Carl Zeiss CY vs Minolta MD – 28mm lenses – comparison

  • Carl Zeiss Distagon 28mm 1:2.8 CY (AE)
  • Minolta MD 28mm 1:2.0 (MD III)
  • Minolta MD 28mm 1:2.8 7el7gr (MD III)
  • Minolta MD 28mm 1:3.5 (MD III)

This article was made specifically for this Carl Zeiss because Minolta 28mm lenses have already been enough studied and the site contains a lot of materials about them.

Carl Zeiss Distagon 28mm 1:2.8 (AE) for the test was provided by Egor Nikolaev (Егор Николаев) – many thanks.

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Minolta MD 100mm 1:2.5 vs MD 100mm 1:4.0 Macro – comparison

Minolta MD 35mm lenses – Minolta MD 100mm 1:2.5 vs MD 100mm 1:4.0 Macro – comparison:

  • Minolta MD Macro 100mm 1:4.0 (MD III, New-MD)
  • Minolta MD 100mm 1:2.5 (MD III, New-MD)

Both these lenses are from the “must-have” category, for different tasks of course – the macro and the telephoto, so, there is no need to choose one of these two – lenses aren’t competitors. The comparison has been performed just because of curiosity.

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Minolta MD 50mm 1:1.4 two copies comparison – LensRomantic

Minolta MD 50mm 1:1.4 two copies comparison (New-MD, MD III or Plain MD design)

Introduction note for the first article in this category – LensRomantic:

Such comparisons can give us a piece of information about the degree of trust and the degree of applicability of lens testing results. It can be interesting mostly for collectors or technicians and doesn’t contain extended conclusions or descriptions with transcripts of results – everything can be seen on sample diagrams. True photographers can skip it and immediately go to the lens review pages.

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Minolta MC Rokkor PF 135mm 1:2.8 vs. MC Rokkor QD 135mm 1:3.5 vs MD 135mm 1:2.8 – comparison

Minolta SR 135mm lenses comparison:

  • Minolta MC Tele Rokkor PF 135mm 1:2.8 (MC II)
  • Minolta MC Tele Rokkor QD 135mm 1:3.5 (MC II)
  • Minolta MD 135mm 1:2.8 (MD III)

135mm is the very popular focal distance for many styles of photography: portraiture, landscapes, street-photo, etc. – it’s great for scenes which are required a compressed perspective for a more tight feeling of the picture. This comparison should show the difference between very budget manual 135mm lenses. Actually, Minolta produced the only one expensive 135mm – the famous MD 135mm 1:2.0, and all another 15 models for SR-mount looks cheap enough, so, three are here.

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Minolta MC Rokkor QF 200mm 1:3.5 vs. MC Rokkor PE 200mm 1:4.5 vs MD 200mm 1:2.8 – comparison

Minolta SR 200mm lenses comparison:

  • Minolta MC Tele Rokkor QF 200mm 1:3.5 (MC II)
  • Minolta MC Tele Rokkor PE 200mm 1:4.5 (MC II)
  • Minolta MD 200mm 1:4.5 (New-MD, MD III)

Comparison of lenses Minolta MD 200mm 1:2.8, Minolta MC Tele Rokkor QF 200mm 1:3.5 and Minolta MC Tele Rokkor PE 200mm 1:4.5

At first glance, it seems that the fight is not very fair, because newer MD version is faster than previous MCs. But it turned out that speed is important of course, but not very much, look at the results.

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Minolta MD 28-85mm 1:3.5-4.5 Zoom vs MD 28mm 1:3.5 vs MD 35mm 1:2.8 vs MD 50mm 1:1.4 vs MD 85mm 1:2.0 – comparison

Minolta MD 28-85mm 1:3.5-4.8 Zoom comparison with prime lenses:

  • Minolta MD 28-85mm 1:3.5-4.8 Zoom Macro (MD III)
  • Minolta MD 28mm 1:3.5 (MD III)
  • Minolta MD 35mm 1:2.8 (MD III)
  • Minolta MD 50mm 1:1.4 (MD III)
  • Minolta MD 85mm 1:2.0 (MD III)

One of the best zooms from pre-AF era is going to fight against famous primes on the most used focal distances. Yes, that primes are powerful, so a victory of zoom looks impossible but it will be cool even if it will show at least a close level of sharpness. (more…)

Minolta SR 50mm 1:1.4 lenses comparison – MC-X, MD I, MD-II, MD-III

Minolta SR 50mm 1:1.4 lenses comparison:

  • Minolta MC Rokkor PG 50mm 1:1.4 (MC-X)
  • Minolta MD Rokkor 50mm 1:1.4 (MD I)
  • Minolta MD Rokkor 50mm 1:1.4 (MD II)
  • Minolta MD 50mm 1:1.4 (MD III or New-MD)

This is the comparison of Minolta-SR 50mm lenses – from Rokkor MC up to New MD – all are the best classic 50mm lenses ever, and this selection of the winner is just an option – photographers can use any of these lenses without doubts and without reading of this article, but it was curious to find out how the Minolta’s optics changes from generation to generation.

The comparison is big enough and maybe boring, so, if you prefer to sort out in details – you need the patience to look over all diagrams with samples, if you just interested who is a winner – go to the end of the article, but such way is not to recommend, because it would be better if someone controls the author’s conclusion.

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Minolta MD 28mm 1:2.0 vs MD 28mm 1:2.8(7×7) vs MD 28mm 1:2.8(5×5) vs MD 28mm 1:3.5 – comparison v2

Minolta MD 28mm lenses comparison v2: Minolta MD 28mm 1:2.0 vs MD 28mm 1:2.8(7×7) vs MD 28mm 1:2.8(5×5) vs MD 28mm 1:3.5 – all are MD III

The first battle of 28mm Minolta MD III lenses was the very first lenses-comparison on this site. That time I had copies of MD 28mm 1:2.8 5×5 version and MD 35mm 1:3.5 in bad cosmetic appearance. I believe that it didn’t affect the results of the tests, but after I got other copies of these lenses I’ve re-made tests. Here you can see the second comparison. Actually, there are no changes – the result is close the same, as it was for the first time, but article design and conclusion text are changed for better visualizing.

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