Very sharp images, light weight, meters well with flash.

Silver finish has a tendency to scratch easily, but I am not very gentle with my stuff any way.

I bought this lens off ebay for $26.00 and did not expect a whole lot, but I am really pleased. The lens is very sharp and delivers great results even at full telephoto which is 450mm on my Sony A200 with a 1.5 crop. I shoot a lot of tennis and this has proven to be my go to lens. The only time I use my short lens now is for awards pictures.

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 70-300mm, Tamron 70-300mm, Tamron 28-200m

* Lightweight * Cheap for the coverage * Good Optics for the price range * Has a Metal Mount - unusual among the recent plastic lenses, and a definite plus for durability * Uses the same 55mm Filters as a few shorter lenses I have, so I didn't have to add an extra set of specialty filters

* It is front-end heavy - which a Maxxum 7 counterbalances nicely, but you may notice it with a lighter camera * Front element is virtually flush with the front end - so a protective filter is a must (which using a UV filter as protector is a good idea with ANY lens)

Got this as a Refurb. They run $169 or less New. This is 'kit lens' territory, where the emphasis is on keeping it cheap. Minolta appears to deliver decent optical quality while doing so. Have tested it so far only on the Maxxum 7, on which it does fine. Your performance may vary, depending on your camera's sensor capabilities. Focusing is pretty quick below 200mm - right in there with my classic 70-210, which is a fairly fast focuser. Between 200 and 300, it will 'hunt' some and fail to lock at times - but this is a characteristic limitation of the AF system, so we shouldn't fault the lens itself. Expands to fully twice its basic length, in zooming from 75 to 300. With the fairly deep lenshood (included) attached, it can be 'a long little doggie' indeed.

Customer Service

Have never needed it with Minolta.

Similar Products Used:

Several Minolta lenses - including two immediate cousins, the 28-100 D and the 35-80 II.