Comments on: Konica Hexanon 40mm f/1.8

By: Nafacinok

Nafacinok — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 22:02:37 +0000

The Hexanon 40/1.8 was manufactured to Konica specs by Tokina, which made many other lenses for Konica (all of them made to Konica specs as well) between about 1978 and 1987, the year when Konica got out of the SLR market. It has the reputation of being one of the sharpest lenses ever made for 35mm photography by anyone.
As someone already pointed out, the mount on this lens is the Konica AR mount (sometimes also called Konica II bayonet mount). Lenses and SLRs with this mount were made from 1965 to 1987. The KM mount dates from the time of the Konica-Minolta merger (2003-2006). It is a slight modification of Minolta’s old SLR lens mount and it was inherited by SOny when it bought KM’s photo division in 2006. Konica AR lenses will NOT mount on KM, Nikon, Canon and Pentax mounts.

By: Matthew McGregor-Mento

Matthew McGregor-Mento — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 22:51:15 +0000

The idea of “mirror shaving” scared me and I’ll never shoot with any of my Konica bodies again so I took apart my pancake lens and grafted it onto a cheap Konica to Canon converter that I reamed out and used purely for the canon mount. Results and photos here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hippophagy/sets/72157625495733746/

By: boyan

boyan — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 21:18:46 +0000

there is an exactly the same lens under Auto Chinon Multi Coated, Revuenon and other brands PK mount which can be EOS-ed. Manufacturer probably Tomioka or believe it or not Leica/not sure, mainly based on conclusions/. top quality lens distinguished by the 0 zero mark on the aperture ring. not only the glass is Top but also the construction.

By: Iggy D

Iggy D — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:52:40 +0000

Strictly speaking, the mount is called “Konica AR”, not Konica-Minolta KM, since this was long before the Konica-Minolta merger, at which time Konica had abandoned the SLR market.

By: Tijger Tsou

Tijger Tsou — Fri, 15 May 2009 16:09:20 +0000

Hi there, I don’t have any updates for the time being as I will be traveling for the next week. I’m still trying to figure out what should be done before cutting any metal. For time time being I have been shooting mostly with the Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f/2. That’s one hell of a lens. I’m really eager to get this mounted and working for some sort of comparison.

By: Anton

Anton — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:52:26 +0000

Hello all. Ok any news on the AR 40mm conversion? Convert1 is alittle vague about how it’s done.

By: Szklano-metalowe naleśniki, czyli najmniejsze obiektywy świata cz.1 - Fotografia Cyfrowa - nowości sprzętowe, zapowiedzi, recenzje

Sun, 03 May 2009 11:36:54 +0000

[...] Konica Hexanon 40mm f/1.8 [...]

By: Tijger Tsou

Tijger Tsou — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 03:23:32 +0000

Thanks for showing me this… I have an old EOS 630 film camera that I am going to use as a sacrificial guinea pig for this sort of thing. I’m still gathering more info about what needs to be done… The mirror shave is a bit of a frightening prospect. I would rather endmill off the tab than mess with the mirror

Right now i’m thinking of machining an alternate mounting ring for the camera body that recesses the lens a bit. This is going to need some work. Thanks for sharing that link… Those sample shots look pretty damn good too… nice, vibrant bokeh with that lens…

By: Ron

Ron — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 18:45:47 +0000

Convert was able to do it – http://www.flickr.com/photos/convert1/3318982744/

Plenty of samples too. From what I understood it needs a mirror shave.