Bought this lens for the versatile zoom range. Potrraits, people, urban and for the particular perspective 100-200mm lenes give.
First it served my Dynax/Maxxum 35mm camera. I noticed it's fine construction, straight and simple, the small focus ring was never a issue for me. The authentic Minolta scales gave the lens a nice quality touch.
This lens was reviewed as being a good performer in most reviews and I was quite content, when my first slides arrived from the photo store.
Hereby I give my findings of the lens with the price and age of the lens considered.
First impressions, that turned out to be the overall characteristics of the lens, were its fine contrasts and sharpness, intens in the green and yellow colours, but overall very clear and bright images! It performed very good outdoors in bright light. Overall the lens is a steady performer, due to its fine colour rendition and very little image quiality fall of throughout the zoom range. At 150-200mm a little less contrast and more flare intrusion, but images stay good when stopped down.
The blur/bokeh is just fine and very characteristic, the AF is not very fast, perhaps faster on a 7000i. Flare control is not the best, try to achieve a matching lens hood if possible.
On 35mm film a top lens for the price, but also a competitor for more advanced lenses and the zoom range 100-200mm turns out to be fairly convenient! On my 5Digital the image quality are quite good as well., I was quite impressed of the images it produces on my 5D at the first time.
The good characteristics of the lens can only be more exploited more, due to the numerous image settings of the 5D. However at 150mm to 200mm the same as for the 35mm film. Stop down for better results, at f11 good performance.
overall this lens does cope very well with the digital camera. If you are looking for a budget lens to 200mm I can suggest you consider this lens.
Important note: Be carefull with filters on this lens, especially with polarisers.. It's a pity, but this lens doesn't perform with circulair polarisers very well on my 5D, unless it is a very good one! on mine the AF hesitates all the time and at 150mm to 200mm I get ridiculous blurry images. Best use no fliter, unless it is a grey filter.
Strengths:
- for the money few lenses will outperform this lens
- clear, bright and contrasty images
- little distortion throughout the range
- compatible with digital
Bought this lens for the versatile zoom range. Potrraits, people, urban and for the particular perspective 100-200mm lenes give.
First it served my Dynax/Maxxum 35mm camera. I noticed it's fine construction, straight and simple, the small focus ring was never a issue for me. The authentic Minolta scales gave the lens a nice quality touch.
This lens was reviewed as being a good performer in most reviews and I was quite content, when my first slides arrived from the photo store.
Hereby I give my findings of the lens with the price and age of the lens considered.
First impressions, that turned out to be the overall characteristics of the lens, were its fine contrasts and sharpness, intens in the green and yellow colours, but overall very clear and bright images! It performed very good outdoors in bright light. Overall the lens is a steady performer, due to its fine colour rendition and very little image quiality fall of throughout the zoom range. At 150-200mm a little less contrast and more flare intrusion, but images stay good when stopped down.
The blur/bokeh is just fine and very characteristic, the AF is not very fast, perhaps faster on a 7000i. Flare control is not the best, try to achieve a matching lens hood if possible.
On 35mm film a top lens for the price, but also a competitor for more advanced lenses and the zoom range 100-200mm turns out to be fairly convenient! On my 5Digital the image quality are quite good as well., I was quite impressed of the images it produces on my 5D at the first time.
The good characteristics of the lens can only be more exploited more, due to the numerous image settings of the 5D. However at 150mm to 200mm the same as for the 35mm film. Stop down for better results, at f11 good performance.
overall this lens does cope very well with the digital camera. If you are looking for a budget lens to 200mm I can suggest you consider this lens.
Important note: Be carefull with filters on this lens, especially with polarisers.. It's a pity, but this lens doesn't perform with circulair polarisers very well on my 5D, unless it is a very good one! on mine the AF hesitates all the time and at 150mm to 200mm I get ridiculous blurry images. Best use no fliter, unless it is a grey filter.
Strengths:
- for the money few lenses will outperform this lens
- clear, bright and contrasty images
- little distortion throughout the range
- compatible with digital
I have used this lens as my primary telephoto for 15 years and it has never let me down. I understand it has been discontinued for some time. The lens is lightweight, durable and compact. The fixed f/4.5 aperture is particularly useful when using the lens at 200mm (most teles stop down to 5.6) and while shooting in A-priority (my usual) mode.
On a recent holiday, I got some nice wildlife and surfing shots using this lens. I enlarged several pictures taken at 200mm to 8 x 10 and was quite amazed at the detail and contrast in them. You could count individual whiskers on a tiger's head (he was about 100 feet away) in one enlargement. The colours were rich and vibrant.
My only complaint is that I could've used 300mm on some of my shots, but that was poor planning on my part! (I'm considering replacing this lens with the 100-300 APO)
I've shot sunsets with minimal flare. The supplied clip on lens hood is useful and reverses during storage.
The 100mm end is useful as a portrait lens. The bokeh is fine enough, considering the smaller max. aperture.
Add to this the fact that fortunately, you can still obtain one on ebay for under $100 very easily. It's a real bargain so I give it a 5 for value. Only because of its smaller max. aperture (versus say an f/2.8) and slower AF, I give the lens a 4 for overall rating. But you'd pay a lot more to get that big aperture and HSM motor!
Strengths:
Fixed f/4.5 aperture.
Good solid metal build.
Lightweight and compact.
Low price and readily available used.
49mm filters are cheap and plentiful.
This is a great first telephoto for anyone looking to expand their Maxxum's range.
Weaknesses:
The AF is a bit slow and hunts in lower light.
The smaller max. aperture results in slower shutter speeds in low light.
Rotating front element makes CPL use a bit of a hassle.
CPL use in low light will require a tripod.
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