33 thoughts on “Overview: MS-Optics Lenses”

1. Nice article! I added Apoqualia 28/2 III (Urushi Mountain version) to my MS-Optics collection about 1 week ago and I’ve been enjoying shooting with it recently. Version III is actually very light, just 50g according to the data sheet. Mine measures in at 48g with the hood (without caps) and 46g without the hood. I guess the 70g weight found in the booklet and some other sources is for the version II. The difficult part of using this lens with the hood on is that I need to change the aperture with a toothpick and it’s a bit hard to see where it’s at as the aperture marking dot is somewhat obscured by the hood as well. Other than that I like it a lot.

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   1. Juha, I bought mine secondhand and the hood was missing, so I got a Heliopan 28mm UV filter and use that as a short hood instead. If you screw in the filter tightly enough you can adjust aperture by twisting the filter, no need to use a toothpick or fingernail. Mine is a version I lens and hoods are no longer available from MS-Optics, I asked.

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      1. Thanks Brad!
         I’ve read that the filter method could be used for adjusting the aperture on version II of the lens (and I guess on version I too) but no longer on version III. One Japanese seller had written a comment like that to justify why version II (that he was selling) would be preferable over III. Not sure if that is fully accurate or not. I don’t usually use filters though and I prefer to use the tiny hood for a bit of protection so I think I will just keep working with toothpicks for now. I quite like this lens on my A7C though the extreme corners and furthermost edges are never sharp even at f8. In the way I shoot street / city scenery (usually in portrait orientation), those areas are usually not critical. I like the rendering a lot at wide open for close-ups and then again at f8 for long distance city shots where majority of the frame is sharp (need to focus in midframe though to tackle some field curvature)…

         In Tokyo version III can still be bought as new in some places but earlier versions are just available used / 2nd hand occasionally and usually at elevated prices.

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         1. Ah, I didn’t realize you couldn’t add a filter to version III.

            This lens can produce beautiful and artistic results with a close-focus helicoid; it already focuses quite close but the adapter pushes it into another level with nice bokeh.

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            1. I agree about the close-up results. I use mine with CV VM-E close focus adapter II and it’s pretty sweet at the very close range while keeping a nice level of central sharpness wide open.

2. Thanks for this overview, it’s nice to have all this information in one place.

   I have the 28mm/f2 Apoqualia and the 73mm/f1.5 Sonnetar, using them on Sony A7iii. The 28/2 is a mess on Sony full-frame except at close range (strong vignetting and corner smearing) but on an APS-C camera (or in APS-C mode on a high-resolution full-frame camera) it’s quite nice. I had a NEX-6 that was a good match for the 28/2 and made for a very small, nearly pocketable package.

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3. Thank you for putting all the info together. This is the most comprehensive overview I have read for MS lenses. I personally have a 28/2 and find it to be a very interesting and quirky lens. I’m considering getting a VarioPrasma 50mm 1.5 and I’m curious if you have some thoughts on it. (also pretty interesting that Plasmat was misspelled as Prasma).

   P.S. MS also once made a 25/1.1 lens for Pentax Q http://fotoborse.blog.jp/archives/1736428.html.

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   1. Didn’t get a chance to use the Varioprasma yet, but it could be another lens where the rendering can be adjusted to taste which I liked about the 135mm.

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   2. I think the Prasma name is affected by Japanese language, as the original (Paul Rudolph) Plasmat Lens is written as プラズマレンズ in Japanese katakana which is used for loanwords. This is basically read as purazumarenzu which pretty much sounds like prasma lens phonetically. As there is no L in Japanese vocabulary, they use R in place of L too and those 2 letters get mixed in Japanese all the time when loanwords are translated back to English.

      I’ve never tried this lens myself, but I have some interest in it too. It seems to get really wild in terms of rendering. This is a Japanese review article on it which I found interesting: https://maenomeri.tokyo/ms-vario-prasma/

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4. I think it’s unlikely, but I hope Mr. Miyazaki makes some lenses for other camera mounts 😀

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5. Bastian why don’t you get in the business of designing lenses like Mr. Miyazaki. Get a quick masters degree in optic science. I think you would love it

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   1. Maybe when I am retired 🙂

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6. Apparently there’s also a t-mount version of the 135/2.4 (with SA control, but no coma control). I saw it on US eBay when I went looking for the lens recently.

   Great article, Bastian. I wasn’t even aware of about three quarters of the lenses on the list.

