MS Optics Histrio-Prot 40mm f/6.3 MC
MS Optics · Leica M · 2017
Also known as: MS Optics Histrio-Prot 40mm f/6.3 MC · MS-Optics Histrio-Prot 40mm F6.3 · MS Histrio-Prot 40/6.3MC · Histrio-Prot 40mm f/6.3 · Histrio-Prot 40/6.3 MC · HISTRIO-PROT M 40mm F6.3 MC · HISTRIO-PROT 6.3/40 MC · HISTORIO-PROT 6.3/40 · Historio-Prot 40mm f/6.3 · History-Prot 6.3/40mm MC · History-Prot 40mm f/6.3 · Historica Prot 40mm f/6.3 · H-PROT 40mm F6.3 · H-PROT 6.3/40 MC · PROT 6.3/40 · MS-Optics Prot 40mm f/6.3 · Miyazaki Prot 40mm f/6.3 · 宮崎光学 H-PROT 40mm F6.3 · 宮崎光学 プロター 40mm F6.3 · 宮崎光学 プロト 40mm F6.3 · MS-OPTICS H-PROT プロター 40mm
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black | Leica M | 2017 | — | — |
| Silver | Leica M | — | — | — |
| Silver Rhodium | Leica M | — | — | — |
- Formula, coating, angle of view (58°), focus range, size, weight and filter are from the maker's data sheet on MK Direct's page and its English version attached to Japan Exposures' page. Ten blades are from shige_yuki and Phillip Reeve.
- Closest focus: about 0.6 m, coupled to 0.85 m (maker's data sheet and English note; Leica Rumors says 60 cm). The focusing scale is engraved in red at 0.6 and 0.8 below the coupled range. Japan Exposures gives 0.8 m on Leica M and 0.5–0.6 m on mirrorless bodies. shige_yuki's review gives 0.3 m in its summary, 0.4 m in its text and 0.45 m in its table; his Japanese lens list gives 0.6 m and his English list 0.3 m.
- Smallest aperture: the aperture ring is engraved 6.3, 8, 11 and 22, and shige_yuki's Japanese lens list gives f/22; his review of the lens and his English list give f/16. He reports no click stops.
- Weight 47 g, 60 g as a set (maker's Japanese data sheet and shop page, shige_yuki, Phillip Reeve, Leica Rumors); the maker's English note attached to Japan Exposures' page gives 45 g (set 60 g), and so does Japan Exposures. Length 16.2 mm (Japanese data sheet, shop page, Reeve, shige_yuki's table); the English note gives 16.4 mm, and shige_yuki's summary 22 mm, which is about the lens with its 6 mm hood as drawn on the maker's sheet.
- Release: August 2017 on the maker's page ('リリース 2017．8'), matching Leica Rumors' announcement of 2 August 2017. Phillip Reeve's overview of MS lenses says March 2018.
- The maker's sheet names this the first of the 'MS-OP歴史シリーズ' (Historical Series) and lists the lenses planned to follow: Dagor 6.3/40, Ernostar 1.8/50, Petzval 2/58 and Planar 3.7/50 (written ELNOSTER, PETVAL and PRANAR on the hand-written sheet; ELNOSTER and PETVAL in the English note). The Dagor appeared as the Histrio-Dagonar 40mm f/6.3 Macro in 2018 and the Petzval as the Petz 57mm f/2.
