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Minolta Rokkor-PF 1.4/58 or Rokkor-X 1.4/50
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 10, 2015 6:05 am    Post subject: Minolta Rokkor-PF 1.4/58 or Rokkor-X 1.4/50 Reply with quote

Hi folks

I have the choice of these two lenses and wondered what the relative merits of each were. Just looking for opinions and experiences from owners of them.


PostPosted: Sat Oct 10, 2015 12:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

50mm/F1.4 (7 lenses) is by far the best option and generally the best 50mm lens from Minolta if optimum picture quality and not any fancy bokeh is the target.
The much older 58mm lens (6 lenses) cannot catch up.


PostPosted: Sat Oct 10, 2015 3:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Ian, I've owned several examples of both and my finding was that although the 50mm was slightly better in the wide open sharpness stakes at F4 it was difficult to choose and the 58mm produced in my eyes the smoother bokeh, it was also the hardest one to make my mind up to sell lol, another point to consider is the albeit small extra length which may make a personal difference to you.


PostPosted: Sat Oct 10, 2015 4:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cheers. I was wondering if there is much difference in bokeh, colours and contrast?

Basically, how similar they are in rendering.


PostPosted: Sat Oct 10, 2015 5:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tervueren wrote:
I've owned several examples of both and my finding was that although the 50mm was slightly better in the wide open sharpness stakes at F4 it was difficult to choose and the 58mm produced in my eyes the smoother bokeh, it was also the hardest one to make my mind up to sell lol, another point to consider is the albeit small extra length which may make a personal difference to you.


The better option is to have both a 50/1.4 and a 58/1.2 (also 7 lenses) version to have the best of both series for sharpness and bokeh. Smile
Though those lenses would have exactly the same 7/5 formula as the 50/1.4 was a development based on the 58/1.2. I didn't compare them for bokeh directly up to now but I would expect them to work quite similar. That's another point which would rather speak for the 50/1.4 version in this case.


PostPosted: Sat Oct 10, 2015 5:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The bokeh rendering of the 50/1.4 can be seen here: http://www.rokkorfiles.com/Battle%20of%2050s2.htm

Unfortunately there is no similar test of the 58/1.4 lens that I know of. However, the 58/1.4 lens has more to be seen as the predecessor of the later 50/1.7 lenses with both 6/5 formula.

Hope this helps.


PostPosted: Sat Oct 10, 2015 6:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Personally, I'd take 50/1.4 every time. I think it's much sharper and has better contrast. Or perhaps I've just seen too many ruined 58/1.4's


PostPosted: Sat Oct 10, 2015 6:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think you'll like to 50 / 1.4 Ian, no fancy bokeh, it's sharp and has the lovely colour rendition that Rokkors seem to have trademarked.

All these are taken wide open or one stop down. This night shot is certainly wide.


Also wide open, lovely bokeh


This was probably a stop down, and using a 12mm tube.


This is Ilford XP2 400 taken with a Minolta XD7


I'm off to Canada in a few days for my brothers wedding in Nova Scotia, just in time for the fall colours. This lens is already packed in the bag, it's a no brainer lens for me, it's that good.


PostPosted: Sat Oct 10, 2015 6:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sharpness wise, I would support what Tervueren said: Starting at f/4, there's little difference. Overall, the 58 mm shows slightly softer corners on APS-C and sharpens up one stop later than the 50. The Bokeh of the latter is pleasing to my eye, but not impressive. Judging by the few shots I've taken with the 58, I would support that the bokeh is a bit smoother. The most noticeable difference for me was the contrast, where the 50 mm is okay and the 58 mm seems inferior, especially in situations with backlighting or out of frame high lights.


PostPosted: Sat Oct 10, 2015 9:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cheers guys.

I seem to have gone and acquired a copy of each. Smile

I already have the Hexanons 1.4/57 and 1.4/50, a Planar 1.4/50 and a Fujinon 1.4/50 and an 8 element Miranda 1.4/50.

What I want the Rokkors for is to use with my anamorphic lenses. My Schneider Cinelux 2x anamorphic vignettes with 50mm lenses, so the 58 will be paired with that. I know a 58 won't vignette as a lot of people use the Helios-44 with this anamorphic lens. The 50mm will be paired with my ISCO Ultra Star 2x.

Why do I want to know how similar - because I will be intercutting footage shot with both lenses and it saves a massive amount of time and effort if I don't have to grade one set of footage to match the other.


PostPosted: Fri Oct 16, 2015 9:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Living in Japan, it's been easy and cheap to get most of these Minolta lenses, so it might be time to do a comparative lens test on my Sony A7.

I've done previous tests on micro 4/3, so it will be interesting to see the results, including the MC and MD versions plus the MC 55mm F1.7, and the MD 50 mm F1.7


PostPosted: Fri Oct 16, 2015 9:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have 1.4/58 MC, 1.4/50 Rokkor-X, 1.7/50 MD and 2/45 MD, I know the latter too well and like them both a lot. I might get round to doing some comparisons sometime.


PostPosted: Fri Oct 16, 2015 10:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I would think the rendering of the two should be close enough that you won't see much differences in rendering at similar apertures.
The 50/1.4 & 58/1.2 are the same optical formula, the 58/1.2 being one of my favorite normals.