The Minolta MD 28mm f/2.8 - a steal of a deal with potential

In my research on cheap wide-angle lenses, I immediately hit the excellent lenses of Minolta. Meanwhile many lenses of Minolta are not at all so cheap to get. Prices for used lenses have increased fivefold over the past three years. Okay, these prices are required by online-merchants on platforms, such as eBay. But only a few will be able to sell the lenses for this price. If you buy your lenses in real life, for example in small photographic shops or in online forums, you can still make bargains. 

As many well-known manufacturers, Minolta has produced very different lenses. There are any optical and mechanic masterpieces astonishingly sold under the label Leica or Hasselblad.  

So we find in the portfolio of Minolta very expensive lenses, such as the Rokkor 58 / 1.2 or the 85 / 2.0, on the other hand also some cheap bargains, such as my specimen of a Minolta MD 28mm f / 2.8.

I bought the five-lens system, which had been built since 1983, for forty euros. This lens is supposed to be the worse of the two versions with 28mm when one can believe the sources on the Internet.

The older 7-lens in seven groups is widely praised. Unfortunately I do not know from my own experience the two in-house competitors: the Minolta MD 28mm f / 2.0 and the Rokkor 28mm f / 3.5. Such a comparison with similar motives would certainly be very interesting. Perhaps there is such a possibility in the near future.

At the moment, I have some 28mm lenses at home to make a comparison. 

But let us first come to the statistics:

Focal Length: 28mm (prime-lens)

• Aperture Maximum: f/2.8

• Aperture Minimum: f/22

• Camera Mount Type: Minolta SR (MC/MD)

• Format Compatibility: 35mm SLR/DSLR

• Minimum Focus Distance: 0.3m

• Elements/Groups: 5/5

• Diaphragm Blades: 6

• Filter Thread: 49mm

• Dimensions: 64.5 x 43.5mm

• Weight: 180g
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• The lens is very compact, well balanced and synonymous with the adapter on my Sony a6000 pleasant to use. It is solidly made of metal and high-quality plastic, the mechanism works perfectly. The focus ring can be moved smoothly and precisely. The aperture ring snaps on accurate and well audible. After some practice, you can easily operate the aperture ring without eye contact.

• So for the haptics, there is a thumbs up from me.

Let's go to the picture quality.  When the aperture is wide open, the result in the center of the image is quite sharp, but it drops clearly towards the edges. Stopped down to 3,5 or 4,0 brings a significant improvement at the edges of the image. Contrast and resolution are then significantly better. This does not mean you can not use the lens with open aperture. The sharpness is really good for smaller prints up to 30 x 40cm. But there are much better lenses with aperture 2.8, for example my Sigma mini-wide II 28mm f / 2.8 or the Nikon 28mm f / 2.8 AiS.

The bokeh is rather restless, no wonder with only six diaphragm blades. In case of backlight, the sensitivity of the Minolta 28mm is good-natured. There are distinct flares and color fringing on the contrast edges. A little stopped down and everything will be fine.

Sony a6000 with Minolta MD 28mm f/2.8 at f/2.8, 1/80s, ISO 100

Sony a6000 with Minolta MD 28mm f/2.8 at f/4.0, 1/80s, ISO 100

At all, it seems to me that the open-aperture-performance of the old lenses is too much valued. Lightly stopped down many of these old treasures are really good and a inexpensive alternative to the modern hightech optics. The microcontrast and the resolution of the old lenses are sometimes really impressive, if you stop down one or two steps. 

Here again is an impression of the sharpness at open aperture, the lower picture is a 100% crop of the upper photo:

Sony a6000 with Minolta MD 28mm f/2.8 at f/2.8, 1/1000s, ISO 100

Sony a6000 with Minolta MD 28mm f/2.8 at f/2.8, 1/1000s, ISO 100 (100% crop from photo above)

Let's summarize:

The Minolta delivers good to very good picture quality even with the aperture open. The contrast is better when you stopped down. This piece is light and compact and mechanically almost unbreakable. It is not the total highlight but a solid and recommendable performer.  If you can buy it cheap, then take it. More than 40 to 45 euros I would not pay for it.  

