I reviewed this ‘a’ mount lens in May of 2008 when there were no newer Sony equivalents available. However, Sony eventually come up with a Carl Zeiss 24mm /2 wide angle lens; it was very expensive at the time, ($1400) and a pretty good lens; unfortunately, I was not able to give it two thumbs up, see the review here.
Now that I’ve re-visited the Minolta AF 24mm F/2.8, I can see that it is actually very sharp stopped down to F/5.6-8 using an APS-C camera, and F/8-11 with full frame. It does suffer from a soft periphery at F/2.8-4, and soft extreme corners at F/5.6. Fortunately, If you can live at F/5.6 to F/11, this lens is a very good value. Current eBay prices are around $150 for a good copy.
The Minolta AF 24mm is still a good solid choice for interior work, or landscapes at F/8-11 using a full frame camera. For those using APS-C, the focal length would be about 36mm (in 135 film format).
Unfortunately, as we creep into 2018, Sony still has not produced a 24mm focal length ‘FE’ lens. Hurray, Sony has now come out with their own brand new 24mm lens, and widely available in 2019.
If you have an APS-C camera and want excellent optical qualities in this focal length, get the superb Sony CZ 24/1.8. If you’re on a budget, check out the Sony pancake 16mm lens, which has the same coverage as a full frame 24mm lens.
This lens will auto focus with the all Sony mirrorless cameras using the LA-EA4 adapter, or manual LA-EA3 here.
Check out the full size samples from the APS-C Sony A700 below, or go to the review and scroll to the bottom where I’ve added these samples, and made minor changes to the review; mostly page formatting etc.
Click yellow buttons for full size versions.
Check out the full frame samples from the Sony A900 below, or go to the review and scroll to the bottom where I’ve added these samples. Note: these images were not intended to be viewed in their entirety, I was showing crops at the time, and this set was for the ‘corner’ crops in the full frame section of the review. The patio post and roof are very close, and not within the depth of field for this test set.
Click yellow buttons for full size versions.
That’s it for the update.