Minolta AF 35-105mm F3.5-4.5 N A-mount lens reviews
 saxbike#3971 date: Aug-15-2008 | |
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sharpness: 3.5 color: 5 build: 5 distortion: 5 flare control: 4 overall: 4.5 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sony 18-70 (kit) Tamron 17-50 f 2.8 Minolta 50 macro f3.5 Minolta 50 f1.7 |
| price paid: | $46 USD |
| positive: | Center sharpness Compactness Light weight good range for portraits precise focusing Excellent color |
| negative: | weak corners slow speed Very poor on FF |
| comment: | I purchased this lens to fill the gap between the Tamron 17-50 and the Minolta 100-200. Sharpness in the center is equal to the 50mm 3.5 but it gets soft in the corners especially at the wide end. It appears that f8-11 gives the best overall resolution. I like the range of the zoom as it works very well as a portrait lens. It is also very compact and light, about the same size as the 50mm 3.5. As a portrait lens, the softness around the edges can actually work to my advantage. Color meets the usual Minolta expectations, and I do not detect any problem with distortion. Overall, an excellent lens for the price...actually an exceptional lens for the price. It is also nice to have a lens that I would not hesitate to bring into bad weather or dusty conditions. Full-Frame review: It's amazing how different a lens is on FF sensor. My original review as done on the a200 and the 35-105 did very well and subsequently i have made some very fine images with it. I tested four lenses together on the a850-- Minolta 50mm f1.7, 50mm f3.5 Macro, 35-105mm and 28-135. The two 50's were almost identical and both were far superior to the 35-105. Very disappointing performance at all apertures. It did get a little better about f8 but corner were very weak across the board. Therefore, I find it necessary to lower my rating of the lens. |
; 12MP| Derek#3764 date: Jun-30-2008 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 4.7 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Minolta 28-85 Sigma 28-70 f2.8-4 Sigma 21-35 f3.5-4.2 Minolta 70-210 f3.5-f4.5 |
| price paid: | 20 GBP |
| positive: | Sharp at all focal lengths Weight Colours Cost |
| negative: | None to speak of |
| comment: | Great lens. For Ł20 a steal (from e-bay - I was the only bidder). This lens is a masterpiece and is slightly better than the 28-85 and 70-210 at similar focal lengths. Not heavy, could easily become my favourite lens. |
| BasK#3707 date: Jun-12-2008 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 4 flare control: 4 overall: 4.3 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | - Tamron 17-50 - Minolta 50/1.7 |
| price paid: | EUR 45 (used) |
| positive: | - compact - sharpness |
| negative: | - zoom a bit stiff |
| comment: | I was looking for a lens in this range. And this is a nice one. Sharpness is good when stopped down in all focus settings. Wide open it is not too bad at 35 and 105 mm, but strangely at 50 mm it is less than at both ends. All in all for this price it's a very attractive lens. |
| N_Raged#3572 date: May-8-2008 | |
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sharpness: 3.5 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 4 flare control: 4 overall: 4.1 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Minolta 50 f/1.7 (O) Minolta 24 f/2.8 (O) Minolta 70-210 f/4 beercan Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 |
| price paid: | missing |
| positive: | +colour +really fast AF +light and compact +55mm filter diameter |
| negative: | -rotating front element -poor sharpness |
| comment: | This lens was really made for film use; the zoom range is impractical on a 1.5x crop and its lack of sharpness makes use on digital undesirable. Only when stopped down to around f/8 is when this lens is decently usable. On the bright side, it is small and light to carry around and the zoom/focus rings are good to use. |
| womprat4#3517 date: Apr-26-2008 | |
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sharpness: 4 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 5 flare control: 5 overall: 4.6 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I used to own this lens |
| compared to: | missing |
| price paid: | 20 usd |
| positive: | - very light and compact - super cheap to buy - surprisingly nice image quality |
| negative: | - 35 on the wide end ain't so wide on a crop sensor |
| comment: | I picked up this lens as part of a lot, and had no interest in it whatsoever...then bored one night I cleaned it up, stuck it on my A700 and was pleasantly surprised. Build quality is good, zoom action is nice and light and smooth and manual focusing is not terribly difficult. Color rendition is very nice...rich color and nice tones. Sharpness is also quite good. After reading some reviews here I went back and looked again at the shots I've taken with this lens and cannot rate sharpness less than a 4 (4.3 is more appropriate), it's quite nice. The focal length is a little awkward, but it makes a nice portrait lens. Recommended if you find one for a nice price...how can you go wrong for under 50 bucks for a nice compact, well built, and reasonably sharp lens...you can't! A nice little lens. |
| neonights#3011 date: Nov-30-2007 | |
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sharpness: 4 color: 4 build: 4 distortion: 4 flare control: 4 overall: 4 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sony 18-70mm Minolta 50mm F1.7 |
