Konica UC Zoom-Hexanon 45-100mm f/3.5

What does the Konica UC Zoom-Hexanon 45-100mm f/3.5, the Nikon AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 and nearly a dozen other f/2.8 lenses share in common? If you guessed they all have measured T-stops of f/3.5 then you’d be right. Even Canon’s EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM and EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM share measured T-stops of f/3.5. Back in the day when external meters were common photographers needed to rely on the accuracy of their len’s stated T-stop in order to correctly meter exposure. With the advent of modern CPU cameras with inbuilt meters that can automatically compensate for any advertised and actual metered values the pressure to replicate that kind of accuracy in marketing of lenses has been reduced. The point being that if you were to overlook the f/3.5 Hexanon as being too slow you could be doing yourself out of an excellent piece of glass that in truth is just as fast as many advertised f/2.8’s.

And excellent it is. Make no mistakes this is a superb full-frame lens. The only time I’ve felt the need to stop down is purely for depth of field requirements, other than that it’s sharp across the frame from center to edge–wide-open!

Operationally, there’s a bit to adjust to as the lens requires a combination of a single touch push-pull zoom and focus ring as well as a dedicated distance and close-focus adjustment ring. This is not as complicated as it sounds. On first use you use the distance ring to choose either normal range or close focus mode and once selected you use the push-pull zoom and focus ring as you normally would.

At a focal length of 45mm close focus parks the lens front around 6″ (150mm) from the subject or around 4″ if using the integrated hood. This close focus distance extends to 300mm when zoomed to 100mm so it won’t be replacing your dedicated macro lens anytime soon–close-up filters aside.

All in all I have been very impressed with this lens and whilst I’m not suggesting it’s as spectacularly sharp as the 50mm 1.7 from f/4 on I would say it’s as good across the focal range as the 50mm 1.4 at similar apertures. In other words it’s sharp enough for me that I’ll probably leave the 50’s at home on most outings.