Minolta AF Maxxum 28-135mm f/4-4.5 Zoom Lens

Minolta is famous for their outstanding lenses and this one definitely leads the pack. The sharpness of the photos, superior build quality, zoom range, and quick focus combine to make this one of the most desirable lenses for Sony/Minolta SLR users. This is by far the best zoom lens Minolta ever made and there is no comparison to today's plastic lenses unless you go to the G series.We have done head to head comparisons with most of Minolta's lenses and this one holds its own against an of the primes in it's range. You would have to spend at least 5 times as much money to get similar results.We use 2 of these lenses on the main 2 cameras in our wedding photography business and we sell 2-3 of them a week on the big auction site. Every customer is thrilled with the results they get from this classic beauty!If you can get your hands on 1... buy it quick, it'll probably never leave your camera!

Heavy, but I like it. Really like it. Great pictures.

the lens is wow. it is a gem in good day light. awesome lens

This is the classic legacy lens referred to as "the secret handshake" - a reference to the rumor that at the time of its release that it was given to loyal Konica Minolta users at cost as a 'secret handshake' deal to reward them for their loyalty. Very doubtful that this rumor is true, but it is part of the legend around this lens.There are many good reasons for why this lens is truly legendary. First of all, it was a VERY expensive lens at the time of its release in 1985, roughly $700 - ~ $2K in today's money. The lens, in its day, was probably the sharpest wide-angle to short telephoto 5x zoom that had ever been manufactured. Relative to premium lenses of today, it's still sharp, although perhaps not quite as sharp for example as the pricey Zeiss 24-70 2.8 full frame zoom optic - which is probably the best current walkaround-every-day-zoom lens for full frame Alpha mount, but it is very close to the Zeiss, especially past 28 mm, its least sharp focal length (Update - there is now a Mark 2 version of the Zeiss with newer coatings but optically identical). On the other hand, relative to a modern lens, it does have a fair amount of chromatic aberration, and its minimum focusing distance is a ridiculous 5 feet, outside of a modestly useful macro setting (which curiously is set on the wide as opposed to the telephoto end of the lens). And since it is built like a tank, it's not a lightweight wonder, at over 700 g. Additionally, when you have the macro switch engaged, it's all manual focus, a minor loss of flexibility for most people, as most people shooting macro will probably manual focus anyway. So it's a VERY quirky lens by modern standards. But it is a very high quality piece of optical gear, and once you have manipulated it, and shot with it, you will understand the legend. And stopped down, it is very sharp, and competitive in that regard with any modern zoom lens.It worked well (at least for me) on APS-C as a portrait-oriented people-shooting lens, kind of long for a classic walk-around lens, but still useful. On APS-C, it loses any kind of real wide-angle view, going from about 42 mm to about 200 mm - so it's a good lens for shooting people at various stages of assembly, particularly candid shots on social occasions where the extra reach is really important. On FF, it's clearly a bit more useful, going from moderate wide-angle to moderate telephoto. It had a brief period of being my walk around zoom for the A99ii - until a used mint 24-70 CZ displaced it. As one would predict, on APS-C, there is significantly less vignetting (virtually none), and corners are also better wide open towards the wide-angle end, while corners are rather soft on full frame at 28 mm, even slightly stopped down. However, as the lens extends out, and you get more into mid range and short telephoto focal lengths, corners are pretty good, especially if you stop down a little bit, where they can become excellent, especially again on APS-C. Central sharpness is a strength of the lens throughout its focal ranges and apertures, and on APS-C, if you're at a >6.3 aperture, the lens can be very, very sharp. On the other hand, it's rather vulnerable to flare and ghosting, and in its original form, they did not supply a lens hood, exacerbating this vulnerability. This can be mitigated with a 72mm hood, which I have for my copy.Pros:1) Excellent overall sharpness especially past 28 mm, and especially if stopped down to 6.3-8+, with very strong central and very good corner sharpness.2) Very high quality mechanism, and the lens simply exudes a premium bank vault feel, untouchable at its current average price of around $200-$300. Built like a tank (but see cons).3) Pretty decent autofocus, with snappy performance, almost as fast as any modern SSM or USD and very reasonably responsive on the A77ii/A99ii.4) Highly flexible 5x zoom ratio, overall much more useful on FF than APS-C, where the 1.5 crop factor wipes out any version of wide-angle, but where it becomes a great candid people-shooter lens for street shooting and candid portraits at social gatherings.5) A truly excellent value, as mint copies can be had for $250-$300. Try to find a walk-around 5x zoom lens of this quality on FF for $250 in the Canikon universe. They just don't exist.Cons:1) Significantly more chromatic aberration and vulnerability to flare than virtually any modern lens - modern coatings and other improvements in optics have really reduced these problems (but DxO Optics Pro for example has CA correction profiles for this lens, substantially mitigating this problem). Don't have the sun in the frame!! Or near it! Unless you are shooting to include flare effect in your composition.2) Heavy (downside of being built like a tank). Can be tiring to carry on heavy FF body.3) Somewhat noisy relative to modern SSM/USD designs - Don't shoot movies with this unless you're doing manual focus! Makes audible clacking sounds, like all these screw drive legacy lenses.4) Ridiculous MFD minimum focusing distance just under one light year (OK, I'm kidding it's really 5 feet) - another clue that this design is 30+ years old.5) Somewhat softer corners wide-open than in the very best modern lenses. These will sharpen up at most FL by stopping down and by f7-8 corners are often decently sharp.6) Bokeh not so great at wide end (a bit harsh actually), but significantly better zoomed out, where it approaches classic 'beercan' smoothness.7) End of barrel rotates while zooming, making some filters problematic. Also, Minolta didn't supply a hood (but this can be had elsewhere).In short, there is a good reason for why this lens is legendary (along with its famous telephoto cousin the 'beercan'), and although modern lenses exceed it in a number of areas, shooting in its sweet spot (50 mm-135 mm stopped down), it competes with anything, and it simply blows away any more modern zoom lens you can buy for your Sony Alpha mount that costs anywhere near $250 - particularly if you have a FF body.Get a good copy (make sure you can return it if it turns out to be a lemon), and specifically, make sure the aperture blades are not sticky, and you will not regret it. But do expect more flare and some CA relative to the best newer lenses. It's still an absolute classic for a reason!

If you've blown all your money on the camera body and don't want to buy insanely overpriced native E-mount lenses, it's worth it to get an LA-EA4 adapter and one of these lenses. It's a big, heavy clunky lens, the manual focus ring is in a bad position, and macro mode is at the wide end so you have to get really close. It suffers from more flare and isn't as good wide open, but if you can stop down a little and deal with the other quirks, optically it's competitive with modern higher end lenses and is literally 5% of the price. It blows the sony kit zoom lenses out of the water by pretty much any measure except weight.

This is a big, heavy, lens. I use it with my Sony A7 and LA-EA4 adapter and my Maxxum 5 for film. The zoom ring on mine is a little loose, but it still doesn't feel cheap. In spite of being a big, relatively slow lens, the IQ is outstanding. Classic, slightly warm Minolta colors, great sharpness, slight vignetting at 28 but I don't mind. This is just a wonderful, classic film lens and shooting with it is a joy. The zoom range is very nice, and the images it produces are beautiful at any focal length. I picked one up at an antique store for under $100 and have no regrets about the purchase.