This Minolta lens was my first approach to Minolta glass. Suffice to say that I’m sold on the quality of this lens and the longevity it’s a prove of this. This fast prime with a maximum aperture value of 1.4 , produce amazing colors and has some incredible rendering and character.
Photos at all the aperture ranges are usable within they limitations; center is awesome from 1.4 to 5.6 and at f8 to f11 corner to corner sharpness is excellent.

• All the photos in this review are from a Sony α7 II camera.
  • 24mp full frame sensor.
  • On body stabilization.

• Lens is all metal with plastic focusing ring, feels incredible solid and easy to handle.
• The aperture selector clicks in each stop and there are half stops between f/2 and f/11.
• There’s a distance indicator printed in the front barrel of the lens.
  • From minimum distance of 0.45m to infinity.
    • Also in ft.
• Using a K&F adapter (link) for mounting it to Sony cameras (E mount) adds 30mm to the total length.

The major downside of buying used lenses from internet it’s that usually the sellers are not photographers and the inspection done to them is mainly done visually. Therefore, you have to be careful when choosing a seller and a lens.

Adapter

The K&F adapter used is well constructed and has a nice fit. The lens and the adapter add a hefty weight to the camera. With it on in tends to tip over the lens if you leave it on a flat surface.  You can feel the weight of the lens when you hold the camera by the grip, although it’s not tiresome.

At maximum aperture (f/1.4) this lens produces rounded bokeh balls in the center of the frame and more “cat eyes” in the corners. Personally, I don’t find it distracting or busy at any range and I think that add character to the image. With that said, when you stop down the lens the bokeh balls gain an hexagonal shape, produced by the 6 apertures blade on the diaphragm. Some may find this distracting or ugly, but being that this is a matter of personal preference the photo examples are the best way to make a choice.

The photos are processed in Lightroom, primarily are color corrected and adjusted for personal preference. There’s no extra sharpening added.

As difficult as it is to find some profiles for lens corrections the bundled ones in Lightroom (Classic, 2020 version) seems to work really well (sometimes). In this case, I’ve used the bundled Minolta profile “Minolta MC ROKKOR-X PG 50mm f1.4“.

Up: No profile. / Down: Profile applied.