Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Best Selling in Lenses
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Save on Lenses
What others have said about this lens is all true, it is a legend, it is one of the most remarkable lenses ever built for 35mm format. I'd wanted one for years and was unsuccessful in a number of auctions here, and finally threw in the towel by paying a Buy It Now price of $400 in August, 2012. The lens was described as "good" but it was nearly mint, optically perfect, mechanically perfect, as cosmetically within a milimeter or two of perfect. It's of the earlier generation with no rubberized focusing ring. I bought it to take street pictures and it does that magnificently. Take a look here, all of these taken on the first night I had it. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.488115434551892.123859.100000603190834&type=3&l=2db9aad448 I was worried about color rendition because of everything that has been written about "yellowing" of these lenses over time as a result of decay from radioactive isotopes that were used to increase the refractive index of the glass, but many daylight pictures have established rich and natural color. Vivid color, crisp, great contrast. I've done nothing like any controlled study, but the daylight pictures taken at apertures in the range of 2.8 to 4.5 seem as crisp and sharp as any I've seen from a prime, with the possible exception of Zeiss Tessars 2.8 on a Contaflex. But I bought it for low light, and it's hard to describe what a fine job it does on the street without using superlatives that would read like an advertsement. It's magnificent at night in Chicago. The narrow, razor sharp limits of the depth of field at f/1.2 are quite unforgiving, and I'm trying to learn to work with it. As you can see in my photos, it's easy to focus on one building but find that another building across the street is out of focus. The Bokeh is perfectly round and quite beautiful. I'm using it exclusively with film now, but it's my plan to get a micro 4/3 camera and adapter and try this lens out on a digital camera - I've seen some incredibly results posted on the photo boards, and with digital, I think this lens will surely prove an even greater asset. I'd also love to make some video with it. In short, a month after purchase, no buyer's remorse, I'm in love with this lens and use it whenever I can, and I am delighted that I splurged to get it. The forboding warnings on buhla.de about this lens, centering on the "yellowing" issue, and its recommendation against a purchase, suggesting that the 1.4 is a smarter choice, held me back for a very long time. I'm glad I disregarded that warning in the end.Read full review
The Konica Hexanon 57mm f1.2 is a very interesting lens. The design is old so as such it cannot compete with super corrected modern lens. However it is sharp and my copy was perfectly centered. Best is to experiment between f1.2 and f2.8. At full aperture there is a sharp core with some halo, then every half stop shows changes. Lastly the lens contains some thorium dioxide which contributes to some yellowing that can be diminished by exposing the lens to LED light.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
The Konica Hexanon 57mm f1.2 lens is legendary, considered one of the finest of the ultra-fast standard lenses ever offered. Beautiful bokeh is possible with this lens. Konica K/AR mount lenses are not easily adapted to many modern DSLR mounts, but can be fitted to micro 4/3 and some others. The Hexanon 57/1.2 is large and heavy... no surprise considering the amount of optical glass in it. The most premium standard lens offered for use on Konica cameras, it is very collectible now and has always been fairly pricey. The 57/1.2 can be found in at least three different versions: early with an aluminum colored aperture ring, middle years all black and all metal, and late in production all black with a rubber focus ring grip. It was offered practically throughout the entire production of Konica K/AR mount cameras and lenses, from about 1965 to 1987. There is rumored to have been a 58mm f/1.2 predecessor (it's listed in the first Auto-Reflex camera manual), but no examples are known to exist and this might have been a typo or specificatioins changed before the lens actually went into production. I originally bought a 57/1.2 Hexanon with a Konica T3 camera in the 1970s. I literally wore that lens out over about 20 years use (the camera still works fine). There are quite a few alternative lenses in the same mount: Hexanon 50mm f1.4, 50mm f1.7 are later lenses and excellent. Earlier there were 57/1.4 (which many consider very good) and 52/1.8 (less well thought of). Very late in Konica SLR production a 50mm f1.8 was offered, that was outsourced and is often considered a bit of a downgrade. Really, any of these lenses are pretty darned good and several are outstanding. The relatively common and inexpensive 50/1.7 is actually one of the sharpest standard lenses from any manufacturer. Konishiroku/Konica had a strong and impressive history as a lens maker... produced a 60mm f1.2 lens in the late 1950s, in Leica rangefinder screw mount. A similar lens in the same mount was offered in limited edition in the 1990s. Also a 50mm f1.2 M-Hexanon was offered in limited edition with the Hexar cameras, in the 2000s. Note that this lens is a "Hexanon AR" and not an "M-Hexanon". (M-Hexanon are Leica rangefinder bayonet mount lenses and were sold with the Hexar camera line. L-Hexanon are Leica rangefinder srewmount. Hexanon AR lenses were designed to fit Konica Autoreflex and other K/AR mount cameras.) Nor does Minolta have anything at all to do with this item... This lens was produced by a company named Konishiroku - and later Konica - a couple decades before the very brief (3 years: 2003-2006) merger of Konica and Minolta. eBay's listing wizards are incorrectly forcing the "Konica-Minolta" label onto many vintage Konica and Minolta items, making searches for one or the other very difficult and unfortunately making eBay less useful for people searching for these vintage items. Hexanon lenses in general were very high quality, and Konica (Konishiroku, Konishi, Rokuoh-Sha) was for more than 125 years (actually older than Kodak) one of the world's pre-eminent photographic companies.Read full review
Very good looking lens and built like a tank. Sharp wide open but low contrast perfect for portraits. Stop down one stop and it becomes very sharp and contrasty and bokeh oh so creamy. Must have lens!
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Absolutely stunning portraits. This is one of the lenses that Konica pulled no punches on and made something that has no peer. The transition from in focus to out of focus areas of your image is uniquely beautiful. If you aquire a nice example you will be very pleased. Like any super high speed lens it is not a featherweight, weighs probably twice as much as the consumer 50mm 1.7 or 1.8s and like all super fast glass it is not quite a critically sharp, but at wide apps it is stunning.