Minolta 28-80 f/3.5-f/5.6 D (Quick Review)
Posted on: Mon, 05/04/2009 - 1:51am
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Minolta 28-80 f/3.5-f/5.6 D (Quick Review)
Minolta 28-80mm D f/3.5-f5.6 Lens (Quick-Review)
| As far as Minolta kit alternatives go, there are many to choose from that will work on a full frame DSLR now. A couple that come to mind are the Minolta 28-80D and Minolta 28-100D. I chose the Minolta 28-80D for the first mini-review in the forums here, but I have both. This lens was just way too affordable, and the temptation subsequently too great... to find out how a $39.99 lens peforms on the Sony A900 DSLR. A friend suggested I try it out for kicks, and stated that for a kit lens, it wasn't too bad. I went on the net, found one, and for that price I thought I'd endulge him. |  |
The Minolta 28-80 f/3.5-f5.6 D (not the new II version with the 62mm threads, but the model with the more standard 55mm threads) came brand new in the box, and I assume you can get them new if you hunt around a little bit. Didn't take me much time at all to find a new unopened box copy. This is a lightweight, silver, decent little film lens in actuality. Here is a shot of it on the A900, what a cute little lens! :)
Personally I like the Minolta Silver finish lenses, even on a black body, but that is just me. Anyways on with a quick review of this lens on full frame the good and the bad mixed:
-Soft wide open but doesn't vignette or suffer from CA nearly as bad as I thought/at all focal lengths and aperture settings, but CA will show up in certain circumstances and may be unacceptable by some standards
-Sharpens up pretty decent at f/5.6, better at f/8 of course
-Zoom ring is stiff, and the internals make funny noises that made me wonder if it was going to fall apart.... yet it works just fine.
-Focus ring is smooth front element rotates during focus
-Lightweight and compact
-Contrast is low, at all f-stops
-Center is pretty sharp (about 70% of the frame)
-Auto focuses quick and accurately (did not require a micro focus adjustment)
-Affordable, my goodness (talking $39.99 brand new in the box on Amazon)
-Classic Minolta lens heritage and appeal
-Distance Encoding 9 pin model
-Plastic lens mount
-Hits f/4 at 30mm, and f/5.6 at 55mm-80mm
-Surprisingly decent color
-Peforms better than the 18-70 on APS-C, but at the cost of wide angle
-Made in Malaysia
Thoughts- A bit better lens than expected, superior to my 28-100D. A neat and fun lens to have especially if you have an extra DSLR hanging around for a budding DSLR enthusiast, or for an older Minolta film camera. A lens that makes for a very nice body cap, but more than that. You don't have to worry about it getting scratched, stolen, eaten, ground down to a bloody pulp... or anything else that comes to mind. Soft aperture settings actually make for nice appeal in certain circumstances that I prefer to a photo shopped effect. Its a fun lens for collectors, and probably the cheapest deal going for a brand new lens.
Cheers,
Carl
Here are a couple sample images. Click on the thumbnails to bring up a reduced sized A900 XFine jpeg, and hover over the images for basic settings information.
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AlphaMountWorld Chefferoni- "Pushing the boundaries of monotony" www.CarlGarrardPhotography.com
Lets see how close we are in our findings and opinions.
Carl
AlphaMountWorld Chefferoni- "Pushing the boundaries of monotony" www.CarlGarrardPhotography.com
I bought this lens at a pawnshop for about 30 bucks if I recall,and have used it very little.
Its been sitting on a shelf for a year,I almost forgot about it.
I didnt even realize it was a macro lens until you mentioned it.
Im looking forward to testing it out on the a900.
Thanks for the review:)
Sony A 900 Sony A-700 Carl Zeiss 135 Carl Zeiss - 24-70 Sony 70-300G Sony 16 fisheye Sony 100 macro Sony 11-18 Sony 18-200
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44304877@N00/
From the samples you have posted it seems to be a decent lens, given the price and the size of the samples. Pretty decent range on the A900 also, I guess as a lens to use in a slightly more "risky" situation where you wouldn't want to take a more expensive optic then it's not bad.
That's one of the nice things about the A mount, there are plenty of lenses out there that will fit and work well. Like everything you get what you pay for, so as long as you don't expect a 24-70 Zeiss level of performance you should be fine.
Andrew
AlphaMountWorld Chef
Carl
AlphaMountWorld Chefferoni- "Pushing the boundaries of monotony" www.CarlGarrardPhotography.com
Is it an old Tamron re-badge... I saw this and was wondering...
http://www.amazon.com/Tamron-28-80mm-3-5-5-6-Aspherical-Minolta/dp/B00004ZD2Z/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1241453719&sr=8-1
Dwayne
www.dvois.zenfolio.com
The Tamron has a manual aperture ring etc.. bit different. User reviews don't suggest they are the same in performance either.
