Minolta MD 50mm f/2, The Clouds Above

Cameras and Lenses: Images with an an exceptionally sharp, lightweight, and budget-friendly vintage manual focus lens, a Minolta MD 50mm f/2, at a 100mm full-frame equivalent on the Olympus PEN E-P5.

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The MD 50mm f/2, perfect as it is, is the slowest non-macro standard prime produced by Minolta. It is less common than the faster MD 50mm F1.7, which was the mainstay as a kit lens for Minolta SR system cameras.

For its compact and lightweight body form, the f/2 is actually a delight to use. It focuses smoothly and handles well, and the focus peaking on the E-P5 is almost perfect at any aperture in good lighting conditions.

Minolta MD 50mm f/2

The lens is one of the lowest-cost SR lenses on many auction sites, but as you might be able to discern from the images, you will probably get a lot more in image quality when compared to the cost of acquiring the lens itself.

Olympus PEN E-P5, Minolta MD 50mm f/2

It was a very nice, sunny, and bright day with plenty of cloud cover drifting across the otherwise very bright and blue sky when I took the MD 50mm f/2, mounted on the Olympus PEN E-P5, out for a quick take session. It was quite a sight, with blue skies and majestic clouds, and it did not take me long to decide what the test shots of the day were to be.

Images were post-processed on Olympus Viewer 3 (OV3), and the final print sharpening was on Google NIK Sharpener Pro 3.