Minolta AF 20mm F2.8 RS A-mount lens review by Phil Wood
 Phil Wood#44396 date: Oct-21-2019 | |
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| sharpness: 4.5 color: 5 build: 5 distortion: 4 flare control: 4 overall: 4.5 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Prime: Minolta - AF 20 F2.8 Zooms: Minolta - AF DT 18-70 F3.5-5.6 D Sony - AF DT 18-55 F3.5-5.6 SAM Sony - AF DT 18-55 F3.5-5.6 SAM II Sony - AF DT 18-70 F3.5-5.6 Sony - AF DT 18-250 F3.5-6.3 Tamron - 16-300 F3.5-6.3 Di II PZD MACRO |
| price paid: | 99 GBP |
| positive: | Solidly built, small, sharp., Minolta |
| negative: | Lacks modern flare control and microcontrast. |
| comment: | I have this design in the original and RS versions - there is little to choose between them. The RS has a slightly more user friendly focus ring and a smoother aperture which alters the bokeh a little not so good for stars, better for circular blobs (a good excuse for having both versions?). To be honest I tend to use them stopped down for architectural shots or landscapes with lots of DOF - where bokeh tends to be irrelevant. The body of the lens is essentially that of the 24/2.8, 28/2.8, 50/1.7, 50/1.4 with an additional flared out end for the big front element. This makes it distinctly wider and knocks the filter size up to 72mm. Ratings: Sharpness is good, not quite up to full marks but as good as might be expected from a decent prime. Colour is typical Minolta - love it or hate it. Build is solid, as proved by the fact that there are still plenty around still going strong after 20+ years. Some distortion is to be expected from a lens this wide, but Minolta did a pretty good job at squaring things up and Lightroom has a profile to correct it. Nevertheless you can still get those spectacular distortions by angling it appropriately. Flare - not its strong point, but not unusually poor for a lens this wide and this old. Overall I like this lens a lot, though it did take some getting used to on FF. It is still a nice lens on APS, but is not so much better than the 18-55 SAM II and no better than the 16-50/2.8 - FF is where it really shines. If I had to choose between the two versions I would go for the RS because of the slightly more user friendly manual focus. |
; 24MPrating summary
- total reviews: 39
- sharpness: 4.53
- color: 4.82
- build: 4.56
- distortion: 4.26
- flare control: 4.31
- overall: 4.49