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minolta 28mm f2 AF lens


manuel_odabashian

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Does anyone have experience using this lens? I have a friend who

bought the canon 28mm f1.8 but said later on that there were certwin problems with

it due to sharpness at wide open apertures. I am wondering if the same will be

true with the minolta or indeed any fast lens. I'd appreciate any opinions

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Have the 28mm f2.8 and it is a good lens with hardly any ( if any ) problems wide open and the f2 is reputed to be even better - if that helps you.

 

Don't worry Minolta lenses do not have the Canon type problems :)

 

(PS - hopefully no one will get upset about a comparison with Canon and their problems on this Forum :). )

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.

 

"Problems with sharpness wide open" seems pretty meaningless, eh?

 

What matters is YOUR intended exerience with subjects, lighting, desired depth of field, desired reproduction ratios, elargement method (computer or optical?) and so on.

 

Comparing someone's unqualified experience with another lens hardly informs anyone about our own potential expreience of yet another lens.

 

Buy it and try it and you tell us not only how you experience it, but tell us particulars of your use and most importantly, share some pictures.

 

There are at least 2 Minolta AF 28mm f/2 lenses in production, both 9 elements in 9 groups, both close focus to ~0.3m, same size and weight, the first AF production began April 1987, the second AF series began August 20, 1998.

 

I presume the design is similar to the 9 elemetns in 9 groups MF manual focus design of October 1981 of the Minolta 20mm f/2 MD lens, which evolved away from the 10 elements on 9 groups of earlier designs - the October 1977 Minolta W Rokkor 28mm f/2 MD and the earlier January 1975 Minolta W Rokkor 28mm f/2 MC.

 

My resource here is an independent Japanese publication ISBN 4870999234.

 

Again, let us know what you do, and please share some pictures!

 

Click!

 

Love and hugs,

 

Peter Blaise peterblaise@yahoo.com Minolta Photogrpaher http://www.peterblaiserphotography.com/

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.

 

Ooops, I meant 28mm not a typo of 20mm for Minolta's 1981 introduction of this lens design:

 

"... I presume the design is similar to the 9 elemetns in 9 groups MF manual focus design of October 1981 of the Minolta 28mm [NOT 20mm] f/2 MD lens, which evolved away from the 10 elements on 9 groups of earlier designs - the October 1977 Minolta W Rokkor 28mm f/2 MD and the earlier January 1975 Minolta W Rokkor 28mm f/2 MC ..."

 

I have a Minolta AF 28mm f/2.8 and a Minotla AF 24mm f/2.8 and find both do exactly what they promise and what I expect. I imagine that since Minolta revisited this lens design at least once in it's 31 years of production that it also does exactly what it promises, and if that's what you expect, then you should be able to use it's features and benefits well in support of your own photographic neads, goals, resources and skill set.

 

I imagine that this lens will only grow in value due to the 1/1.63x crop factor of the APS-sensor digital cameras which diminish it's angle of capture effectively into a "normal" lens for the APS sensor size, much like ~43mm is "normal" for 35mm full frame (though 50mm is popular, the true "normal" lens for any format is actually a focal length equal to the diagonal or diameter of the capture frame, which is ~43mm for 35mm film full frame).

 

Is this 28mm f/2 the brightest/fastest such "normal" lens for Minolta/Sony Alpha APS DSLRs?

 

Grab it!

 

Quick!

 

Let us know what you do.

 

Click!

 

Love and hugs,

 

Peter Blaise paterblaise@yahoo.com Minolta Alpha Photographer http://www.peterblaisephotography.com/

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This lens isn't good, it's brilliant. At f4 it's better than the f2.8 ever gets. At f2 its sharper than the 2.8 until its stopped down to f8. Classic lens. Buy it if you can, they're rare and can be expensive. I bought the 2.8 then found the f2 for a cheap price. Since then the 2.8 never get an outing.
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PBM - do be a good chap and slow down - all those e-words are confusing me - exerience, elargement, expreience & elemetns. I am also intrigued by "photgraphic neads" - are they related to baking ?

( Will let you off 20 & 28, after all they are pretty close. )

 

Ivan - you are at it as well ! I should hope that an f2 is sharper at f2 than a f2.8 would be :)

 

It has been one of those days and not just for me I guess.

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Sorry Bill, I was trying to be clear.

 

"This lens isn't good, it's brilliant. At f4 it's better than the f2.8 ever gets. At f2 its sharper than the 2.8 until its stopped down to f8. Classic lens"

 

But I'll add a few more link words. I'll call the F2 lens the big lens and the f2.8 the little lens :-).

 

The big lens is better at F4 than the little lens ever gets, even at F11. At F2 the big lens is as sharp as the little lens at F8.

 

Hope this is clear enough.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Thanks guys, there are actually two now on ebay! One is �200

or best offer and is the first AF version i think whereas the second

is a RS version almost mint with a buy it now price for �350 and a starting bid of �300. though i could buy the lens especially the first

my funds are in between at the moment. Not little and not great either so i am going to wait a bit to see what happens and then maybe buy one

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I support Ivan's comment 100%. If you need a Minolta AF 28mm and have the money, then: BUY!BUY!BUY!

 

Not surprisingly, the contrast ist a little bit lower at f/2,0, and there is some softness in the outermost corners wide open, but the lens is perfectly useable for available light photography, and it is very, very good when stopped down and used for architecture or landscape (e.g.). You will hardly find a better 28mm out there.

 

BTW, I am owning and using that lens, and not just guessing, like others.

 

Regards

 

Georg

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Manuel - on my regular trawl through fleabay have seen the fixed price one which seems expensive from what I can remember for the f2 ( and over 10 times what I paid for the 2.8 ) and the other one I saw turns out to be a f2.8 anyway :(

 

Happy hunting.

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This lens has unexpectedly good bokeh considering it is a wide angle one. It is very sharp, fast focusing, top notch glass. I use it as my standard lens on 5D and for landscapes on film body. Imperfections of the corners are cut out on 5d which makes it even better. Being soft at f2 is an optical limitation for any prime I guess but i still use it at f2 if needed just like I use f1.4 if it is available!!! I'll never regret buying this second hand lens which served me for a long time now.

E.

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