What is Flange Focal Distance? The simple textbook answer is FFD represents the distance from the lens mount (the flange) to the film plane. (The vertical plane of the sensor.)

If your eyes are starting to glass over, don’t worry. It is nowhere as complex as it sounds.

The Film Plane

Inside every interchangeable lens you will find elements designed to project the view from the lens onto a fixed vertical plane. This vertical surface is known as the film plane. The lens expects the film plane to be a precise distance from the rear element, although this distance varies by manufacturer and lens line.

Photographic lenses consist of a complex collection of elements that gather light rays and focus them at a specific location. The sharpness of the lens is dependent on how well it is able to concentrate a focused image on the film plane.

If you examine the top of any camera, you will most likely find a symbol consisting of a circle with a line intersecting it. The line indicates the exact location of the film plane. This symbol is a useful aid for those creating extreme close-up photographs, but most photographers will never require this information. Still, it is worth understanding where the film plane lies.

A digital camera’s sensor is located on the film plane. In the same way, the film in an analog camera is arranged so it lies on the film plane. The measurement between the lens mount and film plane is called the Flange Focal Distance, which can vary for each camera manufacturer.

dSLR Cameras require a wide Flange Focal Distance

On a dSLR the Flange Focal Distance must be large enough to include the mirror box.

With no need for a mirror box, evil (mirrorless) cameras can be designed with a much smaller Flange Focal Distance.

A dSLR camera will require a large FFD because the mirror and ground glass occupies the space between the lens mount and the film plane. The film plane can be placed much closer to a mirrorless camera’s lens mount, but even mirrorless cameras need some separation between the lens and the sensor. So E-Mount cameras have an FFD, although it is considerably smaller than that of a dSLR.

dSLR and SLR cameras require a large FFD to allow room for the mirror box

Mirrorless Cameras have a small Flange Focal Distance

Are you with me so far? A sharp photo can only be obtained if the light rays from the lens merge directly on the film plane. If the light rays converge on a location other than the film plane, the images cannot be sharp at infinity.

Every manufacturer settles on an FFD for their lenses. In the case of Minolta, the original Rokkor (SM Mount) lenses are designed to focus correctly at an FFD of 43.50 mm. All SM Mount lenses were created to have a point of convergence at that distance.

SR mount cameras require a FFD of 43.5 to allow for the mirror box.

E-Mount and NEX cameras only require an 18mm FFD.

When Minolta introduced the A-Mount cameras, the auto-focus mechanism required additional space. Thus, the FFD of the A-Mount lenses was increased to 44.50 mm. When Sony acquired Minolta in 2006, they retained the A-Mount, which meant the Sony dSLRs also maintained the 44.50 mm FFD.

The 18mm FFD of the Sony E-Mount Simplifies Adapting SLR Lenses

Since the NEX and subsequent E-Mount Sony cameras do not use a mirror and ground glass, the engineers were free to reduce the FFD to a mere 18mm. In addition to making the cameras lighter and more compact, the smaller FFD made it ridiculously simple to adapt a variety of dSLR lenses to the new evil cameras.

Because dSLR lenses were created with a much larger FFD, they can be easily fitted to E-Mount cameras. As long as the adapter holds the lens at the expected FFD, the lens will deliver quality photos.

A Rokkor adapter needs to be exactly 25.5 mm thick. This distance added to the ‘s built-in 18mm will suspend the lens at exactly at 43.50. This will allow the lens to focus perfectly at infinity.

Obviously, an A-Mount adapter will need to be 26.5 mm thick, in order to hold the lens at the required 44.5 mm distance from the film plane.

You can perceive why E-Mount lens adapters for vintage dSLR lenses have proliferated. Because of the mirror box, all vintage dSLR lenses have a large FFD. Older manual-focus Canon FD (42 mm), Nikon F (46.5 mm), and Pentax K (45.46 mm) lenses only need a simple adapter to attach the lens to the E-Mount at the proper distance.

You Cannot have a Negative Flange Focalplane Distance

Things get trickier when you attempt adapting lenses designed for a smaller FFD to a camera with a thicker FFD. You can’t very well design an adapter to have a negative FFD. The lens would have to move inside the lens mount.

A classic example would be adapting a Rokkor lens to an A-Mount camera. No matter how you configure it, there is no way the Rokkor SR Mount can project a sharp image onto the A-Mount’s film plane. Even if you could design an adapter with zero thickness, the Rokkor lens would project a sharp image at 43.5mm, but the A-Mount’s film plane is located at 44.5. The result would be soft images when focusing at infinity.

The only practical solution is to add an additional lens element inside the adapter. This extra lens refocuses the light path from the Rokkor lens so it projects the image correctly at exactly 44.50 mm.

Naturally, adding a new lens element could affect image quality. Although the additional element does not have the same lens coating as the original Minolta lens, I have not encountered any serious quality issues with the MD to A-Mount adapters that I have used.

Most adapters are built and sold by small third-party manufacturers. These firms may or may not have the ability to design an internal lens that measures up to the quality of the lens you are attempting to adapt.

One final note about Rokkor to A-Mount adapters. The internal lens is only required when you need to focus at infinity. You can encounter adapters without the internal lens; often these are marketed as “glassless” adapters. These will most likely give you soft images at infinity, but they will allow you to do excellent macro and close-up work.

Just to be clear, the preceding several paragraphs only apply to Rokkor to A-Mount adapters. Adapting 35mm lenses to E-Mount cameras does not require any added lens elements.

Because of the large FFD of various dSLR lens lines, you should be able to find an E-Mount adapter for almost any vintage 35mm lens. These lenses cover a full 35 mm film area, so they can be used on both the full-frame A7 series as well as the APS-C A6000 and NEX cameras.

