sony branded 50mm f1.4 - good for minolta af camera?

i'm considering a new 50mm lens for my minolta 5 af camera. after searching a

number of places (b&h, freestyle, keh, adorama, keh), i find no minolta-branded

50mm lenses available NEW - there are a few on keh but they are not in great

condition (EX only).

 

i then saw a sony-branded 5mmm f1.4 which is available new at a number of

places. any thoughts about this one? is the quality still good - meaning is

it just the sony name slapped on, but the same minolta quality?

 

is it worth roughly the 300 bucks?

 

thank you for any feedback - vikram.

why does it have to be new?

 

you can get a Minolta 50/1.4 for 130GBP over here. The sony is the same optically, but with digital coating and 8 pins (D) for ADI flash - the former is useless for your 35mm camera and the latter has little advantage. D lenses cost more and give you nothing extra for the most of it.

 

cheaper is the 50/1.7, which i prefer to the 50/1.4, but thats because i mainly shoot digital. you can get the 50/1.7 for as little as $35.

 

best of luck.

The Sony 50 f/1.4 is not only good for a Minolta AF film camera, but it's great. It's the same optical design that Minolta has been using since the mid-80's except that Sony has added some extra anti-reflective coatings on some of the lens elements to combat internal reflections and reflections off digital sensors.

 

If you are willing to buy a used one, I don't think you would be disappointed with one from KEH that's in EX condition. They are pretty conservative raters in terms of quality.

If buying used, look for the one with the 55mm filter size. It was a minor upgrade which, according to a Pop Photo test, delivered better results wide open than the original 49mm filter version of the lens. Stopped down a couple of f-stops you probably would not see a difference between the two lenses.

Mike, that is probably sample variation from the the testing. There was no optical change between the lenses, the results are probably just 'from what they had to test' on the day more likely. I Agree 55mm filters fit easier with most lens selections though.

Richard, it's possible that it could be a sample variation. But the article in Pop Photo did claim that Minolta made some changes. It would be interesting to see what results other users of these lenses have obtained. I have noticed the used dealers seem to always have the 49mm version, and when they have the 55mm version it is usually more expensive. My point, even if the 55mm version were to test consistently better than the older version, I wouldn't rush out to buy one since I would rarely use it wide open. That same article that had the test of about six 1.4 lenses had a clear first place winner and a last place, but the differences were so minor that it would be hard to see much of a difference in most applications.

You make a good point Mike. Anything thats 'newer' or "RS" will generally 'go for more' too. EG; a 28/2 original recently went for around 250GBP on ebay UK. Where as a RS version fetches atleast an extra 100GBP on that, and there are no optical differences there for sure.

 

I think we will see an update on our standard lens pretty soon. Its quite outdated really. Its design goes back to the rokkor designs. Its a great performer, no doubt, but everything needs to be updated every now and then, I suspect we may see a CZ emerge, possibly.

 

I used a 50/1.4 for a while, but didnt like it. It back focuses terribly with my A100, while the 1.7 is spot on. It took around f/2.8 to rule out the back focus, but by then there is no point in owning such a fast lens. I used DMF of course, but it still wasnt that effective, especially on such a dim VF. My A100 needs to be services no doubt.

 

Im personally quite interested in the upcoming sigma. Full time DMF, SSM, modern optical design, sigma prices - sounds great.