The most prominent feature of this lens is its weight indeed: with 600g it is the heaviest Minolta macro lens you can find. It is a chubby, hefty lens and it oozes mechanical quality. The matching life-size adapter is aptly provided with a tripod mount, while the adapter for the MD Macro 100/4 successor hasn’t one.
A Minolta MC 135mm lens
My first Minolta MC 135mm lens, this is the oldest of the two MC versions with a rubber-clad focus ring. According to Dennis Lohmann’s lens index it is the optical design with 6 elements in 5 groups; the later version has the 4/4 design in common with the early MD Tele Rokkor 135/2.8 lenses.
The Minolta Rokkor-TC 135mm 1:4
Found this lens last Sunday on the Dutch Fotografica fair. It was priced at € 20, I offered € 15 but the English seller didn’t understand me and said I could have it for 10. Deal struck.
The slowest Minolta 200mm lens
This is a somewhat rare find: a Minolta Tele Rokkor-QE 200mm 1:5. The lens doesn’t have an automatic diaphragm and wide-open it’s only f/5, thus keeping the price lower. It was introduced in 1964 and so it wasn’t Minolta’s first 200mm: in 1960 Minolta brought the more expensive Auto Tele Rokkor-QF 200mm 1:3.5. In the price list shown at Dennis Lohmann’s site the 200/5 is listed for $119.50 vs. $199.50 for the Auto 200/3.5.
Carl Zeiss Tessar 45mm 1:2.8
I bought this one to enhance my options in the 40-50mm range. My ideal standard lens is a bit shorter than 50mm and shows excellent sharpness across the frame at f/8 for landscape pictures. There’s only one other 45mm lens in my line-up, the Minolta MD Rokkor 45mm 1:2 and to be honest, I really don’t like it. Optically it is useable though not stellar, but especially the mechanics put me off: focussing feels plasticky and not at all smooth, even on the rather nice-looking copy I have now. Yuck.
Another Minolta 35mm
Picked up this 35mm Minolta lens which is the second version of the MC 35/2.8 line-up, the one with the hills-and-dales focussing ring. In Dennis Lohmann’s list it is number 72, type MC-II.
Minolta 200mm and 300mm lenses
In my ongoing quest to enhance my Minolta collection I recently acquired two nice telephoto lenses. Continue reading “Minolta 200mm and 300mm lenses”
Asahi S.M.C. Takumar 35mm 1:3.5
This lens was put up for sale together with a Schneider Xenar 135/4.5 at a 5 minute ride from my home. So I bought this Takumar 35mm because I’ve always been curious how these slow 35mm lenses behave: were they just a budget option or do they compensate for their small maximum aperture by providing excellent image quality?
Schneider and Novoflex bellows lenses
Did some acquisitons of late in the category of bellows lenses.
A Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar 135mm 1:4.5 in M39 mount. Its serial number indicates that it was produced around 1960.
Minolta zoom lenses
Last week I was able to acquire the less common version of the Minolta MD Zoom 35-70mm 1:3.5, the plain MD version without the macro setting and a closest focussing distance of 1m, which explains why this version wasn’t very popular: 1m is inconveniently long, especially for use at a 35mm focal length.