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7. Nice list and overview of MS-Optics lenses. But I wish you would have gone a little further. Miyazaki-san is not releasing those lenses for the money alone. He is a big lens design fan and is experimenting with lens formulas and modern materials and knowhow. Behind most of the releases hides an idea to push an existing lens design further or rerelease an almost forgotten design again to the light of modern digital photography. So I wished that you would have added the idea or lens design of every release too.

   If you don’t mind I can give a short list
   * Perar 17mm 4.5 = retro focus super wide ultra-thin design
   * Hipolion 19mm 8.0 = Goerz Hypergon from 1900
   * Perar 21mm 4.5 = super wide ultra thin Triplet
   * Aporia 24mm 2.0 = ultra thin Gauss
   * Perar 24mm 4.0 = ultra thin Triplet
   * Apoqualia 28mm 2.0 = ultra thin retro focus Planar Gauss
   * Perar 28mm 4.0 = ultra thin Triplet
   * Apoqualia 35mm 1.3 II Slim = tiny (collapsible) ultra bright Gauss
   * Apoqualia 35mm 1.4 = tiny very bright Gauss
   * Perar 35mm 3.5 = tiny Triplet
   * Historio Prot 40mm 6.3 = Zeiss Protar from 1890
   * Historio Dagonar 40mm 6.3 = Goerz Dagor from 1905
   * ISM 50mm 1.0 = small ultra bright high performance Gauss
   * Sonnetar 50mm 1.1 = small ultra bright Sonnar
   * MS-Mode 50mm 1.3 = small ultra bright Sonnar based on Nikon S Carl Zeiss Sonnar 50mm 1.5
   * Sonnetar 50mm 1.3 Slim = small ultra bright Sonnar based on Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 5cm 1.5 from 1932
   * Varioprasma 50mm 1.5 = Meye Görlitzr Kino-Plasmat from 1930 (for movies)
   * MS-Mode 50mm 3.5 Apoqualia = Voigtländer Heliar
   * Xenomax 50mm 3.5 = small high performance Xenotar
   * Elnomaxim 55mm 1.2 = ultra bright compact Ernostar
   * Petz 57mm 2.0 = (variable) compact Petzval
   * Sonnetar 73mm 1.5 = ultra bright compact tele Sonnar
   * Aporis 135mm 2.4 = high performance fluorite apochromat (Canon Optron)

   That was the information I could gather from the descriptions online.
   Furthermore the MS-Mode 50mm 1.3 and MS-Mode 50mm 3.5 Apoqualia seem to not have a Leica M but a Leica Thread mount (L39). The MS-Mode 50mm 1.3 was available in different versions where you get a Nikon S version with a Nikon S to L39 adapter. The shown image is from a Leica thread mount version.
   http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/MS_Optical_R%26D
   https://camerapedia.fandom.com/wiki/MS_Optical_R%26D

   For the missing information about the Varioprasma 50mm 1.5:
   Filter Diameter: 40
   Number of Aperture Blades: 16 rounded
   https://www.japancamerahunter.com/2019/05/camera-geekery-ms-optics-vario-plasma-1-5-50-m-mount/

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   1. I don’t think 40mm is the correct filter size of the 50mm 1.5 as 40mm is not a usual filter size at all.
      Several times in the past JCH published wrong specifications (or copied them from the data sheets without veryfing them), so I don’t consider them a trustful source.

      I also don’t think adding “tiny Triplet/Gauss/Sonnar” is really helpful information.

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      1. Additionally, I think the information you want about each design would come from translating the description Miyazaki gives. Although your information may already be based on that.

         I am in the process of getting sufficiently high quality scans of the lens texts to OCR them and will report back at some point.

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         1. That is the point. Miayazaki-san gives a lot of inside into the idea behind every lens release in his Japanese notes. Unfortunately only few people outside Japan can read and understand written Japanese. Me too. Not for all lenses those notes are available online and only a part is translated. Even if lens names are in Romaji then the text can be misleading. For example there is no translated text for the Elnomaxim. The text mentions the Ernostar only briefly and goes in depths about Bertele developing the Sonnar in 1932. A lot of people think the Elnomaxim is a Sonnar design but it is an improved Ernostar (Elnomaxim = Ernomaxim).
            So long story short, it would be helpful for English readers to have this information from the notes. Even better would be full translations of the notes.

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8. One thing that isn’t clear to me: I previously read that Miyazaki designs and makes the lenses himself in his basement, but Bastian’s article refers to him specifically as the CEO and lens designer. Are the actual lenses manufactured by employees/contractors?

