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Minolta 20/2.8 on the A900

Hank Graber

New member
As an unexpected side effect of owning the A900 I have become a Minolta glass fan. The lenses that I assumed I'd own when I bought the A900 would all be Zeiss. That was one of the main draws. Now it's looking like I'll be all Minolta. I own the 20/2.8 and 50/2.8 Macro now and the 135/2.8 and the Rokkor 58/1.2 are on the way.

This was my first session with the 20/2.8. No lens hood yet. I love this lens. The artist is my wife, Doris Rodriguez. If you are on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach you can visit her studio: http://dorisrodriguez.com/contact.html
 
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mathomas

Active member
Nice. That's one thing I like about my little A55 -- inexpensive, but good, glass. i'll save the expensive stuff for film (well, and my M8). Sounds like you're mounting the older manual focus stuff, or am I confused (?). I've got a few of the AF lenses.


I like the lighting in the first and last ones a lot.
 

Hank Graber

New member
Nice. That's one thing I like about my little A55 -- inexpensive, but good, glass. i'll save the expensive stuff for film (well, and my M8). Sounds like you're mounting the older manual focus stuff, or am I confused (?). I've got a few of the AF lenses.


I like the lighting in the first and last ones a lot.
All AF, work like current Sony except for the old Rokkor 58/1.2 which requires a mount conversion and is all manual. The 20/2.8 and 50 macro are available now as Sony lenses. Same optics as the Minolta's I have.
 

jonoslack

Active member
Hank - these are great - I like the last one best - not because it doesn't include your lovely wife, but because it seems more concentrated.

Talking of which, I have this lens at the back of my cupboard, hardly used, investigation definitely required!
 

Hank Graber

New member
Hank - these are great - I like the last one best - not because it doesn't include your lovely wife, but because it seems more concentrated.

Talking of which, I have this lens at the back of my cupboard, hardly used, investigation definitely required!
Thanks, The test shots I made when I recieved the lens showed lovely bokeh and just a very nice look in general to images at all apertures. It's great that Sony out of the gate has inherited a catalog of outstanding Minolta glass. It's been an unexpected bonus to owning the A900.
 

jonoslack

Active member
Thanks, The test shots I made when I recieved the lens showed lovely bokeh and just a very nice look in general to images at all apertures. It's great that Sony out of the gate has inherited a catalog of outstanding Minolta glass. It's been an unexpected bonus to owning the A900.
HI Hank
Quite agree - after a year faffing about trying other systems (m4/3 Pentax K etc.) I've settled back to two systems; Sony & Leica. The A900 may be getting long in the tooth, but it's still a joy to handle, and the images it produces are really lovely.
 

edwardkaraa

New member
I had this lens for about 6 months but sold it recently.

It doesn't have the typical corner blur of Zeiss lenses, but the overall resolution is not mind blowing. Contrast is quite low as well, which makes it suitable for indoors but not that great for landscapes.
 

pegelli

Well-known member
Great stuff Hank, and I agree it's a lovely little lens which is easy to use, not too expensive and doesn't take up a lot of room in the bag.

Especially like the second one, with the leading line on the painting followed on by your wife's arm. It all accentuates the concentration on her face.
 

JimU

Not Available
I've had the 20/2.8 since September 2007 and a900 since October 2008.

To me the 20/2.8 is small & light, but I agree with Ed: doesn't knock the socks off with resolution and contrast in the corners. It's my only ultra-wide that I use for landscapes at f/5.6, f/8 or f/11. I've been wanting to replace it with a zeiss 21/2.8 zf.1 or leica 19/2.8 R v2, but haven't reconciled the huge or lack of filter dilema. Now I'm pretty sure I'm going to just replace it with a Samyang 24/1.4 & maybe the Samyang 14/2.8.
 
I use a Sony version (which should be about the same as the Minolta one) for indoors shots on an a900 perched on top of a tripod. I find it low contrast and of merely adequate sharpness. It works, but it is nothing remarkable.
 

Hank Graber

New member
A lens like this i'm using hand held in low light at relatively slow shutter speeds. Not conducive to yielding the max resolution a lens is capable of. I'm more interested in the overall look, image signature and don't really care if it has less edge sharpness and resolves less lines on a test chart when mounted on a tripod. On the Leica M for a lot of shallow depth of field stuff I preferred the look of the old Summuilux to the new one even though the new one wiped the floor with the old version in terms of sharpness and resolution. If I were shooting landscapes on a tripod a la Ansel Adams I'd have very different criteria for lens selection.

In crappy contrasty light I don't like a lens with to much contrast. Don't like to much contrast going into post either. I like room to work in the image. I don't like lenses that are large and heavy. It's the balance of lot's of factors that makes a lens attractive or not.

When I'm shooting products in the studio with strobes it's a different story and I use a different sort of lens. There I do need very sharp images and fine detail and usually use a macro. I've found the Sigma 70 macro more then adequate for this purpose. The size and weight of the lens don't matter as much in the studio either.

Depends on what you are doing with the lens and what you are looking for.
 
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alphaman

New member
The Minolta glass is lovely. Try to get a 35/2 if you can. Mine is almost always on my A900. The 20/2.8 and 135/2.8 are also close by.
 

Hank Graber

New member
The Minolta glass is lovely. Try to get a 35/2 if you can. Mine is almost always on my A900. The 20/2.8 and 135/2.8 are also close by.

I've got the 135/2.8 on the way. I've also just purchased a Contax Zeiss PC-Distagon. I'm looking forward to using both for very different reasons.
 

alphaman

New member
BTW the first pic of your wife is a particularly nice shot.

Like you I also adapted a PC lens, although not a Zeiss. I adapted a 28mm PC Nikkor; which is a great lens on the A900. I wish I had opportunity to use it more often but as I'm based in the countryside there aren't too many suitable buildings!

The little 135/2.8 is a fantastic little lens, makes a great part of a carry around set.

The other lens you may like is the Minolta 100/2.8 macro - quite a solid little thing which is very, very sharp.
 
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