MS Optics Sonnetar 25mm f/1.1 (Pentax Q)

MS Optics · Other · 2012 · Sonnar type, 5 elements in 4 groups

our own finding

Also known as: MS Optics Sonnetar 25mm f/1.1 · MS-Optics Sonnetar 25mm F1.1 · MS-Optical Sonnetar 25mm f/1.1 · MS-Optical Sonnetar 25mm f/1.1 Pentax Q · MS Optical Sonnetar 25mm F1.1 Q mount · MS-SONNETAR 25mm F1.1 · Sonnetar 25mm f/1.1 · Sonnetar 25mm F1.1 Q · Sonnetar 25mmF1.1 · Sonnetar 25/1.1 · Sonnetar 1.1/25 · Sonnetar for Pentax Q · Pentax Q Sonnetar · Sonnetar Pentax Q · 宮崎光学 Sonnetar 25mm F1.1 · 宮崎光学ゾンネタール 25mm F1.1 · 宮崎光学ゾネター 25mm · ソネタール 25mm F1.1 ペンタックスQ · MS-OPTICS SONNETAR 25mm F1.1 Qマウント · ミヤザキソネタール 25mm

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
MS-Optical SONNETAR 25mm F1.1, Pentax Q mount, black	Pentax Q	2012	—	—

Construction, blade count, closest focus, dimensions, filter size, finish, release year and list price are from shige_yuki's review, which carries the fullest published specification table. Its Japanese table gives the maximum aperture as f/1.16 and its English table as f/1.1; the lens is engraved 1.1. The English table measures the 24.5 mm length from the mount flange. Japan Camera Hunter's announcement adds tantalum glass, multicoating and a German-made iris.
Weight: Japan Camera Hunter gives 75 g with filter; shige_yuki's Japanese table gives 75 g with no qualifier and his English table 75 g with hood. The three may not describe the same configuration.
Date: Japan Camera Hunter announced the lens as available on 3 April 2012, after a prototype in its February 2012 workshop photographs; shige_yuki gives 2013 as the release year. Both are recorded; the page uses 2012. No end date is known.
Batch size: Japan Camera Hunter calls the April 2012 batch very limited and gives no number. Fotoborse's 2013 stock code QJ161-1~5-if~ij (two five-step ranges) suggests five pieces held by that dealer; this is a reading of the code, not a figure either source states.
Micro Four Thirds: shige_yuki reports that a few 25 mm prototypes of the same lens were apparently made for Micro Four Thirds and that he could not obtain one. No sale of one is recorded, so it is not a variant here.

How to tell them apart (expand)

A Pentax Q bayonet tells it from every other Sonnetar: the others are 50 and 73 mm lenses for Leica M
No leaf shutter (shige_yuki), so a Q body shoots it on the sensor shutter; focusing is manual, by eye on the rear screen

MS-Optical SONNETAR 25mm F1.1, Pentax Q mount, black:

Front ring engraved SONNETAR 1.1/25 in white on a black barrel, with a red index dot above the 1.1 of the aperture scale and a second red dot at the mount (Fotoborse photograph, September 2013)
Aperture scale 1.1 · 1.4 · 2 · 2.8 · 4 · 5.6 · 8 · 11; distance scale in metres from 0.7 to ∞, with a depth-of-field scale 11–8–4–2 either side of the index
Pentax Q bayonet on a lens shige_yuki compares in size to Pentax's own Q-mount Standard Prime 01: 24.5 mm long from the mount flange, 40 mm across
Supplied with a plain cylindrical hood, a front cap and a white box printed MS-OPTICAL-R&D, Miyazaki Sadayasu, with the Honcho, Funabashi-shi, Chiba address and the mitte.nir.jp web address (Fotoborse photograph, September 2013)

MS-Optical SONNETAR 25mm F1.1, Pentax Q mount, black: The only production version. A Q-mount prototype is captioned in Japan Camera Hunter's February 2012 workshop visit, and on 3 April 2012 Japan Camera Hunter announced the lens as available now, from a very limited batch. shige_yuki gives black as the only finish and 2013 as the release year. In September 2013 the Tokyo dealer Fotoborse (Gokurakudo) offered it as "B級新品" (not used, but sold as B-grade new) at the Yurakucho World Used Camera Fair, under stock code QJ161-1~5-if~ij, with the price given only at the fair.

