Minolta MD Rokkor 85 mm 1.7

[Wally The Confused]

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Bought this lens , brand new, out of the shop, years ago, in Osnabrük Germany.

Initially it was on a minolta  XE 1, but that died in the  1980s

Apparently the Minolta  XE 1 was the worst ever, camera, to repair  ??   So I was told, Anyway the lens is still going strong & I recently had it refurbished for  £ 200.  

Anyone interested ?  Make me an offer !

Remember !  This is a  Rare Lens !   Only made for a year or so, but the replacement was never as  sharp or as good in low light !

Edited November 26, 2019 by Wally The Confused
additional info

[XKAES]

Wally,

You certainly are confused.  The Minolta 85mm f1.7 is, as you say, a great lens -- I have one -- but it is not rare, and was made for many years.  But it is pretty expensive.  There were actually three versions of the 85mm f1.7 lens, but the optics were always the same:

http://www.subclub.org/minman/8517.htm

Minolta also made 85mm lenses with f2.0 and f2.8 apertures.  One was a soft-focus lens with adjustable spherical aberration.  All of them are winners, and selling prices range from $100 to $500 depending on the model and condition.

Good luck with your sale -- and feel free to use any information from my Minolta website.

[Wally The Confused]

Thanks for the reply , I've been away  a while , but the info I have slightly contradicts your comment, sorry .

Even after the new MD lenses were introduced, Minolta continued producing the MC model for some time. When it was finally updated to an MD design, it was only available for a short time before being withdrawn from sale in favour of the new and much smaller 85mm f/2. As a result, it is a rare lens and commands a premium price over the more common MC version. Photo: Robert Hoehne
	Despite it's similar appearance to the MC lens, the MD lens actually has a slightly different optical formula to most of the 85mm MC lenses in existence. The change in optical construction occured in 1978, immediately prior to the commencement of the MD production which began in 1979. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to determine if a MC lens is of the earlier construction or the later, as both are identical in appearance.  The MD version of this lens was in fact only manufactured for one year before being superceded by the new f/2 design. As a result, it is highly sought after. It will certainly be interesting to determine if the change in optical formula contributed to a noticeable improvement in performance.

[XKAES]

First, the length of time a lens is in production is not the important factor.  It's how many lenses were made during its production that make a differencce.  Given the common appearance of the MD 85mm f1.7 on EBAY shows that it's not a rare lens at all -- but people (especially sellers) love to throw around the term "rare" loosely -- making it pretty meaningless.  My favorites are "very rare" and "exceedingly rare".

On the change in optical formula of the MD version, I'd like to see your source.  Just because it's on the WEB does not make it true, and even if there was a change of some sort (which seems odd for a lens that was going to be discontinued) that does not mean that it makes any difference in its results.

It seems odd that neither Dennis Lohmann, nor Red Bailey (long-time Rokkor experts), nor I have ever run across any reference to this "mystery" or supposition.

But who knows?  Maybe it's true.  Minolta was always making minor tweeks to its lenses -- but you'd never be able to determine if one lens has the "change" or not.  So it makes no difference -- unless you are a seller trying to convince a buyer that they are getting a "Mona Lisa".

Edited October 15, 2023 by XKAES

[XKAES]

FYI, There are seven, RARE, Minolta MD 85mm f1.7 lenses on EBAY right now. 

Excuse me while I lock mine in a safe!

[Wally The Confused]

I copied from : https://rokkorfiles.com/

Not a sales site .

Edited October 24, 2023 by Wally The Confused

[XKAES]

I wouldn't believe everything you see on the ROKKORFILES.  Much of what is on there is stolen.  I should know, because he's taken much from my much older MINMAN website.  I'll just give you one example.  The Minolta SR-1 had a lot of changes during the many years it was produced,, but Minolta just referred to all of them as simply the SR-1 -- although the user manuals changed with the cameras.  To keep things understandable and help avoid confusion, I broke the major differences into five groups of significant changes and labeled them the Model A through Model E.  These are strictly my designations, not Minolta's -- but the ROKKORFILES uses the exact same designations.

Who knows where he "got" his info on the 85mm f1.7 -- not from me or Dennis Lohmann or Red Bailey.

