Very sharp images Fast and smooth AF Brilliant colours

Laks some contrast Built like a brik

This lens was on my wishlist for a long time because I shoot a lot of weddings. I am not dissapointed with it but it's not the greatest lens around. Personally I think the 35-70 2.8 has more contrast and is therefore the better lens except for the 28 mm feature. Sharpness on the 28-70 is excellent and comparible to 6x6 format, also the colours (when you use the right film)are beautifull en rich. On an F100 the lens doesn't fit perfectly although that doesn't affect the quality of the pictures in any way. Auto Focus is fast and quiet, this is very important to me because there are lot's of silent moments at weddings and you don't want to go around making a lot of noise when focussing (I had to go to manual focus at those times). Personally I think that the black version of this lens looks very cheap (It looks a lot like Sigma lenses), so I bought the light-grey version and am very happy I did, it doesn't look as intimidating either. Now that i've shot several weddings and some models with this lens I can tell you that it is defenetly worth the money in the long run but if you don't need the 28 mm and the silent AF I recommend the 35-70 which is a lot cheaper.

Customer Service

No experience yet

Similar Products Used:

nikon 35-70 2.8, sigma 28-70 2.8

Nice images even wide open at 300mm focus hold button on lens small and light af in good light

slow f/5.6 starting at 125 +/- mm build quality not like older maxxum lens lens creep af in dimmer light

Nice for what it is. Good image with nice color and contrast evan at 300mm f/5.6. Small and light. Build is not as nice as the old maxxum af lens. Lens creep when pointed up or down. Worth having if you need 300mm and can live with f/5.6. Focus hold button makes life much much better with this lens. Can produce nice images. Shows a macro range in the window but it is nothing more than near closest focusing. For less than 300mm I use faster 70-210 f/4.

Customer Service

Not needed on this but great one time used.

Similar Products Used:

70-300 sigma f/4-5.6 OK 75-300 minolta f/4.5-5.6 OK 300 f/4 minolta very nice

excellent optics, fast focusing,lightweight

not internal focusing-not well balanced when at 300mm

I purchased this lens to be my long zoom when I go kayaking. I had used a 200mm zoom but it was not quite long enough. I chose this lens because it weighed less than a pound and it has excellent optics especially at 300mm . The lens focus fast enough to capture many birds in flight. The only improvement I would like to see would be an internal focusing so a circular polarizer would be used easier and some of my conkin filters could be used correctly.

Customer Service

called a couple of times and they are always helpful

Similar Products Used:

sigma 135-400, minolta 100-400, sigma 28-200, tokina 80-400,

size and weight - very convenient

rotating front - difficult for polarizer and the circular diaphragm - I had even convinced Minolta service to replace my first lens - then I saw that all lens for sale here have the same problem

good lens for general purpose use

Customer Service

once - see above

Similar Products Used:

minolta 80-200, sigma 80-200/2.8

In optimum condition, it can yield really good results.

OK for 6"X9" prints, but annoying soft corner when projecting slides (even at small projection area of 2'X3')

I choused this lenses because of it size and the reportedly, good test results. I don’t see the point of using 35mm film with huge lenses. You might as well use Pentax 67 with a significantly better result at not much more money.

Compactness, decent build, very decent sharpness and contrast up to 200mm and acceptable after

Slightly soft at 300mm wide open.

The outstanding thing about this lens is its size. I am sure it must be the shortest something -to- 300mm on the market. I just love the fact I can pack this my 24-85mm and 20-35 plus a Maxxum/Dynax 7, filters, batteries you name it into a Lowepro Nova 1. Optically it''s very good at 100mm, good at 200mm. I have to confess though that I''ve always been a little disappointed at its performance (contrast and sharpness) at 300mm. Maybe I just expected a bit more from a Minolta apo, but it''s definitely no 300mm F2.8G, nor can we expect it to be for the money. The photodo reports show its MTF is however better than most if not all of the consumer grade 300mm zooms from Canon/Nikon/Pentax/Sigma/Tokina etc. So I just remind myself I bought something so darn neat and portable, that also takes very good shots except perhaps in the MOST demanding situations eg high resolution subjects at full aperture at 300mm.

Customer Service

Never Used

Similar Products Used:

Sigma 70-300apo

*Very sharp at all focal lenghts *Build *Color *Size

*NONE!

This is a great lens for any Minolta user to have in their bag. Its size makes it perefect for hiking, travel, you name it. The lens produces very sharp images at all focal lenghts and wonderful color. There are no other lens by any of the camera companies that can even compare!

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Tamron 28-200 Tokina 80-200 Sigma 400mm

Light and easy to handle

none

Nice lens,

Customer Service

not needed yet

Similar Products Used:

none

Ligtweight and compact lens. Well balanced - despite notes from other reviewers, I think that a tripod collar is not nessesary on such a compact lens - use the camera body socket. Good overall optical performance: contrast, color rendering, sharpnes is best at 100~200mm, some softness at corners at 300mm. Standard Minolta 55mm filter thred.

Rotating front element. Some corner softnes at 300mm. At hot weather (in Israel this is true for most of the year ) the barel tends to slip when lens pointed upwards or downwards.

I am very pleasant with this lens. It suits my type of photography - street life, portraits, people, etc.

Customer Service

Not required.

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 75-300 Ed. Heavy, slow extreemly uncomfortable. Push-pull action sticky and unevent.
Minolta 70-210 f/4 -from t

none

no contrast, no tripod socket, bad corners

Very disapointed

Customer Service

poor

Similar Products Used:

None