I like and use Minolta SR lenses a lot and this is a growing database of them.

Please read my about lens ratings page to understand how the ratings are to be read.

All ratings are based on my experience with these lenses on my fullframe Sony Alpha 7.

If you purchase the lens through one of the affiliate-links in this article we get a small compensation with no additional cost to you.

Wide-Angle lenses

Minolta MD FISH-EYE Rokkor 16mm 1:2.8 (3-3.5/5)

f/2.8: The center is excellent, and most of the image sharp enough, midframe sharpness is actually lower than near corner sharpness wile the far corners are unsharp. Vignetting is surprisingly low.

f/2.8: The center is excellent, and most of the image sharp enough, midframe sharpness is actually lower than near corner sharpness wile the far corners are unsharp. Vignetting is surprisingly low. f/5.6: noticeably better than f/4, most of the image is very sharp, only the far corners are unsharp

f/11: very good sharpness across the frame. Flare resistance is average and CA pronounced.

A rather heavy lens with integrated filters and lens hood. Built quality is excellent

Fisheye lenses are very hard to master, I wasn’t really succesfull at it. But this is a good lens, so good in fact that it also came in Leica R-mount and the same optical design is still used by the current Sony 2.8/16 Fisheye.

There is a younger MD version which is supposedly not as good.

full resolution samples | test

Get the lens at ebay.de | ebay.com | ebay.co.uk (affiliate links)

Minolta MD 20mm 1:2.8 (2/5)

At f/2.8 a small central region is sharp, bokeh is ugly and vignetting very noticeable

At f/2.8 a small central region is sharp, bokeh is ugly and vignetting very noticeable The lens suffers from a very pronounced midzone dip so important parts of the image are unsharp, even stopped down.

Ergonomics are great, it is very small and light

It might be that the copy I tested had an issue with the floating elements design which caused the midzone dip.

flickr set | full resolution samples | test | review

Get the lens at ebay.de | ebay.com | ebay.co.uk (affiliate links)

Minolta MD Rokkor 24mm 1:2.8

(2-2.5/5)

At f/2.8 a small central region is sharp, bokeh is not very good and vignetting very noticeable

At f/8 field curvature is very obvious as are astigmatism and lateral CA. If you take the field curvature into account you can get okayish results but don’t expect too much

Ergonomics are great, it is decently sized and very well built. The lens hood isn’t too big either.

In my opinion the lens is usually overpriced and I wouldn’t recommend it on the a7.

There is also an optically different version with 49mm filter thread.

flickr set | full resolution samples | test

Get the lens at ebay.de or ebay.com | ebay.co.uk (affiliate links)

Minolta MC Rokkor 28mm 1:2

(2.5-3/5)

At f/2 it has rather low contrast with very noticeable vignetting and busy bokeh at shorter distances -I enjoy the rendering none the less.

Decent but not great at f/8.

A bit large and heavy but great built quality

From the reports I read, the younger MD version with 49mm filter thread is a better performer.

flickr set | full resolution samples | test

Get the lens at ebay.de or ebay.com | ebay.co.uk (affiliate links)

Minolta MD Rokkor 35mm 1:2.8 (3.5/5)

At f2/8 it is sharp to the corners with fair bokeh

At f/8 peformance it very good to excellent but field curvature is a bit excessive

A very small and light lens with good built quality

There are several Minolta 2.8/35 lenses, my copy has a 49mm filter thread and carries the Rokkor in the name tag which distinguishes it from the later “plain MD” version which is optically the same as far as I know.

flickr set | full resolution samples | test

Get the lens at ebay.de | ebay.com | ebay.co.uk (affiliate links)

Normal lenses



Minolta MD 50mm 1:2

(3.5-4/5)

At wider apertures it has the best corner performance of any Minolta normal lens I have tested so far

at f/8 it is excellent across the frame

A very small and light lens, built quality is a little less nice than that of MC or MD lenses but still good.

One of Minolta’s most often underestimated lenses with a great price/performance ratio.

flickr set | full resolution samples | test | my eview

Get the lens at ebay.de | ebay.com | ebay.co.uk (affiliate links).

Minolta MD Rokkor 50mm 1:1.4 (3.5/5)

Low contrast with nervous bokeh at f/1.4 so I use this aperture only when it is very dark.

Improves at lot by f/2 were it is quite nice for portraits and closeups, for excellent results across most of the frame stop down to f/2.8

Excellent for landscape images at f/8

Very good built quality

There are two optically different (but similar) versions of the lens, you can tell them apart by the diameter of the filter thread, this version has a 55mm diameter and the younger one has a 49mm filter thread.

flickr set | full resolution samples | test | my unfinished review

Get the lens at ebay.de | ebay.com | ebay.co.uk (affiliate links).

