Hello, Do minolta or pentax AF consumer group lenses have better quality ? I have seen the page at http://photozone.de/manufact.htm to have a better opinion what to buy. There it says that the minolta produces the best consumer group lenses I mean the cheaper 35-80, 35-70, 70-210, 24-85,100-300, 28-80 lenses. I am thinking about choosing the pentax lens system (a zx-5n) and the pentax consumer group lenses were the second, the third (and the worst) were the canon consumer group lenses. I also have visited the lens performance survey at the http://www.photodo.com but could not find my way between these MTF graphs because I am not good enough to decide between the consumer group lenses(all are below a certain level I cannot tell their difference). Which lens system would you prefer? Is the quality gap between minolta and pentax lenses so high that I should cease from pentax lenses which also enable the use of MF lenses on the AF bodies? Or do you think that the MF back-compatibility of pentax is not so such useful because you do not need additional manual focus fixed length lenses if you have a 28-80 plus a 100-300AF and you like taking photos especially in the street(I mean I am not pro though expect best quality I can take from the cheaper consumer group lenses)? Sincerely, Yalcin Alimoglu

-- Yalcin Alimoglu (yalcin@teklan.com.tr), July 21, 1999

Answers

I posted an answer to this question on photo.net yesterday, but the moderators there don't seem to think Pentax/Minolta threads are worth keeping.

Anyway...At any given price point, there isn't much difference from one manufacturer's lenses to another's. The thing to consider is what are the lens lines like after you get out of the bargin basement. What you'll find is that Minolta has a much larger selection of lens than Pentax, and that there are more 3rd party lenses for Minolta also. For a first lens I would think about either a 28-105 or 24-85. Pentax doesn't make a 24-85, and their 28-105 is bigger, heavier, slower and mine broke twice. Speaking of things breaking, I've found the Pentax US repair department to be so bad (slow and incompetent) I switched brands.

-- Bruce Rubenstein (brubenstein@lucent.com), July 22, 1999.

Bruce makes an excellent point. The differences you'll see in your photos from one brand to another are trivial. The important things are ergonomics and customer service. How well does the camera's design fit the way you want to work? How good is the manufacturer's service if something breaks.

I have been very pleased with Canon's service in the past, but I was enrolled in their professional services program. Some friends who shoot Nikon have been very happy with them. I hope Bruce is right about Minolta, because I just bought my son a used Maxxum 7000 with a 50mm macro lens.

-- Darron Spohn (dspohn@clicknet.com), July 26, 1999.

In regard to the issue of lenses, I bought an Mz5n with a pentax 28- 105, it fell to pieces in 3 weeks, and swear it was NOT dropped. they gave me a loaner while i waited, another, pentax, this time a 28-80. The workmanship on this was so poor the inne barrel wobbled somethng awful. I ended up with a 28-200 Pentax f4.5, which is pretty poor, I recently discovered its a re badged tamron.

-- Anna Edgar (anna.edgar@lineone.net), February 11, 2002.

I've been a Minolta user for years. While I don't use the AF gear anymore (traded in my 7xi and lenses 2 years ago), I must say I've never had a problem with the build quality of any of the hardware. The lenses have always been solid, with great image quality.

Unfortunately, I don't have much experience with Pentax gear so can't do a side-by-side comparison.

As for the 7000 mentioned above, it's a great body. Just don't expect to follow a bird in flight with its autofocus. ;-) It was, after all, the first mass produced AF camera. The earliest usable AF was the 5000i. Though the AF is more solid on the 7xi and later.

-- Don Tuleja (durocshark@photo.net), February 12, 2002.

merhaba ben pentax mz5n makina aldim ingilizcem olmadigindan acikcasi ne yaptigimi nasil cektigimi tam anlamiyla bilemiyorum bu makinanin turkce klavuzunu nasil bulurum veya bilgilerinizden nasil faydalanirim makinayi tam anlamiyla kullanmak istiyorum normal cekim yapıyorum ama bir akan suyu akisini ucn kusu vs. nasil cekebilirim internet uzerinde bulamadim yardim edebilirseniz cok sevinirim

-- Akin (gakin@bilkent.edu.tr), June 10, 2002.