Minolta Maxxum AF Zoom 28-85mm f3.5-f4.5 Macro for Sony Alpha DSLR

Most would believe that SAL1870 kitlens that comes bundled with Sony Alpha A200/ A300/A350 is a great lens therefore not many photographers would look for an additional lens that would covers such a range. This is actually the reason why Minolta Maxxum 28-85mm f3.5-f.45 is particularly unknown to most of Sony Alpha DSLR users.

No doubt Sony SAL 1870 is very versatile and are able to produce great quality photos but I still feel it is inadequate somehow or another. Thats why i got myself a Minolta 28-85mm f3.5 just to justify my curiosity.

Like all my previous lenses, extensive research were done before deciding on such a lens. A nice gentlemen from alphanatics forum willing to part with his copy of Minolta Maxxum 28-85mm at such a bargain that i immediately confirmed the lens without any bargaining/price negotiation. The seller even throw in free freight all the way from Miri Sarawak.

The package from Miri, Sarawak

Newly arrived Minolta 28-85mm f3.5 with front and rear Minolta cap, no hood tho. I heard the original hood is crappy so it doesnt matter anyway. Gonna look for a 3rd party rubber hood to be use with this lens later on.

Classic Minolta 55mm front cap

Like my previous Minolta 35-70mm f4 lens this one also comes with a suprise of its own. The nice seller even throw in a Osawa 55mm Close up filter for free (i wasnt expecting this becuase the seller did not mentioned anything about the closeup filter at all ... what a bargain!!!)

Will write more about the Osawa closeup filter later when I m doing the macro shots with this lens.

Minolta Maxxum AF Zoom 28-85mm f3.5-f4.5 Macro fully drawn in. This lens is abit strange in length wise, its is shortest when zoomed in at 85mm and longest when zoomed out at 28mm.

Minolta Maxxum AF Zoom 28-85mm f3.5-f4.5 Macro fully extended at 28mm.

Front element of Minolta Maxxum AF Zoom 28-85mm f3.5-f4.5 Macro

Lens descriptions of Minolta Maxxum AF Zoom 28-85mm f3.5-f4.5 Macro

Blades of Minolta Maxxum AF Zoom 28-85mm f3.5-f4.5 Macro, clean and non oily.

Metal A mount of Minolta Maxxum AF Zoom 28-85mm f3.5-f4.5 Macro as opposed to plastic A mount with Sony SAL1870 kitlens.

Brief technical data of this lens :

* Year of Production: 1985
* Focal lenght: 28-85 mm
* Aperture: 3.5-4.5 - 22-27
* Aperture type: 7 blades
* Angle of view: 75°-29°
* Minimum focus distance: 0.8 m (0.25 m - macro)
* Elements / groups: 13 / 10
* Filter diameter: 55mm
* Dimensions (D x L): 68.5 x 85.5 mm
* Magnification: 1/8.3x (1/4)
* Weight: 520g
* Filter rotates while focusing
* Lens hood round, "clip-on" mounted
* Features: macro switch

Macro Feature

To those who are not familiar with closeup filters and what is it for, here is a brief and simple description of what is a closeup filter :

What is a Close-up Filter?

A close-up filter is a lens that attaches onto the end of a camera lens via a screw thread. The purpose of the filter is to decrease the minimum distance that a lens requires to focus. For example most telephoto lenses need the subject to be at least a metre and a half away before they can focus. By attaching a close-up filter to the lens you can reduce this to maybe 0.75 metres.

Close-up filters are measured in Dioptre, with +2 being weak and +10 being strong. A dioptre is a measure of lens power. Filters can be "stacked" together (one filter screwed onto the lens and another screwed into the first filter). When stacking filters always make sure that the strongest filter is closest to the lens.

[Source]

Osawa 55mm Closeup Filter no.3

Macro feature in this lns is identical to that of a Minolta Maxxum AF Zoom 35-70mm f4 Macro aka Mini Beercan, you gotta flip a switch to enable it and when you are in Macro mode you cant use the AF (auto focus) feature. Only MF (manual Focus) is available when activated the Macro mode of this lens. Another strange feature but nevertheless there are ways to hack this and enable the lens to use AF feature in macro mode.

These are some of the macro shots i did and in comparison I did the same shot with this lens with the Osawa no.3 Closeup filter attached to the lens as well. this way wee can see what kinda differences that a closeup filter can do to your photos.

