Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

MS Optics Aporia 24mm f/2

MS Optics · Leica M · 2020 · Gauss type, six elements in four groups

Also known as: MS Optics Aporia 24mm f/2 · MS-Optics Aporia 24mm F2 · MS-Optics 24mm 2.0 Aporia · MS Optical Aporia 24mm F2 · MS-OPTICS APORIA 24mm F2 · MS Optics Aporia · MS-Optics Aporia · Aporia 24mm f/2 · Aporia 24mm · Aporia 24 · Aporia 2/24 · Aporia 24/2 · APORIA2/24 · APORIA 2.0/24 F·MC · APORA 24mm F/2 · Apora 24mm · Apora 24 · MS-OT APORA · MS-Optics 24mm f/2 · MS Optics 24mm f2 · MS Optical 24mm f/2 · 宮崎光学 APORIA 24mm F2 · 宮崎光學 APORIA 24mm F2 · 宮崎光学 アポリア 24mm · MS-OPTICS アポリア 24mm F2 · アポリア 24mm F2 · アポラ 24mm

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Aporia 24mm f/2, black or silver anodised Leica M 2020 — —
Aporia 24mm f/2, black paint Leica M — — —
Aporia 24mm f/2, gold (three made) Leica M 2020–2020 — 3, according to an owner's Instagram post of 9 June 2020 reproduced by Leica Rumors ('limited edition 3 pcs in the world'); the maker has published no figure
Aporia 24mm f/2 urushi (Urushi Black; 漆) Leica M — — —
Aporia 24mm f/2 tamenuri urushi, 海 (Sea) and 太陽 (Sun) Leica M — — —
Aporia 24mm f/2 maki-e, 獅子 (shishi lion) Leica M 2021 — —
Aporia 24mm f/2 maki-e, ツタンカーメン (Tutankhamun) Leica M 2021 — —
Aporia 24mm f/2 maki-e, 赤富士 黒 (red Fuji, black ground) Leica M 2021 — —
Aporia 24mm f/2 maki-e, 赤富士 青 (red Fuji, blue ground) Leica M 2021 142 (MK Direct) —
Aporia 24mm f/2 maki-e, 波中富士 (Fuji among the waves) Leica M 2021 117 (MK Direct page address) —
Aporia 24mm f/2 maki-e, 鯉 (koi) Leica M 2021 129 (MK Direct) —
  1. Weight: 45 g on Miyazaki's datasheet and at Leica Rumors, Japan Exposures, MK Direct and Reeve; shige's table gives 39 g.
  2. Depth: 5.8 mm on the datasheet and at Leica Rumors, Japan Exposures and Reeve; 5.6 mm in the specification lines of MK Direct's product pages (the main page's description says 5.8 mm) and in shige's table. Diameter: 50 mm on the datasheet, at Leica Rumors and Japan Exposures; 51 mm in shige's table; 47 mm in Reeve's specifications. The datasheet also gives 12.8 mm as the length of the optical system itself.
  3. Focal length and aperture: the datasheet gives fL 24.5 mm and Fno 2.08, and Reeve's overview repeats 24.5mm f/2.08.
  4. Field curvature: MK Direct's product text gives 0.5 mm, with astigmatism absent and distortion ±0.5% against 2–3% for a retrofocus lens; the hand-drawn datasheet marks 0.3 mm of curvature and says the sagittal and meridional curves coincide out to a 35 mm image circle.
  5. Closest focus: 0.5 m (datasheet, Leica Rumors, MK Direct, Reeve, shige); Japan Exposures gives 0.5–0.6 m on mirrorless bodies. Coupling ends at 0.8 m in every source that gives it.
  6. Filter: the datasheet and Japan Exposures say M34 for glass only. Reeve explains: take the glass out of a 34 mm filter with a spanner and seat or glue it in the supplied hood, and a polariser is out of the question; shige could find no ready-made filter that fits the hood thread. MK Direct's main product page gives the hood's inner diameter as 31 mm and does not recommend filters.
  7. Release: June 2020 on the datasheet ('2020/6月 登場') and at Leica Rumors (11 June 2020); September 2020 in Reeve's overview.
  8. Prices. Maker: ¥90,000 planned list on the datasheet. Direct shop: MK Direct, which sells Miyazaki's lenses direct to individual buyers, ¥100,000 for the tamenuri urushi editions and ¥175,000 for the Shishi and Tutankhamun maki-e lenses, tax status not stated. Dealer: Japan Exposures ¥109,900 (+¥10,000 Urushi Black); ¥105,600 at launch, given by Leica Rumors with a link to Amazon Japan. Reeve, December 2020, says it sells for about $1,200 and can be found only at Japan Camera Hunter or on eBay.
  9. Edition sizes: none published by the maker. The gold figure of three is the owner's. The numbers 117, 121, 129 and 142 in MK Direct's maki-e listings appear to be the serials of the individual lenses (MK Direct calls No.142 serial number 142), not edition numbers. MK Direct calls the lacquered lenses small lots of high rarity.
  10. ⁰ Camera-wiki lists an 'MS-OT Apora 1/24 F·MC U'. The MS-OT Apora engraving matches this lens, so it is probably an Aporia 24/2 written with the wrong aperture; the trailing 'U' is not explained. No f/1 24 mm MS lens is known.
  11. ¹ Reeve's overview mentions versions with paintings of Mt. Fuji or Tutankhamun on the front barrel and lens cap; these match the maki-e designs sold by MK Direct and Fotoborse, and are not a separate series.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • A 50 mm disc under 6 mm deep, about the size of a Leica body cap; focused by a small tab, with the whole lens turning about 120° from 0.5 m to infinity (Reeve)
  • The nameplate reads MS-OT APORA, not Aporia: a misprint Miyazaki did not correct in time (shige), so 'Apora' in a listing is the same lens
  • The whole inner ring, with its markings, is the aperture ring, f/2–16 with no click stops (Reeve); the tiny screw-in hood makes it hard to reach (shige), and with filter glass fitted the hood must come off to change aperture (Reeve)
  • Rangefinder coupled from infinity to 0.8 m, then on to 0.5 m for live view; the datasheet says it brings up the 28 mm frame on a Leica M
  • The Super Triplet Perar 24mm f/4 of 2014 is a different lens on its own page: a three-element triplet, slightly thinner, engraved Perar