Finally, a few pictures and (little) crops, which I shot in the last few weeks with the Minolta MD 28mm f/2.8:

Sony a6000 with Minolta MD 28mm f/2.8 at f/5.6, 1/500s, ISO 100

Sony a6000 with Minolta MD 28mm f/2.8 at f/4.0, 1/640s, ISO 100

Sony a6000 with Minolta MD 28mm f/2.8 at f/4.0, 1/160s, EVB -2.0, ISO 100

Sony a6000 with Minolta MD 28mm f/2.8 at f/2.8, 1/800s, EBV 4.0, ISO 100

Sony a6000 with Minolta MD 28mm f/2.8 at f/3.5, 1/60s, EBV - 2,3, ISO 640

Sony a6000 with Minolta MD 28mm f/2.8 at f/4.0, 1/100s, EBV 1,3, ISO 100

Sony a6000 with Minolta MD 28mm f/2.8 at f/4.0, 1/60s, EBV -0,5, ISO 125

Sony a6000 with Minolta MD 28mm f/2.8 at f/2.8, 1/60s, EBV 0,3, ISO 100

Sony a6000 with Minolta MD 28mm f/2.8 at f/4.0, 1/40s, EBV 0,3, ISO 100

Sony a6000 with Minolta MD 28mm f/2.8 at f/4.0, 1/200s, EBV 2,7, ISO 100 (compare with the photo of Porst 35mm f/2.8)

Sony a6000 with Minolta MD 28mm f/2.8 at 2.8, 1/2500s, EBV 5,8, ISO 100

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Happy new year 2017!

Sony a6000 with Voigtländer 21mm f/4.0 at f/8.0, 25s, ISO 100

The Porst Weitwinkel auto F 35mm f/2.8 - not really a burner

Porst, like Revue, was not a camera maker, but Germany's largest photographic studio, where everything began with a small photo business in 1919. Porst was also strongly represented in the mail-order business. Porst was produced by various manufacturers at home and abroad. Strongly represented here were also cameras from the GDR and the USSR. After the bankruptcy in 2002 the name came to the Ringfoto group.

Which company the Porst wide angle 35mm f / 2.8 originally manufactured, unfortunately can not be verified. Probably it was Cosina or Yashica.  I have at home a Yashica 35mm f / 2.8, which looks very similar to the Porst lens.  However, the two lenses are distinguished by some essential details: the Yashica's close-up limit is very good 35 cm, and the Porst is only 50 cm. The optical performance is also very different. While the Yashica has an excellent sharpness at open-aperture, the Porst is rather milky and slightly blurred. Really sharp the Porst is actually only from aperture 4.0, at least in the center of the photo.
The Porst Weitwinkelauto F 35mm f/2.8 (left) and the Yashica ML 35mm f/2.8 (right):

Specifications:

M42-mount and Pentax K-Mount. My specimen is an M-42 mounted lens.
Focal length: 35mm (Prime-lens)
Max./Min. aperture f/2.8- f/22
Blades 6
Min. Focus 0,5m
Filter Ø  55mm
Weight  210gr. / 7,4 oz
Length  60mm / 2,4 in

The haptics of the Porst is, as with all old lenses, very good. Everything is made of metal and can be moved easily and smoothly. Since the M42 adapter is very wide, the combination of camera and lens considerably increases. Nevertheless, you can handle the camera with the lens still well.
As already written, the Porst 35mm f/2.8 with aperture is very soft and you has dear distress to adjust the right sharpness. Even if the focus peaking to the highest level, you must turn long and try until the sharpness is correct. So I know a behavior only from my Makinon - cucumber.  If you stopped down, for example to aperture 4.0, the sharpness and the picture contrast will be better.
If you can take a lot of time and patience for a photo, then sometimes sharp shots can be achieved even with open aperture.

Sony a6000 with Porst 35mm f/2.8 at f/2.8, 1/125s, ISO 100

Sony a6000 with Porst 35mm f/2.8 at f/2.8, 1/60s, ISO 100

Farther stopped down of the lens brings in my opinion no improvement of the picture quality. On the contrary, from aperture 11 the photos become considerably blurred and milky by diffraction losses.
When the aperture is open, the lens is quite sensitive to light. The photography is then over-radiated and pale. Lightly stopped down to f/2.8 or f/4.0  is helpful.

Sony a6000 with Porst 35mm f/2.8 at f/2.8, 1/2000s, ISO 100

Let's summarize: the lens has an excellent construction of full metal, is very well balanced and can be used well. The image quality is poor with open aperture. Stopped down to f/4.0 you can expect a good sharpness and contrast. For obscure reasons it is difficult for the user - even with focus peaking - to adjust the correct sharpness.  Sometimes it succeeds, but often you have to turn and turn around the focus ring before the picture is satisfactory.  Such a strange lens as this Porst I had never in my hands. The picture quality varies between completely creepy to super great.

