MS Optics Apoqualia 28mm f/1.7

MS Optics · Leica M · 2023 · Gauss type, six elements in four groups

Also known as: Apoqualia 28mm f/1.7 · Apoqualia 28mm F1.7 · Apoqualia 28mm F1.7 Full MC · MS-Optics Apoqualia 28mm f/1.7 · MS Optics Apoqualia 28mm F1.7 · MS-Optical Apoqualia 28mm f/1.7 · MS-Optics Apoqualia 28mm f/1.7 Full MC · APOQUALIA 1.7/28 · APOQUALIA1.7/28 · Apoqualia 1.7/28 Full MC Ultra Thin Gauss Type · MS Apoqualia 28/f1.7 · Apoqualia 28/f1.7 · Apoqualia-G 28mm f/1.7 · Apoquilia 28mm F1.7 · MS-OPTICS/MS-オプティクス APOQUALIA 28mm F1.7 · 宮崎光学 APOQUALIA 28mm F1.7 · 宮崎光学アポクオリア 28mm F1.7 · MS-OPTICS アポクアリア 28mm F1.7

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
APOQUALIA 1.7/28, matte black	Leica M	2023	—	—
APOQUALIA 1.7/28, matte silver	Leica M	2023	—	—

Weight: about 60 g, or 65 g with the hood, with some variation between copies (MK Direct product page and launch post); 60 g (Japan Exposures); 54 g without hood and caps (Phillip Reeve's MS-Optics overview). shige-art's English table gives 70 g and its Japanese table 60 g; the 70 g repeats the figure in the neighbouring f/2 columns, and the same English table gives the f/2's 9.8 mm length against 10.2 mm everywhere else, its Japanese table included.
Filter: M34 × 0.75 reverse thread (MK Direct; Japan Exposures, 34 mm P.75). A reader of Phillip Reeve's overview reported in March 2025 that the thread is actually 32 mm and that he uses 32 mm step-up rings; the overview now prints "34mm (actually 32mm according to a reader)". shige-art's table gives 28 mm, the f/2's size. Check with the ring before buying filters.
Close focus and coupling: MK Direct gives 0.4 m closest focus, rangefinder coupled to 1 m on the M3 and 0.8 m on other bodies, and says that from the second lot closest focus varies from copy to copy between 0.6 and 0.4 m. Japan Exposures instead prints 0.9 m on Leica M and 0.75–0.9 m on mirrorless cameras. shige-art's English table gives 0.4–0.6 m, coupled to 0.8 m; its Japanese table gives 0.35 m, its figure for the f/2 II and III. Those are close to the published figures for the first 28mm f/2 of 2016 (coupled to 0.9 m), and the Japan Exposures page also attaches a note document named for the Apoqualia 28 II, and its f/2 II page prints the same 0.9 m and 0.75–0.9 m; the figure looks carried over from the f/2 listing, but this is our inference.
Blades: 12 (MK Direct; "12 (rounded)" in Reeve's overview). shige-art's table gives 10 for every 28mm Apoqualia including this one. The same table gives f/16 as the smallest aperture; no maker document consulted states one, so the entry leaves it out.
Actual focal length and aperture 28.8 mm f/1.73, as given in Reeve's overview.
Dates: MK Direct announced the lens on 28 June 2023, the day Leica Rumors reported it; Reeve's overview gives July 2023, shige-art June 2023. No end date: in 2026 both MK Direct and Japan Exposures show it out of stock, and it is not among the three lenses the new official shop, msopticsshop.com, lists.
Other finishes: Japan Exposures' page offers Urushi Wajima Gold, Black and Red (+¥20,000 each) and S-240 (+¥10,000), the same option set, at the same surcharges, as its 28mm f/2 II page. No lacquered or S-240 f/1.7 has been seen for sale or photographed, MK Direct never listed one, and the page shows other signs of being carried over from the f/2 listing (note ³), so they are not given variant rows here. What S-240 denotes is not explained on the page.
Lots: Japan Exposures offered the "initial lot" and would not reserve serial numbers, though both phrases also stand word for word on its f/2 II page; MK Direct refers to a second lot. Neither gives a lot size.
Price: ¥110,000 is the maker's own list price before tax, ¥121,000 with tax (MK Direct). shige-art's tables give ¥100,000 (marked before tax in the Japanese table), the same figure its English table gives for both f/2 columns. Japan Exposures' ¥139,900 is a dealer price for export; its page does not say whether Japanese tax is included.