Minolta MC Rokkor 50mm 1:1.4 (3.5/5)



Low contrast with nervous bokeh at f/1.4 so I use this aperture only when it is very dark.

Improves at lot by f/2 were it is quite nice for portraits and closeups.

Excellent for landscape images at f/8

Built like a tank and a little heavier than later versions

flickr set | full resolution samples | test | review

Get the lens at ebay.de | ebay.com | ebay.co.uk (affiliate links).

Minolta MC Rokkor 55mm 1:1.7

(3/5)



good contrast and bokeh at f/1.7 – I like to use it for short distance shallow DOF work

A little less resolution than other normal lenses but still very shapr stopped down.

It is small, light and very well built

I think this is one of Minolta’s most underrated lenses.

flickr set | full resolution samples | test | compared to FE 1.8/55 | my review

Get the lens at ebay.de | ebay.com | ebay.co.uk (affiliate links).

Minolta MC Rokkor 58mm 1:1.2

(3.5/5)

f/1.2 shows strong “character” (lots of spherical aberation, not very smooth bokeh), I don’t use it often.

f/2 is great for portraits with good sharpness in the center and exceptional bokeh.

great for landscapes at f/8 but prone to flare.

A little larger and about twice as heavy as the 1.4/50mm lenses. Built quality is top notch.

flickr set | full resolution | test | my review

Get the lens at ebay.de or ebay.com | ebay.co.uk (affiliate links).

Tele lenses

Minolta MD 85mm 1:2 (4/5)

At f/2 most of the image is very sharp, the corners show good resolution but low contrast. Bokeh is not very good.

from f/4 it is excellent across the frame

A very small and light lens.

I think it is a great lens for landscapes, I wouldn’t recommend it as a portrait lens because of the bokeh.

flickr set | full resolution samples | test | 85mm comparison

Get the lens at ebay.de or ebay.com | ebay.co.uk (affiliate links).

Minolta MC Rokkor 85mm 1:1.7 (3.5/5)

f/1.7: the lens is a bit softer which is probably a bonus for portraits, bokeh is very nice

f/2.8: The softness is mostly gone, the lens is sharp across most of the frame, bokeh improves a little

from f/5.6: the whole image is very sharp

built to the highest standards, beautifully smooth focusing ringbut a bit bulky.

I think this is a very good portrait lens which is also a capable landscape lens . If I was shooting more portraits I would consider buying it.

flickr set | full resolution samples | test | 85mm comparison | my review

Get the lens at ebay.de or ebay.com | ebay.co.uk (affiliate links).

Minolta MC Rokkor 100mm 1:2.5 (3.5/5)

Good resolution with moderate contrast at f/2.5 and great bokeh make it a very nice portrait lens. It falres easily though.

Good resolution with moderate contrast at f/2.5 and great bokeh make it a very nice portrait lens. It falres easily though. Stop it down to f/5.6 and it is very sharp from corner to corner.

Built quality is great

This is a very good lens which is often underestimated.

I owned the MD Version of this lens for a while and found it similar in it’s optical performance, maybe a bit contrastier at f/2.5 but I liked the focusing ring of this version better.

flickr set | full resolution samples | test | my in-depth review

Get the lens at ebay.de | ebay.com | ebay.co.uk (affiliate links).

Minolta MD Macro Rokkor 100mm 1:3.5 (3/5)

f/3.5: The center is very sharp but midframe and corner sharpness is not very good (at any distance), bokeh is great

from f/8 sharpness is very good across the frame

flare resistance is bad, lateral CA and distortion are very well corrected

A very big and rather heavy lens with beatiful built quality and good handling

It is an enjoyable lens but it is also very big and not that good from a technical point of view.

flickr set | full resolution samples | test | my review

Get the lens at ebay.de | ebay.com | ebay.co.uk (affiliate links).

Minolta MD Macro Rokkor 100mm 1:4 (4/5)

A very sharp lens with very good quality from f/4 at every distance and no lateral CA. Bokeh is only average though.

I didn’t like the rather stiff focusing double helicoid and very short focus throw at longer distances.

flickr set | full resolution samples | test

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Minolta MD Rokkor 135mm 1:2.8 (3/5)



This is a solid lens but the 2.5/100 is a little bit sharper, has nicer bokeh, less bokeh fringing and less CA.

Stopped down to f/5.6 sharpness across the frame is very good but you have to correct the CA.

Minolta built several different 2.8/135’s over the years. Among the MD versions there are two different optical designs. My copy has 4 elements and weights about 560g. There is a younger version which is about 200g lighter which uses 5 elements, from what I have read they are very close optically so both are decent buys.

flickr set | full resolution samples | test

Get the lens at ebay.de or ebay.com | ebay.co.uk (affiliate links).

