What is the difference between these two 35mm Rokkor lenses?

<p>I am looking to add a lens in the 35mm focal length for my Minolta SRT 202. While looking about on KEH, I came across these two, and don't if there's any discernible difference between them: Rokkor 35mm f/2.8 Celtic, and MC W.Rokkor HG 35mm f/2.8. I assume the MC means 'multi-coated', but the Celtic appears to be newer and lighter, and lacks a DOF preview lever (which is really of no great concern to me). I am new to the Minolta family, so many of their designations still seem a bit foreign to me.</p>

<p>Will there likely be a difference in the quality of photo to be rendered through one or the other? Thanks.</p>

<p>The Celtic lenses were Minolta's low-cost consumer lenses, like Nikon's Series E. That doesn't mean they're bad; like Series E lenses, they could be quite good.</p>

<p>No, MC does not mean "multi-coated". Minolta went through a few revisions of their basic lens mount as features were added, just like Canon R to FL to FD. MC means (or could be read as) "meter-coupled" -- these lenses were introduced with the SRT line in the '60s and support full-aperture metering. The later MD lenses, introduced in the '70s, support shutter-priority AE.</p>

<p>So either of these lenses will work fine with your SRT. If you had an XD-11 or later model, you'd want an MD lens. I don't know exactly when the Celtic line was introduced, but I think the ones I've seen have all been MD.</p>

<p>The full parsing of "MC W.Rokkor HG" is "meter-coupled wide-angle Rokkor with eight elements in seven groups."</p>

<p>Craig,<br>

It wasn't me who posted the question, but I read your explanations with a great interest. Thank you for popping in with a reply! I own a humble XG-1 and 2 Rokkor MD lenses, a 50mm/1.4 and 35mm/2.8, both from the period 1979/81, and I love their definition and contrast. I'm thinking of getting another Minolta body as a reserve, as they now come really cheap... ;-)<br>

Cheers,<br>

Tomasz</p>

<p>Correction: I misremembered the meaning of the two letters at the end of the lens description.</p>

<p>The first letter (groups) works like this: T=3, Q=4, P=5, H=6, S=7, O=8, N=9. This is the same as Nikon's old way of labeling lenses as "Nikkor-Q", "Nikkor-P", etc. The letters are based on the Latin words for the numbers.</p>

<p>The second letter (elements) just uses a simple conversion based on the sequence of the modern English alphabet. C is the third letter, so it means 3; D means 4; etc. I was thinking both letters worked that way, but then I remembered that the MC Rokkor 50mm f/1.4 lens is "PG", and of course it doesn't have 16 elements!</p>

<p>So "HG" means "six groups, seven elements".</p>

<p>Thanks, Craig, for the informative answer. Anyone with experience with this particular Celtic lens?</p>

<p>The Rokkor HG 35mm f/2.8 is a fine performer but is notorious for having very soft coating on the internal lens elements. Be aware of this before taking it apart to get at some dust or fungus off should you find some. You can ruin it in seconds using methods safe on other lenses.</p>

Also if you get the MC Rokkor HG, be sure to check the aperture to make sure it stops down and opens quickly. Lenses

of this age can develop sluggish aperture blades which means the lens might not close down to the selected aperture in

time for the shutter to open leading to overexposure.

<p>Here are a few links for Minolta lens info I've found on the web:<br>

<a href="http://minolta.rokkor.de/celticlenses.htm">Celtic Lenses</a><br>

<a href="http://minolta.rokkor.de/minoltalenses.htm">Minolta Lenses (in general)</a><br>

<a href="http://minolta.eazypix.de/lenses/">Manual Minolta Lens Index</a> - a pretty comprehensive listing of most, if not all of the lenses Minolta made for their SR/MC/MD mount.<br>

Last, but definitely not least:<br>

<a href="http://www.rokkorfiles.com/index.html">The Rokkor Files</a></p>