The Minolta MD 35-70mm 1:3.5 is an very affordable, light weight zoom with a very good performance in a limited but handy focal range
| Diameter | 69 mm |
| Length | 68.5 mm |
| Filter Thread | 55mm |
| Weight | 365g |
| Max. Magnification | 0.1 0.25 (Macro Mode) |
| Close Focusing Distance from the sensor | 80cm 33cm (Macro Mode) |
| Number of aperture blades | 7 |
| Elements/ Groups | 8/7 |
The Minolta MD 50mm 1:2 is one of the smallest and cheapest Minolta lenses and most importantly it is also an excellent lens for landscape photography.
| Diameter | 64 mm |
| Length | 36 mm |
| Filter Thread | 49 mm |
| Weight | 150g |
| Max. Magnification | 0.15 |
| Close Focusing Distance from the sensor | 45cm |
| Number of aperture blades | 6 |
| Elements/ Groups | 6/5 |
The Canon FD 20mm 2.8 is an affordable wideangle lens (around $200 mid 2015) which performs well on the Alpha 7. I have owned and used my copy for more than a year now and wanted to share my experience with you.
| CANON FD 20 2.8 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Length | 62mm | |
| Diameter | 78mm | |
| Weight | 305g | |
| Filter Thread | 72mm | |
| Aperture Blades | 6 | |
| Short focusing distance | 25cm |
The Canon FD 2.8/20 at ebay.de | ebay.com (affiliate links)
So Sony announced their newest flagship camera and it got a lot of hype. And after my initial enthusiasm cooled down a bit I collect my thoughts and ask myself the essential question: Would the a7rII improve my photography if I upgraded from my Alpha 7?
The specs tell us that the camera will sport a 42MP back side illuminated (BSI) sensor.
A L-bracket is a peace of metal which serves about three functions:
For me an L-brackets has improved the everyday experience of my Sony Alpha 7 and I think too few people know about L-brackets so I want to share my experience in this post.
Continue reading Useful Accessory for the Sony Alpha 7: A L-Bracket
I wanted to see how my new FE 2/28 compares against my older manual lenses, so I ran a comparison between four lenses:
Continue reading Old against New: Zeiss 2.8/28 vs Sony FE 2/28 vs Minolta MC 2/28
The Sony FE 2/28 is the first affordable Sony FE prime and in this review I share my experience after using my own copy for about a month on my Sony Alpha 7.
f/2
My friend Matt had a review copy of the Samsung NX1 at his hand so we met up and I could get some hands on experience with this new camera which created quite some buzz.
This is in no way an in depth review, just some thoughts and impressions after using it for about five hours.
Continue reading Samsung NX1 – Impressions and thoughts from a Sony a7 user
I like and use Minolta SR lenses a lot and this is a growing database of them.
Please read my about lens ratings page to understand how the ratings are to be read.
All ratings are based on my experience with these lenses on my fullframe Sony Alpha 7.
f/2.8: The center is excellent, and most of the image sharp enough, midframe sharpness is actually lower than near corner sharpness wile the far corners are unsharp. Vignetting is surprisingly low.Fisheye lenses are very hard to master, I wasn’t really succesfull at it. But this is a good lens, so good in fact that it also came in Leica R-mount and the same optical design is still used by the current Sony 2.8/16 Fisheye.
There is a younger MD version which is supposedly not as good.
full resolution samples | test
Get the lens at ebay.de | ebay.com | ebay.co.uk (affiliate links) and support my work here.
At f/2.8 a small central region is sharp, bokeh is ugly and vignetting very noticeableIt might be that the copy I tested had an issue with the floating elements design which caused the midzone dip.
flickr set | full resolution samples | test | review
Get the lens at ebay.de | ebay.com | ebay.co.uk (affiliate links) and support my work here.
Continue reading The rated List of Minolta MD/MC Lenses on the Sony a7
I have owned the Canon FD 2.8/20 for about a year now and I am mostly happy with it’s performance. Now I got the chance to test it against the smaller and lighter Minolta MD 20mm 1:2.8. So, how do they compare?
| Canon FD 2.8/20 | Minolta MD 2.8/20 | |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 62mm | 44mm |
| Diameter | 78mm | 65mm |
| Weight | 305g | 240g |
| Filter Thread | 72mm | 55mm |
| Aperture Blades | 6 | 6 |
| Short focusing distance | 25cm | 25cm |
Continue reading Minolta MD 20mm 1:2.8 vs Canon FD 20mm 1:2.8 – comparison review