The thrust of this post is aimed at explaining Flange Focal Distance and how it impacts adapting lenses from one camera to another. This article does not explore autofocus adapters or focal reducers that will modify a lens’ effective focal length. I will discuss those advanced adapters in a future post.

Wikipedia Chart of Standard Flange Focal Lengths

M42 Lens Specifications

The post Understanding Flange Focal Distance and Lens Adapters appeared first on Alphatracks.

TIPA members selected gear, software, and services in forty photographic categories for 2022. The awards for cameras and lenses are likely to be of most interest to Alphatracks readers

Sony captured four of the twenty-three combined camera and lens awards.

BEST FULL FRAME EXPERT CAMERA

The Sony Alpha 7 IV was selected as The BEST FULL FRAME EXPERT CAMERA. The judges praised the A7 IV’s backlit 33MB sensor, the 15 stops of dynamic range, and low light performance. They were equally struck by the camera’s ability to record one hour of continuous video.

BEST VLOGGER CAMERA

The Sony ZV-E10 scored another gold star for Sony, as it was judged the BEST VLOGGER CAMERA. This wasn’t a huge surprise, as there isn’t much competition in the Vlogging space.

The judges were enamored by the 3-inch flip-around touch screen, the directional mic, and the variety of shooting modes. The judges also highlighted the E-10s array of ports and external connections. Additionally, they cited the E-10’s compatibility with the full complement of E-mount lenses as a major benefit.

BEST FULL FRAME STANDARD ZOOM LENS

Speaking of lenses, the Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II was judged the BEST FULL FRAME STANDARD ZOOM LENS. The panel highlighted the myriad ways the GM II outperforms the original FE 24-70mm. The judges liked the fact the GMII is smaller and lighter and features quicker focus tracking.

BEST FULL FRAME TELEPHOTO ZOOM LENS

Another second-generation lens, the Sony FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS II, received the nod for BEST FULL FRAME TELEPHOTO ZOOM LENS. The panel recognized this 70-200mm focal range is most likely the most popular tele zoom across the board.

Choosing the Sony 70-200 as the “Best” is a testament to how this lens stands out in this crowded focal range. Sony has built this lens with 4X quicker AF speeds while at the same time making it almost 30% lighter than the previous model. The jury also lauded the quiet AF and reduced focus breathing.

Third-Party Lenses also scored Awards

Canon and Nikon optics did receive awards for other focal lengths. Of course, Sony E-mount photographers cannot make use of these lenses directly. Of more interest were third-party optics from Tokina, Sigma, Voigtlander, Laowa, and Tamron. Each of these manufacturers scored a Best award for a particular focal length. Tamron and Sigma were ranked Best in multiple focal lengths.

You can see the entire list of 2022 TIPA awards winners on the association’s website.

There was a time Sony wasn’t considered in the same league as Canon and Nikon. Sony’s ability to excel in the TIPA awards proved those days are long past.

The post No longer an Underdog, Sony cameras and lenses win multiple categories at TIPA 2022 World Awards appeared first on Alphatracks.

The following images are representative of the type of photos the MC Rokkor – PF 58mm f/1.4 lens can deliver on various camera bodies. I have used post-processing on most of the RAW images. Some may have been cropped and some may have had sharpening and noise reduction applied.

Click here for an in-depth review of the Rokkor 58mm f/1.4 lens.

You can expect similar results if you mount the Rokkor 58mm on Sony A-Mount and E-Mount cameras with an adapter. Naturally, the lens yields excellent photos on Minolta film SLRs as well.

Click on an image to see a larger sample.

Rokkor 58mm Samples with a Sony A7s

Full Frame E-Mount Sensor with Adapter

Rokkor 58mm Samples with a Sony A6000

APS-C  E-Mount Sensor with Adapter

Rokkor 58mm Samples with a Sony A350

APS-C A-Mount  Sensor  with Adapter

Rokkor 58mm Samples with a Minolta SRT-MC

35mm Film Camera — Native Minolta SR Mount

• #Rokkor58mm
• #minoltalens
• #fastprimelens

Click here for an in-depth review of the Rokkor 58mm f/1.4 lens.

The post MC Rokkor 58mm f/1.4 Sample Images appeared first on Alphatracks.

For a gallery of Rokkor 58mm f/1.4 images, Click Here!

Officially known as the MC Rokkor – PF 58mm f/1.4, I’ve shot with this Minolta prime lens on 35mm film cameras, APS-C digital cameras and full-frame digital cameras. The resulting photos have never disappointed me.

The MC Rokkor – PF 58mm f/1.4 lens is a fast, inexpensive prime lens that can be easily adapted to Sony Mirrorless cameras. I have also employed an adapter to shoot on Sony A-Mount cameras, with favorable results.

About the MC Rokkor – 58mm f/1.4 Lens

The MC I version of the Rokkor 58mm f/1.4 was introduced in 1966. My copy is the updated MC II which Minolta began selling in 1969. Although the lenses are similar, the general consensus is that the MC II is the superior optic.

MC stands for meter coupled, which means this lens can relate f/stop information to the camera’s light meter. The camera cannot physically adjust the aperture, but the meter can tell what f/stop has been selected. Back in 1966, this was a big deal.

According to Minolta’s internal code, the PF designation represents a lens with 6 elements in 5 groups. The body of the lens is all metal, no plastic here.

Similar to the majority of Minolta’s early SR mount lenses, the body is black, while the mount and the aperture are silver. The Minolta designers probably thought that a silver background would make it easier to read the f-stop markings in dim light.

