MINOLTA MC ROKKOR-X PG 1: 1.4 f = 50mm review

For the provided MINOLTA MC ROKKOR-X PG 1: 1.4 f = 50mm lens many thanks Konstantin Puchkov.

MINOLTA MC ROKKOR-X PG 1: 1.4 f = 50mm

MINOLTA MC ROKKOR-X PG 1: 1.4 f = 50mm. increase.

In short

MINOLTA MC ROKKOR-X PG 1: 1.4 f = 50mm - an old 1973 mm lens with manual focus, designed for film cameras, produced from 1977 to 1979. Later replaced by a similar lens, but without the 'PG' marking, the main difference of which was a reduced MDF and less weight (the lens already went like the Minolta MD). In 7, the lens changed its optical design (transition from 5/7 to 6/49), which made it possible to reduce the diameter of the front filter to XNUMX mm.

MINOLTA MC ROKKOR 1: 1.2 f = 58mm is primarily interesting for its good performance at f / 1.4. By the nature of the image, it is similar to many other similar fifty rubles, built according to the 7/5 scheme.

The 'ROKKOR-X' versions are believed to be rarer and optically more advanced. But forehead comparisons indicate the identity of the optical characteristics of lenses with different markings. Lenses labeled 'ROKKOR-X' were only shipped to some North American countries, while regular 'ROKKOR' lenses were sold worldwide.

The review shows an adapted version for use on cameras with Nikon F mount. The lens originally had the original Minolta MC mount. Adapted like this, due to the adaptation, I did not take many pictures of the appearance of the lens, as the original appearance was significantly damaged.

MINOLTA MC ROKKOR-X PG 1: 1.4 f = 50mm

MINOLTA MC ROKKOR-X PG 1: 1.4 f = 50mm

Main technical characteristics MINOLTA MC ROKKOR-X PG 1: 1.4 f = 50mm

Name of instances from review Near the front lens 'MINOLTA MC ROKKOR-X PG 1: 1.4 f = 50mm 3729221'
Basic properties
  • MC - Minolta MC mount, preceding MD mount
  • PG (Penta Group) - scheme 7/5 (five groups)
  • automatic or semi-automatic iris control with corresponding cameras
  • multi-illuminated optics
  • MF (Mannual Focus) - manual focus only
  • Metal case
Front Filter Diameter 55 mm
Focal length 50 mm
Zoom ratio 1 x (this is fix)
Designed by for film cameras with Minolta MC mount
Number of aperture blades 6 petals
Tags
  • marking on the focus ring with the focusing distance in meters and feet
  • DOF scale for F / 16, F / 8 F / 4
  • ring with aperture values, there are marks for F / 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16
  • R mark for infrared operation
Diaphragm F / 1.4 to F / 16

You can set one intermediate value between each pair of numbers (except between F / 1.4 and F / 2)

MDF (minimum focusing distance) 0.5 meters
The weight 310 grams
Optical design 7 elements in 5 groups
Lens hood must screw into the thread of the front filter
Period 1973-1977, later replaced by MINOLTA MC ROKKOR-X 1: 1.4 f = 50mm
Manufacturer country LENS MADE IN JAPAN (Lens made in Japan)
Price New do not sell. In a variant B. at. about 50 cu

Prices for modern Sony lenses (which absorbed Konika-Minolta) are available see here.

The Minolta 50 / 1.4 lens line is a further development of the previous Minolta 58 / 1.4 lens line.

MINOLTA MC ROKKOR-X PG 1: 1.4 f = 50mm

MINOLTA MC ROKKOR-X PG 1: 1.4 f = 50mm

Assembly, control, focus

Lens body It is made qualitatively. The focus ring has a wide anti-slip insert made of hard rubber or similar material.

The diaphragm consists of six blades and forms a regular hexagonal opening.

Important: MINOLTA MC ROKKOR-X PG 1: 1.4 f = 50mm does not have an intermediate value between f / 1.4 and f / 2.