| price paid: | missing |
| positive: | Good edge-to-edge sharpness but... |
| negative: | ... it needs to be stopped down a lot |
| comment: | I bought this lens many months ago and was never really satisfied with it. I even thought I got a deffective lens until I decided to have some thorough tests with it. So that's what I got: When wide open (F3.5-F4.5, 35-105mm) it's nearly useless. VERY soft. And I mean it! It looks out of focus but it's actually softness. But when you stop it down to F8 you get an amazingly edge-to-edge sharp lens! It seems another different lens! Now that I 'learned' 'how to use' this one, I'll make it more useful. |
| Robbie#2479 date: Jun-26-2007 | |
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sharpness: 3 color: 4 build: 4 distortion: 4 flare control: 3 overall: 3.6 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | kit-lens SAL DT1870 sigma EX DG Macro 50 mm sigma EX DG IF 100 - 300 mm |
| price paid: | 31 € (used) |
| positive: | colors decent build weight |
| negative: | sharpness disappointing zoom ring was a bit stiff |
| comment: | I bought this lens on ebay because it often was recommended here at dyxum for its sharpness and it should replace my kit-lens in most cases. But different to others here my example isn´t very sharp, in my eyes it´s more badly than the kit-lens. Also the kit-lens has the better range on APS-C cameras. Therefore I didn´t use this lens very often, I can´t recommend this lens. |
| MCNGUYEN#2380 date: May-28-2007 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 4 build: 5 distortion: 4 flare control: 4 overall: 4.3 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Minolta 70-210 3.5, 28-85 3.5 Tamron 90 sp macro Di Sony 18-70 kit lens |
| price paid: | missing |
| positive: | Built quality Sharp Fast focus |
| negative: | Zoom ring not so smooth Not wide enough on a APS-C |
| comment: | Well built zoom lens but the zoom ring is a bit stiff. Compact lens but not wide enough for a walk around lens. That's why I bought the 28-85 3.5 this one is as sharp and gives better colors. I use it less now that I get the 28-85mm. |
| mio-km#2057 date: Mar-27-2007 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 5 build: 3 distortion: 4 flare control: 3 overall: 4 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | 18-70 DT (kit) 75-300 D (kit-tele) |
| price paid: | 65€ |
| positive: | Light, compact, faster than my other lenses, very sharp at the long end. |
| negative: | Small zoomring, hard to catch focusring, 0,85m as min. foc. distance. |
| comment: | So far my only additional lens appart from my two kit lenses. It perform very well when given some, light, distance and focal length (that´s actually funny as my other lenses perform better at the short end). At minumun focusing distance the depth of field is very limited giving and overall OOF effect that is very cool in some cases (a soft-focus/glowing effect) . I would have loved to be able to come just a little closer with this lens. (45-55cm would have been great). But still, a great small lens. |
| maskinmester1#1875 date: Feb-23-2007 | |
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sharpness: 4.5 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 4 flare control: 4 overall: 4.3 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I own this lens |
| compared to: | Sony 18-70 (kit lens) Minolta 70-210 (beercan) |
| price paid: | 35 Ł |
| positive: | Very compact Good AF Nice colours Fine Bookeh Build quality Sharp! |
| negative: | None |
| comment: | Bought it attached to a Minolta 9000i camera at 35Ł incl. shipping from Ebay - both the lens and camera is btw in very good condition, although the lens was a little tight at the beginning - guess it hasn't been used for a while. So I reckon it is a very good bargain if it is wide enough for you. For every thing else than scenic photos I think it will do fine - especially considering it costs 1/4 of the 24-105! I use it as my walk around lens as it is even more compact than the kit lens and delivers way better. Buy one before it becomes a classic and the prices starts to steep up! |
| gustavjensen#1590 date: Dec-31-2006 | |
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sharpness: 4 color: 4 build: 4 distortion: 4 flare control: 4 overall: 4 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I used to own this lens |
| compared to: | KM AF 18-70mm/3.5-5.6 Minolta AF 70-210mm/4 Minolta AF 70-210mm/3.5-4.5 Minolta AF 28mm/2.8 Minolta AF 50mm/1.7 Sigma AF 10-20mm Sigma AF 70-300mm DG Macro Cosina AF 100mm/3.5 |
| price paid: | 27 Euro |
| positive: | Build Quality Image Quality pretty good Mice bokeh Clip on lens hood |
| negative: | None |
| comment: | Have tested it much yet, but I am very positive so far. Love the build, look, price, IQ etc. This is probably going to be my walk around together with the Sigma 10-20 and the Minolta 70-210/3.5-4.5 |
| Dumont#1491 date: Nov-28-2006 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 5 flare control: 4 overall: 4.6 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I have experience with this lens |
| compared to: | Kit 18-70, 28-80 3.5-5.6, 28-80 4-5.6 Xi, 28-105 3.5-4.5 Xi, 35-105 3.5-4.5 Macro, Quantaray 28-80 3.5-5.6 |
| price paid: | missing |
| positive: | Compact and sharp |
| negative: | none that can think of. |
