MS Optics Aporis 135mm f/2.4 (Fluorit Super Apochromat Full MC)

MS Optics · Leica M · 2017

Also known as: MS Optics Aporis 135mm f/2.4 · MS Optics 135mm f2.4 Aporis · MS-Optics Aporis 135mm 2.4 Fluorit MC · MS Optics Fluorit Super Apochromat Aporis 135mm f/2.4 Full MC · MS-OPTICS APORIS 135mm F2.4 · MS-APORIS 135mm F2.4 · MS Optical R&D Aporis 135mm · MS-Optical 135mm F2.4 · Fluorit Super Apochromat Aporis · Fluorit Apochromat Aporis · APORIS 2.4/135 · APORIS 135mm F2.4 Full MC · Aporis 135mm f/2.4 · Aporis 135mm · Aporis 135 · Aporis f2.4 · 宮崎光学 APORIS 135mm F2.4 · 宮崎光学アポリス 135mm F2.4 · MS-OPTICS アポリス 135mm · アポリス 135mm F2.4

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
APORIS 2.4/135, Leica M, not rangefinder-coupled, with SA and coma controls	Leica M (no rangefinder coupling; for live-view and mirrorless bodies)	2017	—	No figure published. Japan Exposures sold an "initial lot" and would not reserve serial numbers; BastianK, reviewing it for Phillip Reeve's site, wrote that it was made only in small quantities.
APORIS 2.4/135, T-mount	T-mount (SLR and other bodies through a T adapter)	2017	—	No figure published. The only reported sighting of one for sale is a reader's comment of November 2022 on Phillip Reeve's site.

Construction: five elements in four groups (shige, in his review and his MS table); six in four (Japan Exposures, which calls it an "Ernostar (Cooke Triplet derivative)", and Kamerastore); five in five (BastianK on Phillip Reeve's site). Miyazaki's data sheet calls it an Ernostar with a CaF2 first element but gives no count, so the entry leaves the element and group fields empty.
Weight: the maker's data sheet gives 340 g in its text and 360 g beside its drawing; BastianK (Phillip Reeve's site) gives 360 g plus adapter; shige weighed 366 g for the lens alone and about 400 g with hood and filter; Leica Rumors (January 2017), Japan Exposures and Kamerastore give 380 g. Length: 117 mm (data sheet, Leica Rumors, Japan Exposures), 120 mm (BastianK), about 122 mm (shige). Every source that gives a diameter gives 60 mm.
Closest focus: 1.6 m on the maker's data sheet and in the manual shige quotes, and at Japan Exposures and Leica Rumors; the distance scale stops at 1.5 m (shige), the figure Kamerastore gives. The ring turns past the scale: BastianK measured 1.3 m and 1:7.6, shige about 1.2 m at the end of travel. BastianK notes that the SA and coma settings change these figures. The T-mount data sheet gives 1.8 m.
Prices. Maker (handwritten data sheet published by Japan Exposures): coupled version ¥148,000 and up before tax (税前), with a ×1.8 magnifier ("×1.8 MAG") sold separately, its combined special price given as 12,000; uncoupled version ¥135,000 and up before tax. Leica Rumors, 15 January 2017: coupled ¥148,000 with the 1.8× magnifier, uncoupled ¥128,000. Leica Rumors, 17 June 2017: ¥148,000 and ¥135,000. Japan Exposures (dealer): ¥135,900, on sale at ¥125,900, tax not stated, sold out. Shige's MS table: ¥135,000, as a list price before tax. BastianK (Phillip Reeve's site, December 2017): around $1,200. Kamerastore (dealer) gave an average price for a certified-condition copy of $929 in November 2026, sold out; this is a used dealer figure, not a sale record.
The rangefinder-coupled version has no row in the table. It was announced and priced in January 2017, and the maker's data sheet describes it: SA and coma fixed for best results at 10 m, and a coupling mechanism that cuts the light in the four corners. BastianK's review on Phillip Reeve's site says "There are two versions of this lens", and his overview of MS lenses describes a coupled one with fixed SA and coma rings that "allegedly" vignettes more, but he reviewed only the uncoupled lens. Shige says the coupled version is mentioned in the manual but was never released, because a rangefinder cannot focus a 135 mm f/2.4 accurately wide open and the coupling causes corner vignetting. No coupled copy has been seen.
Dates: Leica Rumors reported the lens in January 2017; shige and the overview on Phillip Reeve's site give May 2017 as the release, while Leica Rumors still described it as available for pre-order on 17 June 2017. No end date has been published; Japan Exposures and Kamerastore both list it as sold out.
The "1/50" in the T-mount data sheet's heading is not explained on the sheet or by any dealer, and the entry does not interpret it.

