Preferred Minolta Maxxum/Dynax Lenses???

joeyk49 · Aug 9, 2006

Okay...I know there aren't a huge number of us (Minolta afficionados) out there, but I interested to learn what lenses have shown their mettle, now that Sony is about to put its stamp on the line.

In particular, I'm interested in the preferred WA, midrange zoom or portrait (35-80) and long lenses (100-300 range).

I've been disappointed by Sigma, but I have to admit my experience with that brand has been at the low end of their product line.

So...whattayalike and why?

Dave Parker · Aug 9, 2006

Well I have Started out with SRT101 and still shoot maxxum 9 and 9xi's for work, my favorite lenses are

28-105xi
35-105 macro
20-50 WA zoom, not easy to find
of course the 50mm f/1.7 is always a favorite, probably the best lens they ever offered
100-300 APO, this is such an underated lens for what it can do
70-300 another great lens, not an APO though

I really in over 25 years of shooting them have never found a dog lens in their line, I also own the 300 f/2.8, 200 f/2.8 and the 600 f/4 for wildlife work and I just sold my 3-1x specialty macro lens, but it was a barnstormer..

I don't think for the most part, your going to find a bad one, there are regular lenses, but I don't purchase the plastic mount lenses, and have stuck to the metal mounts and such and have alway been happy, I guess it all depends on what your budget is, albeit, you can get some great Maxxum lenses for a fraction of the cost of the other big names, (Nikon, Canon) and you would be hard pressed to show me any difference.

Dave

bob01721 · Aug 9, 2006

I shoot with SRTs, so my lenses are all MC and MD types. Favorites? I guess the 50/1.7 is at the top of my list. The 135/2.8 is a nice one, too. I also like the old Vivitar Series 1 stuff. I have one of the original 70-210's and, despite its weight, most of the time I like to have it with me. I've got a few others, but these are the ones I use the most.

joeyk49 · Aug 9, 2006

I'm guessing that they're all Minolta branded lenses?

Which AF lens keeps getting attached to your Maxxum?

Dave Parker · Aug 9, 2006

joeyk49 said:
I'm guessing that they're all Minolta branded lenses?

Which AF lens keeps getting attached to your Maxxum?

99% of the time the 28-105xi or the 35-105 macro is on one of my bodies, if I am shooting any landscape stuff, the 24-50 zoom is on one of them, but the 28-105 or the 35-105 get the most work..I have a few tamrons and sigmas, but the Minoltas get the most amount of work.

Dave

bob01721 · Aug 9, 2006

Oops! Didn't see the "Maxxum/Dynax" part of the thread title. Just saw the word "Minolta." Please ignore!

(My bad.)

joeyk49 · Aug 9, 2006

bob01721 said:
I shoot with SRTs, so my lenses are all MC and MD types. Favorites? I guess the 50/1.7 is at the top of my list. The 135/2.8 is a nice one, too. I also like the old Vivitar Series 1 stuff.

Bob:

I've got plenty of MC and MD fun to share, too..I've got the RokkorX 135/2.8 and I've been spending some time with the 50/1.7; both formerly on my X700, now on my 370s...

But, my reason for the thread is to find the best one or two values for my 600si...my autofocus experience/reprtoire has been limited....

joeyk49 · Aug 9, 2006

bob01721 said:
Oops! Didn't see the "Maxxum/Dynax" part of the thread title. Just saw the word "Minolta." Please ignore!

(My bad.)

With so few of us (in a Nikon/Canon world), I wouldn't ignore a single one (Minolta user)....feel free to comment anyway.

unohuu · Aug 9, 2006

Joey, having recently separated from my beloved Maxxum lenses; here is my angst-filled report.

50mm f/1.7, 85mm f/1.4 (a beautiful lens); 70-210 f/4 and 135mm f/2.8. I also had the 300mm f/4 and truly loved to shoot with it. Good luck, prices are all over the place with the Sony takeover and all. Scalping seems to be the norm for these best lenses these days. Happy shooting!

joeyk49 · Aug 9, 2006

unohuu said:
85mm f/1.4 (a beautiful lens);

Good luck, prices are all over the place with the Sony takeover and all. Scalping seems to be the norm for these best lenses these days. Happy shooting!

There is a bit of unsettledness in the Minolta-KonicaMinolta-Sony/Minolta world these days...especially in that other format...

My self interest in this is that since Minolta has sold out, there may be many users bailing out as well. Some useful Maxxum glass may be showing up on the market and this may prove beneficial to a die hard, like me... Since my Maxxum experience is limited, I hope that that the users here could help guide me toward the winners of the Maxxum lens group...

Dave Parker · Aug 9, 2006

Joey,

I don't think your going to see people dumping the good glass cheap, the winners were winners and will continue to be winners for a long time to come and with Sony introducing a very high specification camera that will work with these lenses, I just can't see the prices come down much, I am interested in some of their new lenses they have announce as some of them will be backwards compatible with the film cameras and the optics are made by Zeiss...I look at them on Ebay all the time, and just have not seen much flutuation in the pricing..

Dave

David Brown · Aug 10, 2006

I acquired a Minolta SRT "by marriage" 25 years ago (wife had one). Since then, I've managed to collect six bodies (4 SRTs, XD11, X700) and I don't actually know how many MC and MD lenses. When I decided to try autofocus, I coveted a Maxxum 7, but didn't decide to buy one until (I swear) the day it was discontinued. :rolleyes:

Anyway, I ended up getting a great auction deal on a 650si with the 50mm 1.7 lens. I almost immediately bought a 28-85 zoom, but yearned for primes. KEH was eventually able to supply me with a 28mm and a 135mm. They are great, and I hardly ever use the zoom, just the three primes.