[mlhm5]

The 58mm MCRokkor f/1.4 or f/1.2 are great portrait lens on ASP-C Sonys. You can usually pick up the f/1.4 for around $50 or less and the f/1.2 for ~$300. Sometimes you can find good glass on non working SRT-101/102 Minoltas for really cheap money. I always search for the camera and not the lens.

[XKAES]

10 hours ago, mlhm5 said:

I always search for the camera and not the lens.

I've found some great lenses that way too -- like a Tokina 24-200mm AF zoom on a Maxxum 5 for $20.  I sold the camera for $40 and kept the lens.

Edited February 9 by XKAES

[michelb]

From my records, Minolta made about 8500 85mm F 1.7 lenses bearing the MD badge. The MC-X version was slightly double that. So these are not that rare. I just saw an ad for a Limited Rare MD 45mm F2 lens ( Minolta made over a million of these) so the word rare is often used in a bizarre way.

Seeing that the OP has a MD ROKKOR-X version and that he appears to have bought it from Europe is kind of unusual since the ROKKOR-X versions were to be sold exclusively in America. So in Europe, this lens naming was rare. 

I think the confusion about a reworked version may come from the fact that during the MC-X era (1972-76), Minolta made numerous changes to their lens line-up. First they changed the lens Mount Index dot which was initially painted like their previous series of lenses but after about 1 year, they replaced this with a slightly larger diameter plastic bead. This change happened around the introduction of the X-1, XM, XK bodies. Then they removed the small Stop Down Levers that were on most lenses up to now around 1975 since their SR T and XK/XE bodies were now boasting a Stop down mechanism. Then a little later Minolta even removed the lens formula (in this case PG) designation from the lens markings. This may have caused people to believe there was some kind of modification to the lens when it was only a marking  change. Also around 1973-74 they decided to provide a different marking for lenses sold in America ( at least USA and Canada) to identify lenses sold on the grey market that was often cause for confusion with consumers buying a great deal they could not get repaired under warranty. Same applies to Bodies starting in the same era where  X-1 was for Asian market, XK for American market and X-M for rest of the world, then SR T 102 in America, SR T Super in Asia and SR T 303 in rest of the world.

So you could find all of the following with their respective front markings:

- MC-II: MC ROKKOR-PG 1:1.7 f=85mm ( with SDL) This type has the hills and valleys metal focusing ring

-MC-X: MC ROKKOR-PG 1:1.7 f=85mm ( with SDL and Painted Lens mount index changed around 1973-74)

-MC-X: MC ROKKOR-PG 1:1.7 f=85mm ( with SDL and Plastic Bead Lens mount index changed around 1973-74)

-MC-X: MC ROKKOR-PG 1:1.7 f=85mm ( with No SDL and Plastic Bead Lens mount index )

-MC-X: MC ROKKOR 1:1.7 f=85mm ( with No SDL and Plastic Bead Lens mount index and no more PG lens formula index)

-MC-X: MC ROKKOR-X PG 1:1.7 f=85mm ( with SDL and Plastic Bead Lens mount index, Orange colored ROKKOR-X marking for the American market)

-MC-X: MC ROKKOR-X PG 1:1.7 f=85mm ( with No SDL and Plastic Bead Lens mount index, Orange colored ROKKOR-X )

-MC-X: MC ROKKOR 1:1.7 f=85mm ( with No SDL and Plastic Bead Lens mount index and no more PG lens formula index, Orange colored ROKKOR-X)

-MD-II: MD ROKKOR 85mm 1:1.7 ø55mm

-MD-II: MD ROKKOR-X 85mm 1:1.7 ø55mm (Orange colored ROKKOR-X again for the American market)

-MD-II: MD ROKKOR-X 85mm 1:1.7 ø55mm (White colored ROKKOR-X ( iguess orange paint was getting too expensive) )

It was then replaced with the MD-II MD ROKKOR (X) 85mm F 2

There was no MD-I version of this lens and the same with a few lenses with large apertures ( 35mm F 1.8, 58mm F 1.2, 300mm F 4.5) since they had issues with the speed of the aperture mechanisms closing down for what was  a last minute check on XD/XD-7 and XD-11 bodies requiring stopping the lens down just prior to the shutter opening to ensure accurate exposure. Some late MC-X lenses may have had the modified aperture mechanism causing the confusion that there was an updated version but the optical formula seems to indicate there was no change.

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