Minolta MD 28-85 reviews are needed

[alaios]

Dear all,
I wanted to ask opinions about the Minolta 28-85 lens ... actually I am trying to understand performance especially at the longer focal lengths and how sharp is wide open.

Do you have any material to share? Google returned just few forum discussions which is hard to get something useful

Regards
A.

[Oldhand]

This might help:
http://www.rokkorfiles.com/35mm%20Page%201.htm

[alaios]

Thanks a lot! Great answer as always

few things that I liked

" At f/4 the real surprise of the group is the performance of the 28-85mm f/3.5-4.5 MD Zoom. Actually to say that I am surprised by its performance is an understatement. At 35mm this lens is a real eye-opener."

"The 28-85mm f/3.5-4.5 MD performs excellently, with negligible light falloff wide open as can be seen above, and in the image to the right. I must admit that I have been very impressed by the performance of this lens at 35mm. "

" I expected the 28-85mm f/3.5-4.5 MD Zoom to perform significantly worse than the prime lenses in this distortion test, and while it did record a higher level of distortion the performance of the lens was quite reasonable."

"Secondly, the 28-85mm f/3.5-4.5 MD Zoom performed head and shoulders above my expectations, and delivered outstanding sharpness and light falloff characteristics. While I do not hesitate to admit that I am a fan of prime lenses, the results of this test have certainly told me that I need to be prepared to consider zooms. Given the convenience of this focal length range, if the 28-85mm f/3.5-4.5 MD Zoom performs similarly at other focal lengths I will without question be making it a regular inclusion in my bag."

actually this my use all day lens and the only concern is that for my nex-f3 looks a bit heavy.

If someone need some test shots I can provide some.
A.

[aoleg]

I have this lens. Great performance at all focal lengths. They are extremely inexpensive, too (I paid less than 30 EUR for mine), so it really is a no-brainer.

[alaios]

Yep looks very good performer. I wonder which lens hood I should buy for it.

[Moasart]

I know I have a tendency to post on some old threads but, what do you expect from an old film guy? Anyway I just landed a supposedly beautiful and perfectly functioning copy of the 28-85 3.5-4.5 MD attached to an equally beautiful and fully functioning XE-7. I'm reluctant to buy these type items from eBay myself. However, I've found if you converse with the seller, disappointments can be kept to a minimum. This seller knows his stuff or deserves an Oscar. In any case, the items are on the way and I can hardly wait. I'll keep ya posted if any are interested. BTW, I got it all including delivery for under a "C" note, I thought the price was OK if everything is described. Sorry in regards to the long over zealous post, when I cut myself old cameras fall out.

[stevemark]

Test images of the Minolta AF 28-85mm, which has the same optical formula as the MD 28-85, can be found here at artaphot.ch: http://artaphot.ch/minolta-sony-af/objektiv-vergleiche/228-28mm-morcote-2009.

The lens performs very well if stopped down to f8 or f11. Vignetting is strong at 28mm and 35mm, especially wide open. I have used this lens for high-quality landscape books (400dpi printing, 48x32 cm image size), and the results are excellent if ...

1) you shoot at f11
2) you correct the CAs by software

Stephan

[alaios]

I appreciate that you shared that. I was just wondering though if there are zoom lenses that are such affordable and can be also sharp at few more apertures like 5.6 to give you bit more options

Regards
Alex

[alaios]

I appreciate that you shared that. I was just wondering though if there are zoom lenses that are such affordable and can be also sharp at few more apertures like 5.6 to give you bit more options

Regards
Alex

[tf]

The review of Minolta MD 28-85 is here
Hope it detailed enough ))

[sergun]

Not a bad lens but I did not like the 28mm corners in the far field.

[stevemark]

Your extensive test confirms what i had been written ten years ago in my Sony Fullframe book - the MD/AF 3.5-4.5/28-85 is a stunning performer on APS-C cameras: Nearly perfect detail resolution whatever focal length or aperture is used.

On Fullframe the lens needs to be stopped down for good corner performance.

Stephan

[tf]

Yes, center and middle are amazing.

Here the comparison of Minolta 28-85/3.5-4.5 versus MD 28/3.5, MD 35/2.8, MD 50/1.4, MD 85/2 - all are New MD (aka MDIII in collectors abbreviations)