sony 50mm 1.8 vs minolta 50mm 1.7

[lexie]

i have the choice of buying either the sony 50mm 1.8 or the minolta 50mm 1.7. with the vat-back offer sony have going at the minute it's available for £115ish from jessops, and the minolta i'm looking at is £90 delivered.

obviously the sony will come with full warranty and be brand spanking new, but i hear good things about the minolta and the metal construction appeals to me. but what are the pro's and con's of each lens?

 

[srichards]

I've just bought a minolta one. Check out dyxum for lens reviews and sample images of both and see which one looks best (assuming sony fit). If the sony one is only £115 new I'd assume it was too cheap to be much cop to be honest. I could be hideously wrong and be nothing more than a sucker for a large price tag though!

I think harrison cameras offer a 12 month warranty on their second hand gear so they would be effectively good as new. They usually have minoltas for about 90-100. Ffordes have them for £79 but their warranty is only 6 months. Postage is similar in both cases. Not that I spend ages looking in the sony/minolta second hand sections at all

 

[lexie]

i've just been looking through dyxum actually and both lenses seem to get good reviews. the sony one is only that price because of a sony vat-back offer, it's £138 at jessops and you claim the vat back with a claim form. a lot of sony items are included in it in the run up to xmas.

how have you found the minolta version so far?

 

[cobwebscavern]

Have had the sony and I returned it and got a minny...was pretty disappointed as I remembered the Min 50mm being much better (I got one pretty quick from gumtree)....the minolta is much better...better colours...better bokeh...better build quality.

Unless buying new is important for you go for the minolta everytime.

 

[srichards]

Pretty nice. Focusses better in lower light than the sigma I normally leave on the camera. Think I got it from carmarthen cameras. Had a bit of a binge so I can't remember what I got from where now!

 

[leaky5]

Trying to work out if the lens on this is a 50mm, might be worth asking the seller. Also with a Beercan, £36 with 21 hours to go.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Minolta-film-...otography_Film_Cameras_ET&hash=item45f745415a

 

[lexie]

nice find richard. i thought it looked like an MD mount camera when i saw it, but i asked about the lenses in the pic to see if they are any good to me. that looks like a beercan though which could be handy.
the price will probably go mental if a few people from here get involved lol

 

[350wedge]

Trying to work out if the lens on this is a 50mm, might be worth asking the seller. Also with a Beercan, £36 with 21 hours to go.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Minolta-film-...otography_Film_Cameras_ET&hash=item45f745415a

Its not the 50mm, the zoom ring gives it away. Probably a 35-70mm zoom...

If you wait long enough you can get the original 50mm 1.7 AF at a reasonable price. I got one Buy it now this week for £49.99, boxed and in near new condition...

There are so many copies of that and the 70-200 beercan at hugely over-inflated prices...