Aporia 24mm f/2, black or silver anodised:

  • Plain black or silver anodised aluminium (Japan Exposures' finish list)
  • Front ring engraved MS-OT APORA, the misspelling every regular lens carries (shige, Reeve)

Aporia 24mm f/2, black paint:

  • Black paint rather than black anodising; Japan Exposures offers it at the base price

Aporia 24mm f/2, gold (three made):

  • Gold-coloured barrel, shown in the owner's photographs on Leica Rumors, which remarked that it calls for a gold M body cap

Aporia 24mm f/2 urushi (Urushi Black; 漆):

  • Lacquered barrel. Japan Exposures sells it as Urushi Black, ¥10,000 over the base price; MK Direct lists a plain 'APORIA2/24 漆'
  • MK Direct warns that the colour varies from lens to lens, and ships the lacquered lenses in a made-to-order wooden box with a stamped cloth

Aporia 24mm f/2 tamenuri urushi, 海 (Sea) and 太陽 (Sun):

  • Tamenuri (溜塗), a layered translucent lacquer, in two named colours: 海 (sea) and 太陽 (sun)
  • MK Direct's 太陽 page promises a made-to-order wooden box with a stamped cloth and warns the colour varies from lens to lens

Aporia 24mm f/2 maki-e, 獅子 (shishi lion):

  • Maki-e of the shishi, the legendary lion-beast of kabuki (Fotoborse), on lacquer

Aporia 24mm f/2 maki-e, ツタンカーメン (Tutankhamun):

  • Maki-e portrait of Tutankhamun; Reeve mentions a Tutankhamun painting on the front barrel and lens cap

Aporia 24mm f/2 maki-e, 赤富士 黒 (red Fuji, black ground):

  • Red Mount Fuji after Hokusai's Thirty-six Views (Fotoborse), on a black ground

Aporia 24mm f/2 maki-e, 赤富士 青 (red Fuji, blue ground):

  • Red Mount Fuji on a blue ground

Aporia 24mm f/2 maki-e, 波中富士 (Fuji among the waves):

  • Mount Fuji among waves, recalling Hokusai's Thirty-six Views (Fotoborse)

Aporia 24mm f/2 maki-e, 鯉 (koi):

  • A Taishō Sanshoku koi, the red, white and black variety (Fotoborse)

Specifications

Formula
Gauss type, six elements in four groups
Designed by
Miyazaki Sadayasu (宮崎貞安) — optical design, manufacture and hand assembly
Construction
6 elements / 4 groups
Aperture range
f/2–f/16
Diaphragm blades
10
Min. focus
0.5 m
Dimensions
50 × 5.8 mm
Weight
45 g
Filter
Glass from a 34 mm filter, fitted in the hood
Years manufactured
2020
Country
Japan
Coating
Multicoated on all glass surfaces (Japan Exposures); the maker's datasheet titles it APORIA 2.0/24 F·MC
Material
Anodised aluminium in black or silver, or black paint (Japan Exposures); urushi lacquer and maki-e over the barrel on the lacquered editions (MK Direct)
Original price
¥90,000, the planned list price (上代) written on Miyazaki's own datasheet, which dates the lens's debut to June 2020; tax status not stated. At the 11 June 2020 announcement Leica Rumors gave a price of ¥105,600 (about $1,000) and pointed buyers to Amazon Japan, again without saying whether tax was included; shige's table gives '-¥100,000' with no date. Japan Exposures, an export dealer, lists ¥109,900, plus ¥10,000 for Urushi Black. (today ¥98,000)

What reviewers say

Optical Ratings

Aggregated from the reviews above — follow the links for the full picture.