Specifications

Formula: Sonnar type, 5 elements in 4 groups
Designed by: Miyazaki Sadayasu (宮崎貞安) — optical design and manufacture, MS-Optical R&D
Construction: 5 elements / 4 groups
Aperture range: f/1.1–f/11
Diaphragm blades: 12
Min. focus: 0.5 m
Dimensions: 40 × 24.5 mm
Weight: 75 g
Filter: 34 mm, 34 mm, described by shige_yuki as 逆付け式 (reverse-mounted); the hood is stored reversed over the lens (フード逆かぶせ収納式)
Years manufactured: 2012
Country: Japan
Coating: Multicoated (Japan Camera Hunter, April 2012)
Original price: ¥48,000 before tax, the list price (定価・税別) in shige_yuki's specification table, which gives no period document for it. PhotoRumors reported on 22 February 2012, in a post about the prototype, that the lens had been briefly listed on eBay for $650; it does not say who listed it or whether it sold, and it is not a maker's list price.

What reviewers say

shige_yuki (Shige's hobby) (blog) — Shot on a Q7 and Q10: soft and floaty wide open, and hard to focus on the rear screen, where the Q7's peaking is unreliable at f/1.1, so he checks focus magnified and takes several frames. With lights or sunlit raindrops in the picture, the blur towards the edges is messy and shows false colour. A handy one-hand medium telephoto on a Q, but in practice no different from a fast C- or D-mount lens: not for general use, and a disappointment to anyone expecting high performance.

History

The Sonnetar 25mm f/1.1 is a manual-focus Sonnar-type lens that Miyazaki Sadayasu’s MS-Optical R&D made for the Pentax Q, the small-sensor interchangeable-lens camera Pentax launched in 2011. Japan Camera Hunter photographed a prototype in Miyazaki’s basement workshop in Chiba in February 2012. PhotoRumors reported the same month that one had briefly been listed on eBay for $650, and on 3 April 2012 Japan Camera Hunter announced it as available from a very limited batch. The stated build is tantalum glass, multicoating and a German-made iris. shige_yuki, whose review carries the fullest specification table, gives five elements in four groups, a twelve-blade diaphragm closing to f/11, 0.5 m closest focus, 24.5 × 40 mm, a 34 mm filter, 75 g, black only, and a list price of ¥48,000 before tax. He dates the release to 2013, a year later than the Japan Camera Hunter announcement, and this page records both dates.

On the Q the 25 mm is a short telephoto: shige_yuki works it out as about 137.5 mm equivalent on the Q and Q10 with their 1/2.3-inch sensors, and 117.5 mm on the Q7 and Q-S1 with their 1/1.7-inch sensors. The lens has no leaf shutter, so the camera uses its sensor shutter and moving subjects can show rolling-shutter distortion. Focusing is by eye on the rear screen, which shige_yuki found difficult at f/1.1: the Q7’s focus peaking was unreliable wide open, and he checked focus on a magnified view. He calls it the only third-party Q-mount lens apart from pinhole-type lenses. DC Watch’s October 2015 report on the REIROAL 35/1.4, in its note on the company, counts it among the eight original lenses MS-Optical had made by then, beside the MS-Mode-S 50/1.3 and the Perars. MK Direct’s 2022 announcement of the Sonnetar 50/1.3 leaves it out, calling that lens the third Sonnetar after the 50/1.1 and the 73/1.5. The Leica M Sonnetar 50/1.1, with its user-adjustable rear element for coma, followed in September 2012, when Japan Camera Hunter opened pre-orders.

Only one version is known. The Fotoborse photograph of a 2013 dealer example shows the front ring engraved SONNETAR 1.1/25, white figures on a black barrel, an aperture scale from 1.1 to 11 and a metre distance scale from 0.7 m with depth-of-field marks. It came with a plain cylindrical hood, a cap and a white box printed MS-OPTICAL-R&D with Miyazaki’s own name and Funabashi address. shige_yuki says a few Micro Four Thirds prototypes of the same 25 mm were apparently made and none came his way. No sale of one is recorded.

Japan Camera Hunter’s “very limited” is the only description of the run. No count has been published. No recent sale has been recorded. In September 2013 Fotoborse in Tokyo offered the lens at the Yurakucho used-camera fair as unused “B-grade new” stock, with the price given only at the fair. A buyer should check that the hood, cap and MS-OPTICAL-R&D box are present, and look at the glass and the twelve-blade iris as with any hand-assembled lens. Expectations matter more than condition. shige_yuki’s verdict is that using it is no different from using a fast C- or D-mount lens: soft and unruly wide open, with messy blur towards the edges and false colour when lights or sunlit raindrops are in the frame. He finds it handy as a one-hand telephoto on the Q but not for general use, and warns that anyone buying it for high performance will be disappointed. Fotoborse wrote the name in katakana as ゾンネタール.

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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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