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Minolta Rokkor Enlarger lens on Sony a6500

I've been experimenting with my old enlarger lenses as a means of scanning old negatives and slides, but, out of curiosity, decided to see if they could be used as prime lenses for distance work on the Sony a6500.

The lens in question is a Minolta Rokkor 75 mm f4.5.

In order to do this you need to buy a focusing helicoid as enlarger lenses relied upon a bellows or helicoid within the enlarger to focus the negatives. You also need an M39 to M42 adapter as enlarger lenses came with the old Leica thread that is, nowadays, non standard. Finally an M42 to Sony E fit adapter completes the kit.

Enough of the cackle, how does it do? Very well actually, here's a view from the rear of our house and an actual pixels crop from the extreme left of the frame. Click for larger images.





The image is sharp to the edge of the frame with no sign of any CA - possibly helped by the fact that I have CA removal permanently engaged in Lightroom!

It's an unfair comparison I know, this inappropriate piece of aged 1960s gear against my relatively new Sony 55-210 zoom, but I would suggest that the old glass eats the new Sony for breakfast!



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