How to tell them apart (expand)

The longest focal length MS Optics has released (shige; Phillip Reeve's site)
Slim black barrel 60 mm across with a reversed 58 mm filter thread and a screw-in cylindrical metal hood
16 rounded aperture blades, clickless

APORIS 2.4/135, Leica M, not rangefinder-coupled, with SA and coma controls:

Controls from the mount forward: focusing ring, then a coma-adjustment lever, then the clickless aperture ring (f/2.4–16); the spherical-aberration (SA) adjustment is the front element unit itself, which unscrews
SA and coma scales both marked from ∞ to 1.5 m, with travel beyond the ∞ mark
Distance scale ends at 1.5 m
Unit focusing: the whole front barrel, aperture ring and front element included, turns and extends as it focuses (BastianK: by 19 mm at close focus)
No rangefinder cam: on an M body the rangefinder does not move as the lens is focused

APORIS 2.4/135, T-mount:

T-mount at the rear in place of the M bayonet; it needs a T adapter for the camera
Close focus given as 1.8 m on the maker's T-mount data sheet, against 1.6 m for the M version

APORIS 2.4/135, Leica M, not rangefinder-coupled, with SA and coma controls: The version actually sold. Miyazaki's data sheet heads it "M Mount ミラーレスタイプ" (mirrorless type) and names the Leica M9 and Sony α7 as its cameras; his "Clever Use" sheet names the Sony α7 and the Leica Typ 240 and M10 used through an adapter or in live view. Shige gives the release as May 2017. The SA control moves the first element against the second ("manual floating" on the data sheet): the "Clever Use" sheet marks one end "Contrast Best, no Halo" and the other "Sharpness Best but Small Halo", and BastianK found that screwing it further out adds a strong glow. On the coma lever the sources differ. The "Clever Use" sheet draws coma corrected for the subject distance (∞, 5 m, 1.5 m) and says either control can be used to adjust back focus. Shige uses the lever once, to match focus to the infinity mark on a given body, and then leaves it; BastianK saw little effect from it and kept it at one end.
APORIS 2.4/135, T-mount: Japan Exposures described the lens as made "in Leica M and T mount" and published a separate T-mount data sheet, a copy of the M-mount sheet in Miyazaki's hand headed "New T Mount 1/50 ∞〜1.8Mまで" (infinity to 1.8 m). Shige says the T-mount version has a longer flange distance and can be used on SLRs through an adapter. A reader of Phillip Reeve's site wrote in November 2022 that he had seen a T-mount lens on US eBay, with the SA control but no coma control; neither the maker nor a dealer confirms this.

Specifications

Formula: Ernostar type, with a large, thick calcium fluoride (CaF2) front element from Canon Optron
Designed by: Miyazaki Sadayasu (宮崎貞安) — optical design
Aperture range: f/2.4–f/16
Diaphragm blades: 16
Min. focus: 1.6 m
Dimensions: 60 × 117 mm
Weight: 366 g
Filter: 58 mm, 58 mm, reversed: the filter screws onto an external thread at the front
Years manufactured: 2017
Country: Japan
Coating: Fully multicoated (Full MC in the name Japan Exposures sold it under)
Material: Black-anodised aluminium (Japan Exposures)
Original price: ¥135,000 and up before tax for the uncoupled lens, the figure on Miyazaki's own handwritten data sheet, which prices the rangefinder-coupled version at ¥148,000 and up before tax. Leica Rumors gave ¥128,000 for the uncoupled lens in January 2017 and ¥135,000 in June 2017. Japan Exposures, a dealer, gave a list price of ¥135,900 and offered it at ¥125,900, without saying whether tax was included. (today ¥149,000)

What reviewers say

BastianK (phillipreeve.net) (blog) — Tested on a Sony A7rII. Good contrast from f/2.4, adjustable bokeh through the SA ring, very good control of colour fringing and negligible distortion, but the corners never reach excellent resolution and the rotating front barrel and element make handling awkward and polarisers inconvenient. A rewarding but work-intensive lens, best as a compact portrait lens rather than an all-round 135.
shige (Shige's hobby) (blog) — Tested on a Leica SL Typ 601 and a Sony NEX-6. Even sharpness across the frame wide open, little distortion, well-controlled chromatic aberration and smooth bokeh. Turning the SA control past infinity adds flare and enlarges the bokeh at the cost of sharpness; a full-frame body shows the effect best.

