Minolta MD 50mm 1:1.4 – review
Minolta MD 50mm 1:1.4 – vintage manual lens test and review
- Official classification: New-MD
- Collector’s classification: MD III
This is the ideal lens. If a photographer gets this lens first – then all other lenses in the photo-bag will be the Minolta only. It’s like an essence of the fifties – the last generation which absorbs all the best from predecessors and balanced in all aspects.
Minolta MD 50mm 1:1.4 (MD III, New-MD) specifications
| minolta.eazypix.de index | 97 |
| Name engraved on the lens | MD |
| f[mm] | 50 |
| A max [1/f] | 1.4 |
| A min[1/f] | 16 |
| Lens design [el.] | 7 |
| Lens design [gr.] | 6 |
| Filter thread Ø front(rear)[mm] | 49 |
| Lens Shade | clip-in |
| closefocus[m/ft] | 0.45/1.5 |
| Dimension Ø x length [mm] | 64×40 |
| Weight[g] | 235 |
| Year | 1981 |
| Style | MD III |
| Code No. (ROKKOR-X) or Order No. | 2521-800 |
| Floating elements | NO (full support by autofocused adapters) |
| Aperture blades number | 6 |
| Confidence in the test results of reviewed copies | 100% |
| Reviewed lens SN: | 8271095 |
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- Minolta MD 50mm f1.4 optical design
Minolta MD 50mm 1:1.4 exterior
Mounted on Minolta X-700
This is a very suitable set – the camera and lens have the same design (1981 released)
Minolta MD 50mm 1:1.4 lens shade:
Minolta MD 50mm 1:1.4 sharpness
Сlose-distance resolution test, portrait-distance
Testing methods description
- Target: 10-15 cm picture, printed on glossy photo paper
- Distance: 1.7m
- 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
Printed file
Scene preview
Test results
Сlose-distance resolution test, minimal distance
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
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 50mm 1:1.4 aberrations
Vignetting
Geometric distortion
Coma aberrations
Chromatic aberrations
Short-distance bokeh
Test conditions: lens was focused on minimal distance 0.45m, plants are in 2m distance from the camera
Long-distance bokeh
Test conditions: the lens was focused on half distance on the scale (1m), buildings are on “infinity”-distance
Light bubbles bokeh
Test conditions: lens was focused on minimal distance + 10% of scale (about 0.5m), diodes were fixed in 2m distance
Light bubbles bokeh, long-distance
On the minimal focusing distance 0.45m
Other resources with tests and reviews:
Minolta MD 50mm 1:1.4 (or Minolta MD 50mm F/1.4, New-MD, MD III design) – overall conclusion
I agree with people who think that this lens is the best 50mm lens in the world ever. It may be really true – the sharpest among other MD 50mm lenses, it has quite low aberrations and beautiful bokeh with a perfect and interesting character of smoothing. It’s very fast with F1.4 and provides thin DOF of course. The combination of characteristics makes this lens in my eyes the ideal around 50mm – it can be used in any style of photos on any aperture with no doubts. One more thing – it is better than previously reviewed MD 50mm F 1.2 in all aspects, except presented F1.2 of course. And it works great even wide open. If you are choosing the first Minolta lens – buy this 50/1.4 and you will be inspired into MD lenses at all.
11 Comments
gustavo Ibarra · 2018-09-07 at 02:36
Did you compare this with the rokkor Pg? I have that one but also waiting this MD on the mail box any time the next week.
Tony · 2018-09-07 at 10:05
Yes, it has been compared with Minolta MC PG 50 1.4
gustavo Ibarra · 2018-09-08 at 06:17
Cool, yes, I’m extremely happy with the Pg, I like it even more than the zeiss 55 (wich I sold), I will play around with both, read your analisis when ready and keep the “best” of them. Regards!
Sroyon · 2019-02-16 at 08:29
Hi, thanks for your detailed reviews! Can I ask, where do you get the hand-drawn lens diagrams? Like this one: https://photolenses.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/minolta_md_50_14___944.jpg. I like them a lot!
Tony · 2019-02-16 at 22:56
I drew it myself. Just circled around the contour over the bright light ))
Sroyon · 2019-02-16 at 23:47
Oh wow, great job! Sorry, a follow-up question: where do you get the geometrical diagrams on the right?
Tony · 2019-02-17 at 18:18
The same idea, just a little bit more complicated realization )) – https://lens.ws//2019/02/17/lens-qa-works-optical-design-schemes-how-to/
Sroyon · 2019-02-17 at 18:25
oh WOW this is amazing! Thank you SO much, it was very cool to see your workflow! I guess there will be one more level of complication with aspherical lenses haha!
Tony · 2019-02-17 at 18:50
Yes, aspherical elements make ‘remaking’ a little bit longer.. Not so much, but anyway..
feline_Ivy · 2019-12-23 at 20:09
Tony, have you put up the wrong images for section ‘Long Distance Bokeh’? I checked the images taken under same condition (focus at 1m, buildings at infinity) in the reviews for MC Rokkor PG/ MD-I / MD-II 50mm f/1.4 lenses, the bokeh of new MD 50mm f/1.4 is drastically smaller than the others, which is weird. I just cannot explain that difference.
Tony · 2019-12-23 at 21:15
You are right. But it isn’t a mistake – files are correct. I think that the keyword is “conditions” – this is the influence of another light direction. These tests relate to those that may be compared face-to-face only, otherwise, the influence of external factors can greatly change perception. Therefore, I use them only in reviews, but not in comparisons. Someday I will redo these tests to get comparison tables, but this is not soon – not all SLR lenses from this world have been tested even for sharpness 🙂