MD lenses

What is the difference between an MD lens that is "Rokkor X" and one

that is plain "Rokkor"?<div></div>

If I understand corectly, the "-X" was added around the time the XK came out. Most of the changes were external build cosmetics but I think there was some changes in the coatings (like adding multi-coating).

 

Be aware however, that a lens can be an X lens and not have the "-X". Non-U.S. lenses for a while were marked the old way. not sure for how long. Minolta's designations over the years for the same mount is almost as confusing as Nikon's.

"The Rokkor-X designation is simply a way to identify a lens originally sold for the US markets from the rest of the world - there is no other differencies between Rokkor and Rokkor-X, although some lens versions may have existed only as Rokkor or Rokkor-X. "<br>

Found on a nice <a href="http://www.geocities.com/mikkonis/reviews.html">webpage</a> about lots of manual focus Minolta lenses. Of course, it's not an official Minolta statement, just somebody's webpage...but it seems to be a serious page.

CJ,

 

Thanks for the link. That's an excellent page.

As others have said, Minolta introduced the X-designation for lenses that were sold on the North American market (not just US). Some lenses experienced some form of upgrade when the designation was changed, others didn't. In short, you really cannot deduce anything from the fact that a lens has the X-designation other than that it was originally meant to be sold in North America.

 

This site will tell you pretty much all you wanted to know about Minolta manual focus lens designations:

 

http://members.aol.com/manualminolta/slrlens.htm

 

One thing to keep in mind is that nearly all of Minolta's manual focus cameras and lenses are fully compatible, and you can use all features that both of them support. Exceptions are limited to some very rare bodies and lenses that you are unlikely to come across, if you are not specifically looking for them. (Examples include the SR-2 and the early non-retrofocus 21mm f/4 and 21mm f/4.5). I believe the sitation is quite different for Nikon.

 

For more resources about the Minolta manual focus system have a look at the links section of this group:

 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ManualMinoltaFree/

The only designation that actuall matters from a feature perspective with a Minolta Manual Focus lens is whether it is an MC or MD lens. The MD variant involved dynamically balanced Diaphragm Blades that were designed to be rapidly set by the camera in Shutter Priority and Program Mode. This feature was supported by the XD-series cameras (XD, XD-5, XD-7, XD-11) and the X-700. In fact, many but not all MC lenses will also work on these cameras in those modes, but it is not guaranteed. The MC lenses will still work fine on any Manual Focus Minolta SLR, as long as it is in manual exposure mode or aperture priority mode.

"The only designation that actuall matters from a feature perspective with a Minolta Manual Focus lens is whether it is an MC or MD lens."

 

I don't know, Douglas, it might make a slight difference if it's an Auto Rokkor lens (and therefore not meter coupled).

I meant, in the last 40 years, the only MF feature distinction that mattered was MC or MD