MS Optics Perar 17mm f/4.5 Ultra Thin Retrofocus (Perar-R)

MS Optics · Leica M · 2017 · Retrofocus, 4 elements in 4 groups

our own finding

Also known as: MS Optics Perar 17mm f/4.5 · MS-Optics Perar 17mm F4.5 · MS-Optical Perar 17mm f/4.5 · MS Optics Perar-R 17mm f/4.5 · MS-Optics 17mm f4.5 Perar · MS-Optics 17mm f4.5 Perar-R · Perar 17mm f/4.5 · Perar 17mm f/4.5 Ultra Thin Retrofocus · Perar 4.5/17mm Ultra Thin Retrofocus · Perar-R 17mm F4.5 · PERAR-R 17mm F4.5 MC · ULTRA WIDE PERAR 17mm F4.5 · ULTRA WIDE PERAR-R 17mm F4.5 · PERAR M17mm F4.5 · PERAR M17mm F4.5 RETRO FOCUS · Perar 17mm · Perar-R 17mm · Perar 17/4.5 · Perar 4.5/17 · Perar-R 4.5/17 · 宮崎光学 PERAR 17mm F4.5 · 宮崎光学ペラール 17mm · 宮崎光学ペラール 17mm F4.5 · MS-OPTICS ペラール 17mm · ミヤザキペラール 17mm · ペラー 17mm F4.5 · ペラールR 17mm

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
PERAR-R 4.5/17 MC, black (BL)	Leica M	2017	—	—
PERAR-R 4.5/17 MC, silver (S)	Leica M	—	—	—
Perar 17, Silver Rhodium	Leica M	—	—	—
Perar 17, Classic Nickel	Leica M	—	—	—

Close focus. Leica Rumors and Kamerastore give rangefinder coupling from 0.85 m; Japan Exposures and the phillipreeve.net review give 0.8 m. The engraved scale continues in red to 0.4 m, which the phillipreeve.net reviewer calls the official figure, and he measured 0.3 m on a mirrorless body, the figure Leica Rumors and shige_yuki also give. Japan Exposures gives 0.5–0.6 m on mirrorless cameras. This page uses 0.85 m, the launch figure for the coupled range.
Weight. 60 g, or 100 g with hood and caps (Leica Rumors, Japan Exposures, shige_yuki); 50 g (Kamerastore); 47 g measured without hood (phillipreeve.net).
Smallest aperture. The three photographed copies are engraved to f/16, which is also the figure the phillipreeve.net review tested to and Digital Trends gives; shige_yuki's table says f/22.
Batch size. Japan Exposures describes its stock as an initial lot and Digital Trends as limited quantities; neither gives a number, and Japan Exposures says serial numbers cannot be reserved. The serials seen are 027 BL and 061 BL (Japan Exposures' photographs, undated) and 065 S (sold May 2026).
Prices. Maker and launch: ¥80,000 (about $700) in Leica Rumors' launch report, tax not stated. List: ¥65,000 in shige_yuki's table (定価, tax not stated). Dealer: Japan Exposures ¥75,900 for black, +¥10,000 for Silver or Classic Nickel, +¥20,000 for Silver Rhodium, out of stock in 2026; Digital Trends gave a retail range of $700–1,000 in January 2017 through Japan Camera Hunter and Taos Photographic; the phillipreeve.net review gives about $450 or €450 new in Japan (2022). Market: Kamerastore's average price for a certified used copy, €539; Yahoo! Auctions hammer price ¥89,000 for the silver 065 S after 35 bids, 24 May 2026, with no consumption tax charged.
Filter. The front of the barrel is threaded, but shige_yuki found no filter with that diameter and pitch. The instructions recommend taking the glass out of a 34 mm filter and fixing it inside the hood; the phillipreeve.net review reads the leaflet as saying the glass is glued to the hood.
Gold finish. shige_yuki writes that the lens comes in many colours and that on some gold-bodied lenses the plating has deteriorated and peeled with age. Gold is not on Japan Exposures' finish list, and no photographed gold lens or maker's listing has been found, so it is not given a variant row here.

