Minolta AF 100-200mm F4 5 - Lens Review
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ก.ย. 2024
- A detailed look and test of the "vintage" Minolta 100-200mm F4.5 lens. Released in 1987 as a more compact and affordable alternative to the larger 70-210mm (Beercan) the 100-200mm is a popular choice for those looking for a budget tele lens which can often surprise with it's performance.
This in depth test shows the lens up close, test and real world field shots looking at distortion, blur quality, contrast, flare, close focus, optical performance at various focal ranges.
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I bought this wonderful lens following your review. I use it for travel and it makes a great companion (along with the LA-EA4) to the Sony 16-35mm f4 on my A7s ii. The Minolta AF lenses really are very affordable quality lenses compared to what you have to pay for the modern Sony E-Mount equivalent.
Since making this I've been using it more and more, like yourself for travel/want to travel light situations. It's tiny for a 100-200mm range, the only potential downside if the long min focus. It's a crazy bargain though for the meagre price, and optically I've always found it to be very good. Yes the cost of native E mount lenses isn't cheap - if you don't mind the adapter you can build up a very cost effective system from Minolta for peanuts. Sony do have some nice E mount lenses, but they are pricey. Thanks for the comment, and glad you found it helped you make a choice
But in terms of quality are they way better than this or just a little better?
Love your reviews 'cause you're the only one in TH-cam who has the sme lenses that I do
I have a fair few, there are a lot of Minolta lenses out there. This one is less popular than the 70-210mm, but it's a crazy bargain for what you get ;-D
And I have bought another lens you recommended haha.
Bought a 50mm 1.7 and this was just 20€ extra, so I couldn't say no. Also 49mm filter thread is a nice thing, as it will fit my filters for the 50mm and 30mm Sony Macro I have. Thanks once again for the good tests you have done!
49mm is common with Minolta, I like this lens a lot I still have it. I kept it over the 70-210mm due to smaller size/weight, very useful lens and silly cheap. The 50mm F1.7 is a steal really
Look forward to more vintage lens reviews.
I'll be working on more soon mostly Minolta but over time I hope to look at others!
@@MrBazReviews Thx Mr Baz.
Love mine. I bougth this and the 28-135 both for 2 euro per pice, works great and wonderfull lens.
It's a bargain really I use it all the time, super compact, still fairly fast at F4.5. Optics are good from my experience.
I look around nowadays and you've got F6.3 or F7.1 MILC lenses, wow no thanks I'll stick to this!
Dropped by as I saw the non AI version, or manual focus version of this on ebay today cheap. I had an amazing experience with the Minolta Celtic 135mm 2.8, with great color, and killer sharpness. I paid 30 dollars for it for my Fuji X system.I imagine any of these long lenses focus a bit closer after adding an adapter to them.
Minolta had their own lens factories, so they did know a few things about them. There are some bargains out there no question!
If I was travelling, I would take a 24-105 f3.5/4.5 and this lens to cover all aspects on my A99. Such a small lens that is easily transported. Optically, not as good as the 70-210 f4, but about half the weight and almost half the price.
I prefer the 100-200mm as the size/weight and hit rate is better than the beercan. Both lenses set to F4.5 not much difference optically, and I've used multiple copies of each lens. Yes, it has a long min focus, still it's a winner IMO.
It's scary Sony never updated the 70-210mm F4, an obvious lens that needed to be made, but then again, they didn't update many obvious lenses with A mount
I have since 2 years. Happy mostly because of its low weight and price. Worked well for sunny days when stopped down.
My biggest drawback is the background blur. It is not always but with low light and a close to mid background in terms of distance, the blur can look unappealing. That’s my point where I might switch in the future.
The blur I found mostly pretty good, but it's not as good as the 70-210mm at the longer end of the range. But I kept this and got rid of the 70-210mm (I sold most of my Minolta/Sony stuff), only have a few 5d's left and this is one lens I kept because I like it, the other is the 50mm f/1.7 and the 18-70 kit lens. For me it's a better lens than the 70-210mm because I found the AF hit rate much better, and it worked well enough for what I used it for.
