Cost: $19.9 (market price around $20)
I would presume this lens was sold as a first generation auto-focus kit replacement lens. I would not expect to much of this lens, but when I found one in a local thrift store, and I was looking for more Minolta AF lenses to play with, it actually spoke to me.
The lens is very solid, almost heavy for such a small lens. As the exterior is made of (strong) plastic, the weight must come from a lot of glass inside the lens.
Both manual and auto focus work very well and smooth, resulting in proper edge-to-edge sharp pictures. Sadly enough, the zoom was not smooth at all on this specific copy. It made it a lot harder to use and likely not a keeper, despite the good image quality. A smarter man might try to fix it, as I'm sure that's possible, but I do not want to spent time on a such a cheap lens.
Aside from this problem, the lens has nice rich colors and almost no color aberration.
To bad from the zoom issue, as it would be a really good walk around less otherwise.
More examples on Flikr.
Lens Specification:
Focal Length: 35-70mm
Maximum Aperture: F3.5-4.5
Minimum Aperture: F25
Image Format: 35mm
Lens Mount: Minolta AF
Optics: ? elements, ? groups
Blades: 6
Focusing: Auto
Minimum Focus: 0.5m
Filter Size: 52mm
Weight: 314g
Length: 58-84mm
Production: 1988
Serial Number: 1000488
Made in: Japan
More information on Sigma
Samples:
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| 1/125 sec - f8 - 56mm - ISO100 - Handheld |
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| 1/250 sec - f4.5 - 67mm - ISO100 - Handheld |
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| 1/400 sec - f8 - 54mm - ISO100 - Handheld |
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| 1/400 sec - f4 - 54mm - ISO1250 - Handheld |
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| 1/1000 sec - f8 - 40mm - ISO100 - Handheld |
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| 1/250 sec - f8 - 47mm - ISO100 - Handheld |
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| 1/1000 sec - f8 - 38mm - ISO100 - Handheld |
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| 1/500 sec - f8 - 42mm - ISO100 - Handheld |
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| 1/400 sec - f8 - 52mm - ISO100 - Handheld |
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| 1/500 sec - f8 - 52mm - ISO100 - Handheld |
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| 1/80 sec - f4.5 - 67mm - ISO160 - Handheld |
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| 1/500 sec - f8 - 36mm - ISO100 - Handheld |
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| 1/1000 sec - f8 - 36mm - ISO100 - Handheld |
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| 1/1000 sec - f8 - 38mm - ISO100 - Handheld |
Sources
Pretty impressive performer for a lens this small. May possibly even be THE (or close to it) smallest AF 35-70mm lens ever, perhaps? Have the same model for Nikon and found bokeh, colors and close-up IQ to be surprisingly good. Also pretty much spot on wide open. It's a keeper.
ReplyDeleteIt would be a keeper for me if the zoom wasn't that sticky. Almost have to use 2 hand to urn it... for sure a problem with this specific copy.
ReplyDelete