Category Archives: Analogue

Overview: MS-Optics Lenses

Introduction

ms-optics overview list übersicht liste objektive lenses all

Especially in the western world it is hard to find any useful information on the MS-Optics lenses, let alone an overview. Having used quite a few of them myself I decided to put such an overview together and collect as much information as I can.

The guys from mkdirect51.com as well as japanexposures.com allowed me to use their product pictures and I also made use of some more from fotoborse.blog.jp. All of these are online shops selling MS-Optics lenses and I already personally bought at least one lens from Japan Exposures as well as MK Direct and had good buying experiences in both cases. Further information comes from the books “The World of Miyazaki Lenses” Part 1 and 2.

You can find pictures of the all the MS-Optics M-mount lenses and scans of their data sheets here. These data sheets are in Japanese, you can use e.g. the Google Translate app on your phone to decipher them, it works reasonably well. Nevertheless, I already collected the specifications from these texts and translated them for you.

Last Update: July 2025, Lumitar 50mm 3.5 added

I didn’t get a chance to use all of these lenses myself yet. If you are located in the EU, happen to own one of the lenses without a review, and would be willing to send it to me for a few weeks to write one, it would be greatly appreciated. Just leave a comment to get in contact!

Continue reading Overview: MS-Optics Lenses

Review: Cobalt Image Basic Profiles, Film and Digital Emulations

Introduction

cobalt images profiles basic film emluation digital analogue analog
Leica M10 | MS-Optics 135mm 2.4 | f/2.4 | Cobalt Portra 400

I have already been talking about editing pictures with the help of profiles in the past in the articles How I edit my pictures and Emulating Filmlook. This time I will have a look at the Cobalt Image profiles.

cobalt images profiles basic film emluation digital analogue analog
Sony A7III | VM 75mm 1.5 Nokton | f/2.8 | Cobalt Portra 800
cobalt images profiles basic film emluation digital analogue analog
Sony A7III | 28mm | Cobalt Portra 160

Continue reading Review: Cobalt Image Basic Profiles, Film and Digital Emulations

Analogue Adventures – Part 10: Kodak Portra 160

Kodak portra 160 analogue leica m6 contax canon fd olympus om

Portra 160 is the “professional” grade average speed color film from Kodak. This one roll of Portra 160 cost me as much as a triple pack of Gold 200, so was it worth it?
Processing and scanning was done at urbanfilmlab in Germany.

Kodak portra 160 analogue leica m6 contax canon fd olympus om
Leica M6 | MS-Optics 24mm 2.0 Aporia | f/8.0 | Portra 160
Kodak portra 160 analogue leica m6 contax canon fd olympus om
Leica M6 | MS-Optics 35mm 1.4 Apoqualia | f/8.0 | Portra 160 | cropped
Kodak portra 160 analogue leica m6 contax canon fd olympus om
Leica M6 | MS-Optics 35mm 1.4 Apoqualia | f/4.0 | Portra 160
Kodak portra 160 analogue leica m6 contax canon fd olympus om
Leica M6 | MS-Optics 24mm 2.0 Aporia | f/8.0 | Portra 160

Continue reading Analogue Adventures – Part 10: Kodak Portra 160

Analogue Adventures – Part 9: Kodak Gold 200

kodak gold 200 analogue leica m6 contax canon fd olympus om
Kodak Gold 200

Kodak Gold 200 is something special these days. I don’t have the feeling it has ever been a highly praised 35mm film, but it is one of the few color films that is affordable and still widely available in 2022.
Processing and scanning was done at urbanfilmlab in Germany.

kodak gold 200
Leica M6 | MS-Optics 24mm 2.0 Aporia | f/8.0 | Gold 200
kodak gold 200
Leica M6 | MS-Optics 35mm 1.4 Apoqualia | f/2.8 | Gold 200
kodak gold 200
Leica M6 | MS-Optics 35mm 1.4 Apoqualia | f/2.8 | Gold 200
kodak gold 200
Leica M6 | MS-Optics 35mm 1.4 Apoqualia | f/2.0 | Gold 200

Continue reading Analogue Adventures – Part 9: Kodak Gold 200

Analogue Adventures – Part 8: Going small with MS-Optics lenses

Introduction

Leica M6 with MS-Optics 50mm 1.0 ISM and 24mm 2.0 Aporia

When using Leica M cameras I generally try to stick to using small lenses, but there is a problem: small lenses are usually slow and I find slow lenses (at least non-ultrawides) incredibly boring.
My workaround is using some of the MS-Optics lenses as they try to be small, lightweight and fast at the same time – at the cost of some optical compromises obviously.
I was a bit hesitant to use these lenses on film at first (doubts about rangefinder accuracy, focus shift and field curvature) but I decided to try nevertheless and exposed 4 films mainly using the 24mm 2.0 Aporia and the 50mm 1.0 ISM. How did it work out in the end? Let’s have a look.

24mm 2.0 Aporia

ms-optics ms-optical aporia apora pancake smallest lens world's leica m10 24mp 42mp review sharpness bokeh vignetting silbersalz35 silbersalz kodak cine vision3 santorini greece
Leica M6 | 500T | MS-Optics 24mm 2.0 Aporia | f/11

Continue reading Analogue Adventures – Part 8: Going small with MS-Optics lenses