Konica Hexanon AR 40mm 1.8

It's been a while since I've written any of these weird, long-worded reviews, so I might be a bit rusty. Anyway, here it goes.

The Konica Hexanon AR 40mm 1.8 is one of those lenses I've seen pop up occasionally online, and the focal length always caught my attention. Not quite a wide-angle, not quite a normal lens, but somewhere in between. The Konica AR mount stopped me a few times, but in the end I needed a new lens and a new experience, so I jumped the gun and got both the lens (a fairly good copy) and an adapter.

For me, the lens handled quite well. Focus and aperture were smooth and nice to use. It is a tiny thing that barely weighs anything at all, so it was a breath of fresh air compared with some heavier manual lenses.

Although the lens is short, the filter size is on the bigger side, at 55mm. Mine came with a UV filter, which I just kept on it most of the time.

Keep in mind that the small form factor might mean it's not as comfortable if you have big hands. (Mine are average-sized, I think? I'm not going to research average hand size for my country and age group.)

I'm quite happy with the lens. It has everything I want in a 40mm (I almost said 50mm) lens.

The colors it produces are great. There's good sharpness wide open, and you get really crisp results when you stop down. I was actually surprised by the detail in some photos while editing.

The 40mm focal length is quite enjoyable. It clicked really fast and felt really natural: wide enough to fit more of the scene, but narrow enough to isolate the details I wanted to focus on.

Bokeh is a bit busy for my taste, but it isn't too distracting.

I like the 40mm Konica pancake. What makes it stand out from the rest is its focal length and small size. It has a lot going for it in terms of optical performance as well. If you're tired of going too wide, or of always shooting a 50mm, and want to try something new, give it a shot.