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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Minolta Rokkor Survival Guide

Got a few Takumars and Soviet lenses too. The nice thing about M42 is that you can adapt them to EF-mount.
 
Uli Plank said:
Got a few Takumars and Soviet lenses too. The nice thing about M42 is that you can adapt them to EF-mount.
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Very true! Though at this point, I'm not focusing much on the EF mount, since it's on track to become increasingly irrelevant over the next decade, what with Canon's shifting gears to their RF mount now and all. Plus it helps that the MD and M42 mounts are both easily adaptable to the variety of modern mirrorless mounts out there nowadays.

Speaking of, I got a pretty decent offer and wound up nabbing the Minolta MC Rokkor 24mm f2.8 awhile early. Probably puts me back a little further in upgrading to my new camera, but now I've got an ultra wide lens in my kit! Looking forward to trying the lens out, especially considering its history with Leica opting to rebrand the lens under their Leica R lineup back in the day.
 
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Congratulations on that lens. It’s really good, IMHO even better than the Zeiss C/Y 25mm f2.8 when used WO.
 
Uli Plank said:
Congratulations on that lens. It’s really good, IMHO even better than the Zeiss C/Y 25mm f2.8 when used WO.
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Yeah, I'm really excited to try it out, especially alongside my trusty 28mm f2 and the incoming 35mm f1.8. I'm eager to see how well they'll all work in tandem together and how they might differ with the bokeh.
 
Holy mackerel! So all of my new Minolta Rokkors have arrived in the mail now (three came in today alone) and from the very brief time I've had to test these babies out, I'm in love.

24mm f2.8 - I'll need to do more testing with this lens outside and during the day, which is where I'd wager this lens shines brightest. I already got a particularly nice shot of one of my dogs with this lens though and I'm liking the image the more I look at it. However I am a little bummed that the focus throw is short on this lens and that the front of the lens rotates while pulling focus like with my 28mm f2. Not a deal breaker by any stretch, but still it's a bit frustrating.

35mm f1.8 - Now, this is a gem. The focus throw is LONG on this lens and I love the rendering.

55mm f1.7 - So I didn't post about this earlier, but I cracked not long after my previous post and went ahead and got the 55mm. And... this might be my new favorite of the lot? I'm not entirely sure, but I got several lovely images nigh effortlessly with this lens right away... including a closeup portrait shot of my other dog that lasted for a good 20 seconds or so, which NEVER happens with him. Gorgeous, gorgeous bokeh. Love the focusing throw too.

70-210mm f4 - I got a couple of good images from this lens and I like the heft of the "Beercan" lens. But it definitely requires more practice and familiarity to get the best images possible from this particular lens, I think.

Between these babies and my faithful 28mm f2 and 50mm f1.4, I'm in love with my current set. It's still a WIP though, for sure.
 
Yes, only the newer 24mm f2.8 has a fixed front thread at 49mm, but it's considered weaker by many.
Or the 24mm VFC, but that's very rare and expensive. Though for cinematic use, I'd suggest a matte box anyway.

The 55mm f1.7 is a hidden gem in my eyes. Overlooked by many, including myself when I made my introduction here.
Others pay a crazy price for the bokeh of the 58mm f1.2 or aim for the analytical 50mm PG f1.4. So, the f1.7 is still really cheap and on S-35 it' a beautiful portrait lens.
 
Uli Plank said:
Yes, only the newer 24mm f2.8 has a fixed front thread at 49mm, but it's considered weaker by many.
Or the 24mm VFC, but that's very rare and expensive. Though for cinematic use, I'd suggest a matte box anyway.

The 55mm f1.7 is a hidden gem in my eyes. Overlooked by many, including myself when I made my introduction here.
Others pay a crazy price for the bokeh of the 58mm f1.2 or aim for the analytical 50mm PG f1.4. So, the f1.7 is still really cheap and on S-35 it' a beautiful portrait lens.
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Yeah, like I said before, it's not a deal breaker. Just a bit of a bummer is all. Still very excited to try the lens out more thoroughly over the course of the weekend!

Yeah, I'd really love to see a more detailed overview on the 55mm f1.7. It's a really nice feel in the hand and from my very brief follow-up tests with the lens today, I'm still loving the images I get from it. The only issue I'm noticing right now is that I seem to be having trouble with changing the aperture while the lens is mounted on my camera. It changes with no problem off-body, but for some reason it's not working right while I'm actually using the lens. I think it might be something similar to what my cheap Canon FD 28mm f2.8 does, with there being some small latch on the aperture ring that has to be pulled just so or whatever to actually work. I'm just not sure how to do that properly. Any tips?

All in all, I can see why some folks early in the thread were comparing these Minoltas to Super Baltars. I'm nowhere near familiar enough with those classic vintage cinema lenses to be 100% certain on that, but there's just something about the Minoltas that stand out to me even compared to my Helios and Canon FD lenses. Any thoughts there?
 
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I don't have the lens in my hands right now, actually I'm about 12,000km away. But I don't remember such a problem, so it might be specific to the adapter you are using.

I'm not familiar with the Super Baltars either. For me the look of the 55mm f1.7 is similar to some great lenses by Pentax in the Takumar series.
 
Uli Plank said:
I don't have the lens in my hands right now, actually I'm about 12,000km away. But I don't remember such a problem, so it might be specific to the adapter you are using.

