This lens was introduced in 1979 and was in production till 1981, when Minolta updated it to its last version with orange lettering instead of green and aperture lock. Optical formula stays the same.
Lens is small and light with good build quality (much better than any new kit lens anyway), 220g, with a filter size of 49mm. It has 7 elements in 6 groups and 6 blades aperture. Minimum focus distance is set to 0.45cm.
Handling the lens on NEX is very pleasant, it is well balanced and focus ring turns smoothly. Aperture ring on my sample has some wobbling, but not a big problem.
Lens and Camera:
Following test shows lens character, color, contrast and out of focus rendition at most apertures. Focusing was at the focus target next to the doll in front. That should be aligned with the dolls right eye in terms of focus plane. Shot from tripod with remote, ISO 100, NEX 7, RAW developed in LR 3.6 with standard settings, exported for downsizing in Photoshop. No other corrections applied.
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| Sony NEX 7 + Minolta Rokkor MD 50mm f1.4 at f1.4 |
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| Sony NEX 7 + Minolta Rokkor MD 50mm f1.4 at f2 |
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| Sony NEX 7 + Minolta Rokkor MD 50mm f1.4 at f2.8 |
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| Sony NEX 7 + Minolta Rokkor MD 50mm f1.4 at f5.6 |
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| Sony NEX 7 + Minolta Rokkor MD 50mm f1.4 at f8 |
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| Sony NEX 7 + Minolta Rokkor MD 50mm f1.4 at f11 |
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| Sony NEX 7 + Minolta Rokkor MD 50mm f1.4 at f16 |
Here are 100% crops of the focus plane area.
This Minolta is not the sharpest lens that I tested so far, but it performs well. Typical is softness wide open that improves at f2 already, and reach the peak performance at f5.6. Lens manage diffraction quite well even at higher apertures, which makes him suitable for the landscape photography.
Resolution chart is shown bellow with respectful 100 crops.
Minolta MD 50 f1.4 shows very even sharpness across the target. Of course corners are softer, but still better than many other tested lenses so far. Vignetting seems to be also very good controlled on APS-C and there is no significant yellowish cast in the corners that shows up with most of other lenses.
Good corner performance was proofed also in the field test at longer distance.
As with all so far tested 50mm lenses, distortion is negligible.
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| Sony NEX 7 + Minolta Rokkor MD 50mm f1.4 at f5.6 |
Here are couple of portraits in a natural light without flash.
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| Nex 7 + Minolta MD Rokkor 50mm f1.4 at f1.4 |
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| Nex 7 + Minolta MD Rokkor 50mm f1.4 at f2.8 |
Colors are rich and saturated and contrast is good even wide open. If the slight softness wide open doesn't bother you, it can be nice portrait lens on APS-C. I would however suggest to use it at f2.8 or f4 for portraits.
Bokeh:
Minolta shows very nice rendering of out of focus areas. It still doesn't beat my so far favourite Yashinon DX 50 f1.7, but it is very close. Even at f4 Bokeh remains smooth and pleasant.
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| Nex 7 + Minolta MD Rokkor 50mm f1.4 at f1.4 |
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| Nex 7 + Minolta MD Rokkor 50mm f1.4 at f4 |
I believe, that due to very good corner performance, together with nice color rendition and good overall sharpness at f5.6 and f8 (for an old lens), Minolta will give its best in the landscape, cityscape or reproduction department.
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| Sony NEX 7 + Minolta Rokkor 50mm f1.4 at f5.6 |
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| Sony NEX 7 + Minolta Rokkor 50mm f1.4 at f8 |
Conclusion:
Minolta MD 50 f1.4 is a very solid performer. It doesn't come above the others in any department, but it shows impressive overall performance, and therefore can be recommended as an all around alternative to the native mounts. With its reasonable price today, it is certainly very good choice.
Good corner performance was proofed also in the field test at longer distance.
Thank you very much for publishing this thorough test, which was interesting and useful. I have exactly the same version of the lens, together with copies of 24mm f2.8 and 35mm f2.8 MD Rokkors respectively. I've attached them all to Panasonic G-series cameras, but would prefer a somewhat larger sensor to do greater justice to them and provide more usable focal lengths. To be honest, I find Sony cameras hard to love, but perhaps the results would win me over in the end.
ReplyDeleteThere are also other alternatives: FujiX, Samsung.
DeleteI use a fuji X-E1 with a Lens Turbo adapter - it works amazing with my minoltas 45/2 58/1.4 135/2.8. Not to good at wider angles, because that adapter introduces a strong field curvature (35, 28 is only usable in the center, wider than F/5.6 - 8).
However the metabones adapter should be much better.
Great that you have Minolta. It is a nice lens. To be honest, I also have hard time to love Sony cameras recently, but my reasons probably differ. I am very angry on the trend to make software corrections (mainly lens) "hard coded" to the RAW files. It is a dirty marketing behind this new trend, and I always hate to be part of it. But I am afraid that Panasonic, behave the same, and Olympus is joining the game too.
ReplyDeleteI am seriously considering to switch back to film, until this stupidity (if ever) ends.
very nice review!!! thanks for this!
ReplyDeleteGreat review! I just got the same lens and love it! Using it with a Sony NEX 6 is a breeze.
ReplyDeleteGreat review, thanks for sharing. Can this lens be used on a Nikon D90/D800, either with an adapter?
ReplyDeleteHi, thank you for reading. Unfortunately Nikon mount has one of the longest flange distances (distance from camera mount ring (or rear of the lens) to the sensor (film plane))
ReplyDeleteBecause of that, there is only few 35mm systems that can be adapted for Nikon, one of those being Leica R (but mount needs to be replaced).
There are of course adapters that will allow you to use Minolta MD lens on Nikon cameras, but it will either not be possible to focus to infinity, or adapter will contain corrective optics and those usually significantly affect image quality.
But Nikon mount has one advantage too. It is compatible with most Nikon lenses ever made for 35mm SLR cameras, and there are many great old lenses for the system too. I have very nice Nikkor 50 f/1.4 SC (single coated) lens, that will be comparable with this Rokkor. There are newer 50mm f/1.4 Ai-S lenses with multi-coating, that are one of the best standard lenses but rather expensive.
Cheers, Viktor