Minolta MD Zoom 28-85mm f/3.5~4.5, An Album Page

Album images with a vintage Minolta MD Zoom 28-85mm f/3.5~4.5, an almost unnoticed legacy zoom highly acclaimed for sharp images and excellent color rendition.

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The two-touch varifocal Minolta MD Zoom 28-85mm F3.5~4.5, a 'sleeper' lens highly acknowledged for its sharp images, and excellent color rendition, was introduced in 1983, It has a macro mode and a convenient 28-85mm focal zoom, equivalent to a 42-127.5mm full-frame zoom on a 1.5x crop sensor APS-C digital SLR, or 46-170mm on a mirrorless MFT (Micro Four/Thirds).

The all-glass and metal lens, with 13 elements in 10 groups, measures 66.5mm in length, weighs 470 grams, and takes 55mm filters. The lens has a minimum focusing distance of 0.8 meters, and the macro capability enables the lens to do close-ups at up to 1:4 magnification.

Aside from the very few views and reviews of the lens on the Net, with one on The Rokkor Files, and another on Dyxum, there isn't much more you can lay your hands on. It could also be that, as mentioned by a member of the forum on MFLenses, the MD Zoom 28-85mm F3.5-4.5 is not as easy to find as other Minolta lenses.

The lens is a varifocal zoom. As opposed to the parfocal, a varifocal is one where the focus changes each and every time the focal length and magnification change. This means that as you move up and down the zoom range, you inadvertently have to refocus as well, something you just have to get used to.

Found a couple more reviews of the lens recently: The Noisy Shutter and Earth, Sun, and Film.

Walking The Zoom

Images were shot with the MD Zoom 28-85mm f/3.5~4.5 mounted on an Olympus Pen E-P5.

Square Cuts

Olympus PEN E-P5

The Olympus PEN E-P5, as used for this shoot, is a Micro 4/3 mirrorless digital camera introduced in 2013. The camera has always been my flag bearer since I bought it from a used camera auction listing a few years ago.

Olympus Pen E-P5, Minolta MD Zoom 28-85mm f/3.5~4.5

Despite being over a decade old, the solidly built E-P5, with its retro aesthetics and 16MP Live MOS sensor, is still the flavor of the day as it is very compact and handy, especially suitable for use with lens adapters for legacy lenses, and comes with an excellent focus peaking function that tops it all.

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