How to tell them apart (expand)

Engraved PERAR-R (with a hyphen and R) and ULTRA WIDE, never SUPER TRIPLET: the 35, 28, 24 and 21 mm Perars are triplets, and the -R marks this one as a retrofocus design
A disc 50 mm across and 10.2 mm deep, with the aperture scale (4.5 5.6 8, a dot for 11, then 16) on a small inner ring at the front and a knurled focusing ring with a round-knobbed lever at the base
Distance scale in metres: ∞ 5 2 1.4 1 in the scale colour, then 0.8, 0.6, 0.5 and 0.4 in red; depth-of-field marks 16 11 8 4 either side of the index
Three-digit serial number followed by a finish letter (BL on black lenses, S on silver)

PERAR-R 4.5/17 MC, black (BL):

Black barrel with white engraving: ULTRA WIDE at one side of the front ring, PERAR-R. 4.5/17 with MC in red, then a three-digit number and BL
Copies numbered 027 BL and 061 BL appear in Japan Exposures' (undated) product photographs

PERAR-R 4.5/17 MC, silver (S):

Bright silver barrel with black engraving: PERAR-R 4.5/17 with MC in red, ULTRA WIDE in red, the red figures 0.8, 0.6, 0.5 and 0.4 on the distance scale, and S after the three-digit serial
The hood seen with the silver copy is black, as on the black lenses

Perar 17, Silver Rhodium:

Rhodium-plated silver, by Japan Exposures' name; no photograph of it is published

Perar 17, Classic Nickel:

Nickel finish, by Japan Exposures' name; no photograph of it is published

PERAR-R 4.5/17 MC, black (BL): The standard finish and the base price at Japan Exposures (¥75,900). The two black lenses in Japan Exposures' photographs carry the letters BL after the serial number, where the silver lens below carries S.
PERAR-R 4.5/17 MC, silver (S): Japan Exposures offers a Silver finish at ¥10,000 over the black lens, and Kamerastore describes the lens as made in either black or silver. A silver lens numbered 065 S sold on Yahoo! Auctions on 24 May 2026 for ¥89,000 after 35 bids. That the S engraving marks Japan Exposures' plain Silver, rather than Silver Rhodium or Classic Nickel, is likely but not recorded by any source.
Perar 17, Silver Rhodium: The dearest finish Japan Exposures offers, at ¥20,000 over the black lens.
Perar 17, Classic Nickel: Offered by Japan Exposures at ¥10,000 over the black lens.

Specifications

Formula: Retrofocus, 4 elements in 4 groups
Designed by: Miyazaki Sadayasu (宮崎貞安) — optical design and hand assembly
Construction: 4 elements / 4 groups
Aperture range: f/4.5–f/16
Diaphragm blades: 10
Min. focus: 0.85 m
Dimensions: 50 × 10.2 mm
Weight: 60 g
Filter: Front thread of non-standard diameter and pitch takes no filter; the glass of a 34 mm filter is fitted inside the hood
Years manufactured: 2017
Country: Japan
Coating: Multicoated on all glass surfaces; Japan Exposures gives 96% light transmission
Original price: ¥80,000 (about $700), the launch price in Leica Rumors' report of 14 January 2017, which does not say whether Japanese consumption tax is included. Japan Exposures, the Tokyo export dealer, lists the black lens at ¥75,900 plus a surcharge for other finishes; shige_yuki's table gives a list price (定価) of ¥65,000, tax status not stated. (today ¥88,000)

What reviewers say

BastianK (phillipreeve.net) (blog) — Tested on a Sony A7R II and a Leica M10: amazingly compact, with a good centre from f/4.5, but the corners need f/11–16, light falloff of over 4 EV wide open is almost record breaking, green and magenta corner casts appear on digital, and the wavy distortion needed correcting in nearly every frame, which he thinks makes it no great choice on film either. He prefers the Voigtländer VM 15mm f/4.5 Mk II.
shige_yuki (Shige's hobby) (blog) — Body-cap small yet fully featured, a clear expression of Miyazaki's refusal to let even an ultra-wide grow large, but its drawing is not suited to the digital sensors of the early 2020s: weak edges and colour casts on some full-frame bodies, edge casts on some APS-C bodies. He recommends film or Micro Four Thirds and smaller sensors, and finds the filter-in-the-hood arrangement impractical.

