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Minolta MD and MC Rokkor Lenses

iul

By iul,
in Legacy Lenses

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iul Contributor

iul

Posted
Posted

Since a few months, I do collect experiences with several Minolta Rokkor MD and MC legacy lenses on the A7.

 

So far, I tried out:

 

MD 17mm f/4

MD 35mm f/1.8

MD 50mm f/1.2

MC 85mm f/1.7

MD 100mm f/3.5 macro

MD 135mm f/2

MD 300mm f/4.5

RF 500mm f/8

 

A description and extensive evaluation of most of these lenses can be found on this old but beautiful page: http://www.rokkorfiles.com/Lens%20Reviews.html

 

I use a Novoflex NEX/MIN-MC-MD adapter, which is excellently built and extremly precise. Infinity stop is always exactly at infinity on all the lenses (except the RF, which is not meant to stop at infinity), which is nice for night photography.

 

With all the lenses, I got good to very good results without anyoing reflexes or disturbing vignetting. My favorites are the MD 135mm f/2, which is extremly sharp and the MC 85mm f/1.7 which shows wonderful smoothness in portraits. Especially the 135mm delivers a bokeh to die for.

 

Example photographs can be seen on http://500px.com/lui and http://500px.com/groups/minolta-rokkor-lenses/photos .

 

All the best

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Phillip Reeve Collaborator

Phillip Reeve

Posted
Posted

There never were 1.7/58 or 4/300 lenses, it think you got the f-stop wrong (or the focal lenght in case of the 58).

 

In general I would agree, the old lenses can perform very well on todays alphas and I really enjoy using them.

 

A couple of days ago I started a list of a few Rokkors with ratings, sample images and a short test series. I am working towards extending it: http://phillipreeve.net/blog/manual-minolta-lens-ratings/

 

16214159028_278b58fa6b_o.jpg

(Minolta MC 2.8/24)

 

15554324454_26cb1f73fa_o.jpg

 

16214397720_7d168981de_o.jpg

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Austrokiwi Contributor

Austrokiwi

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I love the 135mm F2 on my A7r:  But there is one lens I really enjoy using on the A7r  the Mc 7.5mm  Fisheye Rokkor.     This shot shows all the faults of using an old lens pointed towards the sun.......Its not the greatest but the colours remind me of some of the colours seen in glossy magazines in the 1970s:

 

canal3_zpsdb64e0ba.jpg

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Steve C Enthusiast

Steve C

Posted
Posted

I love the 135mm F2 on my A7r:  But there is one lens I really enjoy using on the A7r  the Mc 7.5mm  Fisheye Rokkor.     This shot shows all the faults of using an old lens pointed towards the sun.......Its not the greatest but the colours remind me of some of the colours seen in glossy magazines in the 1970s:

 

canal3_zpsdb64e0ba.jpg

That's a Seventies album cover there.....:)

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  • Posts

    • Pieter
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      By Pieter · Posted

      I've been using this lens extensively without any sharpness issues. At long focal lengths, you'll have to factor in the need for a faster shutter speed (< 1/500-ish at 350mm) and other factors like atmospheric distortion, fog/dust haze, etc. All these factors contribute to a deterioration of image quality at longer focal lengths.
    • Cameratose
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