Minolta M-Rokkor 90mm f/4

Stopping the M-Rokkor 90mm f/4 down does very little for the center of the frame, because the center is already crisp at f/4. That is Phillip Reeve's finding; wide open it holds up over most of the frame, even at close range. The edges are where a smaller aperture helps. On his adapted Sony the corners showed a little field curvature at infinity, so his recipe for edge-to-edge sharpness was f/8 with focus set a hair short of infinity. Close it down further and the ten straight blades draw a clean ten-pointed sunstar.

Four elements in four groups sit in a 250 g barrel that focuses to 1 m. The design traces back to Leitz. The M-Rokkor 90 sold with the Leitz Minolta CL in the 1970s was built by Leitz in Wetzlar, an Elmar-C under a Rokkor badge, and it is rare. What turns up used is the version that came with the Minolta CLE, said to share the Elmar-C's optics, now multicoated, with an ordinary 40.5mm screw thread where the Elmar-C takes Series 5.5 filters under its hood. It also got a standard parallel cam. Leitz once warned that the CL lenses might not focus accurately on an M, a warning many owners have since questioned; the CLE version couples normally, so the question never comes up. Check the filter ring before paying. CLE copies have 40.5 marked there and the serial on the barrel, where CL-era lenses put the serial on the filter ring.

The barrel feels like metal throughout, its scales engraved and paint-filled. The aperture ring clicks in half stops from f/4 to f/22 inside about 90 degrees, handy with slide film, and focusing from 1 m to infinity takes roughly a third of a turn. Minolta gave each CLE lens its own hood; for the 90 it is a small rubber one that screws in and collapses. This is the 90 that comes along when a Summicron would stay home: on trips, or for candid portraits from a few meters back.

Put a bright light source near the edge of the frame and you find the weak spot. Reeve rated its flare resistance a mixed bag; stray light can noticeably flatten contrast and saturation, and the little hood only helps a bit. Bokeh at f/4 is plain, with no hard outlining, though foliage behind a subject turns busy. The bigger limit is that 1 m close focus. There the frame covers roughly 21 by 32 cm (Reeve measured 1:8.8), which means a tight head shot and nothing closer.

Minolta sold 40.5mm filters for the system, a Y52 yellow and an R60 red among them, and any modern 40.5mm filter fits. On a CLE the meter reads through the lens, filter and all. An M2 or M3 has no meter, so the factor is yours to apply. Zone Light Meter adds it to the reading for you, which matters most with the red, since forgetting it leaves the shadows thin on the negative.

In December 2018 Reeve found used copies at about $200 or 250 euros, and that is the main reason to buy one. Leica's Tele-Elmarit-M gets you f/2.8 and, oddly, weighs 25 g less, but by his reckoning it costs at least double. The Zeiss ZM Tele-Tessar 85mm f/4 handles flare better for two to three times the money, while the Elmar-C, said to share the optics but with Series filters and, some claim, less advanced coatings, can sometimes be had for less. For an M shooter who wants screw-in filters and no cam debates, the CLE Rokkor is the easier one to live with.