joined: 09 Jan 2015 Posts: 1663

Great images, Tom.

Very good lens, as some konica lenses are.

Thanks for sharing

D1N0 · Joined: 07 Aug 2012 Posts: 2542

I was wondering about this one. I think they used a Sonnar design.

DigiChromeEd · Joined: 29 Dec 2009 Posts: 3462 Location: Northern Ireland

There's a 200mm f4 as well but it's image quality is inferior.

kds315* · Expire: 2021-03-09

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 4098 Location: Switzerland

Oldhand · Posted: Fri May 31, 2019 7:59 am Post subject:

Thank you everyone for the kind wpords

D1N0 · Joined: 07 Aug 2012 Posts: 2542

I agree. A comparison with the Jupiter 21m would be nice.

This review in Dutch shows the lens formula:

200mm test march 1973 Focus Magazine by The lens profile, on Flickr

This is the Jupiter 21m:

DigiChromeEd · Joined: 29 Dec 2009 Posts: 3462 Location: Northern Ireland

quidam · Joined: 28 Sep 2012 Posts: 223 Location: Belgium

It was quite an expensive lens at the time.835 Dutch guilders is around 380 â‚¬ !

KEO · Joined: 27 Sep 2018 Posts: 776 Location: USA

Wow, no wonder it's heavy considering that huge second element. That's one big hunk of glass.

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 4098 Location: Switzerland

LittleAlex · Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2020 6:30 pm Post subject:

At the end of 90-th I had that lens with rubber focusing ring (the last one in the line). And the impression was very, very bad. The picture was too â€œflat and lifelessâ€. So, I sold it out.

Yesterday I had been offered, for $25, one with the chrome ring â€“ the very first in the line. I decided to give to it the another chance.

I discovered, that it is completely different story now. It steel needs rise of the contrast from the final image. However, the picture is very detailed and sharp.
And the â€œbokeâ€ is really wonderful!

There are some samples from it (all at f/5/6):

https://scontent-waw1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/s960x960/93142686_2915053411915310_6075053230977449984_o.jpg?_nc_cat=107&_nc_sid=e007fa&_nc_oc=AQlVwWKVoKcJfBUWGpOygN1xU5N7ydOrn8nG_Tx1krKrD3CeCW8FJEtzeIcxtFYI7mQ&_nc_ht=scontent-waw1-1.xx&_nc_tp=7&oh=68a020e3c419804bfec627f10d6c05cd&oe=5EC05E4E

https://scontent.fiev21-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/93776994_2915111895242795_2177256704893255680_o.jpg?_nc_cat=101&_nc_sid=e007fa&_nc_oc=AQnjBV3WOrM5Zhx0mIGBys7lXw4nE09KpI_2mA18MNN8RbbDuyMIS1CTQh7UFihOvlA&_nc_ht=scontent.fiev21-1.fna&oh=fd51cb217a5978a54d9b6072c6dc1c63&oe=5EC1DA64

https://scontent.fiev21-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/94146770_2915199195234065_4152022752800276480_o.jpg?_nc_cat=104&_nc_sid=e007fa&_nc_oc=AQkvs14XwCpRO2Q0kcxew8d9pnWB0OIAsVVI0_qMZE0z8qr1FrfskB3HqWug7p8Bq_k&_nc_ht=scontent.fiev21-1.fna&oh=3a979ba67ec61b80d3a71840c48aed32&oe=5EC07D34

https://scontent-waw1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/93973919_2915524835201501_8374823706190413824_o.jpg?_nc_cat=103&_nc_sid=ca434c&_nc_oc=AQkOP8jreAa1QVYH0swSgFSmdVE6vLOmpYlewZH1AWIgMU5wjlccy4ZnUpfI1KYpzWg&_nc_ht=scontent-waw1-1.xx&oh=a80cc8043c10edc610208b732de957c5&oe=5EC24601

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 4098 Location: Switzerland

Today I got another version of the Konica AR 3.5/200mm, my third one (middle lens here in the image):

On the left the early preset [5/5] version with same optical construction as the F-mount Hexanon 3.5/200mm. In the middle an early version of the [5/4] computation, now with automatic aperture. On the right the last version of the Hexanon AR 3.5/200mm with rubber waffle focusing grip and green AE markings on the aperture ring. It seems that the two later versions (middle and right) share the same optical construction, but I would rather first test and compare the two version before claiming taht they perform identically.

S

D1N0 · Joined: 07 Aug 2012 Posts: 2542

The corresponding numbers on the distance scale and the same position of the infra red mark suggest it was just a cosmetic update.

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 4098 Location: Switzerland

Zamo · Joined: 08 Feb 2019 Posts: 168

stevemark · Joined: 29 Apr 2011 Posts: 4098 Location: Switzerland

ektar · Joined: 09 Oct 2019 Posts: 24

@LittleAlex: Any chance you can update the links on the pics?

Oldhand · Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2021 6:49 am Post subject:

I had a few minutes this afternoon to myself, and took the Hexanon 3.5/200 for a little walk.
Here are some images.
Fuji .jpg's - Velvia simulation
Some looked better in mono

Tom

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ektar · Joined: 09 Oct 2019 Posts: 24

Very nice. Iâ€™ve got one on the way; will be adapting to M4/3.

Oldhand · Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2021 5:48 am Post subject:

Thank you.
Here are a few from this afternoon
Tom

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ektar · Joined: 09 Oct 2019 Posts: 24

Again, Bravo!

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Alun Thomas · Joined: 20 Aug 2018 Posts: 669 Location: New Zealand

I recently bought an Konishiroku F mount preset 200mm F/3.5 to get the F-AR mount adapter off it. Then I bought an FTA camera to get the preset 28mm F/3.5 lens with it, and it was accompanied by an early AR mount preset 200mm F/3.5 which has the same 5/5 optical formula as the earlier lens. Both needed cleaning, the AR lens did clean up, while the F mount lens had some marking I could not completely clean away. When I tested them both I noticed something slightly unusual, which is that (especially noticeable when wide open) , the performance at the edge of the image is equal and in some cases better than the center. I took some 100% crops of images taken of subjects between 200-250m away. These images are from the AR mount lens, but the F mount one was comparable.

F/3.5 in the center of the frame. Resolution is there although reduced/obscured by glow/fringing.

F/8 in the center of the frame. Resolution is good, and colour fringing now gone.

F/3.5 in the corner - quite surprisingly the image quality is better than in the center at that aperture. Resolution is slightly better, and not much colour fringing to be seen.

F/8 in the corner - the image quality cleans up further.

caspert79 · Joined: 31 Oct 2010 Posts: 3247 Location: The Netherlands

This seems to be a very nice lens!