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

petemcarthur#11348 date: Sep-24-2013
sharpness: 4 color: 4 build: 5 distortion: 3 flare control: 3 overall: 3.8	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:	missing
price paid:	£80
positive:	Excellent zoom range on film / ff Compact
negative:	Extremely soft wide open Distortion at 24mm
comment:	This is my first Minolta lens and it's a good lens as long as you are aware of it's limitations. Particularly at it's widest setting it is so soft as to be unusable. Wide open at 24mm I can't even print at 6x4. It's still unacceptable at f4.5 and only becomes useable at f5.6. The tele end is not as bad but this is a lens you want to keep stopped down. Perhaps my copy is really bad. Having said that it's a good walk about lens covering most situations well.