Minolta AF 24-105mm F3.5-4.5 D A-mount lens review by brian33

brian33#11334 date: Sep-10-2013
sharpness: 2.5 color: 4 build: 4 distortion: 2 flare control: 3 overall: 3.1	tested on: film camera: APS-C: 6MP; 10MP; 12MP; 14MP; 16MP; 20MP; 24MP full frame: 12MP; 24MP; 36MP; 42MP; 61MP
ownership:	I own this lens
compared to:	All primes at those focal lengths; CZ16-80 (comparable focal length on aps-c)
price paid:	240 EUR (old)
positive:	Very small and light
negative:	Significant vignetting Significant distortion at most focal lengths Very soft wide open Corners never really do get sharp, even when stopped down
comment:	The lens is worth maybe 100 euros so I way overpaid for it. I guess I was a little naive: I thought, cool, look at how small and light that thing is! But it's just a dog of a lens. It really takes the a99 and some heavy handed post-processing to make up for its flaws. Even when it sharpens up stopped down the images never really pop and as I mention the corners never really get sharp. Not that corners are the most important thing in the world but they count sometimes for some photos and this lens is so soft in the corners they can't even be salvaged by savvy post-processing. The colors are nice though, I'll give it that. I would almost say: perhaps this lens would be OK on film but then the distortion is horrible and that's one thing you can't fix so easily on film. I know that that would drive me nuts, I like for nice, straight lines in my photos and this lens won't give you a straight line.