Minolta Glass – Beercan from Michael Merto on Vimeo.
Michael Merto realized the video to showcase the performance of this old (but still amazing) Minolta glass, aptly named “The Beercan”:
The “Beercan” is probably the most well known of Minolta’s first generation AF glass. It is heavy. 70-210mm and a constant f4 is a pretty nice feature set considering ebay prices go around $150 US dollars. The autofocus is driven by the camera’s in-body motor and the glass is propelled by a screw. The zooming is in body so the barrel doesn’t extend as you zip across the range. It’s pretty long though and looks obscene mounted on the a77 without a grip. It’s sharp from around 5.6. The focus ring is narrow and not the best for full-time manual adjusting.
He used a [shoplink 8461]Sony A77 (price & specs)[/shoplink] with the Minolta.
Be sure to check the pics Michael shot with the Minolta 70-210mm f/4, and use slidoo.com to look for the lens on eBay.
27 Responses
Very un-appropriate music. What the hell SAR.
You may not have noticed, but SAR didn’t actually make the video.
very un-appropriate comment…
HI ANDREAS
when do you get any new rumors SR4/SR5 about :
– NEX7 replacement ?
– A77/A65 replacement ?
Was under the impression they should be announced by end of January or did I misunderstand ?
Many thanks
Marc
I do not understand your question. Do you think, Andrea has something to look into the future? Like a crystal ball or something like that? How can he know when he will get new info!?
Andreas mentionned he has had a rumor about a NEX7m recently and also he was expecting announcements by end of January; more or less 2-3 weeks from now.
So it would be a good time to get SR4 type rumors if that is the case of course. IMO.
Just checking 🙂
Cheers
Marc
You misunderstood.
Agreed… I was confused, at frist I thought the music was coming from some other tab in my browser!!!
I have and use the manual MD version of this (Car boot Special) more Hand Percussion Grenade than Beercan. I see this video has the same Minolta image color as mine a kind of purple hue on the 77. Works well for that authentic vintage look though.
As to the Gangster-Rap sound, it would be considered edgy in some contexts in the USA, but mainly it is NSFW because of the n-word.
I doubt that the poster used it cynically, but the poster didn’t foresee people seeing it from the workplace. Doesn’t Vimeo have settings for this?
So, since the music wasn’t the topic of the video in Andrea’s post, I’ll address the lens…
I have this lens and love it. Best $150 piece of glass out there, in my opinion. The CA can be a problem in high contrast lighting situations, but closing the aperture helps to remedy the issue.
AF is a bit slow, but usable. I shot an SCCA car racing event a few years ago with this lens on my a700 and never missed focus, even on cars coming up the front straight at 140mph.
Use this lens on the a77 to shoot video with MF and you will have some problems with the very narrow focus ring. However, use it in AF for video and if you play with your focus points, the slow focusing becomes a benefit as you get a beautiful “pull focus” at what is just the right speed. Lovely!
Search for article on Dyxum by Photosopher “A Better Beer Can in 15 minutes!” for a quick mod to improve the focus ring for better grip.
I like the beercan’s build and the fact that it focuses internally. What use is constant f/4 when it is soft as mittens at that aperture though?
(“Then you must have a dog, there are a few dogs in the pack” / “Then yours must be a bad lemon copy”) – Sure, show me the beercan that is sharp at f/4.
It’s noticably better at f/5,6, but only “sharp” at f/8. It is precisely as sharp at f/8 as the Minolta 200 f/2,8 is at f/2,8, at least center wise.
Since IQ > build for me, I parted ways with it, though I got a few nice pictures with it.
Believe it or not, my beercan is very sharp even wide open. If I stop down, it is not to increase sharpness, but to reduce CA.
Here is a comparison of my beercan with a macro lens at 100mm:
http://postimage.org/image/qe2jurtsb/
100% crops, A560 in manual focus in live view, tripod, mirror lockup
Mike: That’s pretty cool. Most seem to say it’s slightly soft wide open though. If yours is as sharp af f/4 as at f/8 then you are lucky indeed, I think; there is certainly some sample variation with this lens.
CT: You are right, internal zoom of course, silly mistake.
Search for article on Dyxum by Photosopher “A Better Beer Can in 15 minutes!” for a quick mod to improve wide open manual focus. 100% samples are provided.
Beer Can is not internal focus. Internal zoom yes. Not internal focus though.
have this lens as well and love it! will never exchange it for the new version from sony (possibly coming soon?). like i will never exchange any of my old lenses – they have theyr own unique character in color, fringing, flare, bokeh etc. modern lenses have the only one aim – to produce a clinically clear images with no soul, just my opinion 🙂
bw
vt
I had this lens but replaced it with its rarer big brother. Its just as good if not better, it is f5.6 but it goes to 300mm and normally goes for about the same price or a little more.
This lens does render nicely and has a delicious bokeh, but it also has ridiculously high amounts of color fringing that sticks around no matter how far you stop down. Personally, I don’t find it all that heavy–much lighter than the Tamron 70-200 f/2.8.
Whine: the music in that video does not match the content in the least bit. Also it is rather bland even for rap.
The lens looks interesting, but the color rendition is a bit off-putting. I could not finish the video due the poor choice of soundtrack. I was starting to bleed out of my ears.
Try turning down the volume. Geez, no wonder photographers of today want a camera that does everything done for them.
Those old lenses are fun. I am using a Kipon Adapter to use 70s OM Zuiko lenses in the . Manual aperture and manual focus but so mich tun with the a77 and focus Peeking. Its amazing IQ for low money!
Could someone clarify on the difference(s) in maxxum-models and non-maxxum-models of this particular beercan 70-210/f4?
tnx
afaik: MAXXUM ist just the labeling for US for Minolta products. like the “EOS Rebel Ti” thing for Canon
Thanks for the link Admin/Andrea and your hard work in general. I appreciate it very much. I’ve changed the soundtrack to something that is hopefully more appropriate. Wasn’t planning on this particular piece making its way beyond my site, so apologies if it was a distraction. Thanks again everyone.
I love my beercan. It still gets plenty of use. Sony should release an updated version with better coatings, rounder blades, and lighter materials. IMHO, if priced correctly it would be one of their best sellers.