Since the 58mm f/1.4 dates to 1966, it is a purely mechanical lens. There are no electronic connections, which means this lens lacks autofocus and electronic aperture control. Hardly surprising, since these features weren’t available on Minolta SLRs until many years after this lens was discontinued.

At 10.2 ounces, it is a relatively heavy lens, which is partially the result of the previously mentioned metal construction. Personally, I like the heft of this lens. The overall weight of my photo gear isn’t a big concern for me. I understand that photographers value lightweight baggage. A camera bag full of gear isn’t much fun to lug around. But in use, weighty cameras and optics can go a long way toward dampening vibration. Given the option, I would always choose sharper images over a few tired muscles.

There is no imprint indicating my copy is the MC II version. Minolta never labeled these lenses as MC I or MC II. There are two primary ways of telling the two versions apart.

The first is the serial number. According to various online sources, the MC II version of this lens starts at 5064519. Thus, a lens with a lower serial number will be an MC I version, while anything greater will be the MC II.

A quicker method of identifying the MC II version is to glance at the focusing ring. The superior MC II has what is known as a “hills and valleys” design, where the metal grip undulates with high and low areas. The MC I features a circular grip with knurled areas and a band that has a constant height throughout its circumference.

I haven’t shot with an MC I lens, so I can’t really comment on the actual differences. I can say I love the results I obtain with my MC II 58mm, and the easy to grasp wavy grip is an added bonus.

I am not a pixel peeper. I seldom fritter away much time analyzing charts and graphs taken with a particular lens, since I’m not in the habit of photographing charts or graphs. Corner sharpness and edge fall-off are crucial aspects, but what I really care about is the look of the images delivered by a particular lens.

While I avoid lenses with egregiously undesirable characteristics, I am most concerned about whether a given lens can produce sharp and clear images. My MC II version of the Rokkor 58mm f/1.4 consistently produces great images for me, on 35mm film, digital APS-C and digital full-frame cameras.

In testing, the lens is slightly soft at its maximum aperture. Stopping down to f/2.8 improves sharpness, and the lens is razor-sharp at f/4 and above. This is based on examining images taken under controlled conditions. When making actual photographs, I haven’t detected any lack of sharpness when shooting wide-open.

In testing, I also noticed corner vignetting when shooting wide open. Once again, the darkened corners were visible in testing, but didn’t seem to affect any of my real-world images. In any case, the vignetting is absent at f/4 and smaller apertures.

Smooth focusing with the 58mm f/1.4.

Another reason I love this lens is the feel of the focusing ring. The ring conveys a precise tactile impression. The focus action on my copy is velvety smooth. Whenever I twist the ring on this lens, it radiates quality.

Maybe I just got lucky, because other reviewers claim their version has a scratchy focusing ring. My lens provides the smoothest focus of any manual focus lens I own. Despite the effortless focusing, the focus stays where you put it, without the focus shifting caused by a sloppy ring.

Flare

Most, if not all, vintage lenses exhibit flaring when shooting into the sun or intense light. My copy is not particularly horrible in this regard, but you do need to take care to prevent flare. I acquired my copy used, and it came with a collapsable rubber hood. I use this hood almost all the time, indoors and out. Minolta specified the D55NA metal hood as the standard shade for the 58mm f/1.4. I have found the rubber hood does an excellent job, and it is easier to fit in my gadget bag, so I have never bothered replacing it.

The Rokkor PF 58mm f/1.4 on Minolta SR Mount Film Cameras

Naturally, this lens was designed for film cameras and it is right at home on a manual focus Minolta such as the SRT series. Practically any 50-60mm prime lens from this era will yield excellent results because the engineers had so much experience in this area. More complicated optics, such as zooms, wide-angles, and telephotos require more care in the design. However, the “normal” lenses of 50-60mm focal lengths were a lens maker’s bread and butter. Hence you would expect this lens to work well on 35mm film cameras, and it does.

It was a different world in the 1960s, and camera makers lavished great attention on the “kit” lenses for their SLRs. Today’s kit lenses are usually merely adequate; camera makers expect buyers to purchase from their top-tier lens lineup if they want excellent image quality. The kit lens is frequently treated as a throwaway compared to the much more expensive “professional” optics.

In that bygone era, manufacturers treated the lens that came with the camera as the foundation of their camera system. The kit lens was considered an example of other lenses in the lineup, so nearly all of the base “normal” lenses were very high-quality.

Of course, the 58mm f/1.4 was never the base lens. To justify its existence in the Rokkor line, it had to be superior to the already first-class Minolta standard 50mm.

Adapting the lens to the Sony E-Mount

I use a cheap — by that I mean inexpensive — metal adapter to attach this lens to my Sony E-Mount cameras. All Minolta SR mount lenses have a flange focal distance (FFD) of 43.5mm. In contrast, the Sony E and FE mount cameras ( all the mirrorless models ) have a flange focal distance of 18mm.

Why do we care about this? All interchangeable lenses are designed to focus on a specific plane located at an exact distance from the mounting flange. This is known as the Flange Focal Distance. If the FFD of the lens is different than the FFD of the camera, it becomes impossible to focus the lens properly at infinity.

Without spending time on a physics lesson, it is easy to see that if we use an adapter that is 25.5mm thick (18 + 25.5 = 43.5), it will hold our Rokkor SR mount lens perfectly at 43.5mm from the film plane. Thus, we will have no problem focusing.

Because there are no additional lens elements employed in this type of adapter, they are simple to manufacture. As long as the lens is held exactly 25.5mm from the mounting flange and there are no light leaks, any adapter will produce excellent results.

