 BetterPhoto Member |
macro lens for minolta X-370 I want to purchase a macro lens to take close ups of flowers, etc. I have an old-school Minolta X-370 and limited experience taking pictures (although I took some classes, that was years ago). What kind of lens should I look for, what is the difference between a 100mm lens f2.8 and a 100mm lens f3.5? It says MD on my camera lenses, is that the adaptor type?
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Jon Close |
MD is Minolta's designation of their manual focus lens mount. Minolta also refers to these as "X-series" lenses to go with their X line of manual focus cameras (X-370, X-700,...). Older Minolta MC mount lenses are also compatible with your camera. For more info on Minolta's manual focus lenses I found http://www.geocities.com/peterblaise/minoltamf/, http://www.rokkorfiles.com/Lens%20History.html, and http://www.sds.com/mug/mf-lenses.html. This site, http://www.geocities.com/mikkonis/macros.html specifically addresses Minolta's macro lenses. Lenses made for the Minolta Maxxum (also known as Dynax) autofocus mount will not work. Minolta still produces some manual focus lenses, including the MD 100mm f/4 Macro. See
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Jon Close |
Oops, message too long. Part 2: You can also look in the used markets for Minolta's MD 100 f/4 Macro, or the earlier MD and MC 100 f/3.5 Macros. Cosina makes a 100 f/3.5 Macro that is sold under Phoenix, Vivitar and other brand names. I've no experience with it, but have read that it is pretty good optically, but (as might be expected at it's low price) not as good a build quality. f/2.8 is 2/3 stop larger maximum aperture than f/3.5. f/3.5 is 1/3 stop larger than f/4. The larger maximum aperture gives a brighter viewfinder image which aids focusing, but the difference between f/3.5 and f/4 would probably not be noticable. Otherwise, the wider maximum aperture is not as important with Macro. Because depth of field is so shallow at high magnification, small apertures of f/8-f/32 are used most often.
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doug Nelson |
Look for a Vivitar Series I 90mm f 2.5 macro, being sure you get the life size adapter with it. It was made in Minolta mount (and all others) and has a wonderful reputation. Tamron and Tokina made similar lenses for Minolta. However, you cannot go wrong by sticking with Minolta.
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