 |
Great lens!! Smooth focus ring and great build!! There is fringing when shooting wide open but it almost goes away when stopping down at f2.8. The images are soft at f1.4 but that might also be because of the razor thin dof. It is surprisingly sharp at f2.8-f4 and then sharpness decreases slightly and fringing starts to increase as well. I love shooting with this lens more than my other much more expensive lenses. I just love the colours that this beautiful piece of glass produces!!
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
I purchased it mount it to a canon DSLR and it might be the converter I bought but the image is not the sharpest. I don't blame that on the lens though because the lens visually is "on point" and very clean. I feel that the converter is giving me the bad results but I'm not planning to buy another converter to find out. Note* I am talking about wide open because what is the point of getting a lens with a wide aperture if you just going to stop it down. When stopped down the lens performed as expected for the most part. Long story short keep it on a Minolta film camera and you won't be disappointed.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Lets face it, you purchase a 1.4/50 for using it wide open. And wide open this lens gives a pleasing result. Sharp enough, but not tack sharp. To its benefit, it has great bokeh, so your out of focus parts of which there will be lots are pleasant, and not harsh or busy. Stop it down to F8 and you will be rewarded with an extremely sharp lens, well controlled and high contrast. The newer versions are more expensive, sharper and lighter. The older are not as sharp, cheaper and heavier. Often the iris blades get gummed up or there becomes a light haze in the glass that needs to be cleaned up. but they are rugged, and well built and will last for a very long time.
This is an extremely sharp lens wide open, if your sample is not producing excellent results wide open either you have a bad sample or are having some technique issue, a lens hood or a tripod could solve. It's an absolute Best Value, at F1.4 this lens was rated superior to many lenses in it's class on the old Photodo site, no lens at F1.4 produced sharper result except for the Leica Summilux 50mm f1.4 and please go price one....but here's a real kicker, the measured differences are not detectable by the human eye...So if you are looking for tack sharp wide open performance you can start right here and inexpensively. There's nothing sharper wide open and F1.2 lenses that cost hundreds are not even close with IQ while their speed is negated by ISO performance in today's cameras. Result oriented people buy these, they post reviews on them, and they keep them.... thank Minolta for making millions of them. Look out for sticky/oily blades and fungus issues. Samples can be found to this day that are completely spotless and dust free internally....Read full review
I had few 50mm lenses With a Maximum aperture of 1.4. Minolta MD lenses are also very Sharp wide open, and affordable these days. No Wonder Leitz had Minolta to make some lnses for them... It is not much to say about this lens, fast, very very Sharp, and all metal Construction, will last longer than newer plastic optics. Highly recommended. I can also add that adjusting infinity focus is very easy on those MD Minolta lenses, if it should be an issue. It can also be used on many digitals With cheap adapter, DSLR and Micro Four Thirds.
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Best Selling in Lenses
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Save on Lenses
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- You may also like
