Minolta Question.

[jntit]

I took my old Minolta SRT 102. I've got a few lens', all the old MC, nice glass. I'm looking to buy a 135 f2.8 MD, how do I tell if it's the MDl or MDll, and are they the 4/4 setup? I've looked on line and could not find much on how to tell the difference except perhaps the thread size 55mm, 49mm. Sent it out a while ago so now I can use the modern battery. Happy Thanks Giving, John

 

[Old Ears too]

Hey John, are you talking about the 'beer can' lens? I think that's what they referred to it as. I've read that the difference is in the markings on the lens. Think I read about it over on the TalkEmount site. I can't for the life of me remember what the markings were on the good lens though. Something about a 'dot' rather than a 'diamond' marking. You might google that and see what you can come up with.
I've got a 102 as well, but only the 58mm f1.4 lens for it though. That's the camera that I fell in love with way back in '68 or '69. Took me 30 yrs before I got one though as I got side tracked with Nikon when it came to buying one for the family photo's.

 

[jntit]

Thanks for the reply. The "beer can" I believe was the f2 135mm, they are almost a legend and still go for over $1000 today, out of my price range. I've also got the 58mm f1.4 PF, really nice lens. Minolta made some good lens back in the day. I'll check out TalkEmount. Thanks again, John

 

[jntit]

Went over to the TalkEmount site, cool site, still going through it. Thanks for the tip. If you are looking for lenses for the 102, the auction site has a lot for a song, esp the MC series.

 

[Kim G]

I believe the version you are wanting has only 6 diamonds in the rubber focusing ring. At least that is what I found when I was searching for that lens. I ended up with the the bottom 4/4 design on this webpage. I have several Minolta lenses that I use on my Sony A7ll, my last purchase was the 58 1.2 HTH

http://minolta.eazypix.de/lenses/index.html

 

[jntit]

The one you have is the one I'm looking for. Minolta made some nice lenses, but made it kinda difficult to tell the different variations. How do you like the 1.2? Thanks for the response. John

 

[Kim G]

John, I haven't had much time with the 58 1.2, but what I have had it has lived up to the praise it gets and I like it. I would have more time in on it but I received a Zeiss 35 1.4 Distagon ZM and have been playing with that on my Techart Pro. I'll get more time with it now that Thanksgiving is over and all of our guests are gone. I really like the135 2.8 and I'm glad I took the time to find the right version.

 

[jntit]

Beautiful shot, is that with the Zeiss? I'm still looking for the 135 2.8, there a lot of them out there, but not the version I want. I never heard of the Techart Pro. It looks like I may have to come into the digital world.

 

[Kim G]

No, that is with the Minolta 135 2.8. The Techart Pro is an adapter I use on my digital camera that will auto focus old legacy manual focus lenses, such as the Minolta 135 2.8. Film is cheap on a digital!

 

[jntit]

I checked out the Techart pro site, really interesting, but the A7ll & the A7Rll are way out of my budget. I have been looking at the NEX series, with an adapter, which is closer to my budget. The adapters take both the mc & md series. I have a fairly decent collection of Minolta lenses, the best of which are the md 50mm 1.4 & the mc pf 58mm 1.4, a very underrated lens inmo. Sadly film is getting harder to find as is developing. Happy shooting. John

 

[Kim G]

Hey John, the Techart Pro will also work on the A6300, Amazon and Sony have a special deal of 15% off till 12-10 on all models I think. The A6000 gets a lot of respect but it will be manual focus only on the Minoltas with a dumb adapter.. I have the A7ii but the 42 meg A7rii is drool worthy and I'm on the fence with this deal going on right now. I have several Minoltas also and I find that the 50 1.4 is very quick to auto focus with the adapter. Haven't tried my 581.4 yet on the adapter because I have a hard time choosing it over the 58 1.2. The 35-70 3.5 macro worked well with the Techart, and I am wanting to put the 100 2.5 on and give it a spin, another underrated lens.

 

[jntit]

The 58 1.2 will probably, out do the 1.4. I wish that Minolta had brought the 58mm to the md series, better coatings. But they already had a 55mm & 58mm is kind of an odd size in their lineup. I have no real experience or knowledge with digital, except my point & shoot I use for jobs at work. So I'm leaning to the A6000, Manual focus is what I'm use to, so I don't know any better. You have to bring an old guy like me into the future slowly.