Konica Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7N Maxxum 35mm Primes
Konica Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7N Maxxum 35mm Primes
USER REVIEWS
[Nov 03, 2006]
cr_mmurillo
Beginner
Strength:
Sharp and nice depth of field.
Weakness:
None. This lens is real nice and sharp. I bought this lens used and age has not affect the quality of it. It's well built. This is no longer made, but if you can get you hands on it do so. Great for low light shots. This definitely good for church photography since it's dark. |
[Jan 01, 2006]
willscary
Casual
Strength:
Sharpness, color, performance with step up ring and larger screw in hood
Weakness:
my hood combination makes using a polarizer a touch challenging, but I am more than willing to put up with this minor inconvenience I bought this lens on ebay because it was cheap. I sold or gave away 3 zoom lenses because it was SO good. This lens convinced me to change from a few zoom lenses to all prime lenses. It is extremely sharp and contrasty. Color rendition is outstanding. Flare is excellent and there is no vignetting (of course, I do not use the built in hood...I use a 49mm to 55mm step up ring and a screw on lens hood which is about 2 times as long as the built in one, and it is a matte finish metal). I briefly considered making the f/1.4 version my 50mm lens because it is about the same size and weighs only slightly more. When I tried the f/1.4, it was pretty much a wash in all areas except that the f/1.7 was MUCH faster focusing and the f/1.4 was, well, a half stop faster. I did not want to pay 4 times as much for the f/1.4, so I kept the f/1.7 and the money saved paid for 1/2 of the Maxxum 100mm f/2.8 macro. Customer Service none needed Similar Products Used: Minolta Maxxum primes and zooms, Sigma and Tamron zooms, Pentax manual focus primes |
[Sep 15, 2005]
dre_2ooo
Intermediate
Strength:
-compact, lightweight -solid metal build -optical quality -built in lens hood -non-rotating front element -wide aperture -price -lightning fast autofocus -great background blurring (bokeh) effect
Weakness:
none This is an incredible lens at an incredible price. Extremely sharp and contrasty. If you want specifications on this, or any other Minolta lens, I recommend http://www.mhohner.de/minolta/lenses.php Similar Products Used: Minolta 28-80 (TERRIBLE) Minolta 28-105 (Very Good) Minolta 70-210mm f/4 (Good-Great) |
[May 18, 2005]
simedarby
Intermediate
Strength:
Sharp, even wide open at F1.7 Good colour saturation Versatile Very light Excellent use for indoor
Weakness:
The hood is not well design Manual focus could be tough, the manual ring is a little too narrow to operate Spiky depth of field when shoot outdoor It's a basic lens that impressed me with its sharpness and clarity. The colour is well saturated and it would be a very nice lens for indoor portrait. Hook up a 2x tele and you have a 100mm F3.5 (or 150mm with 1.5 crop factor on Dynax 7D). I can even turn this little lens into a macro lens with an extention tube, able to shot close to 1:4 magnification. With the price i paid, i can never ask for anything else. Customer Service Never did. Similar Products Used: Minolta 28-80 Minolta 85mm F1.4 |
[Aug 31, 2003]
Alessandro
Intermediate
Strength:
Sharp, contrast, inexpensive
Weakness:
Not a good flare control, construction not very good Very sharp and very good contrast. Good at 1.7 (for this value) and a razor between 5.6 and 11. It's inexpensive and compact. Customer Service Not nedeed Similar Products Used: Minolta AF lenses (28-80 3.5/5.6 D ; 135 f/2.8) |
[Jul 03, 2003]
annapoal
Intermediate
Strength:
Fast Sharp stepped down. Light Great color and contrast.
Weakness:
Not so sharp wide open. Very shallow deaph of field wide open can also be a plus. Poor bokeh. Capable of producing very sharp images with great color and contrast. got it for available light. Customer Service Not needed on this product but great on another. Similar Products Used: Pentax 55 f/2 |
[Mar 25, 2003]
wrayburn
Casual
Strength:
- Sharp, - sees what I see - extremely cheap - Fast
Weakness:
None Oh boy, what a lens. Basically I concur with other reviews here - it is a fantastic prime, I don't know why it wasn't the first lens I bought. And you get fitter running backwards and forwards, if, like me, you normally use zooms! Similar Products Used: Nikon 50mm primes |
[Feb 18, 2003]
escartieri
Intermediate
Strength:
Fast, tact-sharp, has retractable lens hood, very compact and dependable for such a neat lens, simple to use, less weight and smaller size lens to fit in bag, and it's a strong lens.
Weakness:
No weaknesses of any sort! I love Minoltas!! You should too. Every photographer of any camera should have a standard 50mm lens. This Minolta 50mm f1.7 lens is quite unique for it's appearance. Though it looks very cute and small, it does quite a lot of neat things. Photo quality is outstanding due to the fact that it has an eye like us. Very neat lens for low-light pictures and sharp tact pictures from a strong/rugged body. When I received mine from auction from Ebay, I loved the look of it. I treat this thing better than my other Minolta Lens. Installed it onto my 700si, worked flawlessly and very fast focusing. Pictures turned out OUTSTANDING!! Recommended. Get it for a good price on EBAY!! I've heard that the Minolta 50mm f/1.4 is better and more expensive because it's a better quality lens. But I think I'll stay with the f/1.7 for now until I can afford it. Customer Service Never yet. Similar Products Used: Minolta Maxxum 5 with 2 Sigma Lens, Minolta 35-105mm Macro zoom lens, Minolta Freedom Escort. |
[Apr 17, 2002]
Sander
Intermediate
Strength:
sharp, Light weight, inexpensive
Weakness:
The build-in lens hood is no good when using filters! If you use a UV/skylight filter (like I do0 you HAVE to attach a seperate lens hood! Much flare problems (even with seperate lens hood) I think I would have preffered the 50mm/2.8 macro lens, which is much better, althoug is also more expensive and it is of course not as fast as the 50/1.7... It is a rather good lens, but has very much flare. I didn''t expect that much flare with a prime lens. It has more flare problems than my 35-70 and 70-210 lens! It is a good lens for available light photography when you have a tight budget! Customer Service Not needed. The Minolta customer services in The Netherlands is willing to answer your questions, but is not very good informed about the quality differences between Minolta products. Similar Products Used: 35-70/3.5-4.5, 70-210/4.0-5.6, Cosina 19-35/3.5-4.5, Tokina ATX 400mm, 28-105/3.5-4.5 (very bad lens!) |
[Nov 28, 2001]
Guillaume Fourrat
Intermediate
Strength:
PRICE, softness when wide open (yes, this is a strength!), sharpness when s/down, fast AF, brightness
Weakness:
That d*** sneaky hood, which is useless if you use pola filter anyway. AF ring is too narrow. This should be packaged with every new Minolta Body ! Except for some wild life shots, this prime has been stuck to my body 95% of the time ! It is GREAT for soft portraits when wide open(but beware, a 50mm will give its personnal touch to your shots, some people prefer the 100 - 135 mm kind). At 1.7 or 2, with B&W film, be ready to duplicate your portraits because all your friends will ask for them! Depth of Field is very small then, so focus on the eyes ! But i made some very nice landscape shots as well, with good quality slides (Velvia), you can enlarge your shots to a fair extend. Customer Service None needed Similar Products Used: None |