This photo of a 10 sen coin were taken with Minolta 28-85mm built in macro feature without closeup filter (no crop)

This photo of a 10 sen coin were taken with Minolta 28-85mm built in macro feature with Osawa 55mm Closeup filter no.3 (no crop)

This photo of a toy car were taken with Minolta 28-85mm built in macro feature without closeup filter attached (no crop)

This photo of a toy car were taken with Minolta 28-85mm built in macro feature with Osawa 55mm Closeup filter no.3 (no crop)

The reported minimum focal length of 24.6cm and a max magnification ratio of 1:4 (with macro feature activated) is not accurate as I were able to get as close as 3cm with magnification almos as good as 1:2 or even better (even closer when attached with the closeup filter) from the object in macro mode. I m not sure whether my lens are modified by the previous owner or there is really an error in the technical data provided. This can be further proven if i can get hold of another copy of Minolta 28-85mm lens as comparison.

From the look of the above photos in "macro mode" this is as good as you get from a all rounder lens. The good news is for the money you paid for ... you dint get screwed this time lol! The bad news is ... macro is only on MF unless you successfully hack it.

VERDICT : Above average Macro performance (at least on my copy)


Others Samples Shots in Various Conditions with this lens

Optimus Prime (indoor) soft bokeh

MAS Airbus 380 model (indoor)

Even Optimus Prime Choose to fly with MAS! :P

Potrait of my oldman in an open air restaurant with penty of natural lights

Potraits of Chester bright (outdoor)

Herser my female white hamster (indoor)

FOOD!!! (indoor)

Cam whore Lion Dancer (outdoor)

Lion Dance in Progress Outdoor

I just happen to like her hair ... ALOT! (outdoor too!)

In a nutshell :

PROS

1. Built solid (body made of metal) doubled as a weapon in time of crisis lol!
2. Underated lens therefore it is Bloody CHEAP! I paid less than RM400 (Approx USD110) for mine.
3. Great sharp image at all focal length.
4. Great Minolta Colors
   
5. Nice soft bokeh
6. Fast and accurate AF (Auto Focus)
7. Great Macro

If you do not mind having a heavier walkabout lens (this lens weight like a brick) with a not so comfy minimum focal length of 80cm (when not in macro mode) then this is a must have lens for you! Put aside the little few Cons, this is truly a great lens with big potential. Looks like this and the Minolta 35-70mm f4 will be one of the few lenses i will be carrying around with me most of the time.

Minolta Maxxum AF Zoom 35-70mm f4 Macro aka Mini Beercan

As an Sony Alpha A200 DSLR user i always browse around the internet to find the best and affordable lens for my camera, knowing the fact that most recent Konica Minolta DLSR cameras also using the same type of A mount that actually opening us up to a vast varieties of lenses to choose from.

At the same time, i been asked by several Sony Alpha owners whether such a lens (some which is as old as 20 years) is still reliable? The answer is both yes and no, it all depends on how the previous owner look after his lenses and if he know what hes doing then these lense can survive alot more than just 20 years.

The key to this is to find a reliable use lens reseller whom will answer most of your questions and also will not hesitate to teach you a thing or two about how to choose lens. I got a few contact of lens reseller in my contact so if you need any lenses just send me an email ok?

With that being said ... I actually bought another lens, as like all my previous used lens this one is also a legendary Minolta lens. Made as early as 1985 this lens survived more than 20 yrs of reputation and still making its marks on today's DSLR.

My Newly arrived Minolta Maxxum 35-70mm f4 Macro

Nicknamed The Mini Beer can, the Minolta Maxxum 35-70mm f4 Macro is originally built for film SLR but due to its great performance ... its still accepted as one of the best performing Minolta lens even on a DSLR.

A thank you note from my fav reseller

My lens seller sent me a note togehter with the lens thanking me for the purchase and telling me how great this lense is! in handwriting! not cold computer printout! How about that?!

49mm Spiralite custom polarizer

Wait ... theres more! Most reseller will just give you a cheap UV filter bundled with the lense you bought but this particular reseller actually given me a 49mm SPIRALITE CUSTOM circular POLARIZER! FOR FREE! Hows is that for value?!

