Knowing what to look for in a lens when you’re going to shop for one is important. Otherwise, you will simply end up wasting both your time and money. There are some standard features that every photographer looks for in a lens, but there are features other than these, such as image quality, price, and useability, that also matter.
Photography enthusiasts will find that Minolta produces some of the best and most affordable lenses. The company is known for producing high-end lenses but still keeping a low price tag. If you’re looking to buy a Minolta lens, read on to find out which of their lenses are the best in the market.
1. Konica Minolta AF Zoom 75-300mm f/4.5-5.6 SLR
The Konika Minolta, created especially for Minolta’s Maxxum Autofocus SLR camera, is an excellent zoom lens for bird, nature, sports, and portrait photography. It has a consistent macro setting, a four-time zoom ratio, and excellent focusing abilities from 4.9 ft to infinity.
This Minolta lens has a wide focusing ring for superior comfort and control and a focus button that can be used to aid operations. The lens is tailor-made for the Maxxum Autofocus SLR camera and produces world-class images when used with it.
2. Minolta AF 28-85mm f/3.5-4.5
Minolta’s AF 28-85mm is a versatile lens that can produce brilliant images in a large variety of settings. The lens has a robust metal body and is made of top-quality optical glass. It produces a beautifully soft bokeh effect at f/3.5 but if you stop down a bit further, the sharpness increases drastically.
The Minolta AF 28-85mm lens has an autofocus mode which is easy to use and gives sharp, well-defined images. However, macro mode lacks an autofocus feature but still has a manual focus that is smooth and easy to operate. The end results are clear and bright in both cases.
The wide range on this lens means it can easily be used for shooting landscape photography as well as shooting standard portraits. Although this lens isn’t one of the latest ones on the market, it can still hold its own and can give any new lens a run for its money.
3. Minolta AF Macro 50mm f/2.8
For photographers interested in capturing in-depth macro images, then Minolta’s AF Macro 50 mm f/2.8 is the Minolta lens you should invest in.
This lens is great for producing excellent artistic images with a shallow depth of field. The best part though is this lens’ low price tag. What’s more, this lens can be used by both amateur and professional photographers and still give great results because of its easy useability.
This prime macro lens gives photographers maximum control over focus to produce a custom and super shallow depth of field. Although the lens is a macro lens, it can be used to shoot a variety of settings as well and has an astounding infinity to a 1:1 ratio.
This lens has three floating optical elements that diminish chromatic aberrations and produce sharp images. Although this lens can be used to all levels of photographers, in the right hands, it can produce absolutely stunning images.
4. Minolta Rokkor-x 45mm f/2
The Minolta Rokkor-X 45mm f/2 can be used on a variety of different systems that have Sony/Minolta A-mount. This manual focus lens can produce both, a beautiful and soft background bokeh effect and sharp portraits as well. The lens is a little wider than the traditional prime 50mm portrait lens, which helps to shoot bright and detailed portraits even in low lighting situations.
Minolta’s Rokkor-x 45mm lens manages to avoid flare and produce an unbelievable depth of field in subjects that are shot up close. This makes the lens great for food photography and for shooting in small spaces as well.
This lens is essential for commercial photographers as it always produces reliable, sharp and clear images. Though this lens isn’t too flashy, and might not have some innovative features that the newer lenses have, the pictures it produces are indeed unmatched.
5. Minolta MC Tele Rokkor-PF 135mm f/2.8
Whether you’re shooting nature or doing street photography, if you’re looking for a good quality telephoto zoom lens, then the Minolta MC Tele Rokkor-PF would be an excellent choice. Although most manual lenses are not believed to be as fast or easy to use as the newer auto-focus lenses, they definitely lend the photographer a greater degree of artistic control.
If you’re new at shooting from a manual focusing lens then this lens would be an excellent stepping stone for you because of its affordability and brilliant results. This brilliant, no-nonsense lens has some of the sharpest optics among other lenses in the same category, is made from an all-metal body and even includes a lens hood.
6. Minolta AF 24mm f/2.8
The Minolta AF 24mm f/2.8 is capable of covering more than thrice the angle view of a standard 50mm lens. It also has a rear focusing system to ensure that the design of the lens stays compact and lightweight while its focusing abilities are super fast.
This lens is one of the most versatile lenses on the market and can shoot in a wide variety of settings and lighting situations. So whether you’re looking for wide-angle, wide-range zoom and telephoto lenses, or the large aperture, soft-focus, and reflexes. This single lens can produce the same results and more! The lens’ glass is produced by the company itself with advanced computer-assisted optical technology.
7. Minolta Maxxum AF 100-200mm f/4.5
A fan favorite lens, the 100-200mm has a robust vintage design and excellent optics. A wonderful do-it-all medium telephoto lens, the Minolta Maxxum AF 100-200 is one of the very few consistent medium telephoto lenses in the Minolta and Sony AF set. The lens has a fast maximum aperture of f/4.5 which can be maintained all throughout its range and does not alter itself during zoom in and zoom out.
To get the best results with the lens, it is advised to use a flash while you’re indoors and low shutter speed while outdoors. The images produced with this lens have outstanding color and out of this world image quality and its low price tag means that it can be used by both hobbyists and amateur photographers as well.
Bottom Line on Minolta Lenses
If you have subpar gear, then no matter how good your skills are, the results will only be acceptable at best. However, purchasing this equipment doesn’t necessarily mean that you will have to break the bank only to end up with a lens that is not only difficult to use but produces results that could’ve easily been achieved with a less expensive, more reliable lens.
Minolta lenses are all priced appropriately and produce stunning results in a variety of settings. So whether you’re into macro photography, landscapes, portraits, or even bird and sports photography, you can be sure to find an excellent Minolta lens for it.
Check out some of Minolta’s best cameras to go with these amazing lenses!
