Konica ar 50mm 1.7 review

With the new standard lens, Konica had a great success. It is much sharper than its already good predecessor – later, some magazines would praise it as one of the sharpest lenses ever built by anyone. Even today, more than 30 years after its introduction, there are not many better lenses to buy on the market.

But not only in sharpness the image quality is first class. Contrast and evenness of illumination are just as convincing as the neutral colour rendition – all in all, the Hexanon AR 50 mm / F1.7 is absolutely a premium, first class lens.

A matching round metal screw-in lens shade was available from Konica as an accessory. In later variations, this shade was also intended for the

Hexanon AR 40 mm / F1.8 and the Hexanon AR 85 mm / F1.8, according to the markings.

As a faster alternative, the more expensive

Hexanon AR 50 mm / F1.4 was offered soon – also a very good lens.

With the introduction of the

Autoreflex TC, the Hexanon AR 50 mm / F1.7 has been revised. While the optical formula and optical quality remained unchanged, the lens barrel was made slimmer, shorter, and a good deal lighter. The price for this was a longer closest focusing distance of 0.55 m (1 ft 92/3") instead of the 0.45 m (1 ft 53/4") of the earlier version. In addition, the click stops of half aperture values have been dropped – which later unfortunately has been made with other lenses as well – Konica seemed to believe that most users use their lenses in AE mode anyway, so an exact aperture setting was not as crucial as it used to be. But even on the lenses without click stops for half apertures it is still possible to set intermediate aperture values, just a bit more feeling is required.

The size-reduced version of the Hexanon AR 50 mm / F1.7 was sold as standard lens together with the camera bodies for some time. With the introduction of the

FS-1, it was superseded by the new Hexanon AR 40 mm / F1.8 pancake lens as standard lens, but the Hexanon AR 50 mm / F1,7 was still available. Later again, the Hexanon AR 50 mm / F1.8 was introduced, that does not quite reach the superb image quality of its predecessors. Despite this, production of the Hexanon AR 50 mm / F1.7 was stopped after some time of parallel sale of both 50 mm lenses.

The Hexanon AR 50 mm / F1.7 is a very common, if not the most common Konica SLR lens, and can be bought in both major variations very cheaply – which variation you prefer is mostly a matter of taste. In both variations it is an absolute top class lens for an incredibly good price.

The Konica Hexanon AR 50mm 1.7 is by some regarded as one of the sharpest legacy lenses ever made. Although I must admit it sure is capable of sharp pictures, I did not find it to keep up with some of the better Pentax prime lenses. And with a maximum aperture of 1.7, it should be a fast lens, so what better place to test this nifty fifty in Las Vegas, in the Venetian casino to be more precise.

Build quality is excellent, clear lettering, with a solid metal body and mount. Aperture and focus rings are smooth, like lenses of this era should be. It sure has the looks, and the feel. Note that minimum aperture only goes to F16.

When shooting, it did however not really feel as a fast lens. I had to do some extensive de-noise in Lightroom to make it acceptable. Idem ditto for sharpness. Some picture were sharp, straight from the camera, but again Lightroom had to be used to make them somewhat crispy. I expected more of this lens.

Flickr seems to have many great samples, so in all fairness, I should try this lens in daylight, to really see how sharp it can be. But in the meantime, it does not make my list of favorite lenses. I wonder how much better it would be on full-frame camera or with a speed booster.

Lens Specification:

Image Stabilization: none

Optics: 6 elements / 5 groups

Konica was a Japanese manufacturer of film, film cameras, camera accessories, photographic and photo-processing equipment, photocopiers, fax machines and laser printers.

The company was founded in 1873 (before Kodak) when pharmacist Rokusaburo Sugiura began selling photographic materials at his store in Konishiya Rokubē. Rokusaburo Sugiura gave the original shop to his younger brother and launched a new shop, Konishi Honten (Konishi Main Shop) in the Nihonbashi district of Tokyo.

Konishi started producing photography related materials in Japan in 1882, including the "Cherry Portable Camera" in 1992, the first Japanese produced end-user oriented camera. Konishi Main Shop became the leading camera company in Japan. In 1921, his elder son took over the rains. The name Konishiroku was taken from the abbreviation of their names, Konishi Rokuemon. Konishiroku released the "Konica I" type camera in 1948, after which they would name their own company in 1987. In 1990's Konica signed its first major contract by leasing copiers, resulting in a major shift in the industry that had sold only copiers before.

On August 5, 2003, Konica merged with Minolta to form Konica Minolta. Finaly, Konica Minolta Holdings exited the photography business in 2006, and it 's digital SLR camera section was transferred to Sony.

Adapter:

K&F Koncept Konica AR - NEX

Although there are better and much more expensive adapters on the market, it found this one to be of good quality, feel solid, holding the lens very tight. It was good enough for me to buy these brand of adapters for other mount types.

Do remember this is a manual adapter, so no auto focus and no passing on of information to the camera (as we are using old manual lenses, that is of no issue).

Is the Konica AR 50mm f1 7 any good?

Konica Hexanon AR 50mm f1. 7 is a beautiful, sturdy, well-built lens. Earlier models feature a full metal and glass construction, later models having a rubber focus ring. The focus is smooth, accurate and easy to use, but could be a little more damped.

Are Konica lenses good?

For the price it's a no-brainer. The Konica Hexanon 40mm f/1.8 is certainly usable on a modern mirrorless cameras, just avoid using it wide open and it can produce razor sharp images in right conditions that will make you happy.