Adapting to Sony APS-C Cameras

On an APS-C camera like the A-6000 series or the NEX models, the smaller sensor creates a focal length of 87mm. This makes for a great portrait lens.

Some full-frame lenses lose quite a bit of character when mounted on a smaller sensor. The Rokkor 58mm f/1.4, however, still produces wonderful bokeh on APS-C cameras when opened to maximum aperture.

In addition, wide-open sharpness improves on an APS-C sensor because you are effectively cropping away the outer edges of the photo and only utilizing the center image.

Adapting to Sony Full-Frame Cameras

One of the advantages of adapting a lens like this to a full-frame camera such as the A7 series is the lens is designed to cover a full 35mm frame. This lens produces first-class results when used in full-frame applications.

Under careful full-frame testing conditions, I was able to detect a slight amount of light fall-off at the edges at f/1.4. The vignetting is fairly mild and I never noticed it in my day-to-day photos. It may seem like I am making excuses for this lens, but that is not the case. I never noticed vignetting until I ran an in-depth test. Like the soft corners, the light fall-off completely disappears at f/4 and smaller apertures.

Don’t tell the nay-sayers, but I think the results from using this old lens on a full-frame Sony are on par with the top-tier modern glass. Naturally, you have to forgo autofocus and shutter priority exposure. But aperture priority works and in many cases focus peaking is more than adequate to achieve pin-sharp focus.

I am not saying I don’t occasionally miss autofocus. In certain cases, like birds in flight, autofocus is nearly mandatory. But for the majority of my shooting, manual focus is more than sufficient.

Adapting to A-Mount dSLRS and SLT Cameras

On an A-Mount camera, adapting this lens — or any SR lens — is a different proposition. A-mount cameras have an FFD of 44.5mm, a distance 1mm greater than the 43.5mm design specification of the SR lenses. Because of that extra millimeter, a simple adapter cannot be used to mount an SR lens to an A-mount camera. The lens could be used for close-ups, but it could not focus at infinity.

Physics dictates you cannot make an adapter that would hold the lens closer than 44.5mm. The mirror box of an A-Mount camera is too thick. The adapter would need to move the lens inside the camera; a physical impossibility.

There are adapters that can make this possible, but unlike the simple E-Mount adapters, the MD to A-Mount adapters incorporate a close-up lens inside. This lens recasts the light so the image will converge properly at 44.5mm from the flange.

Purists argue that introducing an additional lens element into the light path will degrade quality. They are particularly troubled when these adapters are not made by major camera manufacturers. Most of these adapters are sold by small Asian vendors. How could these tiny operations develop an internal lens that won’t downgrade a sharp Rokkor lens? They point out that these off-brand sellers can hardly be expected to grind an element that could match Minolta’s standards.

There may be some truth to this concern, especially if you are a pixel peeper. In my own experience, I see very little difference between images shot with a Minolta film camera and the same lens adapted to an A-Mount Sony APS-C dSLR. I can’t comment on how well these adapters perform on full-frame Sony cameras because I have never used an SR lens on a full-frame A-mount camera.

At any rate, unless you are producing 30 X 40-inch prints, I doubt you will detect much difference.

One interesting note: In your quest for MD to A-Mount adapters, you may come across glassless adapters without an internal lens. As you have learned, these lenses cannot focus to infinity. But they can focus properly at closer distances, particularly if you are shooting close-ups. If you have a yen to do some Macro photography, these glassless adapters are perfectly suited to mounting an old SR Macro lens on an A-Mount dSLR.

Video Applications

I am primarily a still shooter, so I haven’t used this lens with video very often. The wide aperture, nice bokeh, smooth focusing and low cost suggest that this lens would be a wise investment for any video content creator.

Buying a used copy of the Rokkor 58mm f/1.4 Lens

The Rokkor 58mm f/1.4 has been out of production for decades, so if you are buying one of these lenses, it is almost certainly an “experienced” optic. Fortunately, Minolta sold a ton of these lenses, so they are relatively easy to come by. You’ll find them on eBay, used camera stores, pawnshops and flea markets. At the time this is written, prices range from $20 to $100. A careful shopper should have no trouble locating a nice example in the $50-$60 area.

With its metal body and solid construction, reliable working copies of this lens are readily available. Flaws are few, but they do exist.

Watch for dents and other evidence of being dropped. This lens can take a lot of punishment, but dropping any lens can cause a host of problems, including rough focusing and dented or unusable filter rings. In extreme cases, the lens may suffer misalignment of the optics after a fall, leading to degraded optical quality.

Many older lenses suffer from sticky aperture blades. This isn’t a concern if you are using the lens with an adapter, because adapted lenses don’t make use of an automatic aperture anyway. For film shooters, however, you want to be sure the aperture blades snap closed as they should.

Haze and Fungus

Haze and fungus are the by-products of improperly stored optics. Some people buy moldy lenses hoping they can clean away the fungus and get a bargain. This calls for some solid camera repair skills, as the lens will require dismantling.

More importantly, fungus is a living organism that can eat away the surface of the glass. This will destroy any special coatings applied to the lens elements. In extreme cases, the fungus can permanently etch the glass.

With plentiful copies of this lens available at attractive prices, I would steer clear of any that exhibit fungus and look for a variant with pristine optics.

From the tone of this review, it should be obvious I highly recommend this lens whether you are shooting with a Minolta film SLR or adapting it to a Sony digital camera. It isn’t in the same class as the legendary Rokkor 58mm f/1.2, but you can expect to pay five or six times as much for the f/1.2 lens. That is if you can find one. For everyday shooting, the fast, inexpensive f/1.4 warhorse will serve you well.

