Does the Konica Hexanon 90mm f/2.8 lense work perfectly on the Leica M6 in terms of focusing wide open, etc?

-- tristan (tt@tristan.net), March 14, 2002

Answers

it seems to. more problematic is getting leica lenses to focus perfectly on the hexar rf. i should point out, however, that while the 50mm for the hexar is a stellar lens, certainly rivaling the elderly 50mm cron, the 90mm hexanon is no match for the the leica 90mm f2.8. check the mtf info at photodo and, more important, shhot both. also note that the price difference is not that great.

-- roger michel (michel@tcn.org), March 14, 2002.

After reading Erwin Puts review on the M7, I am sure this "backfocussing issue" does not exist!!! he writes this on his website:

"..To shed official light on this topic: The Konica people have proposed to Leica to market the Hexar as a joint effort. But Leica refused as they assumed that the Hexar did not fit into the Leica philosophy of photography..."

If this is true, I am sure Konica wanted 100% compatibility! It was just a matter of some (maybe too many) mis-aligned finders. If they make lenses which perform so good like the 50 and 28 (okay, maybe you guys like more the "leica-look" but they are GOOD) They know how to make precision-mechanics and wouldn't make a mistake of a few micrometers.

If their backfocussing distance would be really different, the lenses would have been designed for a different distance so the problem would work ofcourse in both directions; it would also be impossible to make a sharp picture with a hexar lens on a Leica.

Just my 0.02 euro, Joop

-- Joop (mes@nat.vu.nl), March 15, 2002.

> If this is true, I am sure Konica wanted 100% compatibility!

Joop,

I'm not sure. They may prefer to sell their own lenses. They have tried that in the beginning anyway, selling the RF only with their own 50/2.

-- Lucien (Lucien_vd@yahoo.fr), March 15, 2002.

Lucien,

If they didn't want compatibility, it would have been easier to make a complete different "Hex-bajonet" and not copy the M bajonet.

Joop

-- Joop (mes@nat.vu.nl), March 15, 2002.

I know, it's absurd.

But it's hard to believe Konica is not capable to make a 100% compatible camera.

As far as I know, it is not.

Tolerance ?

-- Lucien (Lucien_vd@yahoo.fr), March 15, 2002.

I just bought the Hexar RF with the 50mm f2. Great camera/lens combo.

I also tried out multiple Leica M mount lenses (about 8 different options, incl 35, 90, tri elmar, plus the standards in different f stop options) to see what to put on my next Christmas list. Spent half a day playing with them all. All worked perfectly. So they seem to be 100% compatible.

Ray

-- Ray Hyland (ray.hyland@ogilvy.com), May 03, 2002.