I'm not familiar with the Super Baltars either. For me the look of the 55mm f1.7 is similar to some great lenses by Pentax in the Takumar series.
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Interesting, that would make sense. I'm admittedly using a cheaper Pixico speedbooster right now since I'm still on my G85. I'll keep an eye on the matter when I get the S5 and the MD to L mount adapter for that camera.

And it's funny that you'd compare the Minoltas to the Takumars. I hear all the time that a lot of the Takumars are basically the "Poor Man's Cooke Speed Panchros." And I recall someone in the thread loooong ago comparing the Minoltas to those SPs too. Granted I know the general go to description for the Minoltas are "the Poor Man's Leica."
 
So after quite a long time of planning and hoping, I've finally got myself a new camera to upgrade from my old G85; the Panasonic S1 with the V-Log upgrade and Firmware 2.0 already installed! The camera is in wonderful condition and it's been a blast adjusting to the larger sensor with my Minolta set. It's been fascinating seeing how much of a difference the sensor size has on the image, even beyond just the wider field of view. It's so much easier to separate the subject from the rest of the space in the frame. It all feels a lot more natural, more like the human eye.

The 35mm and 55mm in particular both seem to really shine in Large Format, though I still need a great deal of practice with using the 70-210mm f4 I think. The S1's IBIS is wonderful, but even it seems to struggle a bit with that tele-zoom. I still need to do more tests with the 24mm and 28mm to get a better feel for them, but it's nice to know that I don't feel like I'm in a big hurry to go out and get the 21mm right away now. I'll probably still get one eventually, but for now, I think the 24mm rounds out my ultra wide end quite nicely.

The 35mm really stood out to me when I was testing it the other night. The field of view was obviously wide, but the rendering and compression was nice and natural too. I have a feeling that'll probably be my main lens with the S1, though it's hard to be sure when the 55mm is also working wonderfully for me on full frame too.
 
That coincides with my experience when I went for my personal work from a MFT camera to Sony Alpha (I was using Red cameras only on the job).
Does the S1 have a possibility to adjust the stabiliser for the focal length? My Sony A7R II has that and it's essential when using lenses without electronic coupling.
Regarding the 35mm: there is a reason why many famous photographers preferred that on cameras like the Leica. With the resolution of modern sensors, you can always crop in, but you can't go wider.
 
Uli Plank said:
That coincides with my experience when I went for my personal work from a MFT camera to Sony Alpha (I was using Red cameras only on the job).
Does the S1 have a possibility to adjust the stabiliser for the focal length? My Sony A7R II has that and it's essential when using lenses without electronic coupling.
Regarding the 35mm: there is a reason why many famous photographers preferred that on cameras like the Leica. With the resolution of modern sensors, you can always crop in, but you can't go wider.
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Yeah, the S1 does have an adjust for the stabilizer for the focal lengths. Generally works really well, I'm just not entirely sure how well it's working on the 70-210mm. Though, for all I know, it could easily be that it's just that I'm particularly shaky or something. It'll take more getting used to before I'm entirely sure one way or the other, I think.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I'd wager the 35mm will pair especially well with the S1's new 6K Open Gate mode, especially based on the sample footage I've seen from another filmmaker using his Leica R and vintage Zeiss 35mm lenses in that mode.
 
Well, anything over 70 or maximum 85 and I'd use a tripod anyway. In photography you'd just use a shorter exposure time, but film shows any shaking.
A stabiliser is no replacement for mechanical means like a shoulder support or a tripod.
 
Uli Plank said:
Well, anything over 70 or maximum 85 and I'd use a tripod anyway. In photography you'd just use a shorter exposure time, but film shows any shaking.
A stabiliser is no replacement for mechanical means like a shoulder support or a tripod.
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Yeah, that makes sense to me. I haven't really taken the chance to pull out my tripod and try the 70-210mm on there yet, so it could likely clean up nicely on there. Granted, I do worry a little that that set-up might be too front heavy, so I'll probably need to buy a lens support set-up for that in that case.

I do want to ask one other question about the 35mm that I've noticed; mine seems to breathe a bit. It's nothing too terrible IMO, but I just wanted to ask if that was the case with any other Minoltas you've tried out on your end?
 
Yes, most of them breathe more or less. That's quite normal for stills lenses and one of the reasons why true cine glass is so expensive.
My Zeiss C/Y lenses breathe too. But I don't care that much, with modern NLEs like Resolve you just keyframe a slight zoom if it really matters for a shot and you'll be fine. Most of the time, it doesn't really matter.
 
Uli Plank said:
Yes, most of them breathe more or less. That's quite normal for stills lenses and one of the reasons why true cine glass is so expensive.
My Zeiss C/Y lenses breathe too. But I don't care that much, with modern NLEs like Resolve you just keyframe a slight zoom if it really matters for a shot and you'll be fine. Most of the time, it doesn't really matter.
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Yeah, I figured as much. It's no trouble for me, just wanted to make sure I knew what to expect. Honestly the character and look of the lenses are well-worth the trade-off of some minor breathing IMO.
 
Have you all undertaken declicking your Minolta lenses? If so, is it relatively painless?
 
Yes, I know, it's been a year, never noticed. If you still read, what do you want to see? I'll get it back in about now week.
 
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