Minolta 50mm f/1.7 lens

[nico]

Just received one of these puppies that I bought off ebay. What a great lens! Only had a quick play last night, but I'm lovin the bokeh. I'm gonna be shootin like a pro in no time with this bad boy!:D

Who has one of these? Any tips / suggestions on how I can get the best from this lens?

Thanks, Nico

[ameerat42]

Heck, this thread caught my eye! Is it the one I used to have, an MC Rokkor? Best way to use it? Drop off "Best way to" and add "just".
Let us know what you're using it on. Am.

OBIT: Mine drowned in a flood about 22 yrs ago.

[amymergard]

I'm a big fan of this lens too - I use mine a lot, particularly for portrait photography, and it was my lens of choice when I was shooting gigs.
It gives a really nice clear image, and I particularly like the wide aperture.
I started to notice it performing worse than usual a few months back - the shutter blades weren't functioning properly and so it was over-exposing all my shots. A trip to the lens repair man sorted that out though - a simple case of oil on the shutter blades... now it's back to working a treat!

[Bluesun]

I have one of these lens and from all reports they need to be stopped down a little to get a really sharp picture like F2.8-4. I use mine for portraiture and when there is low light. For a travel lens paired with a 18-270 Tamron and you have everything covered.

[CAP]

Also have the f/1.7 and find it to be a nice sharp lens, much, much, much better than equivalent focal length on my zoom. Probaly don't use it as much as I should, put that down to being lazy and leaving the zoom lens attached.
Have a friend who has the f/1.4, apparently better again although hard to see the difference even at full file size with my old eyes.

[Aussie Nan]

I am waiting for mine to arrive in the mail, also an ebay purchase. How about posting some pics using this lens.
cheers, Toni

[in2fx]

Mine has not done anything for quite a while except be a prop lol

http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/apcompetitiondisplay.php?entryid=5320

[rossl]

I have just seen your thread on the Min 50 1.7. I picked mine up in a camera shop bargain bin about 20 years ago. It did a lot of service on a Min 8000i and then a Min 700si before finding a home as a medium telephoto on my Sony A700. Here is a sample.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5206/5307498833_b586de5f0a_o.jpg

Encounter Bay sea mist. Early summer (December) around mid-day I took a stroll along the seafront with my Sony A700 wearing an "old" Minolta f1.7 / 50 with a polarising filter. The unexpected sea mist rolling in over "The Bluff", the head on the right of the photo, presented this opportunity. Since my other lenses and tripod were back in the house, I panned 10 hand held shots and stitched them together in PS/CS4.

[ollie]

I loved mine. So sad that it is still stuck on the front of my X300...

[rossl]

This is the sort of photo that I think is very suited to the Minolta 50 1.7. This is a deliberate choice of this lens rather than my earlier post of the huge panorama of the sea mist. I love the gentle blur of the out of focus area in the background.http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2609/3869768915_431ca3f0e8_o.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/41541679@N02/3869768915/)
2009-08-1237 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/41541679@N02/3869768915/) by Ross Lamb (http://www.flickr.com/people/41541679@N02/), on Flickr

[Aussie Nan]

Wow, that's a really nice lily Ross. Thanks for posting it. I just received my lens and am still trying it out, but I know I would be thrilled to get something like this from it.
cheers
Toni

[Bluesun]

Nice lens Nice out of focus effect and low light advantage