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   1. Miyazaki Optical is an one-man business established in 2015. Mr. Miyazaki is the CEO and also the only worker of this company. Each lens parts is provided by other optical companies and assembled by Miyazaki himself.

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9. I’d like to add that there are three versions of MS Optics 28/2, with different engraving on the front lens ring: APOQUALIA-G, APOQUALIA-II and APOQUALIA-III. I believe the optical design of the three are the same, but they have different housing and different minimum focus distances. The minimum focus distances marked on lens are 0.8m, 0.4m and 0.6m.

   I’m not sure if the version II and III have different weight than the first version. My first version 28/2 weights 51g with hood and 49g without

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   1. The (Aegean) Sea and Sun (Mountain) Urushi editions of Apoqualia III (seen here https://www.japancamerahunter.com/2020/04/camera-geekery-ms-optics-apoqualia-g-28mm-f2-m-mount-urushii-special-edition/) are also a bit different in the way that they have Apoqualia engraving on the front lens ring without the number or G but they are based on version III, and they have minimum focus distance marking on the lens up to 0.5m. They focus to 0.55m though (around the mid-point between 0.6m and 0.5m markings). I just bought the Sun (Mountain) version a couple of weeks ago. This version’s weight is 50g according to the data sheet and I measured mine at 48g with the hood (without caps).

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10. Thanks Bastian for this outstanding summary and overview. It underlines that your blog is special and opens the horizon for photographers that are not aiming for the highest and most expensive technology but for new image-expressions or very small lenses or something that the big producers do not and can not deliver. I often experienced that such a lens provides more fun and sometimes even more appealing pictures than a “perfect” lens.

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    1. Thank you very much for these kind words!

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11. Thank you very very much for compiling all this information here!

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12. Hello Bastian,

    I guess that you and me are the only ones in Germany who are in love with the lenses from MS-Optics 😉

    I can not thank you enough for testing this lenses and share your experiences with us. Owning much lenses and having tested some of them, I know how much work this is.

    Just yesterday I got my MS-Optics Xenomax 3,5/50mm delivered. This ist an awesome good lens. It is sharp and contrasty all over, it is virtually free from CAs and fringing and it has no field curvature. Despite beeing one of the optical most perfect lenses from Mr. Miyazaki, it still is a quirky lens. Therefore I love this lens, too. Sounds crazy, but as Dan said:

    This lens provides more fun and sometimes even more appealing pictures than a “perfect” lens.

    Best regards,
    Christian

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13. I am very glad to see there is a person who is interested in Miyazaki lenses overseas.

    I am Japanese and living in Tokyo.
    I have used almost all Miyazaki lenses for years, and came to know that slow Miyazaki lenses like F3.5-4.5 are more attractive than fast ones like F1.0-F1.4

    My favorite lenses are Perar 4.5/17, 4.5/21, 4/24 ,4/28 and 3.5/35 when they are used on APS-C Cameras like Leica CL.

    Except Perar, I love Xenomax 3.5/50 that is extra sharp even on fullframe cameras like Leica M11.

    Aporis 135mm 2.4 is also amazing but a little bit too long with its hood.

    Mr.Miyazaki is high aged but still powerfully continuing to develop new lenses with his grandson. I sometimes call him to deliver lens impression and sometimes ask him to overhole my Miyazaki lenses.

    Thank you for your nice article !!
    From Tokyo, Japan

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    1. Nice to see you find your way here!
       Unfortunately it is significantly more difficult/costly to acquire these lenses overseas.

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    2. I am wondering about performance of wide angle Perars on M11. Any experience, using your “favorites” above on M11, instead of APSC cameras?

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       1. On M11 there is very little color cast compared to M9/M10/M10r but depending on the lens higher vignetting and worse corner sharpness than on M10.

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    3. Hey Nagao,

       I’m an insanely huge fan of Ms-Optic lenses and the legend Miyazaki himself. But, I’ve got no clue where to get those lenses (no eBay pls, too expensive). Any suggestions?

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       1. Here: https://www.mkdirect51.com/

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14. I recently bought a Fuji X-Pro from Japan which happened to include a Perar 24mm f4. I had no knowledge of Mr. Miyazaki’s work beforehand, but the purchase pulled me into a rabbit hole of these fascinating lenses. Thanks for the article and all the information.

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    1. Interesting set you bought there 🙂

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