Minolta 500mm F/8 Af Reflex

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Product Feature

• For use with the Maxxum 7xi/5000i/7000i/8000i
• May be used with other Minolta AF SLRs in the manual mode

Product Description

Compact, autofocusing, reflex-type telephoto.

Minolta 500mm F/8 Af Reflex Review

After Sony bought Minolta they continued to make this lens until around 2010. It's unfortunate Sony dropped this lens from its line-up because I surely would have bought a new copy over a used one. In fact, since this lens is unique in being the only autofocus 500mm reflex ever made, I could see people buying the Sony platform simply for this lens! The alternative is cheap manual t-mount lens, more expensive and heavier off-brand zooms (e.g., Sigma), or outrageously priced Sony (or Nikon/Canon/etc.) prime lenses priced like a good used car. Minolta lenses work fine on Sony cameras like my a65. My experience is you'll get a far better price on the older Minolta version than the Sony one but your mileage may vary.

So how is the lens? I hope to upload some test shots I took at the zoo (like I did for my Sony 75-300mm). The take-away is I'm pretty confident anybody in the market for a 500mm reflex lens will absolutely fall in love with it! I was able to hand hold it at the zoo and take over 500 shots with less than 10 ending up blurry. This was on a somewhat cloudy fall day where the sun wasn't the brightest. The lens is by no means light but I carried it for 2 1/2 hours without any fatigue. The lens is so compact it doesn't require a collar mount.

The auto focus is fast but it will hunt at times, particularly when I'm shooting through cages - huge surprise - and sometimes I will set it to manual. However, I typically let it set the focus in auto first even in those cases then switch to manual for minor adjustments while taking pictures. It's a Minolta/Sony prime lens so you know it's sharp!

The disadvantages of this lens are the well known disadvantages of any reflex lens. The aperture is fixed at f8. There's no stopping down to increase your depth of field. You can't open it up so many of my daylight shots were at ISO 1200 so I can hand hold at 1/500. Bokeh (background blur) sometimes is donut shaped and not creamy. I personally think the bokeh gripe is overdone but this is personal taste. Only in a small minority of my shots did donut bokeh creep in and it never overwhelmed the background. I've yet to find it objectionable and I even think it adds interest. I always put a protective UV filter on my lenses but this lens isn't threaded so that's not an option here.

It comes with 2 filters so make sure your copy includes both. You'll have at least one installed on your lens at all times.

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