| comment: | This seems to be a lighter (sans macro mode) RS version of the 35-105mm. To me it's a another fine alternative to the kit lens if you want a slightly longer reach and lighter that the original version, and I guess if you don't need the macro mode that's better. |
| mudslinger#1345 date: Oct-24-2006 | |
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sharpness: 4 color: 5 build: 5 distortion: 4 flare control: 5 overall: 4.6 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I used to own this lens |
| compared to: | 24-105/3.5-4.5 (D) 28-75/2.8 (D) |
| price paid: | $65 (used) |
| positive: | - Sharp - Compact - Great colors |
| negative: | - Soft from 35mm - 50mm |
| comment: | This is a nice little lens for the price. After taking many test shots with this lens at different apertures, I discovered that this lens is very sharp from 50mm on. Under 50mm, the lens does not perform as well as the other zooms I compared it to. The colors produced by this lens were right on, no post processing needed. I did notice some slight distortion near the edges. I'd recommend this lens for the price. The 28-75/2.8 (D) outperforms this lens throughout the comparable ranges/apertures and costs 5x more. |
| Bob5D#1019 date: Jul-14-2006 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 4 flare control: 5 overall: 4.6 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I have experience with this lens |
| compared to: | 18-70mm kit lens. |
| price paid: | missing |
| positive: | Superb glass at bargain price. Sharp. Lighweight but well built. |
| negative: | Manual focus ring too small. Crop factor on digital but great on 7000i. |
| comment: | A Ł25 bargain from e-bay that produces stunning results. Must be one of Minolta's best bargains and very underrated. Used with film camera to great effect but crop factor with 5D does mean it isn't wide enough to be my walkabout lens. Good for portraits. |
| jimmyhan#889 date: Jun-7-2006 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 5 build: 5 distortion: 5 flare control: 4 overall: 4.8 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I have experience with this lens |
| compared to: | 18-70D Kit lens with D5D |
| price paid: | missing |
| positive: | Very good value for money lens |
| negative: | Manual focus is really no easy. |
| comment: | I was truly surprised with this under US$100 lens that produce this kind of result. I love this lens, the kit lens in not in cold storage unless I need the wide end. |
| Tsukiyomi#798 date: May-16-2006 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 5 build: 5 distortion: 5 flare control: 4 overall: 4.8 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I have experience with this lens |
| compared to: | Minolta 28-135/4-4.5 Minolta 35-70/4 Minolta 18-70/3.5-5.6D Minolta 28-100/3.5-5.6D |
| price paid: | missing |
| positive: | Robust, reliable, sharp, no distortions |
| negative: | Needs hood against flare |
| comment: | You get it used at Ebay for 45-60 Euro these days, for the 28-135 you pay at least three times as much. I wonder why the 28-135/4-4.5 is so expensive these days and so highly praised, and this 35-105 is hardly mentioned anywhere and that cheap? It´s more compact and optically at least as good. |
| bharnois#731 date: Apr-28-2006 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 5 build: 5 distortion: 5 flare control: 4 overall: 4.8 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I have experience with this lens |
| compared to: | missing |
| price paid: | missing |
| positive: | Great portraits, range, lightness, durability, fast enough for general use, you name it I love it. Can be colorful. |
| negative: | Getting old! Typical small focus ring. Can be flat. |
| comment: | I find it hard to fault a lens that's been of my 2 mainstay lenses since before some forum members were born! Thousands of frames on my 7000i and works awesome on 5D. Of course it's no monster costing thousands but it deserves props. Great paired with a Minolta 100-300, you cant get a lighter pair with that range. Can be awesomely sharp if stopped down just a little. Can take very flat bland stuff under some conditions. Not wide angle enough on a 5d (I want a 24-105 D!!). Haven't done a lot of portraiture on 5D with it yet but had some stunning stuff on film. Always use the seemingly useless hood outdoors! Never really noticed distortions. Color ranges from stunning to flat but usually nice. Would give it a 4.5 but refuse to give a 4. Gave it a build of 5 since it's put up with me all these years and still works perfectly. Stayed clean inside. |
| Nico VG#206 date: Nov-9-2005 | |
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sharpness: 5 color: 5 build: 4 distortion: 5 flare control: 4 overall: 4.6 | tested on:
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| ownership: | I have experience with this lens |
| compared to: | Konica Minolta AF 28-75 F/2.8 |
| price paid: | missing |
| positive: | Cheep lens with a suprizing quality. A wonderfull portret lens |
| negative: | A little flare in special circumstances |
| comment: | A surprizing sharp lens for group and portret phothography. I use this lens more and more for portrets |
rating summary
- total reviews: 78
- sharpness: 4.16
- color: 4.67
- build: 4.22
- distortion: 4.29
- flare control: 4.08
- overall: 4.28
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