I've owned Konica cameras for a number of years and had no great reviews to give for them, but that was mainly because I never had any good lens before. It's absolutely amazing how much better the quality of your work goes up in proportion to the quality of lens. It's a real shame though that a very good camera manufacturer had to go out of production to finally become affordable. I have recently purchased on the eBay market a Hexanon 135/ f2.5 lens. What I purchased was a f3.2, but received a f2.5. Did I get taken? Is it worth the $28.00 I paid? This lens is no collectors prize, it's clean and well used but takes very sharp pictures.I have found no reviews or specs for a f2.5. Can anyone enlighten me? I thank you in advance for your help. I have learned so much already from this BB.

Thanks, Gary Farwell.

-- Anonymous, February 06, 2001

Answers

Hexanon 135 lens

Hi Gary!

The answer to your question is in the third to last sentance of your question! You note that the lens takes "very sharp pictures" - Congratulations - YES it is WELL worth the $28.00 you paid and probably more. The Hexanon 135mm f2.8 is an excellent lens although a heavy one for the focal length (almost twice the weight of the f3.2 lens). Like many "fast" lenses it is a little prone to flare so keep the hood extended when you are using it and a pretty good idea where the sun is. It is a 4 element, 4 group lens with the first three lenses being pretty thick contributing to the weight.

Almost all of the Hexanon lenses are excellent, sharp picture takers but there is some variation in all lenses. If you are happy with how sharp the lens is and that it delevers good contrast (which this lens does) then you have an EXCELLENT lens.

If you find yourself unhappy with the lens for any reason I'll be glad to take it off your hands and pay you $35 for it!! ;->

Lee

-- Anonymous, February 06, 2001

Super Duper Deal

Hi Gary,

I have no doubt that you got a super deal for buying a mistaken 135mm f2.5 lens. One just finished on eBay for $66USD and that was still a deal. I got very lucky and bought one on a Buy It Now for $30 and it will be CLA'ed and shipping to me for $45.

I have some pictures, prices and stats on The Photography Blue Book web site: Photography Blue Book web site. Server #1 Photography Blue Book web site. Server #2 so you can take a look there as well if you want.

I own the 135mm f3.2 lens as well, but don't have both in my hands yet to compaire differences, but I will post some photos and reviews on the site. There is some test field photos taken with the 135mm f3.2 lens and it easily surpasses any 135mm lens I have tested so far.

If you have any pictures taken with the lens, would be great too see.

Enjoy it, it is the hardest 135mm Hexanon to get.

Mike. Photography Blue Book web site. Server #1 Photography Blue Book web site. Server #2

-- Anonymous, February 06, 2001

135/2.5 Hexanon

Wow! You got a great deal Gary!

I've had a Hexanon 135/2.5 and really enjoyed using it for the past 15-20 years.

This lens has gotten some bad press in the past... some reviewer stated that it "had a tendancy to flare". Yeah, that's true to an extent... but, IMHO, it can simply be attributed to the puny built-in hood & is not any fault of the lens. It's a big, beautiful hunk of glass, isn't it? And it's pretty hard to protect from sunlight. Here's a tip, I regularly use an deep, metal screw-in lens hood with my 135/2.5 and have no flare problems! I think you'll find the 2.5 performs especially nicely at wide apertures, while the 3.2 is at it's best stopped down. Of course, one of the main reasons for owning a fast lens like the 2.5 is to use shallow depth-of-field effects for portraits and such.

The more common 135/3.2 is a top performer in it's own right. I have a pair of them and consider them more general purpose lenses.

fyi, I've even used my 135/2.5 for macro on bellows with good success!

Enjoy your new lens!

Alan Myers San Jose, Calif.

-- Anonymous, February 06, 2001

135/2,5 coating color?

I just got a hexanon 135/2,5 too. The only thing that I was curious about was that my 135/2,5 had a straw colored coating. I was wondering if it would give me the same magic colours of those lenses that have the more typical hexanon purple coating. Any one informed about these differences in coating color??

thanks Tapani Rauha

-- Anonymous, February 10, 2001

Hexanon Lens Coating Colours.. Anyone?

Hi Tapani,

Interesting about the difference coloured coating you have on your lens, when I get my 135mm f2.5 lens in the mail next week, I will let you know what colour the coating is on it here.

But now that you mention it, a lot of my Hexanon lenses have the purple coating, even the older silver ringed 57mm f1.4 lens.

Mike.

-- Anonymous, February 10, 2001

Lens Coating Colors

Folks, There are several reasons for different colors in what are supposed to be the same type of coating, in this case, multicoating. Generally, the color is caused by the elements used to make the coating. This, in turn, usually determines the wavelength(s) being blocked. In other words, the coating acts like a filter to a very mild extent. There are a number of reasons for this approach which is a tuturorial all to itself and I need not go into it here. To the camera collectors present, you will note that the post-WWII coated lenses generally (well, almost always) are a purple-cast color. The culprits back then were chromatic abberation as well as stray light in the green end of the spectrum. Therefore, most lens coatings were of the purple variety to block the green wavelengths. Frankly, the use of multicoating is somewhat overkill with today's lens designs. In fact, there are a number of single-coated lenses made today with the front element being the only one multicoated. Many zooms have been made this way for years. Actually, once the chromatic abberation problems were pretty much under control, there really wasn't much reason to use it, in my opinion. I use a large number of old folders and TLRs with single-coated lenses that are real eye-openers despite being three- or four-element. I also have a few pre-WWII folders with high-quality four element lenses with no coating. Although quite sharp and very useful, the differences between them and the single-coated lenses are astounding. The differences between single-coated and multi-coated lenses are less so.

Jon (with his asbestos suit on) from Deepinaharta, Georgia

-- Anonymous, February 14, 2001