Sony a6000 with Porst 35mm f/2.8 at f/2.8, 1/320s, ISO 100

Sony a6000 with Porst 35mm f/2.8 at f/2.8, 1/320s, ISO 100 (100% Crop from photo above)

What should I finally recommend? I dont know. Probably it depends on which specimen you just get caught. The manufacturing quality seems to be very variable. Just try before buying it and buy it only if the picture quality is right away.
Here are some photos that I shot in the last days.

Sony a6000 with Porst 35mm f/2.8 at f/5.6, 1/160s, ISO 100

Sony a6000 with Porst 35mm f/2.8 at f/6.3, 1/200s, ISO 100

Sony a6000 with Porst 35mm f/2.8 at f/4.0, 1/200s, ISO 100

Sony a6000 with Porst 35mm f/2.8 at f/8.0, 1/160s, ISO 100

Sony a6000 with Porst 35mm f/2.8 at f/4.0, 1/60s, ISO 125

Sony a6000 with Porst 35mm f/2.8 at f/4.0, 1/60s, ISO 100

Sony a6000 with Porst 35mm f/2.8 at f/4.0, 1/500s, ISO 100

Sony a6000 with Porst 35mm f/2.8 at f/6.3, 1/640s, ISO 100

Fujimoto E-Lucky 38mm f/2.8 - A simple and cheap enlarging lens

Fujimoto is a Japanese company that made cameras at some time and currently makes enlargers and other equipment. Fujimoto was founded in Osaka in 1913 by Fujimoto Tōjirō. In 1935, the production of enlargers began under the brand "Lucky" and it still continues today. These enlarging lenses were used for 4x5" oder 6x6" Magnifiers (the most famous device was for years the "450M-D") in photo darkrooms.

Here are a few technical data:

Focal length: 38mm
Apertures: 2.8 up to 16
Maximum diameter: 40mm
Length: 30mm (with thread, M42-mount)
Weight: ca. 80 gr.
The Lens has no focal ring.

I bought this magnifying glass from pure curiosity. Once it was very cheap - only 10, - Euro and for the second it had an M39 thread, like most magnifying lenses. An old Leitz bellows I had already from my Leica-Visoflex in the closet. The bellows is from the thirties of the last century and still uses a 3/8 "female thread. A modern camera does not fit. Most photo cameras use 1/4 "thread as a tripod thread. So I removed the old fixing screw with an iron saw and inserted an M6 screw. Now everything fit. Only a spacer of cardboard for the camera mount and I could try the magnifying lens.

First the bad news: the enlarging lens was built for a darkroom, that is, it can tolerate direct or indirect light. Even heavily stopped down to aperture 8 or aperture 11, the images become contrastless and fuzzy.

Sony NEX-3N with Fujimoto E-Lucky 38mm f/2.8 at 2.8, 1/30s, ISO 200

Sony NEX-3N with Fujimoto E-Lucky 38mm f/2.8 at f/8.0, 1/13s, ISO 200

However, the images are very sharp right from the start, at least in the center of the image. Here is a photo at open aperture f/2.8 and a 100% cut. I have focused on the eyes of the dragon.

This enlarging glass is not suitable for daily shooting. The combination of lens, bellows and camera is simply too big and heavy. You can not just put it all into the photo bag and go.
The main area of application is certainly macro photography. Rather less outdoors, because in the studio. You can reach enlargements up to 4: 1. This is significantly more than the best macro lens to perform. Now I admit that I am not a good macro photographer. I do not have the necessary peace and patience until finally the longed-for motive finds itself.
Nevertheless, I have tried with simple means to show what enormous abilities the Fujimoto magnifying glass actually has. Here is an example with a 2 cent piece. Is amazing how great the coin can be enlarged, right?

The used 38mm lens is actually a little too short for macro photography with the help of a bellows. Better would be focal lengths of at least 70 to 100mm. If such a glass is offered to me, I dare to try a second experiment with the same arrangement.
Until then I stay with "normal" lenses. At the moment I have a Minolta MD 28mm f/2.8 and an old Porst 35mm f/2.8 on my desk. The next time I will look at it closely and introduce myself on the blog.
Also in the future, I am always looking for inexpensive old lenses that sometimes deliver amazing performance. Until then, stay curious.
To all my readers, I wish you a merry Christmas.

Sony NEX-3N with Fujimoto E-Lucky38mm f/2.8 at f/8.0, 1/60s, ISO 200