Minolta Rokkor 58mm f/1.4 at a Glance:

• #Rokkor58mm
• #minoltalens
• #fastprimelens

For a gallery of Rokkor 58mm f/1.4 images, Click Here!

The post Old Glass: The Rokkor 58mm f/1.4 Prime Lens. Star Performer. appeared first on Alphatracks.

Sometimes photos find you, instead of the other way around. I encountered the figures shown here while training my dog at the Schiele Museum trails in Gastonia.

Fortunately, I had my Sony A7S with me, along with a Rokkor 58mm f/1.4 lens. I am working on a review of the 58mm f/1.4, so I brought it along on the off chance I would find something interesting to shoot.

The trails are not very large and I have been there many times. To my surprise, I found a collection of life-size figures scattered along the trails. I had no idea the museum was hosting its annual Scarecrow Walk. Instead of a casual walk in the woods, I was suddenly surrounded by lifesize fantasy figurines.

Limited to a 58mm Rokkor Lens

Since I wasn’t expecting this bonus, all I had was the 58mm. it’s a great lens, but probably not the one I would have chosen had I known about the scarecrows ahead of time.

Most of the figures were suspended on trees above the ground, so I would have preferred a longer telephoto lens so I could capture more of an eye-level perspective.

Despite this handicap, I was still able to record some intriguing images. To a degree, the low angle of few made some of the figures more sinister and intimidating.

Creating a Spooky HDR

I bracketed several of the exposures, and wound up making handheld HDR photos in Lightroom. The resulting images were crisp and clear, but lacked the ominous vibe I thought these effigies deserved

Generally, when I’m working in Lightroom, I try to make my images as true to life as possible. I adjust the white balance to make skin tones accurate and carefully tailor colors to match what I saw when I snapped the shutter.

In this case, I wanted a somewhat spooky, otherworldly look. Nothing too crazy, no exaggerated unrealistic colors. I wanted something with a natural appearance, with just a subtle hint of mystery.

I tried darkening the background to suggest day into night, but I didn’t care for the result. So I reverted to the original daytime settings and started experimenting with color grading.

The Lightroom Effect

I first started with the calibration tool in Lightroom. I tuned the blue and red saturation sliders to get the effect I was looking for. For some of the images, I experimented with some presets, then adjusted to color grading dials in the color grading area.

I like the final results. As I said, this isn’t my typical workflow. I enjoyed getting out of my comfort zone and seeing what I could achieve going away from the original art.

Notes on the Rokkor 58mm lens

I really like the Bokeh effects created by this 55-year-old lens. If you examine the guy with the pumpkin head and false teeth, the background is smooth and creamy. The wolf’s head bokeh isn’t as gentle, but I find it pleasing. The out-of-focus artifacts on the ’80s lady and the stuffed policeman have some jarring elements, but they are still acceptable.

The bokeh in the image of the Scary Potter figure with the jack-o-lantern face is pretty messy. I might find it objectionable for a calm, serene study, but I think it actually works well for the spooky subject matter.

All of the images look sharp to my eye. Any vignetting you see is deliberate. I wanted dark corners to direct the viewer’s eyes to the subject. I applied a dark vignette around the edges of all the photos in Lightroom.

I am so glad I had my Sony Mirrorless Camera with me when I happened upon these figures. Cell phone captures just wouldn’t be the same.

The moral of the story is always be ready and keep a Rokkor in your back pocket.

The post Putting the Scare in Scarecrows with a Rokkor Lens appeared first on Alphatracks.

New A-mount Lenses from Sony

In addition to announcing the Alpha A58 and the NEX-3N, Sony also announced three new A-mount lenses. Two of the new optics are eveolutions of current lenses, while one is a new Carl Zeiss Prime lens.

New Carl Zeiss Planetar T* Fast Prime

The new Zeiss glass is a 50mm f/1.4 full-frame lens. Sony already offers a 50 f/1.4 lens in the A-mount catalog, but the new model is a Carl Zeiss Planetar T* optic. The new lens will be identified with a model number of SAL50F14Z.

It is worth pointing out that Carl Zess offers a variety of lenses in mounts for other camera manufacturers. The Sony/Zeiss A-mount lenses, however, offer full auto-focus. The Zeiss lens for other brands are strictly manual focus, unstablized optics. Thanks to Sony’s in-body stabilization, the Carl Zeiss lenses from Sony are stabilized and offer auto-focus.

The Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm /1.4 will be available in June and will carry a list price of $1499.99.

Sony 70-400mm G lens receives an upgrade

Next up, Sony has upgraded the 70-400 f/4-5.6 G series zoom telephoto. Using the current 70-400 as a base, Sony has added quicker Auto-Focus and a new Nano AR element coating which Sony says is five more times as effective in reducing reflections. Most of the lens specs will stay the same.

Available in July, the 70-400mm f4-5.6 G2 lens will sell for $2199.99. (Model SAL70400G2)

The older 70-400, which was only introduced in 2011, is still in Sony’s catalog at $1999.99. (Model SAL70400G)

I would assume Sony will sell off the remaining stock of the older model and concentrate on the new 70-400 for the future.

Revamped Sony 18-55mm DT lens

If the first two lenses are completely out of your price range, you might find the revised 18-55 DT Zoom (SAL18552) a little more affordable.

Again, this is a evolutionary lens and will replace the earlier DT-18-55 f/3.5-5.6 (SAL1855/BQ). The older lens is still available from Sony, at the identical $220 price. Like the 70-400, I expect Sony will phase the old lens out in favor of the ne model.

Sony DT lenses are designed for APS-C sensor cameras and cannot be used on full-frame Sony Alphas at full resolution.