How to tell them apart
- Black front ring engraved H-PROT 6.3/40 MC and MACRO with the lens number and BL (SR on the silver rhodium no. 015); outer ring HISTORY-SERIES, MS-OPTICS and JAPAN
- A pancake 50 mm across and 16.2 mm deep, with a focusing tab; the distance scale runs 1–∞ m, with 0.8 and 0.6 in red beyond the rangefinder's reach
- 22.5 mm filter thread (0.75 pitch) and a dedicated screw-in cylindrical hood, 28 mm across at its front (shige_yuki)
- The name is spelled Histrio (the maker's data sheet, Japan Exposures, a Yahoo! Auctions store), Historio (MK Direct's page, Phillip Reeve), History (an eBay seller) and Historica (Leica Rumors' launch post); the lens itself is engraved H-PROT
- The Histrio-Dagonar 40mm f/6.3 is the same diameter but 22.2 mm deep and engraved H-DAGONAR
Black:
- Black barrel and black front ring; the front ring reads H-PROT 6.3/40 MC (MC in red) and MACRO, the lens number and BL
- Japan Exposures' product photographs show number 137 on a black lens; MK Direct's show a black lens numbered 016
- Japan Exposures' default finish, at ¥69,900
Silver:
- Silver barrel, aperture and focusing rings with black engraving; the front ring around the glass stays black, engraved in white H-PROT 6.3/40 MC, MACRO, the number and BL
- The box label is hand-written: Item PROT 6.3/40 S, with the lens number (099 on the copy sold in September 2026)
- Japan Exposures charges ¥10,000 more than for black
Silver Rhodium:
- Rhodium-silver plating (MK Direct: ロジュームシルバーメッキ); Japan Exposures charges ¥20,000 more than for black
- Front ring engraved SR after the lens number where other copies read BL: MK Direct's photograph of no. 015 reads MACRO 015 SR, on a barrel of a greyer silver than the plain silver no. 099
- The maker's check sheet offers BL, S and S.R; S.R is circled on the sheet for lens no. 003 reproduced on MK Direct's page
- Black: BL after the number does not by itself mark a black lens: the plain silver copy sold on Yahoo! Auctions in September 2026 (no. 099) carries it too, while the silver rhodium no. 015 pictured by MK Direct is engraved SR instead. Japan Exposures describes its stock as the initial lot.
- Silver: A boxed silver copy, number 099, graded AB, was sold by Sanpō Camera's store on Yahoo! Auctions on 19 September 2026 for ¥41,195 including tax (¥37,450 before 10% tax; the listing states only the tax-included figure), on a single bid at its opening price. The box label marks it S, the plain silver on the maker's check sheet, as opposed to S.R for silver rhodium.
- Silver Rhodium: Listed by Japan Exposures as a separate, dearer finish and named on the maker's own check sheet; MK Direct's small product photograph of no. 015 is the one pictured copy. No sale of a copy described as rhodium is recorded.
Serial-range notes
- 003, 015, 016, 099, 137
- Known numbers: 003 on the maker's check sheet reproduced on MK Direct's page (silver rhodium circled), 015 on a silver rhodium lens engraved SR and 016 on a black lens, both in MK Direct's photographs, 099 on the silver copy sold on Yahoo! Auctions in 2026, and 137 on a black lens in Japan Exposures' photographs. No number is known twice across finishes, so the finishes appear to share one sequence. The maker's page says serial numbers are shipped at random, and Japan Exposures will not reserve them. No production total has been published.
- 016
- MK Direct's photograph of this black lens shows the outer ring engraved HISTOPY-SERIES rather than HISTORY-SERIES, which no. 137 and no. 099 carry. It is the only copy seen with this spelling.
Specifications
- Formula
- Protar type (after Paul Rudolph's Zeiss Protar of 1890), 4 elements in 2 groups
- Designed by
- Miyazaki Sadayasu (宮崎貞安) — optical design; made and hand-assembled by him in Japan (Japan Exposures)
- Construction
- 4 elements / 2 groups
- Aperture range
- f/6.3–f/22
- Diaphragm blades
- 10
- Min. focus
- 0.6 m
- Dimensions
- 50 × 16.2 mm
- Weight
- 47 g
- Filter
- 22.5 mm (0.75 mm pitch)
- Years manufactured
- 2017
- Country
- Japan
- Coating
- Multicoated on all four air-glass surfaces (maker's data sheet: 4面 FULL MC Coat); Japan Exposures quotes 96% light transmission
- Original price
- No list price on the maker's own shop page, which shows only a placeholder. shige_yuki gives ¥50,000 before tax as the list price (定価・税別). At launch in August 2017 Leica Rumors reported a price of about $700, with copies offered on eBay (a seller's asking price, not a list price). Japan Exposures, the export dealer, lists ¥69,900 for black, ¥79,900 for silver and ¥89,900 for silver rhodium (2026 page; tax treatment not stated).
