NO TEST SHOTS WITH ALPHA 900 YET - ON THE ALPHA 900 THE LENS PERFORMS SLIGHTLY BETTER THAN THE MINOLTA AF 1.4/50MM!

Of course this lens was not designed for landscape photography; nevertheless these test shots show the most important characteristics of this minolta classic from the mid-80s. Wide open the lens still has a remarkable resolution, but remaining spherical aberrations result in a very soft, "dreamy" image. Such characteristics may be very interesting for portraits (or nudes, if you prefer). At f1.7-2.0 things look already quite different: less dreamy, more "unsharp". At f2.8-4 the "dreamy" appearences are completely gone, yet the lens has not yet reached it's full potential for landscape. At f5.6 or even more a f8 the detail resolution is incredibly good, comparable to the Minolta AF 200mm/2.8 APO.

While I really appreciate the incredible resolution and contrast of the Zeiss 1.8/135mm, it is too "harsh" for certain purposes. The Minolta 85mm/1.4 is the right lens for "Hamilton-like" images.

INFORMATION ON HISTORY/PRECURSORS (MC/MD 85mm f1.7), BOKEH AND DETAILED COMPARISON WITH AF 100mm f2.0 WILL FOLLOW

Pictures below: 100% crops from Sony alpha 700 (12 MP) APS-C DSLR. ISO 100, tripod.

		f1.4 Wide open the lens delivers remarkable detail resolution, but the contrast is very low. Remaining spherical aberrations cause a "dreamy" look. These characteristics are similar to the Minolta lenses MC 58mm/1.4 and MC/MD 85mm/1.7. Left image: Corner of APS-C Right image: Center of APS-C
		f1.7 Stopping down to f1.7 visibly increases the image quality. Spherical aberrations are reduced, but there is still a "dreamy" overall imperssion.
		f2.0 The spherical aberrations are almost gone, corner resolution is very good, but center resolution is still a bit low.
		f2.8 While the corners are already very good, the center resolution has dropped (compared to f2.0) and is now similar to f1.7, but with much less spherical aberrations. Such behaviour is not uncommon for f1.4, f1.2 or f1.0 primes.
		f4.0 Corners are perfect, but the center is still a little bit soft.
		f8.0 Perfect resolution and contrast.