Improvements are quieter auto-focusing and revised rear element design to reduce ghosting and reflections.

Look for the new 18-55mm DT lens in May, wearing a list price of $219.99.

All three of the new A-mount lenses are available for pre-order today.

Sony 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 SAM II (SAL18552)

Preorder from Sony-Style

Preorder from B&H Photo

Preorder from Amazon

Carl Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 Planetar T* Prime Lens (SAL50F14Z)

Preorder the Zeiss 50mm f/1.4  at Sony Style

Preorder the Zeiss 50 f/1.4 at B&H Photo

You can also preorder the Zeiss A-mount 50mm f/1.4 at Amazon

Second Generation Sony Alpha 70-400mm f/4-5.6 G Lens (SAL70400G2)

Sony Style is offering the 70-400mm f.4-5.6 for preorder.

Reserve the 70-400mm G2 lensat B&H photo

Amazon also has the 70-400mm Gen 2 lens available for preorder

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Photographers who shoot with the Sony NEX-3 and NEX-5 mirrorless cameras as well as videographers using the NEX-VG10 camcorder have something to be excited about. Sony has announced that they will provide full specifications of the brand new E-Mount lens mount to third party lens makers. As a result, aftermarket lens makes will be able to  produce E-mount lenses without paying a licensing fee.

Sony is even encouraging lens adapter makers to produce adapters to fit various non-Sony lens to the NEX cameras.

Obviously, this will be welcome news to NEX shooters. When the brand new NEX models shipped last year, the only available lenses were the 16mm prime and the 18-55mmm zoom.  The 18-200 zoom was announced but didn’t ship until a couple of months afterward.

Sony has promised more E-mount lenses, and showed several prototypes at Photokina.  Still the E-mount lens line is fairly sparse, although Sony does offer an adapter to allow Sony Alpha A-mount lenses to be used on the cameras.

Offering the specifications to third party lens makers should ensure that the E-mount will thrive n the coming years. We should see many new lenses and adapters appear in the E-mount. In addition there is a chance there will be more inexpensive lenses offered as well.

The Sony press release carries endorsements by Carl Zeiss, Cosina, Sigma and Tamron. Of course endorsement doesn’t necessarily mean these companies will produce E-mount optics, but it is an indication they are considering it.

The specification will not be released until April, so it is doubtful any of these manufactures have even seen the specification. It will probably take months before aftermarket E-mount glass starts to trickle in to dealers. But Christmas is the big selling season for digital cameras, so I think some  of these manufactures will do their best to provide new optics in time for the holidays.,

I find it interesting to see Carl Zeiss endorsement on the press release. Zeiss, of course, licenses some of their optical designs to Sony for the A-mount dSLR cameras. Some of Sony’s top-of-the-line A-mount lenses carry Zeiss optics but are sold under the Sony Alpha brand. Will Zeiss create their own line of E-mount lenses independent of Sony?

There are already several aftermarket lens adapters designed to attach various brands of lenses to the E-Mount cameras. Once the specification is released, adapter makers will have full reign to attach all manner of older  film lenses to the NEX cameras. With only an 18mm flange to sensor offset, almost any lens will be able to focus at infinity when adapted to the NEX.

Provide the E-mount specifications without licensing fees. Smart move Sony!

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Telling tell A-Mount and Rokkor Lenses Apart

So you are strolling through a flea-market or garage sale and you stumble across a cache of old Minolta lenses. They look clean and the optics are clear. Will they fit your Sony Alpha?

If you read my earlier post on using Minolta lenses on the Sony Alpha, you know that only A-Mount Minolta lenses work on the Sony Alpha without using an adapter. So the question is, can you identify which Minolta lenses use the A-Mount?

Brand Name appears above front element

Although Minolta never used the term A-Mount on their lenses, most A-Mount lenses sold in the North American market carried the name Maxxum above the front element. Minolta used different trade names in other countries, so presumably A-mount lenses may have been marked differently on other continents. In today’s global environment, you may find that lenses from other countries have made their way to the US, and North American lenses could have wound up in other continents. So you cannot rely solely on the brand name to determine whether a Minolta lens is in fact, an A-mount lens.

Still, all lenses marked Maxxum are A-Mount optics.

Most of the older Minolta lenses are marked with the Rokkor name, but Minolta started selling SR lenses before the Rokkor brand emerged. As the Rokkor line was being phased out, Minolta stopped using that name on their lenses, so many Rokkor mount lenses are floating around with no identification. Minolta also marketed an inexpensive series of lenses under the Celtic brand name. These use the Rokkor style mount and are not A-Mount compatible.

Rokkor lenses have an Aperture Ring

Except for a few fixed-aperture lenses, all Rokkor lenses have a physical adjusting ring that controls the aperture opening. If you find a Minolta lens with an aperture ring, it is definitely a Rokkor style mount, not an A-Mount. Catadioptric (mirror) lenses do not have an adjustable aperture, and you may come across other specialty Rokkor lenses without an aperture ring. If a lens has a ring, however, it is not an A-Mount lens.

Electrical Contacts on A-Mount

Another clue to the lens type is found inside the mount itself. Rokkor lenses are fully mechanical and have no electrical contacts. A-mount lenses, on the other hand, use electrical contacts so the camera can control the aperture opening, auto-focusing and image stabilization. If you see contacts inside a Minolta mount it is not a Rokkor, and is either an A-Mount or Vectis style lens.

