on KEH.com for 616.00 Looks like a nice lens for the money. Ebays way over that nowadays for this lens

That's a good deal. It is a fairly slow focusing lens, and I understand it was made by Tokina for Minolta - good build quality, which Hoya/Tokina have always had. Minolta bought the rights to the lens, and Tokina never issued their own version. The Cosina 100-400mm is the only close copy of the design which was made, and it is nowhere near as good as the Minolta.

David

While the Cosina 100-400 mm 1:4.5-6.7 (a. k. a. Voigtländer Ultron) has the same focal range and speed as the Minolta AF Apo 100-400 mm 1:4.5-6.7, there is no way they are close copies of each other. Not even remotely. They are just two lenses with the same focal range and speed, that's all.

The Minolta has a filter size of 72 mm, and the front element just barely fits the front barrel. The Cosina/Voigtländer has a filter size of 67 mm; there is no way the Minolta's front element would fit the Cosina's barrel. So it definitely is different glass entirely. Furthermore (as you said), the Minolta's image quality is very good (not excellent but really good). The Cosina is nothing but a waste of money---it's cheap but still way more than it's worth.

-- Olaf

I did not mean optical copy Olaf, just a 'me too' specification. I'm aware they are very different lenses, we tested both together at the time they were available (I seem to remember using the 100-400mm on the Dynax 9).

David

Because my primary photographic interest is wildlife, by far, the majority of exposures I make are with this lens. I am still finding out how good this lens is. The pictures keep getting better which tells me that the lens is not yet the limiting factor.

Could it be faster? Absolutely. Do I care? Not sure...depth of field is already pretty limited at f/6.7.

Could it be sharper? Not much.

Could it focus faster and hunt less? You betcha this is a real problem.

Bokeh varies from pretty good to borderline hideosity. Improvement needed.

It also needs a tripod collar.

I, along with other wild-lifers are anxiously awaiting the arrival of its replacement; hopefully, in September.

Will I buy it? Not at all sure...the problem is that the current lens is amazingly inexpensive, compact, weighs less than two pounds, and fits in my camera bag with the hood on (not reversed). I'll hate to give that up.

I have seen enough people in Africa struggle and miss shots with their huge, unwieldy Canon artillery that I know I'll never go for larger or heavier than the Canon EF 100-400mm.

Grey-backed Fiscal
Sony DSLR-A700, 1/500s f/8.0 at 330.0mm iso400

Thats a stunning shot!

I agree with Javelin. Nice shot.