Minolta AF 100-400mm F4.5-6.7 APO A-mount lens review by WestCoastCannuck
 WestCoastCannuck#44222 date: Feb-2-2019 | |
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| sharpness: 5 color: 5 build: 3 distortion: 4 flare control: 4 overall: 4.2 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sony 70-400G, Minolta 400/4.5 |
| price paid: | $50 |
| positive: | Its a surprisingly sharp lens. I would have to guess that it is very close to the 70-400G even wide open. One of these days I will do a comparison. See some of my samples. Colour seem nice to my eyes. Bokeh not bad for a zoom. |
| negative: | This lens hunts. A lot. With a contrasty subject in decent to good light.... no problem. In less than ideal light it will often hunt - especially with center point focus. "Expand Flexible Spot" works better... and the zone options also work well enough. At first I thought the lens was only sharp closer in and weak at infinity.... but then when I manually locked focus I got super sharp images. Though I did not notice, I think the blurring may be a result of micro hunting - anyways, when I locked the focus on my landscapes they got sharp. It seems to have more distortion than the 70-400G... I could not stitch longer focal length shots without applying some correction first - I found the profile setting for the "Canon 100-400" worked well enough with some occasional tweaking. Fairly heavy vignetting at the long end - corrects easy enough. Worst zoom creep ever. Drops like a stone if you let it. |
| comment: | I ended up with a well used (glass perfect) copy of this lens by accident at a price that was almost a gift. After using it for a week or so I can say I will be keeping it for hiking and travel when I want the smallest and lightest long zoom I have. Handled with care it certainly does not embarrass for results! I plan on testing and using it some more first before it goes on the shelf waiting to be needed. ;) |
rating summary
- total reviews: 49
- sharpness: 4.48
- color: 4.63
- build: 4.20
- distortion: 4.65
- flare control: 4.41
- overall: 4.48