Minolta AF 28-135mm F4-4.5 A-mount lens review by Dynaton-DK

Dynaton-DK#4459 date: Dec-1-2008
sharpness: 5 color: 5 build: 5 distortion: 3 flare control: 3 overall: 4.2	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:	Minolta AF24-85 F3.5-4.5 Minolta AF24-105D F3.5-4.5 Minolta AF28-85 F3.5-4.5 Minolta AF35-105N F3.5-4.5 Sigma AF18-200 F3.5-6.3 Sigma AF17-70 F2.8-4.5
price paid:	Bought used
positive:	Razor sharp Fast autofocus
negative:	Heavy Long minimum focús distance
comment:	This lens made me reconsider previously made reviews of fairly good lenses for a simple man like myself. Lenses that I used to think were very sharp are now degraded a notch in my book. I had to edit all other reviews setting the Minolta AF28-135 F4-4.5 as the reference in regard to sharpness, color and build quality. This lens is extremely sharp - and has surprisingly fast autofocus that easily outperform the focus speed of my new lenses. Pictures in general come out better with this lens than virtually all other lenses that I've have or used to have. This lens is simply superb - it's a keeper for all times to come. Flare is not a big problem as you easily can see them in the lens. It does have some drawbacks - be careful with distortion in some cases as well as slightly reduzed contrast, but when looking at these razor-sharp images and the colors I completely ignore the fact that it's very heavy and that you must take a step backwards to focus.