Minolta Rokkor PF 100mm 1:2.0 Auto Tele (AR-II) engraved as “Minolta Auto Tele Rokkor-PF 1:2 f=100mm” lens review
This is another lens at the top of the wish list of many photographers and collectors. Photographers are drawn to its speed and portrait focal length, while collectors are drawn to its rarity and some traits which are unusual for Minolta’s products.
Minolta Rokkor TD 45mm 1:2.8 pancake engraved as “Minolta Rokkor-TD 1:2.8 f=45mm” lens review
The only pancake from Minolta. After this attempt, the company never produced lenses in this form factor again. No one voiced the reason officially, but given the rarity of pancakes among the products of other companies, there is nothing surprising in this.
Minolta MC VFC Rokkor-X 24mm 1:2.8 (Minolta MC Rokkor 24mm 1:2.8 VFC) – vintage manual lens test and review
This is the first lens with unique Ninolta’s know-how – Variable Field Curvature (VFC). The lens is enough rare, probably because just a few photographers need it, but it is very interesting from the collector’s point of view.
This review doesn’t contain tests of Variable Field Curvature -‘VFC’ feature of this lens. Here you can get information about how this lens works in normal mode.
The lens for the test was provided by Egor Nikolaev (Егор Николаев) – many thanks and greetings.
Chiyoko 135mm 1:4.0 vs Minolta MD 135mm 1:2.8 – Comparison
I wouldn’t say that this is a fair battle because of the huge difference between the age of these lenses. It is better to call it a demonstration of the development of Japanese optics. How much the great-granddaughter differs from the great-grandmother.
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Chiyoko Tele Rokkor 1:4 f=13.5cm (c) lens review, aka Chiyoko 135mm f:4.0
Mount – LTM, Leica Thread Mount, or LSM, Leica Screw Mount, or M39
This lens is from the list of four very first lenses released by Minolta for 35mm standard film. Just 4 years after the end of WWII. We can say that this lens is a museum exhibit, but nevertheless, nothing prevents photographers from using it. I even think that if these lenses were alive, then they would really like to participate in photographing despite their age.
Minolta MC Rokkor HH 35mm 1:1.8 W vintage manual lens review (Minolta MC W Rokkor-HH 1:1.8 f=35mm)
One another legend by Minolta – the wide-angle 35mm lens powered with F1.8. The lens is very popular among photographers and should stay in the one row with old-school gems like MC PG 58/1.2 or 85/1.7.
Minolta MC Rokkor PF 100mm 1:2.5 vintage manual lens review (Minolta MC Tele Rokkor-PF 1:2.5 f=100mm)
Here is another one telephoto lens by Minolta. Very suitable for portraits because it is ‘100mm fast’ – the focal distance is not short, but the lens is still convenient in operation. Also, it is ready for landscapes from F5.6 and totally sharp over the frame if closed to F8 – this ability makes this lens enough universal. It may be interesting for photographers who are looking for a mix of good IQ and classic rendering.
Minolta SR 135mm lenses comparison:
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.
Minolta MC Rokkor PF 135mm 1:2.8 vintage manual lens review (Minolta MC Tele Rokkor-QF 1:2.8 f=135mm)
This is the fast lens with classic focal distance – very suitable for portraits and landscapes. Tons of such lenses have been produced by a lot of competitors, many of them are beautiful, and it’s very hard for any lens to get a ‘recommended’ status in so huge and cool collective.