Chromatic aberration
well corrected
Vignetting
heavy wide open
Flare & ghosting
poor
Coma
strong wide open
Distortion
minor, slightly wavy
Optical formula — Gauss type, six elements in four groups
ⓘ What these charts mean

MTF (modulation transfer function) shows how much contrast the lens keeps at a given fineness of detail, from the center of the frame to the corner — the coarse curves track punch, the fine ones resolving power, and a gap between solid and dashed lines means astigmatism. Relative illumination (falloff) shows how much darker the corners are than the center at each aperture. Manufacturers only began publishing these for modern lenses; no 1950s maker issued them, which is why older families here cite period magazine bench tests instead.

History

The Aporia 24mm f/2 is a six-element Gauss wide-angle lens for Leica M, 50 mm across and under 6 mm deep, made in 2020 by Miyazaki Sadayasu in his MS Optics workshop. Reeve found no real alternative with similar specifications at a similar size, and shige notes that Leica, Voigtländer and Zeiss make no rangefinder lens to the same specification. It replaced the Super Triplet Perar 24mm f/4 of 2014 at almost the same size and weight, two stops faster. Miyazaki’s hand-drawn datasheet dates its debut to June 2020 with a planned list price of ¥90,000, and Leica Rumors announced it on 11 June at ¥105,600, pointing buyers to Amazon Japan.

The datasheet sets out the design and its cost. Large front and rear elements in high-index, low-dispersion glass (nd 1.8) hold the optical length to 12.8 mm and keep light in the corners. Miyazaki writes that coma flare and falloff from mid-field to the corners are the Gauss type’s faults, and that he struggled to reach a level he was satisfied with. Astigmatism is corrected, but at the price of a curved field. He tells the photographer to allow for it, says it stops showing at f/4–5.6 as depth of field grows, and names the lens’s real use: a lens no more noticeable than a body cap, for snapshots of people in the street. BastianK’s review for Phillip Reeve’s site confirms this almost point for point. The lens is sharp where it is focused at f/2, but the field curves, the corners lose nearly four stops and it copes poorly with bright light in the frame. On a Leica M10 it is even across the frame by f/8–11, and much better there than on a Sony. shige also finds colour cast at the edges on older full-frame sensors.

The nameplate reads MS-OT APORA. shige explains that the misprint was found too late to correct in production, and Reeve lists it among several MS Optics spelling slips. Listings titled ‘Apora’ are this lens. The regular lenses come in black or silver anodising and black paint. A gold lens, said by its owner to be one of three, appeared at launch. The Aporia is also the lens MK Direct, the direct-sales shop for MS Optics, chose for its lacquered series, presented as a collaboration with the urushi craft of Ishikawa, Miyazaki’s home prefecture: plain urushi lenses, and two tamenuri editions named Sea and Sun at ¥100,000. Then came five maki-e designs by the artist Matsuki Daisuke: a kabuki shishi lion, Tutankhamun, a red Fuji (on black or blue ground), Fuji among the waves after Hokusai, and a koi. The Tokyo dealer Fotoborse received them in May and June 2021, and MK Direct priced the shishi and Tutankhamun at ¥175,000. No edition sizes were published. The numbers in MK Direct’s listings (117, 121, 129, 142) appear to be the serials of the individual lenses offered; MK Direct says so for No.142.

When buying, check that the aperture ring turns freely, since it is the whole inner ring with no click stops and the hood must come off to reach it. Make sure the tiny 34 mm hood is present, because it is the only way to fit a filter: the glass taken from a 34 mm filter goes inside it. On a lacquered lens, ask for the wooden box and stamped cloth MK Direct supplied, and look closely at the edges: shige found that the lacquer on his urushi Apoqualia 28mm f/2 II peels from rubbing in a bag or a light knock. On a Leica M10 the lens does not fully cover the 6-bit reader and bright light can make the camera think the lens has changed, which Reeve cured with tape. The datasheet says the lens calls up the 28 mm frame, so a 24 mm finder or live view is needed to frame it exactly. The Apoqualia 28mm f/2 is the same kind of thin Gauss design at 28 mm and has its own page. BastianK, reviewing its first version for Reeve’s site, found the Aporia the better lens, with less field curvature, and said he packs the 24 rather than the 28 for stopped-down landscape and architecture.

Expand Collapse

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.

Example photos

More sample photos elsewhere

These photographers keep all rights to their work — enjoy it at the source.

Sample photo wanted — shot with a MS Optics Aporia 24mm f/2? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

The listings collector hasn't run for this family yet — check back soon, or search the marketplaces directly meanwhile.

Related: MS Optics Super Triplet Perar 24mm f/4 Super Wide

Sources (13)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this lens, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.