Sharp wide open, and extremely sharp a little closed. It's built for fifty years of use

Weight, length

Sharpness, that's the beercan. I compare it to the sigma 70 300 APO DG. The sigma colors are more heat but sharpness is not the same. It's big, heavy in your bag, but that's for a beautiful picture quality

Similar Products Used:

sigma 70 300 4-5,6 APO DG

Sharp
Metal body
Tanklike construction
Beefy zoom ring
Very little problem handling flare
f4 throughout zoom range

rotating from element
noisy AF

What can be said that hasn't been said already? I've had my Beercan since I began shooting film with a Minolta 7000 back in '91. It still is a fine lens. Works great on my 7D and Sony Alpha. (I don't use it any more because I picked up a Minolta 80-200 f2.8 APO/G and it's kind of apples and oranges there.) What amazes me as I read through the reviews here and I look on e-bay is how much the prices have gone up on these! Zoinks! Mine is going on E-bay for at least $200.00 and it looks like I'll get it. Beautiful, well made, sharp lens. On and often above par with what is being produced today.

Similar Products Used:

Minolta 80-200 f2.8 APO/G
Sigma 70-200 f2.8 APO

Bokeh.
Bokeh.
Bokeh.
Color.
Sharp.
Constant aperature.

Big.
Heavy.
CA wide open.

This is one of those cult classics. It is affectionately known as the 'beercan' to the members of the cult. It is known as the beercan because of it's the same size as a tall beercan. In fact some people have carved up real bearcans to make sleeve's for the lens.

I found mine on ebay for $200, which is on the high end of the price range for this lens, but it was in near mint condition. Origional caps, hood, and heck it even came in the origional packaging in the origional box with origional paperwork.

This lens produces absolutely wonderful images. Color and sharpness are excellent. However, what gave this lens its cult following is its bokeh. The bokeh with this lens is absolutely gorgeous. Smoother than silk.

These lenses are over 20 years old, so they're only available on the used market. However, it will work with any A-mount incarnation out there, from the early Maxxum's to the Sony Alpha. Because these were made before the age of AD glass there can be issues with CA when shot wide open. I have not had any such problems myself as I tend to avoid any situations that may cause it.

Customer Service

N/A the warranties on these expired long ago.

Similar Products Used:

Minolta 75-300 f/4-5.6
Minolta 28-75 f/2.8
Tamron 24-135 f/3.5-5.6
Sony 18-70 f/3.5-5.6
Canon 24-105 f/4 IS
Canon 70-200 f/2.8
Canon 20-200 f/2.8 IS
Canon 300 f/2.8

Great Optics
Fast Focus
Fixed Aperture
Metal Body (well built)
Macro Features
Cheap
55mm filter size which is also cheaper than usual.
Hood is included.

Discontinued!
None!

For the price, It's a great lens to have. This is my first fix Aperture lens. It's a must have lens. Zoom is fast - good for sports or outdoor shooting. Metal body and well built. It's on my camera most of the time. Too bad Minolta discontinued.

-Sharp!
-Great bokeh!
-Sturdy, metal build
-You can say that you have a lens that was atleast designed by leica [if you dont have an expensive leica collection tha is - dont we all? :-$ ]
-Great focal lens range:
--idea for portraits
--useful for isolating landscape detail
-1:4 macro repoduction can be useful

Isnt as heavy as people make is out to be... you really shouldnt be put off by this 'feature'.

After all that i read about this lens i couldn't hold myself back when i found one for the small price of £60 [english pounds].

At the time of purchase i was doing a lot of b&w with HP5+ [developing and printing myself]. When i came to make the prints [10" x 8"] i was dissapointed really, with the quality. I then purchased an el-nikkor 2.8 enlarger lens and things did improve, but i couldnt understand the hyp from other users. I assumed there was something i was still doing wrong so i put in a roll of fuji reala, did some portraits and sunsets and had it printed at 8" x "6. WOW! This is what i was looking for... and a little more. Great sharpness, colour, bokeh, contrast - nothing optically you can fault. I now obviously use finer grained b&w film when i want sharper results [at the moment HP4 and Pan50].

