Minolta AF 100-400mm F4.5-6.7 APO A-mount lens review by QuietOC
 QuietOC#29643 date: Jul-31-2016 | |
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| sharpness: 3.5 color: 4 build: 3 distortion: 4 flare control: 4 overall: 3.7 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sony DT 55-300 F4.5-5.6 SAM Canon EF 70-300 F4-5.6 IS II USM Tamron SP 70-300 4-5.6 Di USD Sony FE 70-300 F4.5-5.6 G OSS Sony 70-300 F4.5-5.6 SSM II Sony 70-400 F4-5.6 G SSM Minolta AF 75-300 F4.5-5.6 BBC Minolta AF 100-300 F4.5-5.6 APO/D Sigma 150-500 F5-6.3 EX DG OS APO HSM |
| price paid: | 165 USD (used) |
| positive: | Same retracted length as the 70-210 F4 Fairly light Smooth, long-throw focus control 4X zoom range Very little distortion Sharper wide-open than the 100-300 APO lenses Doesn't lose focal length with close focus |
| negative: | Axial CA Not very sharp Heavy zoom action + zoom creep Rotating/extending barrel No tripod collar |
| comment: | After many soft copies of the 100-300 APO, I am pleasantly surprised by the at least acceptable sharpness of this lens wide-open, but the CA is not as well-controlled as the smaller lens. The second copy may be slightly better than my first one. This lens originally sold for over $700 in 1995. It has generally been selling north of $250 recently on eBay. "JAPAN" Several manufacturers have released 100-400mm zooms recently including Sony. Tamron and Sigma released their budget F6.3 versions in 2017. There is an older push-pull zoom available under several brands with the same range and maximum apertures which uses a smaller 67 mm filter diameter. David Kilpatrick stated that the Minolta 100-300 APO and the 100-400 APO zooms were Tokina designs. The Tokina model was only $230 in 1999--much cheaper than their older 80-400/4.5-5.6 and 100-300/4 ATX lenses. On the A65 and A68 the maximum aperture is reported as f/6.3 at the long end instead of f/6.7 or f/7.1. The A65 reports f/5 at 135mm and f/6.3 already at 200 mm. The Maxxum 70 is more optimistic in the mid range reporting f/4.5 up to 135 mm and f/5.6 up to 300 mm where it switches to f/6.7. It is sharper at 400 mm f/6.3 than the 100-300 APO is at 300 mm f/5.6. My impression is that it performs at least as well if not better optically than the Sigma 150-500 OS that I've tried. It is much sharper than the Sony 70-400 G SSM I tried. The focus plane is fairly flat across the zoom range, but certainly not as flat as the 70-210/4 or original 75-300/4.5-5.6 or the Tamron 70-300 USD. My copy of the Sony DT 55-300 is sharper on teleconverter than this lens is without one. Stopping the lens down to f/8 greatly improves the image quality. Autofocus performance at 400 mm is similar to the xx-300 mm F5.6 zooms on a 1.4X TC, which is to say rather poor. It can autofocus quickly at 400 mm pointed at a bright light source, but it is very prone to hunting in typical indoor lighting. Autofocus seems to be accurate. Surprisingly the A65 will AF this lens with both the 1.4X and 2X Kenko chipped teleconverters all the way to out 800 mm F13. In actual use the AF is practically useless with the 2X, and very poor with the 1.4X. Test chart comparison with xx-300 zooms. |
; 10MPrating summary
- total reviews: 52
- sharpness: 4.42
- color: 4.63
- build: 4.17
- distortion: 4.62
- flare control: 4.38
- overall: 4.45