Minolta AF 28-85mm f/3.5-4.5

Turn the zoom grip and the barrel changes length, running from about 85.5mm to 110mm long, which is worth knowing before you choose a bag for it. Minolta built it in 1985 as one of the first zooms for the Maxxum system, made to be driven by the in-body focus motor of the 7000. Minolta's own lens data puts the Japanese release in February of that year, at a list price of 67,000 yen.

Inside are 13 elements in 10 groups. There is no aperture ring; the body sets the stop, down to f/22 at 28mm and f/27 at 85mm. It weighs 490 grams. Focusing moves the front group, and the 55mm filter thread turns with it, so a polarizer has to be set after focus locks and set again every time the camera refocuses. Grads have the same problem. In 1992 Minolta restyled it as the New version with the same optics, which means the choice between the two comes down to the condition of the glass, not the badge.

Macro mode is what sets it apart from a plain kit zoom. Slide the macro release and the zoom grip stops zooming and starts focusing. Autofocus sits this out, but the focus signals in the finder still tell you which way to turn. Minolta's manual gives 0.25 m and 0.25x, so a 35mm frame covers an area about the size of a postcard. At that distance the front of the lens sits very close to the subject and can throw a shadow across it; watch where your light is coming from. A Maxxum meters through the lens and absorbs the close-up loss on its own. With a handheld meter you have to add it yourself: enter 0.25x in Zone Light Meter and it applies the correction, roughly two thirds of a stop, which slide film will show if you skip it.

Its color is what you notice first. On Dyxum, owners score it 4.69 out of 5, just behind build quality. On film, like most zooms of its day, it is at its best once stopped down a stop or two from wide open. Flare is the weak point. It gets the lowest mark on that same Dyxum sheet, 3.62, and the small round clip-on hood Minolta supplied is too shallow to do much. A deeper hood is tempting, but at 28mm on a full 35mm frame it will darken the corners. A hand held just outside the picture works better against a low sun.

Among the 1985 Maxxum zooms it sits in the middle. The 28-135mm reaches further, at 750 grams and with 72mm filters. The 35-70mm f/4 is far lighter and keeps f/4 at every focal length, but gives up the 28mm end. Outside macro, the 28-85 also focuses closer than the big zoom, 0.8 m against 1.5 m, and it shares 55mm filters with the 70-210mm Beercan, so one set covers both. Used copies now sell for a fraction of that 67,000-yen list.

My advice is to buy it for travel and landscapes at 28mm, stopped down, with the odd flower in macro. I would not buy it for portraits. At 85mm the widest it opens is f/4.5, and the background stays busier than a head shot wants.