This lens, is unbeatable in my view for the absurdly low price, f/4.5 is reasonable speed compared to some lenses, it's tiny and weight is low. I like it a lot, I didn't when I first got it, but having bought another one and used it extensively, it's a keeper I believe. Copies can vary though I found this one to be good wide open
@@MrBazReviews I agree. I never understood that hype for 70-210mm beercan, I sold mine a week after buying it.
Sadly you sold all your Minolta stuff, I was hoping you would do more reviews:)
@@raphaelmuller353 A good copy of the 70-210mm f/4 can be quite good or pretty good at the top end, some are not so much, CA is an issue on every one I used, and it's much more obvious than the 100-200mm. Hence another reason I think I stuck with the lighter/smaller lens.
I had a choice to make, as Sony abandoned Minolta A mount, I just don't like their E Mount cameras, I tried a few crop and full frame, and hated the ergonomics, nothing at all related to Minolta in my view. It's sad but the company turned their back on MInolta users, and did so silently, which was another reason I didn't want to hand over more money to a company that treats users like that. The new adapter is very limited to only a few expensive bodies with screw drive lenses, which is done on purpose I believe. I even sold off Sony branded SD cards, I just want nothing to do with the company.
A mount never got the investment it deserved, which is a huge let down in my view. The beercan is remembered, because Sony never bothered to make a new version. Hence is was popular, not amazing optically (alright if you have a decent one). Why they never updated it, boggles the mind. I may look at Minolta again later on, I have the 5d to review. I find Nikon has more in common with Minolta these days in ergonomics and design
Good video and your lens looks brand new! Will it work on Sony A mount with the camera doing aperture and focus? Which camera did you use for the lovely landscapes? Thanks
Hi Pete, the lens works on all A mount bodies 35mm film, Minolta AF, Sony Alpha A mount. It's only E mount users who need an adapter (or other mirrorless cameras). So you have full AF and aperture control on those A mount bodies.
Cameras are A57/A77/A99 for various shots
@@MrBazReviews Wow great I m off to buy some old minolta dynaax lens as i just bought a secondhand sony A55. thx for the good news
@@chezruss me too, lol
It seems like a decent lens, but optically it does not seem like it has any real advantage over the beercan. And the beercan is not particularly expensive these days. Mine cost $34. So the only real advantage is size. Did the beercan drop in price suddenly?
Depends on your usage what subjects? I have shot both extensively, my choice is overall I think the 100-200mm is more interesting, reasons. Optically yes both are very similar at F4.5, the beercan is a bit nicer rendering. However, the 100-200mm less CA, by some margin much easier to deal with, much lighter, and much smaller. It also works better for action/tracking for some reason the 100-200mm is more on target with moving subjects (using A99 anyway)
Both are cheap, both have pros and cons, the 100-200mm is unique for it's size even if it has a long min focus
Hi, I bought that same lens new in the 80's, it's in mint condition, hood and caps included, i still have the Minolta Maxxum 5000 body, 35mm. I barely used it but now that i'm retired i have more time. I want to buy a modern camera, will this a-mount type lens fits onto a modern camera or should i put it on e-bay. And what new camera will it fit on. Thanks.
Well don't sell it I'd buy it off you rather than see it going to someone else ;-)
A mount bodies are still around with Sony new ones SLT A68 is one affordable option, others A57 is a good price second hand, A200's are very cheap DSLR's and not bad for the super low price.
Here is a list of A mount bodies (digital): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sony_A-mount_cameras
Also Dynax 5d/7d's are the last from Minolta digital (they sold A mount to Sony)
For 35mm film the Dynax 7 is the best of the bunch. Hope that helps
I hear people somewhat crap on this. I ordered it toda but got skeptical for a second cause of the soft 300 mm shots
I've had 2 copies, this one is a bit better. I never had any concerns about softness, I shot it on FF and APS-C both 24 megapixel, it's pretty sharp to my eyes. It's a 100-200mm lens, where did 300mm come from?