Seriously i still do not know how much would a regular 49mm circular polarizer would cost but today i bought a regular UV filter from a camera shop downtown and they charged me RM60 (approximately USD18) for it. A polarizer would definitely cost alot more than that! So go figure it out :)

I took a few photos of my (yea its mine now! lol!) Minolta Maxxum AF Zoom 35-70mm lens with my Pheonix 100mm macro lens right after i received the package.

Minolta Maxxum AF Zoom 35-70mm front element

Minolta Maxxum AF Zoom 35-70mm front lens descriptions

Compact size for its range for easy storage, compared to the SAL1870 kitlens you get bundled with your Sony Alpha A200

Clean blades with no signs of oil nor fungus

Minolta Maxxum AF Zoom 35-70mm backside Metal A mount

Some technical brief data about the lens obtained from the internet :

Year: 1985

production: Discontinued
max. aperture: 4
min. aperture: 22
focal range: 35 - 70 mm
elements/group: 6/6
angle of view: 63,4 - 34,3
aperture blades: 7
minimum focus distance: 1000 (303 macro switch) mm
filter rotate when focusing: Yes
filter rotate when zooming: No
max. magnification: 1/14.3(1/4)
focus design: front
min. length: 52 mm
max. length: 70 mm
filter diameter: 49, front mm
hood: clip-on, round
weight: 255 g
color: black

Ok lets cut the craps and go straight to the photos quality, after all .. thats exactly why we bought a lens in the first place right? a few minutes after I got the package I am already on the street pushing this Mini Beer Can to the limit ...

So here goes!

Sharpness/ bokeh test , taken at 70mm, ISO400, f4 shutter speed 1/15s

Cloud test ... yes there is such a thing as cloud test bcoz i dem love clouds can?!

There is a known problem with this lens tho ... most of the reviews on the net reveals that this lense is particularly poor in handling flare, therefore ghosting is inevitable, to justify this i gotta take the lense out on a bright sunny day and try my very best to freaking get a ghost in the photos! lol nah i dun mean that ... literally :)

No this not the mechanic test! lol! Taken at 1/400s f4 70mm ISO400 .. no ghost here!

Color test ... this lens loves red!

Potrait test ... passED!

Can see the frozen soap dirpping from the sponge? shutter speed test 1/1250s, f8, 70mm iso400

Very bright day .. i gotta stop down to f8-f9 just to prevent from overexposure but still no sign of ghosting.

Car wash aneh spraying water at me lol!

This Minolta Maxxum AF Zoom 35-70mm f4 lens also boast its macro capability, in todays language this is barely a true macro lens. Its merely doing a closeup with a max magnigifcation of 1:4 as compared to the 1:2 ratio of my Pheonix 100mm macro lens.

But i m not complaining ... with its compact size, light weight and versatile focal length this will make a great walkabout lens as compared to my Pheonix 100mm macro.

Outta curiousity, I put this lense Macro mode to test. There is something quite "out-of-the-norm" for this AF lens. When i switch the lens to macro mode, the AF stop working and i gotta switch to MF. Apparently the lens is designed as such that whenever you activates the macro mode ... the AF feature will be disabled and you will need to focus manually to get your image right. Such a weird feature from an AF lens i must say.

This is the closest i can get to my Sony Ericson G900 which is about 30cm from the phone. Not close enough but pretty sharp image i must say.

soft drink cap at 30cm, great colors!

Evo 6 test! ... i seriously do not know wtf i m testing here lol! but nevertheless ... it turned out pretty great also!

10 sen corp test at 30cm no crop.

Corped and zoomed in ... still pretty sharp in the middle abit soft towards the edge

Verdict : WTF am i thinking?! why the fark i did not buy this lens ealier?!!! ARGH!!! *bang balls*

Cant seems to get ghost ... i think malaysia ghost only come out at night ... thats why! lol
Great piece of lens that performing exceptionally well in both indoor and outdoor!

Great Value for money too! I got this one for less than RM300 plus postage ( Approximately USD80 ... dont forget the free polarizer ok?)

The macro? well look at it this way ... if you bought this lense for its macro ability .... too bad, you got screwed! If not ... who da fark cares? its free anyway! better there than none rite? I m not complaining. Plus the fact that if you really got money to burn ... all you need to do is to add in a closeup filter with 4x magnification to turn this baby to a 1:1 macro lens and i heard the results is quite promising too!

To buy or not to buy? Need I say more?