The Konica AR 3.5-4.5/35-70 mm is a small and lightweight (215 g) midrange zoom. It was the last of the three 35-70 mm lenses in the AR system, and i was the last Konica AR lens to be introduced, too. Its barrel is mainly made from plastics; therefore it is the lightest of the three AR 35-70 mm lenses.

Allouter parts of the lens (except the bayonet mount) are made from plastics. Focusing is pretty smooth, but there's quite some wobble and play. Zooming feels a bit "plasticky" and not as precise as with the previous AR 35-70mm zooms.

The performance of the lens isn't as bad as some sources on the internet are claiming. Wide open at f=35mm the corners are pretty bad, but stopping donw to f8-f11 solves the problem, and the lens becomes as sharp as the two precedessors. At f=70, however, the tiny plastic wonderlens really shines - it is much, much better than both precedessers. From f5.6 even the corners are perfectly clear, and no CAs are visible at all.

KONICA HEXANON 35-70mm 1:3.5-4.5 (8 Linsen / 7 Gruppen)    (1985)