One of the copies of the Minolta MD 135/2 lens that took part in testing on this site turned out to be the former property of photographer Harry Benson.
I found out about this quite by accident, and decided to collect all the details in one article.
The main source is the topic on eoshd.com forum. Here is the quotes and screenshots. (more…)
There are several sources with Minolta lenses lists, but the most accurate is a “book about Minolta” with the separated part “Minolta Lens – Perfect Data”(pdf is here). It is attractive because this data is provided by the company itself. And it unambiguously sorts all Minolta SLR lenses into just 4 categories. And yet, unmistakably and with totally correct optical designs. It looks like a miracle after the classifications that are used among collectors (due to their high demands for details). I believe that for the average user this is the best source – simple and clear.
So, the moment came when I got tired of opening the pdf on page 97 and starting to scroll down, so I decided to put these incredible tables on the site simply in the form of pictures for quickly viewing.
The article – is the translation from Japanese, there is no my ideas. Additionally, in the bottom – the description of the differences between the Minolta lenses is presented, it is also very clear. (more…)
The book “All about Minolta Camera” (or simply “MINOLTA”) is one of the most important materials for Minolta enthusiasts. I can even say that this is the true Gospel for MINOLTA collectors:
Despite the importance of this book, I have never come across its electronic copy. Even just scanned pages. Yes, the book is from Japan – Minolta’s origin country, and never was translated/published in the outer world. So finally this problem is solved. Here is a fully scanned book, as well as its recognized version. You just have to copy the text of interest to your favorite translator. (Note: some Japanese texts especially in vertical layouts are need to be converted to horizontal layout for better translation result)
The OCR version / searchable PDF, optimized size for comfortable reading (33 Mb):
Additionally: here is the scanned “All about Minolta Camera” book PDF version (223 Mb) – pictures only (not OCR) but high resolution if more details are needed like lens optical designs. (more…)
Exploded Parts List for Minolta XE, XE-7, XE-1, XE-5 series 35mm Cameras. Including body, shutter block, electronic elements, and wiring schematic.
Exploded Parts List for Minolta X-500/570 series 35mm Cameras. Including body, shutter block, electronic elements, and wiring schematic.
Let me introduce you Minolta Lenses Classification Guide – as a simple and usable diagram for SR lenses (Auto-Rokkors, MC, MD, Celtic, etc.)
Minolta produced a lot of lenses in the life period of SR-mount (manual SLR lenses) and as many other companies didn’t care about a clear classification. For example – there were existed about fifteen lenses 28/2.8: one Auto Rokkor, five MC Rokkors, maybe one MC Celtic, seven MD Rokkor, and two MD. Most of these lenses are not the same by IQ and characteristics. Any owner has enough big chance to make a mistake with the determination of what exactly is the lens. And it’s OK. Not many people in the whole world are able to sort out with any Minolta SR lens (less than ten?).
Everything changes. And this site – is no exception. All articles got avatars for lenses by Ilya Kuvshinov.
One of the most famous anime artists – Ilya Kuvshinov – allowed me to use his arts for the design of the site. (more…)
This article is unusual because stays opposite to the very positive and popular sentence about Minolta products – “Minolta lenses have a better color rendering than many other lenses”. Under ‘many other’ I mean Pentax, Canon, Nikon, etc. It isn’t a secret that I love Minolta lenses because some of them are really outstanding, but I do not agree that it is worth attributing to them properties that they do not possess.
This test has been performed more than a year ago but wasn’t published. The reason is described below.
I read a lot of mentions on forums and social networks that the colors of Minolta are better and it “can be seen easily”. Some photographers directly are talking about the fact that the landscape shot with a Minolta lens will be more colorful than that landscape with another lens.
Minolta MD 500mm F8 RF with two 2x converters
It’s a good time to test something with a 2m focal distance. Just for fun.
