Konica UC Hexanon AR 28 mm / F1.8

Konica UC Hexanon AR 28 mm / F1.8

Konica UC Hexanon AR 28 mm / F1.8

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The Konica UC Hexanon AR 28 mm / F1.8 is the fastest wide-angle lens in the Konica SLR lens line, and the only one using a floating element design for improved sharpness over the whole, extended focusing range.

Other Konica SLR lenses with the same focal length are:

The UC Hexanon AR 28 mm / F1.8 has been introduced contemporarily with the internal linkAutoreflex T4. All of these lenses have the rubberized focusing collar, half aperture stop clicks, and a smallest aperture 16 with green AE mark and round AE lock button. Like all Hexanon lenses, it is very well built and has a solid feel to it.

The UC Hexanon AR 28 mm / F1.8 is an extremely good performer and renders razor-sharp images with high contrast. In terms of sharpness, it is definitely superior to any ot the 28 mm / F3.5 lenses from Konica, although these also are nice lenses. There are no visible barrel or pincushion distortions.

Due to the large maximum aperture F1.8, the viewfinder image is very bright, so the lens is easy to focus. Especially in low-light situations, it is a lot easier to use than the 28 mm / F3.5 lenses.

It is a lot bulkier and almost twice as heavy than its slower counterparts, but dimensions and weight are still reasonable for such a fast lens.

Size comparison 28 mm / F1.8 vs. 28 mm / F3.5 late version

Size comparison of Konica 28 mm lenses:
On the left of the image you see the UC Hexanon AR 28 mm / F1.8, on the right the late F22 version of the Hexanon AR 28 mm / F3.5.

The UC Hexanon AR 28 mm / F1.8 is not very sensitive to stray light. With its big and not recessed front element, the consequent use of a lens hood is recommended in most situations to avoid loss of contrast, however. A matching rectangular metal lens hood was part of the lens kit delivered by Konica at least for some time. It is the same lens hood as for the other 28 mm lenses. This original lens hood is quite deep and shades very well. Of course third party lens hoods can be used as well, but the original lens hood is worth it, if you can get one.

When new, the UC Hexanon AR 28 mm / F1.8 was in a very high price range for Konica. It is a very rare lens and very hard to find. Estimates are that only one out of 10,000 Konica 28 mm lenses is a UC Hexanon AR 28 mm / F1.8. Being so good and so rare a lens, it achieves very high prices whenever it shows up for sale. If you have one, keep it, you might never get another.

The UC Hexanon AR 28 mm / F1.8 is one out of a series of high-performance lenses designated UC. According to Konica, UC stands for Ultra Coated, Ultra Compact, and Ultra Close (focusing). Other UC lenses are:

UC Hexanon AR lenses leaflet

UC Hexanon AR lenses leaflet

The complete, multi-lingual internal linkUC Hexanon AR lenses leaflet will be downloaded as PDF file, if you follow the link (4 pages; Japanese, English, German, French, Swedish, Italian, and Spanish; file size: 1,129 KB).

Lens data
Angle of view: 75°
Construction: 8 elements in 8 groups
with floating element
Aperture: Fully automatic AE,
smallest aperture 16
Closest focusing: 0.18 m (7")
Filter thread: 55 mm
Length (at ∞): 63 mm (2 1/2")
Weight: 380 g (13.4 oz)
Lens hood: 57 mm rectangular clamp-on
Lens diagram: Lens diagram UC Hexanon AR 28 mm / F1.8
More pages on the Konica Hexanon and Hexar lenses:

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