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The Minolta 50mm 1.4 MD II was built around 1979 till 1981. Can such an old lens compete on a digital camera with 24MP?
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Images are developed from RAW files in Ligtroom 5. All adjustments are Lightroom standard (sharpness: 25/1/25/0). |
Soft and glowing. Vignetting in the corners.
Not really.
Very good in the center. At the edges and corners partly soft.
Stopped down to f/4, it begins being usable for architecture!
Top across the frame except narrow areas at the edges and corners.I can live with that.
Top! Some very small areas in the corners are little soft.
Even f/11 is very good! Diffraction doesn't bother much.
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Is such an old lens able to compete? Yes it is! The lens is, as expected, at f/1.4 very soft and has this special glow. At least for me, it doesn't make sense to use it wide open. The lens starts being good as of f/4. Apertures f/5.6 and f/8 are really excellent. f/11 is also very good. Is it possible that a cheaper 50mm f/2.0 delivers the same results? At the moment, I'm not able to give answer. I don't have a Minolta 2.0 in my possession. |
In my closet waits a Nikon 2.0 AI for testing. Maybe, I can give you an answer later. A lot of modern lenses struggle till f/2.8 as well. Wide open, very good, expensive, modern lenses render very sharp in the center, but the edges are also soft wide open. Stopping down, the edges catch up very fast. If this is your photographing style, you have to open you wallet wide. |