Optical Ratings

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

Chromatic aberration: well controlled
Vignetting: moderate wide open
Flare & ghosting: average
Distortion: negligible

Optical formula — Ernostar type, with a large, thick calcium fluoride (CaF2) front element from Canon Optron

ⓘ 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

At 135 mm the Aporis is the longest lens MS Optics has made. Miyazaki Sadayasu’s own data sheet, handwritten as his sheets are, explains it. Seven years earlier he had designed a telescope objective with a fluorite element and seen what it did for colour correction. Canon Optron agreed to supply him with fluorite, and he chose a fast 135 as the lens where it would do most good. Fluorite’s low refractive index, nd 1.43, made the design difficult. He settled on an Ernostar, for its low coma, with a large, thick fluorite front element. Announced in January 2017 and released, by shige’s account, in May 2017, it was sold by Japan Exposures as the “Fluorit Super Apochromat Aporis 135mm f/2.4 Full MC”. It has a 16-blade diaphragm, focuses to 1.6 m and has a reversed 58 mm filter thread. Its weight is variously given as 340 to 380 g; shige weighed his at 366 g. Sources disagree on how many elements it has: five in four groups (shige), six in four (Japan Exposures) or five in five (BastianK, reviewing it for Phillip Reeve’s site).

What sets it apart is its two aberration controls, both worked from outside while the lens is on the camera. The front element unit unscrews to change its spacing from the second element, which varies the spherical aberration. Miyazaki calls this “manual floating”. His “Clever Use” sheet marks one end for the best contrast with no halo and the other for the best sharpness with a small halo; BastianK found that screwing it further out adds a strong glow. A lever between the focusing and aperture rings adjusts coma, and with it the focus point. Miyazaki’s sheet draws it corrected for the subject distance, from infinity to 1.5 m, and says either control can be used to set back focus. Shige uses it once, to match the infinity mark to a particular body, and then leaves it; BastianK saw little change from it and left it at one end. In shige’s comparison of MS lenses with aberration controls, the Vario-Petz 57mm and Vario-Prasma 50mm f/1.5 have a spherical-aberration control and the Sonnetar 50mm and 73mm f/1.5 a coma adjustment, but each of those has only one of the two, and on all but the Vario-Prasma it sits inside the barrel near the rear element, so the lens has to come off the camera to use it.

Two Leica M versions were announced. Miyazaki’s data sheet prices them at ¥148,000 and ¥135,000 and up, before tax; in January 2017 Leica Rumors had given ¥128,000 for the cheaper one. The dearer one coupled to the rangefinder, with its aberrations fixed for best results at 10 m and a ×1.8 viewfinder magnifier to go with it: bundled, in Leica Rumors’ January report, and sold separately at a combined special price on the data sheet and in June. The cheaper one had no coupling and both controls, and was made for mirrorless and live-view cameras. Only the uncoupled lens is known to have been sold. Shige says the coupled version is described in the manual but was never released, for two reasons he reports: a rangefinder cannot focus a 135 at f/2.4 precisely enough wide open, and the coupling mechanism causes vignetting in the corners. Miyazaki’s own sheet notes the loss of light in the four corners. BastianK’s review on Phillip Reeve’s site says there are two versions, but it is of the uncoupled one, and no coupled copy has turned up. Japan Exposures also published a data sheet for a T-mount version, focusing to 1.8 m, which shige says can be used on SLRs through an adapter. The only report of one for sale is a reader’s comment on Phillip Reeve’s site, in November 2022, of a T-mount lens on US eBay with the SA control but no coma lever.

Reviewers found it a strong performer that takes some effort. BastianK, on a Sony A7rII, praised its contrast wide open, its colour correction, its lack of distortion and the way the SA ring lets the bokeh be tuned. The corners never matched a Canon EF 135mm f/2L, and the rotating front barrel makes handling and polarisers awkward. Shige, on a Leica SL and a Sony NEX-6, found it evenly sharp wide open, with smooth bokeh and well-controlled colour fringing.

When buying, remember that on an M2, M6, CLE or Bessa the rangefinder does not move as the lens is focused. Use a mirrorless body, or a digital M in live view, as Miyazaki’s “Clever Use” sheet suggests. A listing that calls it “M mount” may still be the uncoupled lens, and probably is. Check that the front unit screws smoothly in and out of its thread and stops at the 1.5 m end, and that the coma lever moves. Both scales should read from ∞ to 1.5 m. A previous owner may have left the controls at odd settings: BastianK found that with both set to infinity his copy would not focus to infinity, and was not sure the markings are the same on every copy. Ask for the screw-in hood, and for the manual if it survives: it explains the controls, and it is where shige found the coupled version described. MS made the Aporis in small numbers and no production figure has been published, so condition and completeness count for more than any batch number.

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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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