Minolta made excellent 50mm lenses. While it may be entertaining to quibble over which is the best, I am not finding a major difference. In fact, my main criteria have become weight and metering requirements. That being said, the f/1.7 lenses tend to be slightly less sharp than the f/1.4Continue Reading
Over the last six years, I have used my 50mm lenses many times. Oddly, this AF 50mm f/1.4 has gone unused for reasons unknown. Thus, it is the subject of the first Fab 50s post. My expectation is that, when all has been said and done, there will notContinue Reading
The Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D was introduced in late 2004, a product of Minolta’s merger with Konica the previous year. It came with a 6.1 MP CCD sensor, which accounts for its rich color reproduction. Its design borrowed significantly from that of the Maxxum 7, introduced in 2000. ProductionContinue Reading
The MD Zoom 50-135mm is part of Minolta’s zoom boom of the late 70s that began with the arrival of the XD/XG camera models. Between 1978 and 1985, 16 zooms were released, ranging from the 24-35mm to the 100-500mm. Many of these zooms are rather expensive and seem notContinue Reading
Autumn in Atlanta this year was warmer than usual, making November sunny with comfortably warm days and clear nights. Inspired by the weather, I wandered around the city more than usual, shooting nine rolls in two weeks—a record. When deciding what to shoot, it dawned on me thatContinue Reading
The 50mm focal length is a mainstay of photography. Budding photographers are advised to get a 50mm lens as their first purchase. Leica Thread Mount (LTM) rangefinders offered 50mm lenses before SLRs existed. And when SLRs arrived in the late 1950s, 50mm lenses were among the very first lensesContinue Reading
The early 1980s seem to have been the glory days for manual Minolta zooms. The 24-35mm f/3.5, released in 1981, was among the early wave of MD III lenses introduced between 1981 and 1983. Many members of this group — 35-105mm f/3.5-4.5, 28-85mm f3.5-4.5, 70-210mm f/4, and the last versionContinue Reading
The Vintage Minolta Love Project (VMLP) has been a key driver of Earth, Sun, Film posts from the beginning. The VMLP started with a simple goal—shoot all the major Minolta SLRs from the 1958 SR-2 to the 2004 Maxxum 70. In doing so, I hoped to learn photography, experience Minolta’sContinue Reading
Last summer, I wrote about my experiences with three LTM lenses: Super Rokkor 45mm f2, Super Rokkor 50mm f2.8, and the Canon Serenar 50mm 1.9. All were better than I had expected. Since then, I have obtained what is considered the best Minolta standard LTM lens, the 50mmContinue Reading
If you are considering buying a classic interchangeable lens rangefinder, be warned: things can quickly get out of hand. Leica led the way with interchangeable lens rangefinders, and current market prices reflect that influence. The Leica thread mount (LTM) was adopted by many camera manufacturers, creating a vastContinue Reading
