I remember seeing mocks up of this lens from so far back I had forgotten all about it actually being released. It will certainly be amazingly expensive and I expect great.
Mr Hohner has the technical details.
And a video of the Engadget folks playing with it for a moment at a trade show. The AF does seem very fast.
The xi series was introduced in 1991* and included lenses and camera bodies. 'xi' included the traditional screw drive auto-focus interface (A-Mount) but added a motorized zoom function. Due to this, xi lenses are only compatible with post xi era cameras. The xi cameras included the 9xi, 7xi, 5xi, 3xi and 2xi. They follow the Minolta standard for naming, where 9 represents the highest grade, typically "pro" and as the numbers go down, the body generally has fewer features and lesser build quality. According to my research, there were 5 xi lenses released as well including; 28-80mm xi f4-5.6, 28-105mm xi f3.5-4.5, 35-200mm xi f4.5-5.6, 80-200mm xi f4.5-5.6, 100-300mm xi f4.5-5.6.
The main feature of the xi line was the motorized zoom. Instead of turning a zoom ring in the traditional manner, you turn the ring one direction or the other a few degrees of rotation and the motor would zoom the lens for you. If that sounds a bit awkward to you, you are not alone. Turning the zoom ring on a well made lens is a pleasure - the xi lenses were not. You do get used to it once you use it for a while however but you will never have the ultimate precision of the mechanical zoom ring either.
So why would Minolta implement such an odd idea? "From the Mind of Minolta" come innovation and in this case, body actuated zoom and other "zoom effects". One of these effects was "subject tracking" which would zoom automatically to attempt to keep a tracked subject the same viewfinder size while it moves closer or further away from the camera. Other effects would move the zoom during exposure to create an effect. etc.
xi in my experience: I have owned and used a 7xi body and was pleased with it. It does not live up to the 7 (non xi), but represents a good value. The 7xi can be used with standard a-mount lenses, so you are not limited to the xi range. I have also had the 100-300mm xi f4.5-5.6 and found it to be quite good. The build quality with the motor zoom was not quite what I expect from classic Minolta, but still better than most inexpensive modern lenses.
xi in my opinion: Very good value. xi was very unpopular and not well understood. Anything with the xi name carries the stigma despite being a good quality product. You do not have to use the odd xi features and if you are at all like me, motorized zooming is something you will get used to (get over) quickly.
If you are looking for bargain Minolta equipment, please consider the xi line - it is often overlooked. The 7xi and 9xi bodies are good items to look out for but compare the price against the preferred "real" 7 & 9.
All of the lenses get decent reviews but if you find a cheap 100-300mm xi, that is probably going to be the best value. There are already plenty of inexpensive non-xi lenses to cover the other focal length ranges.
* The best reference I can find seems to indicate that 1991 was the xi introduction. I'm not 100% sure that is correct.
References
http://www.dyxum.com/
http://www.mhohner.de/
http://wikipedia.org/
Overall a nice affordable zoom lens but a little hard to find. The now discontinued Sony version is essentially the same lens.
Please see the dedicated page for the Minolta 24-105mm f3.5-4.5 D
With the availability of so many wonderful classic Minolta lenses, it can be hard to decide on what to get. In my case, I just got them all (almost) and that made the decision a lot easier!
But if you have to choose and are considering the Minolta 35-105mm f3.5-f4.5 or the Minolta 28-135mm f4-4.5 "the secret handshake" - how do they stack up?
Light gathering. Same. f3.5, f4, f4.5... we wont see much of a practical difference. Neither have the convenience or "neat" factor of a constant aperture either.
Focusing - advantage 28-135 (faster). In my experience, the 28-125 is faster and more accurate. The forums seem to general agree with that assessment as well. The focus mechanism is different on each. The 35-105 has the traditional screw drive with a front focus ring. The 28-135 has a rear placed focus ring - still screw drive of course but a different design. It feels and sounds like the 28-135 is moving fewer parts of less mass. It is also a bit quieter than the 35-105 but neither will win any awards as far as that goes.
Image quality - advantage 28-135. Concerning sharpness, subjectively, they are roughly the same. However, the 28-135 has that certain something special to its images. While most old Minolta lenses have decent color, sharpness and out-of-focus areas, the 28-135 takes it all a notch above.
Build quality - same. Classic Minolta, you can't go wrong - metal body, metal mount, smooth operation. I have read some forum posts that stated the 28-135 is more fragile, but information about this is far too anecdotal to say for sure.
