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Minolta MD Zoom 28-70mm/F3.5-4.8 Macro
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 12:48 pm    Post subject: Minolta MD Zoom 28-70mm/F3.5-4.8 Macro Reply with quote
Yesterday my wife found a Minolta X-300 with the kit lens MD Zoom 28-70mm/F3.5-4.8 Macro for 10 Euro on a flea marked nearby. This camera/lens combination has been sold until the MF line of Minolta was terminated in the second half of the 1990's. It is unlikely that Minolta has produced the lens themselves. I assume that it was rather produced by Tamron or alike.

However, I gave it a try and was rather surprised about the image quality it is able to produce, at least on my APS-C Ricoh GXR-M.

Here are some example shots all made at fully open aperture; i.e. at the worst quality level. Only exposure was corrected during conversion from RAW into JPG. No sharpening or other tweaks have been applied. Just resized for presentation:

28mm:


50mm:


70mm:


Macro 1:4:


Picture of the lens:


As I didn't find anything about this lens at this forum or e.g. on Artaphot I thought it might be interesting at least for some of you.

Stopped down to F8 the pictures are razor sharp from edge to edge.

Cheers,


PostPosted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 1:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I do have the lens - as well as others from the same generation - but i did not think anyone would be interested ... Wink


PostPosted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 2:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
stevemark wrote:
I do have the lens - as well as others from the same generation - but i did not think anyone would be interested ... Wink


You're right. I wasn't interested as well as the 3rd party zoom lenses in the Minolta AF line are mostly lemons. However, this lens was a big surprise for me and for 10 Euro incl. camera it was worth a try. Maybe there are others as well. Did you try your other MD Zooms already?


PostPosted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 4:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
tb_a wrote:

... Did you try your other MD Zooms already?


Of course i tried many other MD zooms - or are you talking about the "MD-IIIa" zooms in Dennis Lohmanns lens list?
Out of the MD-IIIa i have the 28-70mm and the 70-300mm. The 4.5-5.8/70-300mm is quite weak at the corners, but i didn't test it extensively. I suspect that also the MD-III 5.6/100-300mm is not a genuine Minolta - its characteristics are so different from other Minolta zooms such as the 28-85, the 35-105 II and the 70-210 (much less contrast).

Stephan


PostPosted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 4:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
stevemark wrote:
tb_a wrote:

... Did you try your other MD Zooms already?


Of course i tried many other MD zooms - or are you talking about the "MD-IIIa" zooms in Dennis Lohmanns lens list?
Out of the MD-IIIa i have the 28-70mm and the 70-300mm. The 4.5-5.8/70-300mm is quite weak at the corners, but i didn't test it extensively. I suspect that also the MD-III 5.6/100-300mm is not a genuine Minolta - its characteristics are so different from other Minolta zooms such as the 28-85, the 35-105 II and the 70-210 (much less contrast).

Stephan


Indeed I meant the MD-IIIa third party stuff. Maybe the 70-300 is good enough for APS-C. However, I don't need it anyway. Wink

The 28-70 is at least more than usable as a "walk around" lens on APS-C.

Here are some "real life" examples from my today's dog walk:

#1


#2


#3


#4


PostPosted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 11:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Their were three possible manufacturers for this lens, Tokina, Tamron, and Cosina.
I thought the most likely builder was Cosina, as did some other Minolta collectors.
I believe Red Bailey listed it and the other lenses in this series as Cosina made.

I had two threads on this lens, but sadly when I tested it I only had a Canon EOS 10D. I never had much luck with that cam.

http://forum.mflenses.com/minolta-cosina-versus-minolta-leica-t43330,highlight,%2Bcosina.html

http://forum.mflenses.com/minolta-cosina-28-70-3-5-4-8-t41917,highlight,%2Bcosina.html


PostPosted: Tue Apr 25, 2017 1:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
walter g wrote:
Their were three possible manufacturers for this lens, Tokina, Tamron, and Cosina.
I thought the most likely builder was Cosina, as did some other Minolta collectors.
I believe Red Bailey listed it and the other lenses in this series as Cosina made.

I had two threads on this lens, but sadly when I tested it I only had a Canon EOS 10D. I never had much luck with that cam.


Maybe it's made by Cosina. I don't know and actually it doesn't really matter. The cheap and rather crappy plastic zooms of the Minolta AF line have been made by Tamron. Therefore I thought about Tamron in this case as well.
However, it seems to be a decent lens and it's usable at least on APS-C.
Cosina is definitely able to produce very good lenses. I like their Voigtlaender RF line very much.

Thanks for the links. I didn't find your postings before.


PostPosted: Tue Apr 25, 2017 5:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
That little plastic lens was a surprise for me as well. I used to have one in Pentax mount, branded as Petri, used it on a Pentax ME. It did give some really good shots!
I was always under the impression it's a Cosina, and it is known under many different brand names.
I picked up this Soligor, i think it is the same, even though it has different f/stop markings, but that has been done before by some for marketing reasons. It's an MD mount lens for the Minolta X-300 clone by Soligor, the SR300md, it's unused. I have the Minolta version as well, but that is mainly here from a collector's point of view as well.

Soligor S/M 28-70mm by René Maly, on Flickr
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