Minolta MC Rokkor 200mm 1:4 (3.5-4/5)

The whole image is very sharp from f/4 and excellent by f/5.6 but bokeh fringing can be a problem and CA control is only average.

Focusing is a bit stiff because a lot of mass has to be shifted, other manufacturers like Canon offered IF lenses which are easier to focus.

flickr set | full resolution samples | test

Get the lens at ebay.de or ebay.com | ebay.co.uk (affiliate links).

Zoom lenses

Minolta MD Zoom 35-70mm 1:3.5 (3.5/5)

At f/3.5 the bokeh is rather busy and the contrast is reduced.

At f/5.6 the bokeh is much smoother and image is very sharp



The corner-performance is very good for a zoom lens, my Zeiss 4/24-70 had weaker corners.They are weakest at 35m and excellent from about 40mm.

I think it’s performance is remarkable for a zoom lens of it’s age and I like to use it for city trips when I prefer it’s versatility over the shallower DOF of prime lenses. The 1:4 macro mode at 70mm is handy as well.

There are three versions of this lens and according to artaphot.ch Version 1 is optically inferior. I can recommend this last generation which is the only one with the macro mode.

flickr | full resolution | test 35mm 50mm 70mm | my in-depth review

Get the lens at ebay.de or ebay.com | ebay.co.uk (affiliate links).

Adapters

If you are still shooting film you can of course use any Minolta MC or MD lens on a wide range of old Minolta SR film-cameras like the Minolta XD-7 or X-700. No adapter needed.

Because of the flange-focal-distance of Minolta SR lenses all adapters for DSLR cameras either contain an optical element which will reduce image quality a lot or you lose infinity focus. I wouldn’t bother to use one of those adapters.

Mirrorless cameras have a much shorter flange focal distance and you can buy adapters for Fuji-X, Sony-E, Micro Fourthirds and Samsung NX. You won’t lose image quality to the adapter, you can focus at infinity but you have to turn the aperture- and focusing ring yourself. Your camera has no control over them.

I usually recommend Sony Alpha 7 cameras for the use with older manual lenses because they are the only ones with a full frame sensor and in my experience most older lenses work best on the larger sensor. But they still work very well on smaller format sensors as well, here are some of my older pictures all taken with a Sony Nex.

Here are links to adapters for Minolta SR to Sony E mount cameras: Amazon.com | Amazon.de (affiliate links).

I use an expensive Novoflex adapter (link to my review of the Canon FD version) but the cheaper ones usually work well enough but you have a higher chance of getting a faulty one. For more information about adapters check out our extensive Guide to Adapters.

How my ratings work

For all ratings please read ABOUT LENS RATINGS to understand how I weight different aspects.

1/5: This lens good for very few applications and comes with serious defects.

This lens good for very few applications and comes with serious defects. 2/5 : This lens comes comes with noticeable limitations like very soft corners, very high CA and I would only recommend it for very special purposes.

: This lens comes comes with noticeable limitations like very soft corners, very high CA and I would only recommend it for very special purposes. 3/5 : This is a good lens which is capable of producing very good results but you should expect some compromise like low contrast and bad corners at the widest aperture and noticeably less sharp corners.

: This is a good lens which is capable of producing very good results but you should expect some compromise like low contrast and bad corners at the widest aperture and noticeably less sharp corners. 4/5 : This is an excellent lens with very few faults, it will be very sharp from corner to corner, have good (but not perfect) CA correction and nice or even excellent bokeh. Check out my Tokina 2.5/90 Macro review for a detailed review of such a lens.

: This is an excellent lens with very few faults, it will be very sharp from corner to corner, have good (but not perfect) CA correction and nice or even excellent bokeh. Check out my Tokina 2.5/90 Macro review for a detailed review of such a lens. 5/5: A truly remarkable lens: it must show excellent sharpness even wide open, chromatic aberrations of every kind must reduced to a very low level, bokeh must be very good and mechanically it must be without fault as well. There are very few lenses which could earn this rating, think of a Zeiss Otus or CaNikons Super teles.

Useful information about Minolta lenses

Minolta Manual Lens Index – Very useful index of any manual Minolta lens ever made

Artaphot.ch – most content is in German but there are a few well documented tests of Minolta glass.

Rokkor.de – Useful for identifying different generations of Minolta lenses

Rokkor Files Minolta lens History

Red Baileys Minolta Lens History

Further articles

For an introduction to manual focusing check out MANUAL LENSES ON THE SONY A7 – A BEGINNERS GUIDE