Razor sharpt, contrast, built-in lens hood, fast AF, bokeh.

None

I have used this lens for portrait and outdoor photography. Razor sharp, bokeh is outstanding and, yes, it is built like a tank ! I am so impressed with my prime lens (135mm, 50mm) that I am replacing my cheap zooms lens with a bunch of used high quality prime lens. More troublesome to use, but well worth the extra effort.

Customer Service

Never needed with my Minolta equipment

Similar Products Used:

Minolta 50mm 1.4 AF; Sigma 70-210 UCII zoom.

Build like a tank. Used it in all weather conditions without problems, banged (not on the glass) around plenty and still going strong. Internal focussing without rotating front element, which is pretty fast also. Optically tack-sharp even wide open, colour rendition is also pretty good. close focusing distance no way near macro, but good enough for frame filling faces of models.

It's a prime, which comes at the cost of little flexibility, in other words: having to switch lenses. The single strange thing I had a couple of times is that at in 3 to 5 shots (out of about 500) the bokeh looks remarkably akward, a bit cluttered. Might have been the shooting conditions as with the rest of the shots its fine.

First let me say that the version I got looks different than the image on this site! (maybe the image is a MF variant?). Great lens, bought it primarily for shooting models. It's raisor sharp in my opinion (great for 40x50cm enlargements), pretty fast at 2.8 and still sharp wide open. The build in lens hood is convinient, and have not experienced any flare (even in flare-prone angles / light / conditions)Great lens for portraits and full-body portraits, giving moderate background compression. Dont pass this lens if you can get it at a decent price. I have found mine was a true bargain, great optics at a small price.

Customer Service

Never needed it and seems unlikely ever to need it.

Similar Products Used:

minolta AF 50 1.7, 75-300 minolta, minolta 28-80