Minolta Rokkor MD Lenses on Sony A7 Full Frame 24 MP

Tokina 24mm 2.8 RMC	Minolta 35mm 2.8 MD III	Minolta 50mm 1.4 MD II
Minolta 85mm 2.0 MD III	Minolta 135mm 3.5 MD III	Minolta 200mm 4.0 MD I

As time goes by! I used to shoot a lot with my Panasonic GH4 and vintage Minolta lenses. For several years, I have taken photographs with the Sony A7 most of the time. Again with vintage Minolta lenses.

I've bought some vintage Nikon AI lenses as well. I'm going to give some report about their quality too.

Manual focusing has become second nature. Most of the time I work with tripods. I appreciate to focus only once. I may switch the camera on and off as often I want. The focus point will stay. One hundred percent sure.

Focusing is done stopped down as long as the light allows it. When ever it's possible I use the magnifying function which allows ultra precise focusing. Focus peaking, which is not that precise, is used when I have to work fast.

Basic Statements about Minolta MD Rokkors on Sony A7

Most of the Minolta lenses, I'm presenting here, have stopped down good or very good contrast and micro contrast. Images are sharp across the frame when stopped down to f/4 better f/5.6. I don't have to correct anything in the RAW converter (Lightroom 5) except for the telephoto lenses. They have to be corrected regarding chromatic aberrations. Stopped down, standard sharpness is good. Of course you can improve further increasing the sharpness level. But be careful! Nowadays, I see a lot of hefty over sharpened images.

Not all of the Minoltas from that era have similar optical quality. A quick look to artaphot.ch may help to estimate the basic quality of a lens. By the way, there is a rule no one is going to tell you: Wide angle lenses shorter than 35mm don't have the same sharpness at the edges compared to lenses like 85mm or 100mm. Same price level implied.

Especially ultra wide angle and super telephoto lenses have improved dramatically over the last 40 years due to aspherical elements, special glass and coating. Old lenses can no longer compete, I have to say.

The Minolta Rokkors are soft wide open, and we don't have to discuss sharpness at the edges. An old rule says: stop down ,at least, two stops to get a good picture. Modern, good lenses are being razor sharp in the center wide open!

The Sony A7 is picky. Good or very good lenses fits very well to the camera. The weak points of other lenses will be revealed very quickly. My thirty year old 35mm lens has been decentered. I didn't recognize it neither on film nor on the Panasonic GH4. On the Sony A7, well, forget it. I had to buy a second copy.