Bottom line - it depends. While certainly the focal length range of the 28-135, fast focusing and beautiful image quality make the 28-135 a lens to love - it is bigger, heavier and more expensive. The 35-105 is still a great choice if the limiting focal-length range isn't a show-stopped for you.
I didn't mention or consider the 28-135's macro mode since most find it more of a feature to forget than an advantage. The macro is usable but (being generous) of limited usefulness.
My opinion? 28-135mm, no question! The image quality sets it apart and fantastic range make it a real winner for outdoor shooting. Indoors f4-4.5 is somewhat limiting and combined with the 28mm (42mm on APS) wide-end makes less than ideal. Indoors I prefer the Tamron 17-50/2.8.
Because, people ask about the 50mm lenses all the time. Minolta made 4 different 50mm lenses.
I have been asked a number of questions about compatibility of old Minolta lenses and Sony dSLRs. It is always surprising to me since I think this compatibility is one the best selling points for the Alpha line.
The answer is yes, in almost all cases. All Minolta auto-focus lenses are compatible without exception. The only places that you might find incompatibility are in the oldest 3rd party lenses. Although they may be Minolta (Sony) A-mount and auto-focus, for some reason they wont AF. I have (or had, can't remember where it is...) a first generation Sigma 28-70 f-something that doesn't work, but honestly this old junky lens isn't even worth trying.
You can buy without fear when it comes to old Minolta lenses. Anything from the original Minolta 50/1.7 to the the Konica-minolta 28-75/2.8 will work fine. The same is almost true of the 3rd party lenses as well - there are only a few very old examples that do not work.
So if you have an old 700si, 7, 7000, 7xi etc etc - any auto focus Minolta SLR, your old lenses will work.
Minolta 80-200mm apo
A great Minolta classic. It comes in two flavors, the older black version and the newer white, HS (high sped) that focuses slightly faster. A little difficult to find on the used market, but they are out there. If you find one in good condition and at a good price, don't hesitate or you will miss it!
 |
| No items matching the keyword phrase "Minolta 80-200mm apo" were found. This could be due to the keyword phrase used, or could mean your server is unable to communicate with Ebays RSS2 Server. |
The Minolta "Secret Handshake" (or even Minolta Handshake) is the honorary name for the epic Minolta Maxxum 28-135mm f4-4.5.
This is one of my favorite outdoor zoom lenses. In my opinion the wide-end is adequate on APS (5D/7D, A100-A700 and newer) and 135mm fantastic. The range is superb on a full frame camera body (A850/900) of course. The unique rear focus mechanism is surprisingly fast for a lens of its age. Image quality in virtually every respect is difficult to match, although some may criticize its lack of contrast compared to modern lenses.
It is the "secret handshake" because it is not well known but those few who do know it, understand the secret. It is easily overlooked because it doesn't stack up well on specs and given its scarcity, not many people to talk up its virtues. On camera forums people say, "Well it isn't very fast and it isn't very wide, so I don't know..." It just doesn't feel like it will be a lens that will be useful in enough situations, so people skip it.
I understand, I was once the same way and I think my Tamron 17-50/2.8 is great... but seriously - if you had to pick one lens - or even one anything to live with for the rest of your life, wouldn't you pick something with shortcomings that you love over something that has all the right features but leaves you a little cold?
Sure, sure I am going over the top here, but I hope this serves to explain the idea of the "secret handshake." If you fall in love with this lens it is so worth it. If you don't if will keep its resale value forever, so really there is so little risk there. The great Minolta classics are one of the great strengths of the Minolta Sony A-mount, take advantage of that.
You can read more about the Minolta 28-135/4-4.5 on its dedicated page.
In a word, yes. This is an excellent lens. Although the 24-50mm f4 is not as widely known as other great classic Minolta lenses, it is of the same class with many similar characteristics. By modern standards the focal length range may seem limiting -- and it is compared to your $52 Sigron-super 14-650mm f8-11, but it makes up for it with solid build, lovely colors and overall image quality.
See the 24-50mm f4 page for more details.
If you can find one, it is worth consideration. In all seriousness you may not find the range wide and long enough, or you might not consider f4 fast enough but it is alens with its charms.
This is an inexpensive alternative to the Minolta 100-400mm APO. Cosina makes lenses of a wide range of qualities, so it is hard to assess the lens having never used it. It also seems quite hard to find.
|
| No items matching the keyword phrase "Minolta Cosina 100-400mm" were found. This could be due to the keyword phrase used, or could mean your server is unable to communicate with Ebays RSS2 Server. |
