Hi,

Someone on the forum may be able to give me some guidance.

I am looking to buy a 24mm lens for my MD mount cameras.

Any comments on the performance of the late model MD lens with the 49mm filter thread compared to the early MD lens with the 55 mm thread?

I have done some web searching but was not able to find much other than that the later lens suffers more from vignetting and distortion. How does it compare for sharpness and contrast though?

Any help would be appreciated.

Alan

The earlier lens - 55mm thread, bigger mount, metal build quality - is also known as the Leica Elmarit-R 24mm f/2.8. Minolta made that lens, and the two are twins. The later lens is also known as cut-down plastic attempt to copy Canon, Pentax and others and make smaller lenses at low cost.

There is really no contest, the original wins. It is slightly more prone to into-the-sun flare. If you can find a rare VFC (Variable Field Curvature) MC version, or an original pre-MD MC version of the plain 24mm, these are from the Leica co-operation period.

David

Thanks,

I currently have the 20mm 2.8 which is disappointing. With its 55mm filter size it is the only lens I have ever come across that will give rounded corners to the frame without a filter being attached. The area is masked in a slide mount, but is noticable when scanning the entire negative area.

I was concerned that the 24 with its 49mm mount would have similar issues.

Luckily KEH amongst others has a selection of MC rokkors as well as "slimmed down" 55 mm filter MD Rokkors. I'll go for one of those.

On a similar theme. Is the 49mm filter version of the 50/1.4 really that much worse than the old MC Rokkor-PG? It would seem to me that the compact 50/1.4 is very much the same as the AF 50?

Alan

The 50mm models generally got better, as the lighter smaller mounts did not impact their design much. But if you want a really excellent 50mm, the f/1.4 MC design issued with the XE-1 and the 50mm f/2 issued with the SRT-100X are probably two of the best standard lenses ever made - by anyone. Again, this is the Leica co-operation phase, when Minolta's optical standards were aided by Leitz engineers working in Osaka.

David

My son has borrowed my 24mm MD Minolta lens, but I think it is the 49mm version. This is a very good lens - at least my copy - so if the 55 mm is better it will be excellent.