Minolta Auto Tele Rokkor PF 100mm 1:2.0 – AR II – review

Minolta Rokkor PF 100mm 1:2.0 Auto Tele (AR-II) engraved as “Minolta Auto Tele Rokkor-PF 1:2 f=100mm” lens review

  • Official classification: SR
  • Collector’s classification: AR II

This is another lens at the top of the wish list of many photographers and collectors. Photographers are drawn to its speed and portrait focal length, while collectors are drawn to its rarity and some traits which are unusual for Minolta’s products.

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Minolta Rokkor 45mm 1:2.8 TD – review

Minolta Rokkor TD 45mm 1:2.8 pancake engraved as “Minolta Rokkor-TD 1:2.8 f=45mm” lens review

  • Official classification: SR
  • Collector’s classification: AR C or AR II – depends on the opinion of collectors, there are no clear agreements (for me it seems that AR II is more correct but it is not very important thing to argue, both codes have chances to be used)

    The only pancake from Minolta. After this attempt, the company never produced lenses in this form factor again. No one voiced the reason officially, but given the rarity of pancakes among the products of other companies, there is nothing surprising in this.

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

    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.

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    Carl Zeiss Jena 135mm 1:3.5 DDR Sonnar – review

    Carl Zeiss Jena DDR Sonnar 3.5/135 lens review, aka Carl Zeiss Jena 135mm 1:3.5 DDR Sonnar

    Mount – M42

    This lens is out of the zone of my interests, I don’t know much about it, nevertheless, it was interesting to test it and find out what it was capable of. It turned out that everything is very good. Unlike the “second” Zeiss (Western, or FRG), lenses from which are so overpriced that after tests they can even be disappointing, this lens turned out to be much better than I imagined at the beginning.

    The lens for the test was provided by Egor Nikolaev (Егор Николаев) – many thanks and greetings.

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    Minolta MC Rokkor 24mm 1:2.8 VFC – MC-X – review

    Minolta MC VFC Rokkor-X 24mm 1:2.8 (Minolta MC Rokkor 24mm 1:2.8 VFC) – vintage manual lens test and review

    • Official classification: MC
    • Collector’s classification: MC-X

    This is the first lens with unique Ninolta’s know-how – Variable Field Curvature (VFC). The lens is enough rare, probably because just a few photographers need it, but it is very interesting from the collector’s point of view.

    This review doesn’t contain tests of Variable Field Curvature -‘VFC’ feature of this lens. Here you can get information about how this lens works in normal mode.

    The lens for the test was provided by Egor Nikolaev (Егор Николаев) – many thanks and greetings.

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    Meyer Optik Görlitz 50mm 1:1.8 vs. Minolta MD 50mm 1:1.7 – comparison

    Meyer Optik Görlitz 50mm 1:1.8 vs Minolta MD 50mm 1:1.7

    We don’t need to be an oracle to predict Minolta’s victory. But we need to find out how much Meyer-Optik Goerlitz will lose. In terms of IQ of course, this comparison is not about bokeh, feelings, and other esoteric materials.

    Meyer-Optik Goerlitz 50mm 1:1.8 for the test was provided by Egor Nikolaev (Егор Николаев) – many thanks and greetings.
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    Meyer-Optik Gorlitz 50mm 1:1.8 Oreston – review

    Meyer-Optik Gorlitz 1.8/50 Oreston lens review (Meyer-Optik Gorlitz 50mm 1:1.8 Oreston)

    Mount – M42

    This lens is far beyond my interests, I don’t know anything about it, except that some photographers call it as “bokeh-monster”, so instead of the usual short introduction and a little story about the history of the lens, I’ll just leave a link to the wiki.

    The lens for the test was provided by Egor Nikolaev (Егор Николаев) – many thanks and greetings.

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    Minolta MD 70-210mm 1:4.0 Zoom – review

    Minolta MD 70-210mm 1:4.0 Zoom lens review

    • Official classification: New-MD
    • Collector’s classification: MD III

    This is a manual-focus version of  “Beercan” – one of the famous lenses of Minolta. A rare case when the description is worth starting with the mention of another younger lens because everyone knows a “Beercan.” It’s enough to say that this is “beercan without autofocus” and everyone immediately understands what it is about. It is believed that the optical properties of the lens weren’t changed when autofocus appeared, but a small probability still remains, therefore I’ll clarify – the review is about MD, not about Alpha.

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