One minor caveat: just before releasing the first auto-focus Maxxums, Minolta experimented with focus-confirmation Rokkor lenses. These were only used on the rare X-600 bodies and only marketed in Japan. These lenses do not provide auto-focus, but when used on a X-600, the camera will indicate when the lens is properly focused. While quite rare, these Rokkor style lenses do have electrical contacts to communicate with the camera. I doubt you will come across one of these, but you can still tell them apart from A-Mount lenses, as the A-Mount optics have either five or seven contacts on the mount.

Diaphragm post on Rokkor

One last difference between the A-mount and the a Rokkor lenses is the mechanical automatic diaphragm mechanism. On the Rokkor optics, the auto-diaphragm is controlled by a cylindrical post that protrudes from the mount. On the A-mount optics the camera operates the auto-diaphragm through a recessed lever inside the mount. Some of the pre-Rokkor SR lenses did not have an automatic diaphragm, and these lenses do not have a control post. Overall, however, the auto diaphragm post is dead give-away that the lens in question is using a Rokkor style mount.

You should now be equipped to easily recognize the differences between the A-Mount and Rokkor lens line. You still need to watch out for Minolta Vectis lenses, however. These were created for the short-lived Vectis SLR Minolta created in the late 1990s. They look quite similar to the A-mount lenses, but they are NOT compatible. Avoid Vectis lenses if you are looking for glass to fit your Sony Alpha dSLR.

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The most common question I get about the Sony Alpha dSLRs is “Can I use Minolta lenses on the Sony Alpha dSLR?” The answer is, not surprisingly, “it depends.”

Over a span of fifty-plus years, Minolta produced a dizzying array of optics. The company continued to pour its own glass, long after other camera manufacturers started to outsource their glass making. In addition to making lenses for photographers, Minolta produced optics for scientific, medical, and industrial needs. A lens may say Minolta on it, but that is no guarantee that the lens is appropriate for photographic use.

“I don’t care about that, I just want to know if my dad’s old Minolta lenses will fit my new Sony Alpha!”

I understand, but the answer is still “it depends.” Fortunately, figuring out which Minolta lenses are compatible with the Sony mount is fairly straightforward, but there is a lot of confusion and misinformation about.

Minolta created a number of lens lines during its photographic manufacturing period. The early Minolta M43 Leica mount lenses were so well designed that Leica actually contracted Minolta to produce some of their optics. Minolta also produced lenses for its short-lived 110 SLR.

Three Distinct Lines of Minolta Lenses

In the last fifty years or so, the bulk of Minolta optics production was devoted to lenses in three major mount types:

• A-Mount autofocus lenses (1985 – 2006) which are fully Sony compatible
• SR and ROKKOR manual focus lenses (1958-2001), which can only be used on the Sony Alpha with an adapter
• Vectis autofocus lenses, which cannot be used on the Alpha

As you might expect, there are idiosyncrasies with certain lenses that could affect whether a specific lens is 100% compatible. The statements above, however, apply for the overwhelming amount of Minolta glass.

Let’s look at each lens mount in detail:

Minolta A-Mount lenses

Minolta introduced the A-mount in 1985, and with only a few slight variations, they continued to use the same mount for all their top-level SLRs and DSLRs until the Minolta photographic assets were sold to Sony. Although Sony has started to use the term Alpha mount to describe their dSLR lens system, it is really the old Minolta A-mount. Minolta A-lenses work on the Sony Alpha because Minolta originally designed the mount that Sony currently uses. Sony has beefed up the camera mount in its later offerings, but the lens mount itself is exactly the same as on an A-Mount Minolta. So all Minolta A-Mount lenses attach and operate perfectly on the Sony Alpha. There is no difference because the mounts are identical.

As I said, there are a few idiosyncrasies that affect some of the Minolta lenses. The biggest of these involves the power zoom lenses. When Minolta introduced the “i” series film SLRs, they included a power zoom feature that allowed users to change the focal length of certain lenses by pressing a button. I’m not sure how useful an asset this was, but Minolta sold a ton of these lenses.

There are no power buttons or zoom motors on any Sony Alpha, or for that matter, any Minolta dSLR. So obviously, you can’t use the power zoom feature of the i lenses on these cameras. But that is the only limitation. These lenses attach to the Sony Alpha, just like any lens in the Sony catalog. Autofocus, auto exposure, and auto diaphragm all work perfectly. So does image stabilization. The only limitation is that there is no power zoom; you have to zoom manually. So technically, the i lenses are not 100% compatible with the Sony Alpha….but do you really care? For all practical purposes, the i optics work just fine.

Sony also indicates that Minolta DT lenses (designed to cover the APS-C sensor) may not work correctly on the full-frame A850 and A900. They do work as expected on the APS-C cameras that comprise most of the Sony dSLR lineup.

What about third-party A-mount lenses? Almost as soon as Minolta introduced the A-mount in 1985, lens makers like Tamron, Sigma and Vivitar started cranking out auto-focus optics to fit the new Maxxum AF cameras. So there are thousands, if not millions of non-Minolta, non-Sony A-mount lenses out there.

In theory, these lenses were designed to be compatible with the original Maxxum 7000. Minolta lenses for the Maxxum 7000 are fully compatible with the Alpha, so you would expect the third-party optics for the Maxxum to be usable on the Alpha.

In truth, most older third-party A-Mount lenses work beautifully on the Alpha. Unfortunately, some early third-party lenses don’t work correctly when attached to the Sony Alpha. Some manufacturers offer an upgrade program to convert older lenses to work on the Sony dSLR mount, but this involves time and expense.

If you are considering buying a third-party A-mount lens, I suggest that you check out the lens database at Dyxum. They have an entry for almost every A-mount lens in existence, including optics you probably never knew existed. The great thing is every lens is rated for sharpness, quality build, and general usefulness. You can check whether a third-party lens will work on the Alpha. In just a couple of minutes, you will have an idea if a particular lens is a dud or a bargain.

