Minolta AF 24-85mm F3.5-4.5 RS A-mount lens review by Mr_Canuck
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sharpness: 4 color: 5 build: 5 distortion: 4 flare control: 4 overall: 4.4 | tested on:
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ownership: | I own this lens |
compared to: | 35/2 50macro 28-135 Tam 28-75 |
price paid: | missing |
positive: | Size and weight for portability Focal Range Colour and contrast |
negative: | Distortion at wide angle |
comment: | This is a good walk-around lens. For general photography like landscapes, it is really nice to carry (compact, light), and is well paired with the 70-300G in terms of length and filter size. It has really nice colour, and the contrast is also quite good. On the a850/900, it has softer corners in its wider focal length range. On apsc it would be quite sharp around the frame. Stop down a bit and it becomes sharper across the frame. CA is evident at 24mm or so wide open. I recently looked through my catalogue of images and found more shots with this lens than I realized, mainly landscapes. I was really pleased with the output. I put the build rating at 5, which is relative to its price. It is well made with nice rubber grips in this RS version. The 24mm at the wide end, on full frame, is really nice to have and a big difference with 28mm. But the output from, say, the Tamron 28-75 is better in terms of sharpness. But the Minolta's colour is better. Sony needs a 24-105mm or 24-85mm G lens with SSM as soon as possible, with image quality and build comparable to the 70-300G. Apart from the super-huge and expensive CZ24-70, there is a glaring gap in this focal length range for Sony. |
rating summary

- total reviews: 53
- sharpness: 4.41
- color: 4.68
- build: 4.34
- distortion: 4.19
- flare control: 4.11
- overall: 4.35