MINOLTA MC ROKKOR-X PG 1: 1.4 f = 50mm uses small filters with a diameter of 55mm. On the body there is a focusing distance scale and a depth of field scale + a mark for working in the infrared spectrum.

Focus ring MINOLTA MC ROKKOR-X PG 1: 1.4 f = 50mm rotates approximately 180 degrees (half a full turn). During focusing, the trunk of the lens travels forward, but the thread under the filters does not rotate. Focusing is performed by moving the entire lens block. The minimum focusing distance is 50 cm, which is the norm for such lenses.

MINOLTA MC ROKKOR-X PG 1: 1.4 f = 50mm

MINOLTA MC ROKKOR-X PG 1: 1.4 f = 50mm and 7Artisans 50mm 1: 1.05 APO

Image quality and sample photos

MINOLTA MC ROKKOR-X PG 1: 1.4 f = 50mm is over 40 years old, and he shoots pretty well. At F / 1.4, the lens is not bad, sometimes even surprising. At F / 2.0, the lens significantly improves sharpness, while at F / 2.8 it will be difficult to distinguish it from some modern lenses. MINOLTA MC ROKKOR-X PG 1: 1.4 f = 50mm is afraid of backlight, but contrast and color rendition are at a good level.

Sample photos with RAW source files helped prepare the photographer Natalya Romanenko (500px). Convert RAW source files with Nikon D700 the original Nikon Capture NX-D utility.

You can download the original photos in JPEG format. at this link (24 files, 200 MB), RAW format can be at this link (10 files, 150 MB).

How to use SR/MC/MD mount lenses

To use a MINOLTA SR, MC, MD mount lens on modern mirrorless cameras, you should use the appropriate adapter:

The adapters are compatible with SR, MC and MD mount lenses and these mounts are backwards compatible. But the use of lenses with a MINOLTA SR, MC, MD mount on SLR cameras is difficult due to the long working distance. In such cases, a corrective lens adapter must be used, which will degrade the image quality.

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Material prepared Arkady Shapoval. Training/Consultations | Youtube | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Telegram

Add a comment: Rodion

 

 

Comments: 33, on the topic: Review of MINOLTA MC ROKKOR-X PG 1: 1.4 f = 50mm

  • Andrei

    The lens is good, but the portrait against the background of sticks is somehow not very good.

  • Natalia

    The Rokkor-x has a very beautiful picture, but the sharpness had to be caught blindly.

  • UstasFritZZZ

    One of my favorite lenses. I bought it 2 years ago for 2000 UAH, in a new state, no traces of use, no dust, etc. I am very pleased with it.

    • Gregor_S

      !!!

  • Victor

    As I understand it, now, with a bunch of good hundred-dollar Chinese, there is not so much sense in such lenses, for mirrorless cameras for sure.

    • Rodion

      On the crop, for the most part, they do not work so badly - the edges of the garbage are cut off. But in the full frame I don't even know. Here is Helios-44, I could not stand it on ff.
      Although the Takumar 50 / 1.4 does not seem to be so bad, for example, in the field of a full frame.

  • Jury

    Ochipatka: MINOLTA MC ROKKOR 1: 1.2 f = 58mm is primarily interesting for its good performance at f / 1.4.

    • Rodion

      This is most likely NOT a typo)

    • Anatoly

      All the same, a mistake. It's quite difficult to set 1.4 on the Rokkor 58 / 1.2, since there is no such half-stop =) Users find the lens to be very good at f / 2.

  • Alexey

    excellent glass, but without a cut it will not even stand on a kenon, not to mention nikon. and yes, it is sharp with an open. I shot it on a 5D MkII, just leaning it against the bayonet, in this case the length of the flange was enough. should be good at the BZK, where it will stand without any plumbing work.

