Konica Hexanon AR 28mm f/3.5, Worth The Keep

Cameras and Lenses: Images with a legacy Konica Hexanon AR 28mm f/3.5, a vintage wide-angle lens praised for its sharp optics, robust metal build, and true-to-life color rendition, a standard normal 56mm full-frame equivalent on the Olympus PEN E-P5.

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Another vintage manual focus prime is worth keeping in the collection. The Konica Hexanon AR 28mm f/3.5, in all its variations, is consistently acknowledged as pin-sharp, with excellent color rendition and high shadow detail. The variations, with a focusing distance of 0.31 meters, were produced circa 1965 to 1980. Konica made five versions of this lens.

The first version, the Konica Hexanon 28mm F3.5, was a preset lens. The 2nd version, the Konica Hexanon AR 28mm F3.5, from then on,  had auto aperture and was labeled EE. The third version was labeled AE, had auto aperture up to F16, and was still large and all metal with updated coatings. The fourth version, this one, is labeled AE, has auto aperture up to F22, and is smaller and lighter at 175 grams. The fifth version was plasticky (typical 80s) and could have performed better compared to its counterparts. The lens was marketed as a Hexar.

Olympus PEN E-P5, Konica Hexanon AR 28mm f/3.5

The optical design of the variations has also been altered several times, from the original 7 elements in 6 groups on the preset lens, to 7 elements in 7 groups, and finally to 5 elements in 5 groups for the final version. The filter thread for the preset was 58 mm, with the rest at 55 mm.