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Minolta Rokkor Survival Guide

I've never seen one, must be pretty rare, so that's a good price compared to a Zeiss C/Y 180mm f2.8.
I wonder how they'd compare image quality wise, the Zeiss focuses even closer (1.4m) and has great IQ, but weighs 1 kilogram.
 
FS: 100mm 2.5 MC Rokkor-X w/ RPLens Cine mod

FS: 100mm 2.5 MC Rokkor-X w/ RPLens Cine mod

Hey guys, just throwing my 5/5 100mm your way. It's in excellent condition and recently serviced and cinemodded by Peter at RPLens. If anyone's interested, throw me an offer. Apologies to those who are annoyed by salesmen on the forum.
 

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Can somebody confirm for me whether or not Minolta lenses will focus correctly when converted to EF mount with Leitax adapters and mounted on a RED DSMC1 body?

I have a Rokkor X 28mm 2 and a 50mm 1.7 coming in the mail and I'd like to know if I should return them or not if they don't focus to infinity when converted.

Are there any ways at this time to get them to focus to infinity?

Thanks!
 
What conversion options exist for Rokkor to Canon EF? I know Jim Buchanan used to offer a solution for the 58 1.2 and Leitax have a solution for the sale lens but other than that I only find DIY solutions. Looking at a solution for the 28 f2. thanks
 
ok I will try again...
I posted a message here yesterday that disappeared after a few hours - no idea why
Does anybody know of a mount change solution for Rokkor to Eos. I do not want to add a cheap adapter
that looses infinity or adds glass. Leitax offer a solution only for the 58mm 1.2 and 1.4 and Jim Buchanan
seems no longer to offer conversions...
I am looking at the 28mm f2

Ideally I would like to send the lens to some technician to do the conversion, but who would offer this service???
 
Hello everybody,
I'm bringing this thread up as I'm starting to gather my own set.
I already own 24 f:2.8, 50 f:1.7, 50 f:3.5 macro, 58 f1.2 (new one, so nice !) and 85 f:1.7
Does anyone know a proper way to convert theses lenses to EF in Europe ? apart from the 58 that seems to be easy to do..
I currently use it on a Sony A6300 but can't wait to try on a real camera !!

Many thanks in advance
 

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Congrats for those fine lenses! Well, only the 58mm f1.2 is easy. There used to be an Italian guy who offered other conversions, but he doesn't answer any more.

The main problem is that the flange distance is shorter than EF, so you'd need to take some length off…

So, why not get a genuine Red mount for them? We had a recent discussion here where a mount from Australia was mentioned. I got me one and it works fine for us.
 
I love these lenses though and my little package consists of the following and a massive thanks to everyone who contributed to this guide especially Uli.

I went with all MC

21mm 2.8
24mm VFC and normal 2.8
28mm 2 x2 to try and find good copy.
35mm shift and 1.8
50mm 1.4
58mm 1.2
85mm Vari and 1.7
100mm 2.5
135mm 2.8 Celtic trying to find a 4/4 version but they are all PF from what I can see.

I wonder if getting some kind of PL mounting option (adapter) would be more suitable than EF or Leica? I really only ever use Red or Arri these days except with stills im a Canon guy.
Hmmm...
 
Well, you went for some of the really bad boys: the Shift, the Varisoft and the 58mm 1.2 alone might be more than 50% of the worth and they never came cheap. The only really expensive one missing is the 250mm RF. 5k still sounds pretty steep, but who knows, maybe I need to up my insurance?

If you are looking for the 135 4/4 you should try eBay.de, there seem to be better chances and many sellers are wiling to sell outside of Germany.

Regarding mounts there is no chance for PL, since it's flange distance is much higher. The only one that easily converts to EF is the 58mm f1.2. Why not go native on the RED with the mount from Australia recently mentioned in this thread?

Enjoy!
 
Thanks Uli,

After doing more and more research I think the native Red mount is the way to go. I guess plenty of us would love the chance to use these on other cameras well well and is the reason EF is such a popular option for older lenses. Bit of a shame these cant be modified that way.

Yes I went with the baddest of the bad, in a good way. The way I justify these kinds of things (and I have a couple of other funky sets...) is comparing it to buying a new EF lens. If you consider some of the fast EF primes, theyre going to be $1000ea+ and for what many of us are trying to do these days, those modern lenses arent the vibe im going for but I still have some of those.

Those big three Minoltas are pretty special, even if some of the features of the CA and Vari are lost on todays cameras, its worth a look. The other thing with some of these older lens sets is their value has only gone up in recent years and I think I could easily get my money back on them if I needed to sell, especially seeing as looking at ebay.com, many of the premium Rokkors are gone already.
 
Well, the shorter flange distance is one of the reasons they were still cheap until Sony came along with full frame E-mount. Before that, there was only µ43 to use them with.

Recently they get the recognition they deserve and some went through the roof. My collection from five years ago was a better investment than any stock I ever bought…
 
Damn Lee, I made the same exact analysis as you and it led me to the same exact conclusions, so I bought the whole set !
Now I'm a lens junky !

Can't wait to get my red mount and shoot a little short with these !!
 
You know what Bernard? People are so used to the standard cine lens and when you pull out a set of interesting old lenses they kind of look at you funny until they see the image!
I did a shoot for a Visa ad the other day and they let me decide what I wanted to use and I went with my Mamiya 645 set and the director actually emailed me to say how happy he was and how it looked so good etc. Dont get me wrong, this was not an opportunity to talk myself up ha ha and I havent actually seen the final Visa spot but the point is, give them a run on the short and then with confidence pull them out on something a little more fancy. The thing that stitched me up with my Mamiyas the other day was dealing with various sizes of screw in ND filters ha ha step up rings to step down rings blah blah blah

I have a set of old Russian lenses as well and did a short on those and it really suited the 'hippy' vibe of the film and they were perfect and cool. Could have used super speeds or standard speeds or any of those vintage lenses at a cost or my little Russians for nothing and get a great look. Again, everyone happy.

Bust out the 58mm and you will be very pleased.
 
Its always great when people post some samples of shots with their lenses, as this is the best way to showcase the qualities. So any of you who have shot some tests or have shorts or music clips or similar that you want to share, it would be great.

I am waiting on my Red mount and in the meantime grabbing a cheap fotodiox adapter for A7r2, to do some tests and maybe shoot some stills etc. I dont know that the fotodiox will be strong enough to handle video, focus racking with some of these lenses which can have stiffer focus rings.

Anyway, its exciting to be playing with yet another funky lens set and im mostly excited about the functions of the vari soft and vfc.
 
Since you are going for MC only, focus should be super smooth. If not, have them relubricated, they are worth it!
The VFC will be more fun with the photographic full frame anyway, the effect is quite subtle on a S-35.
OTOH the Varisoft is quite strong on a 42 mpx sensor.

Regarding cheapo adapters it's a gamble. I own one that's spot on regarding flange distance, but a bit loose. Another one is really tight, but focus marks are off. Choose your poison…
 
That was one important thing I had asked Steven from cinemods about their mount. I switch between EF and PL motion and static mounts and have not needed to adjust camera back focus and dont want to have to do this with the Minolta mount.
I had a fotodiox adapter for Mamiya to EF and it was a bit weak and would sometimes allow me to over rotate my lens and not lock it in place. I am not trying to be a bitch but its a $30 adapter so hard to expect serious serious quality. On the other hand i paid proper money for a shift/tilt Mamiya adapter and its freakin amazing.

I actually spent a bit of time today looking at images shot with the Minoltas and there is some great potential and ideas flowing.
 
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