Optical Ratings

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

Chromatic aberration: Strong lateral CA
Vignetting: Very strong
Flare & ghosting: Average, few ghosts
Distortion: High, wavy

History

The Perar 17mm f/4.5 is a manual-focus ultra-wide for Leica M that Miyazaki Sadayasu designed and assembled by hand at MS-Optics, his one-man workshop. Leica Rumors announced it on 14 January 2017 at ¥80,000, about $700: a retrofocus design of four elements in four groups, all multicoated, with a 100° angle of view, 50 mm across and 10.2 mm deep, 60 g on its own and 100 g with hood and caps. By shige_yuki’s account it is the widest lens MS-Optics has made. Japan Exposures sold it as the Perar 4.5/17mm Ultra Thin Retrofocus. On the lens it is engraved PERAR-R and ULTRA WIDE.

The name sets it apart from the other Perars. The Super Triplet Perars of 35, 28, 24 and 21 mm are three-element lenses, and the -R, shige_yuki explains, stands for retrofocus. The 17 shares their idea of a lens no thicker than a body cap, but none of their optics. The Super Triplet Perar 21mm f/4.5 has its own page. Getting a 17 mm into that depth costs something, and both reviewers say so. BastianK, testing for phillipreeve.net, measured more than 4 EV of light falloff at f/4.5. He found green corner casts on a Sony A7R II, green and magenta casts on a Leica M10, and wavy distortion that he corrected in almost every frame. The centre was good wide open, but the corners wanted f/11 to f/16. shige_yuki reaches the same verdict on digital and recommends film, or sensors no larger than Micro Four Thirds, where the crop leaves only the centre of the image circle.

Every lens seen has the same build. The aperture scale runs from 4.5 to 16 on a small, ungrooved inner ring at the front; BastianK found it fiddly, but the hood attaches to that ring and can be used to turn it. The knurled focusing ring at the base carries a lever with a round knob. The distance scale runs ∞ to 1 m, then continues in red through 0.8, 0.6, 0.5 and 0.4 m. Sources differ on where rangefinder coupling ends: 0.85 m in the launch report and at Kamerastore, 0.8 m at Japan Exposures and in the phillipreeve.net review. On a mirrorless body it focuses closer: 0.3 m according to the launch report, shige_yuki and BastianK’s measurement, 0.5–0.6 m according to Japan Exposures. The front of the barrel is threaded, but shige_yuki found no filter that fits it. The instructions say to take the glass out of a 34 mm filter and fix it inside the hood. No M body has 17 mm frame lines, so on a rangefinder the lens needs an accessory finder.

Japan Exposures listed it at ¥75,900 in black, ¥10,000 more in Silver or Classic Nickel, and ¥20,000 more in Silver Rhodium. shige_yuki writes that it comes in many colours, among them a gold finish whose plating has peeled on some lenses. On the three lenses photographed, the serial is a three-digit number followed by a letter: Japan Exposures’ photographs show black lenses 027 BL and 061 BL, and a silver lens 065 S sold on Yahoo! Auctions in May 2026. Japan Exposures called its stock an initial lot. No batch size has been published.

That silver lens sold for ¥89,000 after 35 bids, above the launch price. Kamerastore puts its average for a certified used copy at €539. When buying, check that the hood and screw-in cap are present, since the hood holds the only filter the lens can take. Look at the front element, which sits close to the front of the barrel with nothing to guard it. On gold lenses, check for worn plating, which shige_yuki reports on some. On a Leica M10, BastianK found that the lens did not fully cover the 6-bit code reader, and the camera reported lens changes until he taped over it. Japan Exposures describes the mount as having an area for 6-bit coding, but no coded copy has been documented.

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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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