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MS Optics Xenomax 50mm f/3.5

MS Optics · Leica M · 2022 · Xenotar type, five elements in four groups

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Also known as: MS Optics Xenomax 50mm f/3.5 · MS Optics Xenomax 50mm F3.5 · MS-Optics Xenomax 50mm F3.5 · MS-OPTICS XENOMAX 50mm F3.5 · MS-OPTICS XENOMAX 3.5/50 · MS Optics XENOMAX 3.5/50 · MS Optics Xenomax 50mm f3.5 MC · MS Optics Xenomax 50mm f/3.5 MC M mount · MS-Optical Xenomax 50mm F3.5 · MS Optical R&D Xenomax 50mm f/3.5 · MS-Optics Xenomax · MS Optics Xenomax · Miyazaki Xenomax 50mm f3.5 · Xenomax 50mm f/3.5 · Xenomax 50mm F3.5 · Xenomax 50/3.5 · Xenomax 3.5/50 · XENOMAX 3.5/50 · XENOMAX3.5/50 · Xenomax 3.5 50mm · Xenomax 50mm · 宮崎光学 XENOMAX 3.5/50 · 宮崎光学 XENOMAX 50mm F3.5 · 宮崎光學 Xenomax · 宮崎光学 クセノマックス · MS-OPTICS クセノマックス 50mm F3.5 · クセノマックス 3.5/50

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
XENOMAX 3.5/50 F·MC, black Leica M 2022 — —
XENOMAX 3.5/50 F·MC, silver Leica M 2022 017 S (MK Direct's launch photographs) —
  1. Weight: 62 g on MK Direct's product page; 64 g, or 72 g with the hood, in MK Direct's launch post and Leica Rumors; 63 g in Shige's table and on the maker's data sheet; 65 g on Phillip Reeve's site; 70 g at Japan Exposures.
  2. Length: 33 mm on MK Direct's product page, Shige's table, Reeve's site and Japan Exposures; about 32.5 mm, 38.8 mm with the hood, in MK Direct's launch post.
  3. Filter: MK Direct gives M37, to be fitted reversed (裏側にして装着ください), and Reeve's site gives 37 mm reversed. Shige gives a 30.5 mm filter and a 30.5 mm reverse-threaded screw-in hood. The two may describe different threads; no source shows both.
  4. Focus: the maker gives ∞ to 0.5 m, 1:8 at the closest point. Shige says the rangefinder couples to 0.8 m and the lens focuses to 0.5 m on mirrorless cameras; Japan Exposures gives 0.8 m on Leica M and 0.5 to 0.6 m on mirrorless bodies.
  5. The 12 blades and the f/16 minimum aperture come from Shige's table; Reeve's site also gives 12 blades. The maker's pages state neither.
  6. Dates: Shige borrowed a prototype, which he calls XENOMAX XENOR and says was named XENOR while on test, and published pictures from it in a post first drafted on 12 April 2022, noting the name change to XENOMAX on 21 April 2022. Reeve's site gives first release as June 2022. MK Direct announced the lens on 23 August 2022 as about to be released, and Leica Rumors reported it on 28 August 2022.
  7. Construction: Shige's spec list calls the barrel collapsible (沈胴式). Reeve's site, comparing it with the Lumitar of 2025, says the Lumitar is retractable unlike the Xenomax. MK Direct's photographs show a narrow lens head standing out of a wider focusing mount, which does not settle it.
  8. Japan Exposures says the Xenotar design was developed after the Sonnar of the Contax I; MK Direct's pages say only that it is a Xenotar type.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Front ring engraved XENOMAX 3.5/50 with F·MC in red, a serial number with a letter, and MS-OPTICS JAPAN; the other MS 50mm f/3.5 lenses read LUMITAR or APOQUALIA
  • Narrow lens head on a wide 50 mm focusing mount, about 33 mm long, with a hood in the barrel's colour (Shige describes it as a 30.5 mm reverse-threaded screw-in hood)
  • Leica M bayonet; MK Direct and Japan Exposures list no thread-mount version

XENOMAX 3.5/50 F·MC, black:

  • Black barrel and black hood; front ring engraved XENOMAX 3.5/50, F·MC in red and a serial number followed by B, with MS-OPTICS JAPAN opposite (MK Direct's photographs)

XENOMAX 3.5/50 F·MC, silver:

  • Silver barrel with a matching silver hood; front ring engraved XENOMAX 3.5/50, F·MC in red and 017 S on the lens in MK Direct's photographs

Serial-range notes

017 S; #061 B
Two numbers are on record. The silver lens in MK Direct's launch photographs is engraved 017 S, and the black lens beside it has a number ending in B that the photograph does not resolve. The maker's hand-written data sheet, published as a PDF by Japan Exposures, is headed #061 B and records its checks as OK (SA, AST, GROSS, Focus); whether every lens ships with such a sheet is not stated. MK Direct says serial numbers are shipped at random and cannot be chosen, and Japan Exposures says it cannot reserve them. MS has published no total and no numbering scheme.