Maybe they share internals but being totally honest, I really don't know.
Carl
AlphaMountWorld Chefferoni- "Pushing the boundaries of monotony" www.CarlGarrardPhotography.com
Hmm,I saw it in the photo on the lens base.
1.3ft macro.
Its on my lens also.
Sony A 900 Sony A-700 Carl Zeiss 135 Carl Zeiss - 24-70 Sony 70-300G Sony 16 fisheye Sony 100 macro Sony 11-18 Sony 18-200
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44304877@N00/
According to Dyxum, the 28-80 has a magnification of 1:1.41. It doesn't list any magnification for the 28-100 (which has a circular aperture), but the close focusing distance is similar (480mm vs. 400mm for the 28-80).
I have both lenses from my Maxxum 5 days. I found the 28-100 to be a decent walkaround and travel lens.
a700 & Max 5 | M 24/2.8 XX | S 50/1.4 | M 50/2.8 RS macro | Tam 90/2.8 macro | M 135/2.8 | M 200/2.8 G APO HS | M 500/8 | Tok 11-16/2.8 | CZ 16-80 | S 18-250 | S 55-200 | M 100-300 APO D | M 100-400 APO | Kenko 1.4X TC | S F20, F42 & F58
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FOR SALE: M 50/1.7 | Tam 11-18/4.5-5.6 | M 17-35/2.8-4.0 (NIB) | M 28-80/3.5-5.6 | Tam 28-300/3.5-6.3 XR LD AD IF |
M 100-200/4.5 (Send PM if interested)
I have a 28-80mm D lens, it's no legend on build, but I have played a bit with it on APS-C digital, and it does pretty well.
Not shot a single frame with it on 35mm, so cannot comment. Will try that one out shortly. Have used the 28-100mm D too, that is decent on 35mm across the range for a kit lens (on normal stock film). It's got the blooming issue (at times) on digital, not always an issue, but the 28-80mm does appear better suited for digital users.
You can find the 28-80mm on film 4's and 5's sold on ebay for not much, though later models switched over to the 28-100mm.
Barry,
What does "blooming issue" mean?
Andy
a700 & Max 5 | M 24/2.8 XX | S 50/1.4 | M 50/2.8 RS macro | Tam 90/2.8 macro | M 135/2.8 | M 200/2.8 G APO HS | M 500/8 | Tok 11-16/2.8 | CZ 16-80 | S 18-250 | S 55-200 | M 100-300 APO D | M 100-400 APO | Kenko 1.4X TC | S F20, F42 & F58
*************************************************************************
FOR SALE: M 50/1.7 | Tam 11-18/4.5-5.6 | M 17-35/2.8-4.0 (NIB) | M 28-80/3.5-5.6 | Tam 28-300/3.5-6.3 XR LD AD IF |
M 100-200/4.5 (Send PM if interested)
Blooming issue means normal purple fringe, but wider and more smudged. and it's caused by internal reflections bouncing back I believe. The 75-300mm Kit suffers from this too (at times not always), so does the 28-100mm. Hard to remove in pp too, though some software (paint shop pro) has tools that can deal with it better than most.
Neither lens shows this issue on 35mm, and I have used them both on film (they are not CA free, but no blooming) Some film lenses have the issue, some don't appear to suffer as much (or at all)
After reading your review, I had to try out my copy of the lens. My copy was made in Japan and has a 62mm filter thread. I haven't used this lens since it came with a Minolta XTSi. I stored the lens in a cabinet, so it has been in a clean and protected environment. I had to tryout it's macro capabilities on the A350. I am pleasantly surprised how good the images are and the nice magnification. The on camera flash works great; there is no vignetting from the lens hood. I'll have to take it out later in the day and test it on flowers.
George, that sounds like the II version, which is the one before. That one has a larger filter thread for the front element.
The main difference is it's not a D lens. Not sure about the optics on it..probably similar to the newer one
[img][/img]Barry, you are probably correct. My lens was made in Japan, instead of Malasia. I'l post some images, that I shot this afternoon, on Pbase. I shot them in RAW, with the A350.
Nice review Carl! I recently bought this lens off ebay for £25 as a kit replacement. I was surprised when I opened the box, it is a fair bit smaller than the sony kit lens and it just looks much nicer. It is a lovely looking little silver lens which is one of the reasons I bought it. Now if only it would stop raining and I could go and take some pictures.
I was just wondering if anyone has had any success selling the sony 18-70mm kit lens, as now I have a spare one and I can't see anyone wanting to buy one looking at the range of better lenses available. Should I just hang on to it?