  • Alex

    what some call a completely white bokeh, while others call a noble retro pattern))

    • Rodion

      That's for sure) The problem with the old 50 / 1.4, which is no longer Thorium, but not yet Milvus and not even Planar C / Y is simple: This is a compromise in everything, even in comparison with the previous 58 / 1.4 lenses. Lost edge sharpness due to the struggle for every millimeter of the rear section, huge CA due to the lack of low-dispersion glasses, very lousy spherical correction due to the rejection of thorium glass and the absence of a replacement close in properties (tantalum, for example).
      This is where the disgusting edges of the defocus discs and the terrible "triangles" along the edge in the bokeh come from.

      • Sergei

        I love when the highlights are framed by a ring! this looks really awesome! is that gross to you?
        the triangles along the edges of the bokeh at least somehow distinguishes the glass from the usual correct ones and all the glasses that have long been gouged. how many people so many tastes :)

        • Rodion

          Distinguished from what? From two dozens of the same comatose people who have been sick for a long time, you wanted to say, which hundreds of thousands have done over the past century?

  • B. R. P.

    Gorgeous drawing.

  • Jea reth

    It is very interesting that even in our time of Chinese super-luminous fixes and by no means high prices for native system lenses of current systems on the secondary market, such legacies of dead mirror systems are still not hesitant to sell for substantial money.
    For example, this rockcore on Avito is immodestly offered by many at the price of the native Canon 50 / 1.8 autofocus. Moreover, already the STM version, and not the good old plastic science fiction.
    Interestingly, many will seriously prefer this rockcore instead of the autofocus modern fifty dollars from their system?

    • Victor

      More verbal tinsel about a touch of "legendary", and everything is in openwork, there will be no end to clients))

      • Jea reth

        Well, yes, sometimes you come across such fairy tales on such Avito sites ... There, sometimes, in words, all the elk of the canon will plug all the elk of the canon into the belt at once. And the rarity is sometimes determined, apparently, by the absence of the same lens or camera from someone else within the radius of a couple of neighboring entrances

    • Novel

      Commodore 64 with a set of floppy disks and one or two floppy drives on our OLH sells for about $ 500. No monitor. This is 64KB of memory and a MOS 6502 processor at 1MHz.

      • Victor

        And one of about two hundred copies of Apple 1 was sold not so long ago for about $ 200000.

        But Minolta Rokkor is still not Apple 1. And almost not even Commodore 64, collectors don't chase after them :)

    • Yaroslav

      Well, first of all, Canon is not a native system for everyone. I used and now I have that Canon 50 1.8 II and 1.8 vignette as it should. It disappears at 3.5 (on the full frame), the “bokeh of triangles” starts at about 1/3 of the frame when viewed from the center. It is in no way suitable for astrophotography, although they also managed to photograph something. Oh, yes, I did astrophotography with them on a crop, not a full frame, and then the "triangles" and all sorts of strange-shaped shnyagi instead of stars were not in the center at f3.5. about 1.8 there is no question at all. Only the center area is 30 percent normal (on the crop). I didn't shoot stars for them in full frame. I did the test once and realized that it was not worth exhausting the camera resource with this lens. You can use it during the day, software up to 2.8, although 2.8 is already quite normal. 5.6-8 is already very sharp and there are no complaints in the daytime. Well, this is about the quality of fifty dollars from Canon 1.8. and that was the second.
      I have not yet held this minolta in my hands, but most likely I will buy it.
      And as for the Chinese high-aperture fixes ... So they are almost all cropped. And those that are for a full frame cost so much that you can buy a couple of old fifty dollars (I'm talking about a 50 mm 1.4 minuteolt). And the quality will be better (if they have worked for 40 years and look like new) and will last another 40 years. And the Chinese will break down in a couple of years and the enlightenment will peel off. There is such experience. The enlightenment on the front lens just started to fall off like scales ... Well, maybe someone will have better luck with an inexpensive Chinese high-aperture optics. But I vote for reliability.