Specifications

Formula
Xenotar type, five elements in four groups
Designed by
Miyazaki Sadayasu (宮崎貞安) — optical design
Construction
5 elements / 4 groups
Aperture range
f/3.5–f/16
Diaphragm blades
12
Min. focus
0.5 m
Dimensions
50 × 33 mm
Weight
64 g
Filter
37 mm, M37, mounted reversed (逆付), per the maker; Shige gives 30.5 mm
Years manufactured
2022
Country
Japan
Coating
Full multicoating (Full MC Coat); front ring engraved F·MC
Material
Anodised aluminium (Japan Exposures), black or silver
Original price
¥90,000 for black or silver, the maker's list price in MK Direct's launch post of 23 August 2022 and on its product page, neither of which says whether tax is included. Shige's comparison table gives a list price (定価) of ¥80,000 before tax. The dealer Japan Exposures, which prices in yen, dollars, euros and pounds, listed it at ¥119,900, without saying whether tax is included. (today ¥95,000)

What reviewers say

Optical formula — Xenotar type, five 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 Xenomax 50mm f/3.5 is the lens Miyazaki Sadayasu’s MS-OPTICS presented as the best-performing it had made. MK Direct, the maker’s own shop, announced it on 23 August 2022 at ¥90,000 in black or silver. It is a five-element, four-group Xenotar type, fully multicoated, with a true focal length of 51.6 mm, in Leica M mount. MK Direct’s launch post explains the choice: pushing both sharpness and contrast as far as they would go led to the Xenotar and Gauss types, and MS had already made a Gauss in the ISM 50mm f/1.0, so this became its first Xenotar. The lens is about 50 mm across, 33 mm long and 62 to 64 g. The maker also says it covers the 44×33 mm sensor of the Fuji GFX with a commercial adapter, giving 55° there against 43° on a Leica. Its hand-written data sheet is headed XENOMAX 3.5/50 MC MACRO and gives focus down to 0.5 m (1:8); Shige and Japan Exposures say that distance is reached on mirrorless bodies, with the rangefinder coupled only to 0.8 m.

The name came late. Shige, who borrowed the prototype in April 2022 when it was called XENOR, records that it became XENOMAX on 21 April of that year, because it was the best-performing lens in MS’s history. Phillip Reeve’s site calls it the successor to the MS-Mode 50mm f/3.5 Apoqualia of December 2009, which the same site lists as a Heliar type. In 2025 the Lumitar 50mm f/3.5, an Elmax type, joined it at the same speed. The users who have published results agree on sharpness. Jonathan Leavitt found it basically pixel-perfect on a 60-megapixel Leica M11. Shige found it crisp from full aperture on a Hasselblad X1D II, with only a little falloff in the corners and some vignetting in the extreme corners against blue sky. Shige also found its colour natural, its contrast slightly low and its drawing short of any personality that sets it apart from other 50s.

The two versions differ only in finish, and both cost ¥90,000. The front ring reads XENOMAX 3.5/50 with F·MC in red, a serial number and MS-OPTICS JAPAN. In MK Direct’s photographs the silver lens is numbered 017 S and the black one ends in B, and each is shown with a hood of its own colour. The maker’s pages give no production total and announce no limited edition; Japan Exposures described the lenses it offered as the initial lot. MK Direct ships serial numbers at random, and Japan Exposures, which listed it at ¥119,900, said it could not reserve them.

When buying, check how the diaphragm is set. Leavitt describes a small screw that has no click stops and needs tweezers, so the setting is easy to knock. The sources disagree on some details, and a seller’s photographs may settle them. The maker gives an M37 filter fitted reversed, while Shige gives 30.5 mm. Shige calls the barrel collapsible, while Reeve’s site says it is not. Weights from 62 to 70 g are published. Ask for the hood, since the hood is part of the 72 g set the maker describes. MS converted many other makers’ lenses to Leica mount, and a Schneider Xenotar is a different lens, so the ring should read XENOMAX and MS-OPTICS.

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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.

Example photos

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Related: MS Optics Lumitar 50mm f/3.5 · MS Optics Apoqualia 50mm f/3.5 (MS-Mode-AH)

Sources (9)

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.