What reviewers say
- shige_yuki (shige-art.net) (blog) — Clean and steady from f/6.3 with very little distortion, and close-focusing enough to work as a macro, but it throws strong ghosts and flare and loses contrast against the light, and its edges are soft; the image circle covers a 44 × 33 mm sensor with only mild vignetting. Slightly less sharp than the Histrio-Dagonar, but smaller.
History
The Histrio-Prot is a 40 mm f/6.3 pancake for Leica M, and the first lens of the Historical Series that Miyazaki Sadayasu, the designer behind MS Optics, began in August 2017. It reworks Paul Rudolph’s Protar, the anastigmat Zeiss introduced in 1890, as four elements in two groups, a layout shige_yuki describes as symmetrical. Miyazaki’s own data sheet says he started on it after a Mr A of Osaka sent him a photograph of water drops on a lotus leaf taken with an old Protar. That lens worked at f/12 to f/18; he reached f/6.3 with high-index lanthanum glass, and says the new lens keeps aberrations, and so a look, much like the old one’s. The sheet makes large claims for its colour correction, better than modern Gauss and Tessar designs and even apochromats, and states that it reaches the diffraction limit at f/11. It also recommends the lens for close-up work, and the front ring is engraved MACRO.
It is a very small lens, 50 mm across, 16.2 mm deep and 47 g by the maker’s Japanese data sheet (its English note says 16.4 mm and 45 g), with a 22.5 mm filter thread and a screw-in cylindrical hood. The rangefinder couples to 0.85 m, and the helicoid carries on to about 0.6 m, marked in red on the scale. Release dates disagree. The maker’s shop and Leica Rumors put it in August 2017, while Phillip Reeve’s overview says March 2018. shige_yuki reports that Miyazaki planned this lens and its sibling, the Histrio-Dagonar 40mm f/6.3 Macro of 2018, as designs he could make from glass that a glass maker still held in stock after it went out of production. The maker’s data sheet lists the rest of the series as planned: a Dagor 40, an Ernostar 50/1.8, a Petzval 58/2 and a Planar 50/3.7. The Dagor and the Petzval appeared, the latter as the Petz 57mm f/2.
There is one optical version, made in three finishes: black, silver, and silver rhodium. Japan Exposures lists them at ¥69,900, with ¥10,000 more for silver and ¥20,000 more for rhodium. On every copy pictured, silver ones included, the front ring is black and engraved H-PROT 6.3/40 MC, MACRO and the lens number, followed by a two-letter code: BL on the black nos. 016 and 137 and also on the plain silver no. 099, SR on the silver rhodium no. 015 that MK Direct pictures. The finish also shows on the box label, which is written by hand (PROT 6.3/40 S for silver), and on the maker’s check sheet, where BL, S or S.R is circled. Known numbers run from 003 to 137 across all finishes. No production total has been published, but shige_yuki says few were made. He also says both 40 mm lenses sold slowly at first because of their odd focal length and slow aperture, and that prices had recovered by 2025 as fewer copies came onto the market. A boxed silver copy, number 099, sold on Yahoo! Auctions in September 2026 for ¥41,195 including tax.
When buying, check that the hood and both caps are present: Japan Exposures sells the lens with both, and the maker quotes 60 g for the set against 47 g for the lens alone. Also check that the aperture ring, which has no click stops, turns smoothly from 6.3 to 22. If the finish matters, look for SR after the number on the front ring and ask for the box label or check sheet: plain silver and rhodium are hard to tell apart by colour in photographs, and the plain silver no. 099 is engraved BL like the black lenses. Most M bodies have no 40 mm frame line; the Leica CL and Minolta CLE do. The lens covers more than full frame: shige_yuki used it on a 44 × 33 mm Hasselblad X2D with only mild vignetting.
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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