35~200 Xi

[pakodominguez]

last year, Michel Hood, Owner of the Minolta Yahoo Groups, stated that this zoom, the 35~200 Xi has a special "glow"
So I got one on Ebay for unexpensive last december, and had it on my bag waiting for a gig that need that focal distance.
last month I went to photograph an event, and while I was waiting between two speeches, I noticed this tulipes on a table...

Maxxum 7D + 35~200 @ f7.1, Metz 60 bounced over a wall 70 cm on the right.
I did some portraits last week with the same lens, that I didn't process yet. And I have to work more with it. But I already think that this lens has a special glow...

[fokkerdmr]

I have one of these too. Picked it up from a Maxxum film camera owner several years ago for $100. Great range, and I like the power zoom.

Just think I need more aperture at 200... IOW, an 80-200 2.8...

[pakodominguez]

Pics from last Saturday at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden with the second copy I got from this lens, mount on A700. Just two words: "Glow" and "Bokeh"
35~200Xi @200 mm 1/800 f7.1

35~200Xi @200 mm 1/400 f7.1

[jcoffin]

I have one of these too. Picked it up from a Maxxum film camera owner several years ago for $100. Great range, and I like the power zoom.

Just think I need more aperture at 200... IOW, an 80-200 2.8...

You do. Until you can/do get it, spend time at a gym to get ready for it. Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure dragging my 70-210/2.8 around has burnt more fat than my gym membership has!

Warning: a fairly fast zoom can be a "bridge" drug...er lens. You buy one one 80-200/2.8, and pretty soon you'll find your money going for a 35/1.4, an 85/1.4, a 135/1.8, and then you find your life has been destroyed by an incurable glass habit...

[Dr. Harout]

Warning: a fairly fast zoom can be a "bridge" drug...er lens. You buy one one 80-200/2.8, and pretty soon you'll find your money going for a 35/1.4, an 85/1.4, a 135/1.8, and then you find your life has been destroyed by an incurable glass habit...

Yeah, isn't that sweet

[Dr. Harout]

Oh, I nearly forgot, Pako, the colors, sharpness, bokeh and everything else are superb.

[pakodominguez]

We went to Westport, CT for their first Rubber-Duck race. Rainy day, the event itself was a little boring but I manage to shot some images. here a photograph taken with this lens:
A700 @ ASA 320 1/125 f11 (lens at 135mm)

a 100% cut

[KevinBarrett]

Wow, I love those textures! My home town, Cleburne, Texas, does a similar event in the early summer with two different race classes: little rubber duckies for individuals, and full-scale decoys for local businesses. I've never shot them, but my employer two years ago asked me to paint their decoy in the corporate scheme.

[Birma]

There is a saying in the UK when it is raining "good weather for ducks", and I think your picture shows this perfectly I have never seen anything like this so it is a very interesting shot. Aren't there meant to be a lot of plastic ducks floating the oceans of the world following a container of them being spilt - or is that an urban-legend?

[pakodominguez]

One from November at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden
A850 1/50 f5.6
ISO 1000
Lens @200mm

[Wes Gibbon]

There is a saying in the UK when it is raining "good weather for ducks", and I think your picture shows this perfectly I have never seen anything like this so it is a very interesting shot. Aren't there meant to be a lot of plastic ducks floating the oceans of the world following a container of them being spilt - or is that an urban-legend?

I believe those ducks have provided invaluable information about ocean currents (and are still doing so - they turned up all over the world. I think it was reported on a BBC documentary).

Nice pics off the 35-200, Pako. I must dig mine out and try it again, though unlike some I HATE the power zoom! I got mine for a song off ebay when someone was selling a 500si + lens and nobody else noticed or realised it was a classic! Mind you, that was in the KM era, when the future of the mount looked grim.

[pakodominguez]

This is during a Chanukah party last week, lens @35mm f5.6 on the A900

crop at 100%

[Almazar80]

I sold my 28-135 and original 35-105 zooms and kept my copy of this lens. I like it a lot.

[Richard T]

I got mine years ago when I first went "Minolta", to go with a Sigma 24 - 75 & 505Si super, it was always a great combo. Love the lens, completely agree about the glow & bokeh, will post some when I get a chance !
Only negative is that mine has always hunted in low(ish) contrast situations & MF isn't the easiest.....
RT