Minolta AF 75-300mm F4.5-5.6 D A-mount lens review by pbagley

pbagley#9980 date: Feb-28-2012
sharpness: 3.5 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 5 flare control: 4 overall: 4.3	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:	70-210mm f4 Beercan @70 and 210mm 35-70mm f4 @70mm
price paid:	150 USD (new)
positive:	Sharp at 200mm Colors are nice.
negative:	Not sharp at 75 or 300mm CA is bad wide open at 300mm
comment:	Purchased new in 2005 when I bought my KM 7D. Tested using an a580 at ISO200 shooting a still life. Images were cropped from 4912x3264 to 493x329 and compared. @75mm the lens is solidly in last place compared to the 35-70 (sharpest) and 70-210 (nearly as good) at all f=stops, both center and edge. 200mm - at f5.6 a little softer than the beercan, but at f8 it's a toss up. At f11 the 75-300 is sharper. Blasphemy! But also true. 300mm - at f5.6 the image is soft with some serious purple fringing. The CA gets better at f8 and f11 but still present. Colors are a lot like the beercan, as expected. I did not test for flare, but the CA leads me to think it may not be good at 300mm. Conclusion: Disappointing at 75 and 300, but surprising sharpness at 200mm, f8 and f11. I've mainly used this as a wildlife lens, nearly always at 300mm, and the results have often been disappointing. Now I see why.