Photo Jottings

9/19/11

Old Minolta zoom lenses prices from way-back.

The first column lists the lens model with appropriate designation, like “G” or “APO” etc.  If there is no designation, that probably means it was an original model, before the upgrade.  The second column lists the price, the first price is the lowest from my data, the second price is the highest.  If only one price is listed, it means I only had one source for that lens model.  The third column is the year for the price, the first entry is the earliest, the second the latest.  If only one year is listed, it means I only had one source.  The fourth column lists the old prices converted to 2010 US Dollars; I used the highest old price for the conversion to current prices.  The converted Dollar figure is for fun only as it has little relevance today because lens technology and manufacturing technics have improved greatly, which allows lens prices to be far lower with better optical quality than they were just 8-10 years ago.

I have a couple of ads from a large NY city camera discount house, (not shown, but probably B&H photo) that has prices that are significantly lower than what you see below, I’ll sort the prices out and post them soon.

I’d guess the actual street prices of the lenses in the US would be 10-20% south of the lower price figure.