Question about an M-Rokkor 28mm f2.8 (Minolta)

Steve Choi from Steve's Camera Repair has loaned me a nice little

Minolta M-Rokkor 28 mm F2.8 lens for the weekend. It takes a 40.5 mm

filter, is made in Japan, and looks brand new. It also looks and

feels like a Leica lens.

 

I've never heard of this lens. Does anyone know anything about it? Is

it still manufactured? How does it compare with similar offerings

from Leica and CV? What's it worth?

 

k

Check here:

 

http://cameraquest.com/cle.htm

 

With hood, $300-400.

 

Cheers,

 

Patrick

i had 2 of them once.

very nice lens, usually seem to go for about 300 bucks used.

 

joe

Be careful, if I remember this is the lens that had some major

issues with the elements separating. Check the archives on pn

or cameraquest.com for more info.

Kevin's cameras has had one for sale for a while now, but like Gandy says, it is getting some of the accursed white spots. Of course if you're thinking about buying it from Steve you don't care about that! The C/V 28/3.5 is obviously a half stop slower, but it is built like a tank. It is the heaviest little lens I have ever felt for its size. I personally don't like the focus "knob" or lever or whatever on it because I try to use my finger tip and it always seems to slip off when I pull it back, but I love the tab on my Minolta Rokkor 40C (is it the same one as the 28?).

btw, Steve once showed me a couple Leica CL's he had, I had

never actually seen one first hand. I'm not that much into

cameras, but thought it was a damn cute little cam. If you've

never looked at one, maybe he's got one he could show you.

I had one ten or so years ago that was part of a complete CLE outfit. The CLE series was highly collectible then and the 28 alone was going for $700 & up, more than the original cost of the complete outfit. I couldn't resist the the temptation and my butt is still sore from the times I have kicked myself. Unfortunately many of the 28s began to develop white spots on the inner cells, apparently related ot faulty edge coatings. It now seems that if the lens has not begun to so deteriorate it will not do so, but if it has started it will only increase. I later obtained a Leitz 28 Elmarit, but it is clumsy and heavy compared to the Rokkor and its performance not significantly better. I would say go for it!

According to lens tests at the time by Modern Photography magazine, the Rokkor was as good as the Elmarit. The Elmarit was about double the money and much bigger. I bought a Rokkor and it got the white spots! Supposedly for a time Minolta was fixing them free, but I missed the window of opportunity. I eventually sold it complete with hood, caps and box in otherwise pristine condition to collector at a profit.

 

Please note that it will not bring up the 28mm frame in an M and filing a bayonet lug, like on the 40, won't help. It would need to have metal added to work.

I once compared this lens with my 28mm Elmarit f:2.8 (second series -- the first one which could be used with the M5), and found that they were virtually identical in sharpness, contrast and coverage except wide open at f:2.8, where the Elmarit was clearly slightly sharper across the entire field.

Al,

What is the effect of the white points on photos or slides?

That's a very nice little lens, but I don't see many offered at $300; at that price for a clean one I'd be interested. Any leads.

Raid, the first few little white specks had no effect that I could see, like a few flakes of black paint wouldn't have much effect, but gradually there was a lowering of contrast, an overall veiling of the image. The spots are white but translucent. They let quite a bit of light through, but not image forming light, in some ways acting like a diffusion filter. The image gets progressivly flatter and hazier until it's useless. It's a real shame because otherwise it was a very nice lens. It came with a vented hood that bayoneted on, and the lens focussed accurately. I always used it with a seperate finder, which I already had.

Al,

Is there no easy way to have these spots removed somehow?

I have such a lens and I may have seen white spots.

You can send it to Focal Point at http://www.focalpointlens.com/fp_intro.html. They can

fix them, though I am not sure it is economical to do so.

Steve's suggestion of Focal Point is probably as good as any. I don't think Minolta fixes them anymore even if you pay for the repair.

Al's right. The lens brings up the 35mm frame lines, not the 28mm frame lines. Steve does have several CL's and CLE's in his case, which he says are only good for parts. Steve says he doesn't like either of those cameras because of repair-related issues. (I don't think Steve takes pictures.)

 

Steve has offered to sell me the 28mm Rokkor (which looks brand new, but has no hood), and he has a working 40mm Summicron-C in his case also. The focus is stiff on the Summicron, but he says that is easily fixed. He seems like a great guy but a terrible businessman. If you go into his repair shop, you wouldn't guess that he had anything for sale. If anyone is interested in any of these items, let me know and I'll tell him when I give him back the 28mm on Monday. We've got to keep these guys in business, so the will be someone to fix our cameras after the rest of the world has gone digital.

Yeah, the CL is cute but does have issues.