Minolta MD 28mm 1:2.8 – 7 elements 7 groups – review

Published by Tony on 2018-01-142018-01-14

Minolta MD 28mm 1:2.8 7×7 – vintage manual lens test and review

• Official classification: New-MD
• Collector’s classification: MD III

Minolta has produced two MD 28mm F2.8 lenses in the similar MD III design – one with 7 elements in 7 groups optical scheme and another – 5 elements in 5 groups. Both have enough identical exterior but may be easily distinguished because 5×5-version has a thin black ring around the front lens but 7×7-version doesn’t have. Both sisters have been compared by sharpness/resolution, the link is at the bottom of the page. But this article is about the test results of the 7×7-version.

Minolta MD 28mm 1:2.8 7×7 (MD III, New-MD) specifications

Minolta MD 28mm 1:2.8 7×7 exterior

Mounted on Minolta X-700

This is a very suitable set – the camera and lens have the same design (released 1981)

Minolta MD 28mm 1:2.8 7×7 lens-shade

Minolta MD 28mm 1:2.0 sharpness

Сlose-distance resolution test

Testing methods description

• Target: 10-15 cm picture, printed on glossy photo paper
• Distance:10% longer than minimal focus distance marked on the lens
• Camera: Sony A7II (24mpx, full-frame, tripod, remote control). M-mode, ISO fixed, WB fixed, SteadyShot – OFF.
• The test was repeated for every F-stop on every focus position with manual focus adjustment for each shot. That is to avoid the effect of field curvature.
• RAW processing: Capture One, default settings. All quality settings – 100%. Crops – 300×200 px

Scene preview

Test results (selected version, easy to compare – 4 positions):

Test results (full version – all 9 positions):

Long-distance resolution test

Testing methods description

• Target: cityscape
• Distance: > 200 meters to center focus point
• Camera: Sony A7II (24mpx, full-frame, tripod, remote control). M-mode, ISO fixed, WB fixed, SteadyShot – OFF. The focus point is on the center only.
• RAW processing: Capture One, default settings. All quality settings – 100%. Crops – 300×200 px

Scene preview

Test results:

Minolta MD 28mm 1:2.8 7×7 aberrations

Vignetting

Geometric distortion:

Coma aberrations:

Chromatic aberrations:

Short-distance bokeh

Test conditions: lens was focused on minimal distance 0.25m, plants are in 2m distance from the camera

Long-distance bokeh

Test conditions: the lens was focused on half distance on the scale (0.5m), buildings are on “infinity”-distance

Light bubbles bokeh

Test conditions: lens was focused on minimal distance + 10% of scale (about 0.27m), diodes were fixed in 2m distance

Other resources with tests:

• vintagelensreviews.com

Minolta MD 28mm 1:2.8 7 elements 7 groups (or Minolta MD 28mm F/2.8 7×7, New-MD, MD III design) – overall conclusion

To my regret, I can’t say that this lens is a Minolta’s honor. It’s just an average wide lens with no big advantages. Corners can’t become a sharp even on F8… On the other hand – it’s really cheap, lightweight, well built. Anyway, it is better than most of the analogs on the market, even from first-line companies. So, it can be kept ‘just in case’ if 28mm isn’t the main angle, but can be used sometimes.