Minolta AF 50mm F1.4 A-mount lens review by Krichton

Krichton#11403 date: Oct-25-2013
sharpness: 4 color: 5 build: 5 distortion: 5 flare control: 3 overall: 4.4	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:	Quantaray 28-80 Minolta 50mm 1.7 Tokina 35-200 Sigma 18-250 sony 35mm 1.8
price paid:	142
positive:	Sharp at f2 and beyond AF is fast Good build quality Nice bokeh
negative:	Purple fringing Extremely soft at f1.4 Not the best at flare control
comment:	Very soft at f1.4. It's so soft that it's almost pointless to shoot anything at this aperture and consider it a keeper. It's really useful at night when you need a faster shutter, but I question just how useful this is when your images come out soft and hazy. If you stop down to f2 or more images become much sharper. However, when compared to the Sony 35mm 1.8 it's not as sharp at similarly large apertures. The 35mm wide open beats the Minolta 1.4 at f1.8-2.8, and maybe even oh so slightly at f4, which shocked me. I did not have time to do a more thorough test, but these are the results I came away with so far. Bokeh is very nice though, and literally crushes the 35mm in that regard, but no different than the 50mm 1.7. The 1.4 is so similar to the 1.7 that I see no point in owning the 1.4 if you already have the 1.7 or intend to purchase the 1.7.