Minolta MD 50mm f1.7 vintage lens review

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I’ve stumbled upon this lens many a time but, for one reason or another, never bought; until now. At this point I have tested a few lenses from this series, so I knew what to expect: a simple but reliable lens. Let’s take a closer look.

The lens is made of metal and plastic, it weighs around 170g, it is 36 to 44mm long and it has an external diameter of 64mm, with a 49mm front thread.

The iris has 6 blades, the aperture is clicked and it goes from f1.7 to f22 with half steps.

The focusing ring is rubberized, it turns 100 degrees and the minimum focusing distance is 45cm. 

It uses the Minolta MD mount.


Build quality is solid, the focusing ring has good resistance, maybe a little bit too stiff, while the aperture is just about perfect but it could use a more pronounced texture.

Sharpness is good wide open, but lacking in the finer details and it falls off towards the edges along with some increased distortion and vignetting. 

Stopping down to f8 it gets sharp all over the frame.

Chromatic aberration is barely present wide open in some high contrast areas.

Colors are on the cold side and a little low on saturation

Specular highlights have hard edges but no artifacts, they get visibly hexagonal stopping down and backgrounds can look busy.

Flares are fairly well controlled but it does lose contrast easily when shooting towards the sun.


If you are looking for a simple, reliable lens with some vintage character and not too many flaws, this is a valid option.

Buuut, the 50mm f2 is a little sharper and it doesn’t lose contrast as easily.




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