Minolta autofocus lenses (35mm) - what is really good?

[Pigeon]

Greetings all... looking for some guidance on upgrading my lens

I am given to understand that of the lenses available for my camera, there are one or two unexpected "star performers" which are not easily distinguished from other significantly less good lenses of apparently similar spec from the same manufacturers, unless you know EXACTLY the right part numbers, ie. looking for a Bloggs 35-100 zoom is not good enough, because there are several Bloggs lenses of that zoom range or similar, but only the Bloggs XZR is a really good one and the rest are mediocre.

Camera is a Minolta Dynax 505si 35mm SLR - no I'm not digital It has 8 contacts in the lens mount.

Current lens is a Tamron 28-200 zoom, which has only 5 contacts. I got this because it covers the required range of focal lengths without the need to carry more than one lens. It's not brilliant though - not that I'd expect complete brilliance from anything with such a large zoom range - suffers from vignetting on longer focal length settings and is not as sharp as it might be.

I need to cover the same range of focal lengths - 28 to 200 - although 35 to 150 would be acceptable - preferably with no more than two zoom lenses, and of course want them to be as sharp as possible.

I also want a fixed focus lens of 85mm or thereabouts, again as sharp as possible.

Good performance with autofocus is essential - and is one area where the current lens falls a bit short - the combination of the plain focussing screen this camera has and the fact that I wear specs makes it more or less impossible for me to either focus manually or to see if the autofocus hasn't got it quite right, and this is a pain in the arse. Changing the focussing screen for a prismatic one is not an option because again the specs screw up the optics so even if it looks focussed it's not. Having shots which I can't readily go back and take again come out out of focus because I can't see that they're not spot on focussed when I take them is... really annoying, shall we say

I'm not necessarily looking for new lenses, so please don't feel obliged to stick to models which are in current production; I'm happy to look round second hand shops or even ebay for good-condition second hand lenses, and indeed with it being a 35mm camera rather than digital this will probably give me a far better selection anyway.

I'm going to the Lake District in about a month so would like to have been able to sort something out by then

TIA...

[sgrimshaw]

You don't mention a budget however, if you don't have one already one lens every Minolta/Sony user should have is the Minolta 70-210 F4 known as the "beercan". There are several 70-210 Minolta zooms, but only one with constant F4 - that's the one you need.

You can get them on ebay, example here : http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Minolta-AF-70-210-f4-Lens-Bo...

Mine cost me under £60 last year, incredible value!

This is a very respected lens, solidly built with great performance. It's often thoght of as one of the best non-G Minolta lenses. At ebay prices, it's a total no-brainer.

For more lens advice, check out the Minolta SLR and Sony SLR forums on www.dpreview.com (lens advice is valid for both Film and Digital).

There is a lens review database on www.dyxum.com .

Take the opportunity to get some cheap Minolta mount glass secondhand while you can ..... Sony has a whole list of cameras to be launched, they are clearly serious about the Digital SLR marketplace.

When/if you move to digital you'll have a good collection of glass that'll all work with the new Sony Alpha ranges.

BTW - if your staying with film for a while, the secondhand prices of Minolta Film SLR's on ebay are virtually at give away prices if you fancy a second (or third) body.

I'll post more on lenses later. If you can indicate a budget it will help.

Simon

Edited by sgrimshaw on Thursday 31st January 08:54

[VxDuncan]

In fact I'd consider looking on ebay for someone selling up - ie a few minolta lenses and a second body. Found this with nikons on ebay, often if it's not listed correctly it goes for cheaper the len of the lenses on its own.

[Gemm]

Obviously this depends on your budget but Minolta 70-200 f2.8 APO G is an excellent lens.

As for 85mm or thereabouts, their 100mm f2.8 macro is brilliant.

Edited by Gemm on Thursday 31st January 10:49

[Pigeon]

Cheers all, some useful stuff here

Budget... well I'm a bit out of touch in terms of knowing what goes for what, if you see what I mean, in knowing what to allocate as a realistic amount. I paid £100 for the existing lens (second hand) but that was in 2003 and no doubt things have moved since then... probably downwards, given digitalisation so I guess I could get something pretty good for that now?

On that lens review forum one of the first things I happened across was an 85mm autofocus Zeiss lens and I made a mess in my trousers Big bucks of course but unlike the zooms I'm not looking to acquire that size in time for the Lake District, that can wait a bit longer while I get some more money together, so I think we can regard that one as a closed question now, and think only of the zooms, at more affordable prices... Some useful suggestions for the longer focal lengths, so I'm now thinking about 35-100 or thereabouts for the shorter half of the range.

As regards film vs. digital, yes I can see myself sticking with film for the foreseeable future... I just like it I might end up getting a cheapie digital camera for stuff like (a) experimenting with composition and (b) taking pictures of bits of cars for purposes of pictorial assistance with forum discussions, but I'll stick with film for "serious" stuff.