Someday, I'll find the "deal" on the 7 body. (Even though most of my shooting lately is medium format, and I still use the manual focus, yada yada yada ... Bad case of GAS )

bjorke · Aug 10, 2006

The Sony/Zeiss 85 is a rebranded refit of the same 85 (FULL FRAME) that was provided for the Contax line. A sweet, though heavy, lens.

joeyk49 · Aug 10, 2006

bjorke said:
The Sony/Zeiss 85 is a rebranded refit of the same 85 (FULL FRAME) that was provided for the Contax line. A sweet, though heavy, lens.

I don't mind heavy...what I'm getting tired of is vignetting on the short end of zooms and softness where it should be sharp...

I'm starting to think that the only place I should be mentioning zoom is in my new Mustang!!!

magic823 · Aug 10, 2006

The 100mm f/2.8 Macro is one of the sharpest lenses made. My kit has the 20/2.8 (very sharp), 24-105 (what's on my camera the most), 100/2.8 Macro, 100-300 APO, and the 500/8 - all Minolta glass. I used to own the 100/2.8 Soft Focus but it was redundant with the 100 macro and I have other ways to soften the image. What I want to own is the 17-35D, the 85/1.4 Zeiss (I used to own one of these when I own a Contax), 70-210/2.8 SSM. 300/2.8 SSM, and the 600/4 - Hey we can dream can't we.

I'm probably going to sell one of my Maxxum 7 bodies soon. I don't need two of them, with shooting mainly LF.

Kirk Keyes · Aug 11, 2006

joeyk49 said:
My self interest in this is that since Minolta has sold out, there may be many users bailing out as well.

I'm betting on this as well, and there is just such a huge amount of use Minolta equipment out there, that I bought a Sony a100. I got a K-M 100-300 AF lens with it when I ordered it from B&H two weeks ago and it works fine and the price was pretty inexpensive.

I'm wondering, does anyone know of MD to Minolta AF lens mount adaptors? I'd like to use some of my older prime lenses. And are there some recommendations for fast 28 to 35 mm prime AF mount lenses available used that you guys can recommend?

chorleyjeff · Aug 11, 2006

joeyk49 said:
Okay...I know there aren't a huge number of us (Minolta afficionados) out there, but I interested to learn what lenses have shown their mettle, now that Sony is about to put its stamp on the line.

In particular, I'm interested in the preferred WA, midrange zoom or portrait (35-80) and long lenses (100-300 range).

I've been disappointed by Sigma, but I have to admit my experience with that brand has been at the low end of their product line.

So...whattayalike and why?

28-135mm f4.0 to f4.5.
Weighs a ton, front glass huge so problem is getting a lens hood, flare is a problem and it has poor close up capacity. But it is sharp and very soilidly built.

bob01721 · Aug 11, 2006

Kirk Keyes said:
"... does anyone know of MD to Minolta AF lens mount adaptors...?"

Only that such an animal does exist. Sorry I can't tell you more about it.

magic823 · Aug 11, 2006

Kirk Keyes said:
I'm betting on this as well, and there is just such a huge amount of use Minolta equipment out there, that I bought a Sony a100. I got a K-M 100-300 AF lens with it when I ordered it from B&H two weeks ago and it works fine and the price was pretty inexpensive.

I'm wondering, does anyone know of MD to Minolta AF lens mount adaptors? I'd like to use some of my older prime lenses. And are there some recommendations for fast 28 to 35 mm prime AF mount lenses available used that you guys can recommend?

I see them occasionally show up in ebay. Because of the flange to film plane distance they have an optical element to allow focus at infinity. Therefore there is a magnification factor which is around 1.3x or 1.5x (can't remember off the top of my head).

Steve

unohuu · Aug 14, 2006

Minolta to AF Minolta KM Sony adaptor

bob01721 said:
Only that such an animal does exist. Sorry I can't tell you more about it.

Oh yes, it exists. I had one just 6 months ago. It worked but the magnification factor was too much. 1.5x and although I liked using it I already had enough great AF glass at the time. Some folks on the Minolta Yahoogroups could point you in the right direction. KEH has them periodically and sometimes Adorama.

Confusion Circle · Aug 21, 2006

My Minolta mount lenses are:
Minolta 17mm~35mm f2.8 D
Minolta 50mm f1.7
Minolta 50mm f3.5 macro
Minolta 28mm~105mm f3.5~4.5
Minolta 70mm~210mm f4 "The Beercan"
Minolta 135mm f2.8
Tamron 70mm~210mm f2.8 SP LD
Sigma 170mm~500m f5~6.3 APO

Out of all the lenses I have, the 17-35 D, 50 macro & 70-210 f4 are used the most. They are very sharp! I'm absolutely sure that the 'beercan' is the sharpest lens I own aside from my Leica 35mm Summilux M. The sharpness of the 'beercan' is astounding...no flare or CA at all...

rduraoc · Aug 23, 2006

I have the 50mm f1.7 and the 135mmf2.8, and love them both. For my normal shooting, I use the 135mm a lot. Would like to get a wide angle 24mm or 20mm, a 85 f1.4 (but the price...) and in my dreams would like the 16mm fisheye for some strange ocasions...Anyone interested in a kidney?

Preferred Minolta Maxxum/Dynax Lenses???

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