Anyone compared Konica 35-70 lens with Minolta zoom?

<p>Hi everybody,<br />I own Minolta manual focus equipment (MD) and Konica equipment (AR). with some nice lenses. Now I am hunting for 35-70mm zoom. I know that Konica made three models and Minolta had at least two.<br /><strong>Anyone compared 35-70 lenses from both companies? I am especially interested in any Minolta zoom (f3.5 or f3.5-4.5) and Konica 35-70mm (f3.5-4.5) that I can buy mint.</strong><br /><strong>Thank You, M.S.</strong></p>

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<p>Maciek, as you saw in my earlier post I have the Konica 35-70/3.5-4.5 but I don't have the Minolta equivalent. I do have the Minolta 35-105/3.5-4.5 and <em>absolutely love it! </em>It's fairly compact and quite sharp, and is the lens I use most often on my XD-11. The Konica has also proven to be a sharp lens and has exceeded my expectations. I would imagine that the Minolta 35-70 would perform similarly enough to make it very difficult to distinguish between the two.</p>

<p>The three Minolta models were the 35-70 f3.5 MD, 35-70 f3.5 MD Macro, and 35-70 f3.5-4.8 MD. The 35-70 f3.5 MD is highly regarded and seems to have more metal in its construction. The 35-70 f3.5 MD Macro is also good. Can't offer an opinion on the last one, but it was likely made by Cosina for Minolta. It sold in a kit with the X-370n and later individually.<br>

My family's camera shop stocked Konica, but I think we only sold a couple of the 35-70 Hexanons. I never got around to trying one out , which was one of my priveleges ;)</p>

<p> Yes Andy, Your post and beautiful pictures inspired me to ask this question. I may get mint 35-70 Hexanon but love my Minolta glass (and cameras) so I'd like to hear opinions from all users.</p>

<p>Mike, thank You for Your very interesting post. Time will tell... :)</p>

<p>I have two of the Konica lenses and none of the Minolta gear. Konica made at least two and possibly three in the 35 to 70 range. I have the 35 to 70 macro and the 35 to 70 that came with a dedicated hood. The macro was a later/newer lens when more plastic was incorporated into the lens design. I personally find that the combination of a focusing ring and zoom ring makes working with this lens a bit awkward. The performance is average in my opinion. The macro feature is very nice and the results are very good. It may be worth it to buy the lens for the macro feature alone. The older version 35 to 70 zoom is outstanding. It is a push/pull zoom mechanism. The only downside to the lens is that the front element is very exposed and should have a hood. Konica made a dedicated hood for this lens but it is so shallow and wide that it is marginally effective. Just keep this in mind when working in a high intensity light source environment. I highly recommend this older version for situations such as wedding receptions and the like.</p>

Well, 8.75 years later, looks like I'm the first person in history to own both the Konica 35-70 f3.5-4.5 and the Minolta 35-70 f3.5 macro. Actually, the Konica is on the way, so I'm not the first YET, but it looks imminent. Supposed to be excellent condition, we'll see. I guess I'll have to do some comparisons for the world, since I looked on every forum I could find and nobody seemed to have both.

 

I don't have an AR to Sony E adapter for my A7rII, so I'll be using them both on my OM-D M-10 mark II since I have the M43 adapter for both AR and MD. The light weight of the Konica is exactly why I got that lens -- because it's 215g as opposed to 355g for the Minolta. That's substantial when your other lenses are 190g and 125g. Love the Minolta so far, but too heavy for my M43 bag.

 

I also have the Konica 50mm f1.8 on the way too. Not sure if it's the 175g metal version or the 150g plastic one, but either is in the range to put it in competition against my MD 50/2 (150g), which I'll try to compare also. I want a fast 80mm to 100m type fast portrait lens, and with 2X crop, a fast 50 is perfect. If the image quality between the two 50's is indiscernible, I'll go with the Konica for the shorter adapter.

 

I'll be back in a few days. I'm not a pro, and won't be using any test charts, but I'll try to take similarly framed shots with the same settings. Also, there might be a cat picture or two... :)