Follow this link if you are unsure how to tell A-mount and Rokkor lenses apart.

Minolta Rokkor lenses

Next up, you will run across millions of older Rokkor and SR mount lenses. Minolta cranked these out in great numbers before they introduced the Maxxum autofocus cameras in 1985. At one point, Minolta was churning out 30,000 lenses a month, and they did that for years.

What many photographers don’t realize is that Minolta kept many of the older Rokkor lenses in their catalog for years after introducing the Maxxum. As late as 2001, you could still buy a brand new X700 manual focus camera from Minolta, and they also offered many of the more popular Rokkor lenses to go with it.

As I mentioned in an earlier article, Minolta probably would have continued to use the Rokkor X-mount on the Maxxum cameras, but they couldn’t find the room to incorporate auto-focus into the Rokkor design. So they made the painful choice to abandon the old mount and create a completely new design for the autofocus cameras.

This means that you cannot attach a Rokkor lens directly to an A-Mount camera. The mounts are completely different, there is no compatibility.

Of course, Minolta realized that they had millions of existing customers with extensive collections of Rokkor lenses. These photographers were unlikely to adopt the new Maxxum models unless they could bring their older lenses with them. So Minolta designed an adapter that allowed Maxxum users to make use of Rokkor lenses. These adapters were actually in the form of a teleconverter, and for a long time were very expensive and difficult to find. More recently, a number of accessory manufacturers have responded to the need by offering inexpensive Minolta MA-MC adapters. I will delve more completely into MA-MC adapters in a later post in this series. The important thing is that the only way to mount a Minolta SR, MC, MD Rokkor style lens to the Sony Alpha is with an adapter. Unless you want to seriously modify the lens, which is another possibility I will discuss in another post.

Minolta Vectis Lenses

The final lenses you might run across in your search for used Minolta lenses are known as Vectis mount lenses. In the 1990s, Minolta developed a line of APS (Advanced Photo System) cameras they called the Vectis. Some of the Vectis models were fixed lens rangefinders, but Minolta also offered a Vectis SLR that offered interchangeable lenses. There was even a 3mpVectis dSLR known as the RD3000.

While Vectis lenses are not as common as the A-mount and X-Mount optics, you may still run across them on eBay, Craig’s List, pawnshops, and used camera vendors. They look quite similar to the A-mount lenses and many of them are marked with the Minolta logo.

Do not be fooled. Vectis lenses are not compatible with the Minolta A-mount and there is no way to use these optics on a Sony Alpha. When the Vectis SLR was introduced, Minolta announced they were creating an adapter that would allow photographers to use their existing A-mount lenses on the new Vectis cameras. As far as I can tell, the adapter was never put into production, so the A-mount and Vectis lenses are totally incompatible. Even if Minolta did actually produce the adapter, it was designed to attach A-mount lenses to Vectis cameras, so it would be no help in using Vectis glass on the Alpha models. I don’t know of any adapter that would mount a Vectis lens on the A-mount, and I doubt that there is sufficient interest in the V-mount optics that any third party will ever produce one.

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One of the most intriguing things about the Sony Alpha NEX-5 and NEX-3 cameras is that you can use your existing A-mount lenses on the new models. Well, sort of. You need the Sony LA-EA1 adapter to mount an A-mount lens on the NEX system, and that involves some minor sacrifices. Overall, however, your current lenses should deliver great images on the NEX system.

The LA-EA1 is a far cry from the simple adapters used to mount non A-mount lenses on the Sony Alpha. It differs from the typical simple machined ring found in  MC to A-mount adapters or M-42 lens conversion mounts. The A-mount to NEX adapter is a sophisticated piece of electronics.

Unlike Minolta Rokkor or M-42 lenses, A-mount lenses from Sony and Minolta do not have an aperture adjusting ring, Older style lenses have a mechanical ring that allows the user to change the aperture opening manually. When Minolta introduced the Maxxum cameras in 1985, however, they did away with the aperture ring and used electronics inside the camera to regulate the aperture. If desired, the photographer could still manipulate the aperture manually, but it had to be done through a menu on the camera body.

This makes a conversion adapter for A-mount lenses more challenging to design. Conventional adapters rely on the user manually setting the aperture. Since there is no external method for changing the aperture on an A-mount lens, any useful adapter needs to provide a way for the camera to actually control the lens electronically.

Admittedly, it isn’t difficult to pass electrical information through an adapter. but the adapter needs to be designed so the camera’s aperture control can control the lens.

The LA-EA1 can do just that, providing automatic — and presumably manual — control of the lens from the camera’s  controls. Since the auto-diaphragm on the A-mount lenses is also controlled electronically, the new adapter will provide auto-diaphragm capability as well.

What the adapter will not provide, however is auto-focusing. The overwhelming majority of A-mount lenses do not have internal focusing motors, so the adapter is not designed to offer auto-focus.

The other limitation is image stabilization. Sony Alpha dSLRs are famous for having image stabilization built into the body. In order to make the NEX bodies as small as possible, however, Sony engineered the small cameras to use in-lens stabilization. As a result, A-mount lenses mounted to the NEX series cameras will not have stabilization.

One other interesting feature of the adapter is the built-in tripod collar. The NEX series cameras are so small that there might be problems using a heavy lens on the camera while it is on a tripod. Sony eliminated the problem by incorporating a standard tripod mount within the adapter. You merely hang the camera body on the adapter, while all the weight of the lens is borne by the adapter.

The LA-EA1 is available for pre-order at Sony Style for $199.00.

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