@@MrBazReviews oh dang I could have sworn I clicked on a 100- 300 mm minolta af vid smh.
@@realamericannegro977 If you have a 100-300mm the APO version is the best, the non APO is merely average optically.
The 100-200 is surprisingly good, if you can deal with the long min focus.
@@MrBazReviews okay, apo is way more expensive. I just ordered the regular version for like 40 dollars. Ill be on the look out. Will the same lens adapter work for the apo version for the a6000?
@@realamericannegro977 Same adapter works for the screw drive lenses ie Minolta
Excuse me sir, can i ask something. I have this lens, it vibrate when lock on focus. Is that normal?
It can a bit as the gears inside the lens move
It can a bit as the gears inside the lens move
@@MrBazReviews i see, thank you 👍
You cant really go wrong with these minoltas, no one should care about pixel peeping, save your money, save the environment and shoot retro.
PS the 100mm f2.8 macro is perhaps the best minolta and one of the worlds sharpest commercial lenses.
Most of the Minolta's hold up pretty well even with pixel peeping, this one does well enough even v some modern lenses. It's super small and light F4.5 a step above the usual F5.6 ones out there. I use this all the time.
I do have the 100mm F2.8 Macro (D) last version Minolta and yes it's a great lens. I wish Sony would expand their adapter support though, with the new LAEA5
@@MrBazReviews I just bought this lens for £20, arrived today, and so far its impressive.
I use the LAEA-4, which is good but I do not like fact I have lost eye autofocus and the many focus points, however there is a video on how to mod the adaptor so it can be used with all the features. So you must have the A7Riv?
@@suzesiviter6083 I have the LAEA4 and it does an OK job, however the LAEA5 has no video AF at all (none regardless of lens/body), and for screw drive lenses only 3 bodies work with it
A7RIV, A1, A6600
All the other bodies only do AF with in lens motor optics. So any other body and you're left with the LAEA4 (if you want screw drive AF)
That's not very useful IMO, I can use the LAEA4, but it's not ideal as I can get better AF performance with native bodies, even the A77/99 are better, and the A77ii has tons more AF points
Of course you could continue to source used bodies for A mount, but I won't deny the lack of good adapter support has me pondering moving to another system. It would be a shame as I have an extensive collection of some fine lenses with Minolta, the 80-200mm F2.8 HS APO is a stunning lens in every day. I'm just not sure Sony really has thought about A mount users with the adapter situation!
@@MrBazReviews I did not know it cant focus with video, that would be a deal breaker for me (Besides owning the A7Riii), have you seen the TechArt adaptor? it can focus with any lens, as it physically shifts the lens, that also means it uses the in camera focusing technology.
There is another company that makes a similar adaptor but the name escapes me at the moment, the price put me off as they are around £300, (I paid £130 for the LAEA-4) and also quite rare, yet to find one on fleabay.
I was looking at the APO lenses, I wanted a 300mm range to gain a better chance of good bird shots as ones beyond 300mm become out of my financial reach, heard the APO lenses get sharper on the longer zoom lengths.
My current favourite is the 50mm F1.4, at least that is my walk about lens these days, got that for £40 as it had sticky aperture blades, which I managed to clean.
@@suzesiviter6083 I've heard of TechArt, they do a few adapters not sure they do one for A mount lenses at least not yet. Monster have a hacked LAEA4, but I wasn't blown away with what I've seen so far (jumps focus in stages)
The LAEA5 is a let down no question, could have been perfect. So I think for now unless there are tons of firmware updates for that adapter (been out 8 months not much happening with it bar adding the A1 which is crazy expensive), it's looking like the LAEA4 is the only real choice for most users aka A7iii, Riii, and other ones.
I don't have a lot of interest in the A7RIV myself or the two other ones.
So bit up in the air at the moment I'll see how it pans out, but I would miss this stuff if I moved.
The 50mm is one of the best for it's era, it's better than the Canon and Nikon F1.4's and costs less (better wide open by quite a bit too). I have the Sony version of the 50mm F1.4, still have the 1.7 too (good copy of that one both are nice F1.4 is a touch better)