How to tell them apart (expand)

A wafer: 10.2 mm deep and 50 mm across without the hood, about 60 g (65 g with hood, MK Direct, which warns of some variation between copies)
Camera-wiki lists it as "Apoqualia 1.7/28 Full MC Ultra Thin Gauss Type", against "Apoqualia-G 2/28 F·MC Ultra Thin Gauss Type" for the f/2: the aperture figure in the name is the quickest way to tell the two apart in a photo
Twelve-blade diaphragm (MK Direct), for round out-of-focus highlights when stopped down
Filter thread inside the front rim, M34 × 0.75 and reversed, against 28 mm on the f/2 (M30.5 on the f/2 Part III, according to MK Direct)
Rangefinder coupled to 0.8 m on M bodies but only to 1 m on the M3; focuses on to 0.4 m uncoupled (MK Direct)

APOQUALIA 1.7/28, matte black:

Matte black barrel. MK Direct offered the lens in two matte colours only, black and silver, at the same ¥110,000
Japan Exposures sold black as its base finish at ¥139,900

APOQUALIA 1.7/28, matte silver:

Matte silver barrel. Japan Exposures says the hood is always black whatever the finish of the lens, though the same sentence stands on its f/2 II page

APOQUALIA 1.7/28, matte black: The base finish at both shops. Japan Exposures describes the barrel as anodised aluminium in black.
APOQUALIA 1.7/28, matte silver: Listed by MK Direct alongside black at the same price. Japan Exposures charged ¥10,000 more for silver, the same surcharge as on its 28mm f/2 II page.

Specifications

Formula: Gauss type, six elements in four groups
Designed by: Miyazaki Sadayasu (宮崎貞安) — optical and mechanical design; Japan Exposures says each lens was designed, made and hand-assembled by him
Construction: 6 elements / 4 groups
Aperture range: f/1.7
Diaphragm blades: 12
Min. focus: 0.4 m
Dimensions: 50 × 10.2 mm
Weight: 60 g
Filter: 34 mm (0.75 mm pitch), M34 × 0.75 reverse thread, screwed in inside the front rim
Years manufactured: 2023
Country: Japan
Coating: Multicoated on every surface (全面フルマルチコート, MK Direct; "ALL glass surfaces multicoated", Japan Exposures)
Material: Anodised aluminium barrel (Japan Exposures)
Original price: ¥110,000 before tax (¥121,000 with Japan's consumption tax), the launch price on MK Direct, the maker's own shop, 28 June 2023, the same for black and silver. Japan Exposures, the export dealer, asked ¥139,900 for black. (today ¥113,000)

What reviewers say

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History

The Apoqualia 28mm f/1.7 is the fourth of Miyazaki Sadayasu’s 28mm Gauss pancakes, announced on 28 June 2023 on MK Direct, the shop that sold his lenses in Japan, at ¥110,000 before tax. The family began with the Apoqualia-G 28mm f/2 of 2016, a lens that put a six-element double-Gauss f/2 into a barrel under a centimetre deep, and went through two further f/2 generations before this one (see the Apoqualia-G 28mm f/2 page). The f/1.7 is barely deeper than those f/2s: 10.2 mm, about 60 g, and 50 mm across.

Whether it is a new lens or an opened-up f/2 is a matter of emphasis. MK Direct says only that, like the 2/28, it is a Gauss type; Japan Exposures, Leica Rumors and Reeve give six elements in four groups, the count published for the f/2. shige-art, who owns a lacquered f/2 II, says the specification sheet supplied with the f/1.7 describes small changes, among them a thinner central element, made to get the extra speed. Phillip Reeve’s overview calls it the slightly faster successor of the f/2, close mechanically to its third version, and says it performs very much like the f/2, field curvature included. MK Direct’s description is frank about the character: a faint flare at f/1.7 that it recommends for portraits indoors, the coma flare gone by f/2.8, contrast and sharpness rising as the lens is stopped down. This is a lens to stop down for sharpness, or to choose for the look it has wide open.

There are two finishes that MK Direct sold, matte black and matte silver, at one price. Japan Exposures, which listed the initial lot for export at ¥139,900, also offers Wajima urushi lacquer in gold, black and red and an “S-240” finish, but that option list is the same as on its f/2 II page, and no lacquered f/1.7 has turned up. Treat one offered as lacquered with care until its provenance is clear. Japan Exposures says the hood is black whatever colour the lens is, though the same line appears on its f/2 II page.

What to check when buying. Confirm the maximum aperture in the listing and the photos, since Reeve finds the f/1.7 mechanically close to the f/2 Mk III, and in 2021 MK Direct called the f/2 the best-selling of Miyazaki’s lenses, so far more of those are about. The rangefinder couples to 0.8 m on most M bodies and only to 1 m on an M3. MK Direct says closest focus varies from 0.4 m to 0.6 m between copies from the second lot on, so a copy that stops short of 0.4 m on a mirrorless body is not necessarily faulty. The filter thread sits inside the front rim and runs in reverse. Sources give it as 34 mm, but one owner found it to be 32 mm, so try a filter or step-up ring in it before you buy filters. By 2026 the lens was out of stock at both MK Direct and Japan Exposures, and it is not among the lenses the new official shop sells.

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This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

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