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A little Minolta shootout: Short zooms -vs- short primes
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Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2016 10:26 pm
Post subject: A little Minolta shootout: Short zooms -vs- short primes
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Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2016 10:26 pm
Post subject: A little Minolta shootout: Short zooms -vs- short primes
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Since my search for the best ~75-150mm lens got so many responses, I thought I should report what I found.

The Minolta MD 75-150/4 seemed like the best candidate so I picked up a (quite minty) copy. I also picked up an MD 50-135/3.5 for comparison

I built myself a little test scene to compare the zooms to my primes in that range (MD85/2 & MD135/3.5):


~150mm:
Minolta MD 75-150mm f/4 (set to "150mm")
~135mm:
Minolta MD Tele Rokkor 135mm f/3.5 (MDII version)
Minolta MD Zoom Rokkor 50-135mm f/3.5 (MDII version, set to "135mm")
Minolta MD Zoom 75-150mm f/4 (set to match the MD135/3.5)
~85mm:
Minolta MD Rokkor 85mm f/2 (MDII version)
Minolta MD Zoom 75-150mm f/4 (set to "75mm" which happens to match the MD85/2)
Tamron SP 35-80mm f/2.8-3.8 (set to "80mm")

All shot at ~1:15 magnification, to get comparable 100% crops:


Sharpnening:

(no sharpening on export)



150mm:

MD75-150/4 @ 150mm:

f/4

f/5.6

f/6.7

f/8

f/9.5

f/11




135mm:

MD135/3.5:

MD50-135/3.5 @ 135mm:

MD75-150/4 @ 135mm:


f/3.5 & f/4
MD135/3.5:

MD50-135/3.5 @ 135mm:

MD75-150/4 @ 135mm:


f/5.6
MD135/3.5:

MD50-135/3.5 @ 135mm:

MD75-150/4 @ 135mm:


f/6.7
MD135/3.5:

MD50-135/3.5 @ 135mm:

MD75-150/4 @ 135mm:


f/8
MD135/3.5:

MD50-135/3.5 @ 135mm:

MD75-150/4 @ 135mm:


f/9.5
MD135/3.5:

MD50-135/3.5 @ 135mm:

MD75-150/4 @ 135mm:


f/11
MD135/3.5:

MD50-135/3.5 @ 135mm:

MD75-150/4 @ 135mm:




~85mm:

MD85/2:

MD75-150/4 @ "75mm":

Tamron SP35-80/2.8-3.8 @ "80mm":


f/2
MD85/2:


f/2.8
MD85/2:


f/3.4
MD85/2:


f/3.8 & f/4
MD85/2:

MD75-150/4 @ "75mm":

Tamron SP35-80/2.8-3.8 @ "80mm":


f/4.8
MD85/2:

Tamron SP35-80/2.8-3.8 @ "80mm":


f/5.6
MD85/2:

MD75-150/4 @ "75mm":

Tamron SP35-80/2.8-3.8 @ "80mm":


f/6.7
MD85/2:

MD75-150/4 @ "75mm":

Tamron SP35-80/2.8-3.8 @ "80mm":


f/8
MD85/2:

MD75-150/4 @ "75mm":

Tamron SP35-80/2.8-3.8 @ "80mm":


f/9.5
MD85/2:

MD75-150/4 @ "75mm":

Tamron SP35-80/2.8-3.8 @ "80mm":


Last edited by Boris_Akunin on Thu Jul 28, 2016 10:37 pm; edited 1 time in total


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Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2016 10:36 pm
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Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2016 10:36 pm
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The post got too long, here's the last bit:

f/11
MD85/2:

MD75-150/4 @ "75mm":

Tamron SP35-80/2.8-3.8 @ "80mm":


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Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2016 1:24 am
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Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2016 1:24 am
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Like 1 also what a great amount of work! Greatly appreciated.


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Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2016 12:18 pm
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Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2016 12:18 pm
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Here are the full test shots (click for full resolution):


MD75-150/4 @ 150mm:

MD135/3.5:

MD50-135/3.5 @ 135mm:

MD75-150/4 @ 135mm:

MD85/2:

MD75-150/4 @ 75mm:

Tamron SP 35-80/2.8-3.8 @ 80mm:


I've matched all exposures at the center to make the vignetting comparable, white balance is identical for all shots (using the MD85 at f/8 as the reference).


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Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2016 5:14 pm
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Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2016 5:14 pm
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excellent work boris Like 1 small

70-150/4 seems live up to its reputation. sharp wide open (almost as good as primes) and its has a very useful range Like Dog


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Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2016 4:55 pm
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Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2016 4:55 pm
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Raxar wrote:
70-150/4 seems live up to its reputation. sharp wide open (almost as good as primes) and its has a very useful range Like Dog


Almost? It's certainly better than the MD135/3.5 and pretty much on par with the MD85/2 (I'd expect it to be on par with the 4/4 135/2.8 too).

The MD75-150 has quite heavy focus breathing. I don't know where it's nodal points are so the only way to directly measure the focal length would be with two points at a large known distance (I'd also have to know the distance between the points),
that's doable (e.g. using the moon or two bright stars) but I don't think I'll go that far.

I've tried to make an educated guess of the actual focal range through field-of-view comparisons (INF vs MFD, "75mm" vs "150mm" and against a few other lenses), I would need one direct FL measurment to really get it right but this get's me pretty close...

At "75mm" and MFD, the focal length is 24.3% longer than at infinity.
At "150mm" and MFD, the focal length is 30.9% longer than at infinity.
At "150mm" and infinity, the focal length is 93.4% longer than at "75mm" (and infinity).
At "150mm" and MFD, the focal length is 103.7% longer than at "75mm" (and MFD).

I took my MD85/2 for comparison:
At 1.2m (the MD75-150's MFD), the MD85's focal length is 15.8% longer than at infinity.
At infinity, the MD85's focal length is 5% longer than the MD75-150 at "75mm" (and infinity).
At 1.2m, the MD85's focal length is 2.3% shorter than the MD75-150 at "75mm" (and 1.2m).

IF the MD85 is exactly 85mm at infinity, the MD75-150 should actually be 81.0-156.6mm at infinity and 100.7-205.0mm at MFD. (and the MD85 would be 98.4mm at 1.2m, probably a bit beyond 100mm at it's MFD).

Using a Fuji 18-55/2.8-4 at "55mm" as the reference (on an X-E1, accounting for the crop factor -as precisely as it's known - of course):
IF the 18-55 at "55" is exactly 55mm at infinity, the MD75-150 should be 79.2-153.2mm at infinity and 98.5-200.5mm at MFD.

So, I'd guess the MD75-150 is ~80-155mm at infinity and ~100-200mm at MFD. Good to know...
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