I havent tried it yet personally [havent had a photo worthy of it] but i hear you can get prints up to 16" x 12" with absolute clarity.

This lens is great! Not one to be missed! If you have the money to spend [60 quid?!] and you are a minolta user you should be really questioning why you dont have the lens! [that is unless you have the 80-200 2.8]

Customer Service

never needed to use it but i hear Sony will do minolta repairs now

Similar Products Used:

50mm f/1.7 rokkor
100mm f.4 macro rokkor

Great optics--wonderful color and contrast. SMOOOOTH zoom ring. Substantial feel. An absolute bargain!! Coupled with the AS on the 5D/7D, this is cheating the system--and getting away with it! A fun lens to use.

Are you kidding?

As an ex-Canon user, I find myself comparing this sweet lens to their L line-up of 70-200s. It has the feel of their 70-200/4L--yet is more substantial and the zoom is much smoother. The manual focus ring is lacking in comparison to the Canon, but the auto-focus is quick and quiet. More importantly, the picture quality is easily the equivalent of the Canon--and because I'm using it on a KM 5D body, I have the anti-shake technology of the Canon 70-200IS! And all of this for $150 (used but in pristine condition). How sweet is that?

Similar Products Used:

Canon 70-200/4L, Canon 70-200/2.8L IS, Sigma 70-200/2.8 EX

-Excellent optical performance -Fixed aperture throughout (F4) -Beautiful build -55mm filter thread, relatively inexpensive -1st generation lens, looks great on my camera body

-Limited macro (but not exactly a primary need for this lens) -Rotating front element -Slower AF (not significant)

The Maxxum 70-210 f4 is an extremely well built lens with superb optical perfomance. I researched numerous sites, including this one prior to making my purchase, and I am thrilled that I bought this lens. I doubt there is any other lens in this price range for my 700si that even comes close to this one. It is sharp throughout, and has perfect colour and contrast. Although not an extremely fast lens, it is stillfaster than most others in it's price range that are presently available. To go faster would be prohibitively expensive for me. The blurred background is fairly substantial and pleasing, especially at 210mm. I wish I could have found one at the price others have listed on this site, but they seem to be more expensive now, even on fleabay. The few under $100 had serious problems (fungus, scratches on lens etc.) and in retrospect, paying a little extra was worth it for a lens I plan to use when I go digital.

Customer Service

not needed

Similar Products Used:

3rd party zooms (groan) 100-200 f4.5

Sharp Constant aperture Metal body Macro

Heavy relative to today's plastic lens

After reading the reviews here, I got this lens for my M5. Took it on a camping trip loaded with Fuji Reala. The pictures came out very sharp through out the zoom range. The constant aperture at f4 helps in low light or to blur out the background in portrait shots. MACRO function is nice but could be closer. Color rendition is excellent. Sturdy metal body and lens shade, which makes it heavy. Other than that, it's a great lens!

Customer Service

NA

Similar Products Used:

none

Bargain price for good quality. Sharp enough at 16x24 inch enlargement. Constant f/4. Beautiful Bokeh. AF not too slow.

Rotating front element. Non- flower shade.

You can never find a better thing than this at this price.

Customer Service

Good in Hong Kong

Similar Products Used:

85mm f1.4, 135mm f2.8

* f/4 across the board - don't have the 'floating minimum aperture' of the new compact versions. * Old-time Solid Metal Construction - heavy, but gives it a nice professional feel. And the weight is comforting to those of us who grew up with metal body cameras. * Superb Optics - which is what I feel makes the Minolta system truly superior to all others.

Only the fact they don't make them this way anymore.

So nice a lens, that I bought two - nice to have a spare for some things. Both caught on eBay, in Mint condition. A long and heavy lens, for sure - but makes a nicely balanced combination with the Maxxum 7. My overall favorite shooting lens.

Customer Service

Have never needed it with Minolta - and I've owned Minolta gear since 1996.

Similar Products Used:

Several other Minolta lenses.