      • Victor

        Is it possible an example of such a Chinese person whose enlightenment peeled off after a couple of years?
        How to put it easier ... Enlightenment is not a brush stroke with gouache, it is a rather complicated process. And by itself (without the influence of physical and chemical factors) it does not disappear. Even on cheap Chinese filters (this is also from experience of use)

        • Rodion

          Well, if the technology is violated, it can fall off calmly. Arsats also have such a defect. But buying the old 50 1.8 instead of 50 1.4 is a fiasco.

      • Yaroslav

        I will add ...
        I bought a slightly different minolta, but MINOLTA MD 50 mm 1:1.4. without inscriptions ROKKOR-X PG.
        Well, what can I say ... Maybe this is a defect in the Sony adapter, maybe it should be so, but there is no infinity at 1.4. Infinity appears on 2.8. I still sin on the adapter, which is perhaps a little bit longer than necessary.
        This is an example of a photo at approximately the minimum distance aperture 1.4 focus on the near needles.
        At 1.4 the lens is soft :)) at 2.0 it is much better, at 2.8 everything is already very good, at 4.0 - I think that the Sony a7rII will pump the matrix as it should, but there are still traces of vignetting, at 5.6 everything is gorgeous, and sharpness and vignetting. Next week I will buy a Sony SEL50F15F FE 50mm F1.8 and do some tests. I did tests with canon 50mm 1.8. Well, what can I say. Minolta's colors are more interesting. And the geometry is different :) if you do not look at the fact that the minolta (mine or because of the adapter) does not have infinity, then I liked the minolta more than the canon. But it is not suitable for astrophotography. Even if the coma on covered apertures is such that the impression is that comets are flying at me from all sides :))) let's say there is no coma in the center for about 30% of the frame. And then the farther from the center, the larger the “tail” :) so it’s not suitable for photographing the starry sky at all. In this regard, he loses even to Canon's 50 1.8.
        In a word, this lens cannot be called universal. It has its pros and cons. I like it, but if a fifty kopeck piece from Sony suits me better (albeit 1.8 instead of 1.4), then I’ll no doubt part with the minolta, well, or put it on the shelf :) Since I need it not only for photographing everything in a row, but mostly stars :) and you don’t always need 20 mm 1.8 Sony (I often take pictures of the starry sky, the Milky Way and TD with it). And sprinkling fitki ... In short, you need a fifty dollars.

  • Novel

    Thanks, but no.

    Original picture. Too original. But while I find two or three scenes for which it really suits, so that I don't get sick of psychedelic blurring, and even get into the frame, I will shoot a dozen frames on my native 50 / 1.4 - 1.8.

  • Gregor_S

    I had one.
    An excellent lens with a very nice picture.

  • Oleg

    How many aperture blades are there? According to the text -6, and in the table -9.

    • Arkady Shapoval

      6 Fixed

  • Oleg

    Will it go to Canon at all?
    I mean through an adapter?

    • Rodion

      There will be no infinity. Better redo. In general, 58 / 1.4 roccoras are often sold inexpensively adapted. In the picture, they will be more interesting than this.

    • Gregor_S

      Through an adapter with a lens is placed on Kenon

  • Alex

    I have a similar Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50/1.4 lens. I use it on Olympus 4/3, an adapter with a chip. Without a chip, focusing with an open aperture is almost impossible, with a chip (Lushnikov) it is very good. Very interesting, artistic lens. Some “watercolor” colors, an amazing soft, voluminous world. It stands out strongly against the background of other 50mm: Helios 58/2, Industar 50 / 3.5, Nikkor 50 / 1.8, etc. To understand, you have to shoot yourself. Oncoming light does not like, especially at f1.4. You can get a completely blurry picture, reminiscent of a monocle. I like him. I think the popularity of this lens will only increase, as it reveals its capabilities only now, at the close, when thoughtful work is possible with a direct comparison of several photo options.

    • Gregor_S

      “Oncoming light does not like, especially at f1.4”

      But in my opinion it is interesting from the side

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