Minolta MD Rokkor 50mm 1:1.2 – MDII – review

Published by Tony on 2022-06-262022-06-26

Minolta MD Rokkor 50mm 1:1.2 lens review

• Official classification: MD/New-MD
• Collector’s classification: MD-II

Ladies and Gentlemen! If you are even a little fond of photography, then this lens should be put on your camera, and only sometimes change to some other lenses. OK, it is a joke. I am by no means going to insist on such radical advice. The choice of lens is a personal matter for everyone. It’s just that this particular lens is really a great option among other ultra-fast models.

Lens specifications:

Historical note

This lens has no predecessors, it doesn’t even have an MD-I version, and appeared already in the form of MD-II. Yes, in the past Minolta released Rokkor MC PG 58mm 1:1.2, but there is nothing in common between these two lenses except speed.

The reviewed Rokkor lens was borne in 1978 and replaced by the next MD-III incarnation in 1981. Total production estimates – about 25000 copies.

Minolta MD Rokkor 50mm 1:1.2 lens exterior

Minolta MD Rokkor 50mm 1:1.2 mounted on camera Minolta XD

A quite authentic set – the camera and lens could be purchased at the same time

Minolta MD Rokkor 50mm 1:1.2 sharpness

Сlose-distance resolution test, minimal distance

Testing methods description

• Target: 10-15 cm picture, printed on glossy photo paper
• Distance: 1.7m
• Camera: Sony A7II (24mpx, full-frame, tripod, remote control). M-mode, ISO fixed, WB fixed, SteadyShot – OFF.
• The test was repeated for every F-stop on every focus position with manual focus adjustment for each shot. That is to avoid the effect of field curvature.
• RAW processing: Capture One, default settings. All quality settings – 100%. Crops – 300×200 px

Original target image (printed in horizontal orientation on 10cm X 15cm glossy photo paper)

Scene preview

Test results

Long-distance resolution test

Testing methods description

• Target: cityscape
• Distance: > 200 meters to center focus point
• Camera: Sony A7II (24mpx, full-frame, tripod, remote control). M-mode, ISO fixed, WB fixed, SteadyShot – OFF. The focus point is on the center only.
• RAW processing: Capture One, default settings. All quality settings – 100%. Crops – 300×200 px

Scene preview

Test results

Minolta MD Rokkor 50mm 1:1.2 aberrations

Vignetting

Geometric distortion

Coma aberrations

Chromatic aberrations

Long-distance bokeh

Test #1

Test conditions: the lens was focused on minimal distance on the scale (0.5m), buildings are on “infinity”-distance.

Test#2:

Test conditions: lens was focused on 1.0m

Light bubbles bokeh – long distance

Test #1

The lens is on the minimal focusing distance 0.5m, lights are on infinity (cityscape)

Test #2

Test conditions: lens was focused on 1.0m

Minolta MD Rokkor 50mm 1:1.2 – final conclusion

Let me go straight to the positives. The lens is small and light for its parameters. This, by the way, feels good after 58mm 1.2. It has good sharpness at F2, and it becomes completely sharp across the entire field of the frame at F5.6. Quite a common result, even for lenses from the 1950-s. But I’ll clarify – you can shoot without worrying already starting from F2, a completely working aperture.
As for F1.2, be sure to experiment with portraits. I insist, because I myself have ceased to be afraid to use it at all – yes, there is a slight loss of contrast, but this is not a problem subject to subsequent digital processing. If to exclude softness, the lens keeps details very well even on F1.2.
The second plus, no longer so obvious, is related to bokeh. The lens gives an absolutely Gaussian bokeh on wide aperture, but at F2-F4 it starts to look like it was painted with oil paints – some kind of brushstroke appear. I think it’s because the lens has 6 aperture blades and it doesn’t draw a usual circle but straight lines at different angles like brush strokes. Yes, I know that talking about bokeh is not a very good form, because only those who want to think about bokeh think about it. But in the case of such lenses, this can begin to play a noticeable role in the frame, even for the average viewer.

The lens also has disadvantages. They are all expected. I was even too lazy to do some tests, because the results were predictable in advance. Firstly, geometric distortions are slightly larger than lenses with f1.4 aperture (which, in turn, are inferior in this parameter to slower f1.7, and so on). This is not critical, yes, the barrel is noticeable but can be fixed in editors. Also noticeable is strong vignetting and chromatic aberration at F1.2. They are also corrected in the editor, but still this cannot be ignored.

Am I ready to recommend this lens? Yes, without a doubt. By optical design, the Rokkor MD-II version and the MD-III version without the word Rokkor are the same, so choose whichever you like.