Maker | Minolta, Sony |
---|---|
Technical data | |
Type | Special Prime |
Focal length | 500 mm |
Aperture (max/min) | f/8 fixed |
Close focus distance | 4 m |
Max. magnification | 1/7.7 |
Diaphragm blades | No blades, circular |
Construction | 7 elements in 5 groups |
Features | |
Ultrasonic motor | ![]() |
Macro capable | ![]() |
Unique features | AF capable Mirror Lens |
Application | Telephoto |
Physical | |
Max. length | 118 mm |
Weight | 665 g |
Filter diameter | Front 82mm & Rear drop-in (Clear and NDx4) |
Accessories | |
Lens hood | Front threaded |
Angle of view | |
Horizontal | 4.9° |
History | |
Introduction | 1989 |
Discontinuation | 2010 |
Successor | Minolta version succeeded by Sony version in 2006 |
Retail info | |
MSRP | 699 USD (as of 2006) |
Originally produced by Minolta , then by Sony , the AF Reflex 500mm f/8 was a catadioptric photographic lens compatible with cameras using the Minolta A-mount and Sony A-mount lens mounts.
The Minolta/Sony Reflex 500mm lens still (2024) is the only production mirror lens designed to auto focus with an SLR camera. There are other mirror lenses that can mount onto current mounts such as Canon EF or RF and Nikon F or Z, but all other mirror lenses are manual focus only. Only this lens can have its focus controlled by the camera's autofocus motor in conjunction with TTL autofocus sensing. In terms of the Minolta AF and subsequent Sony α SLR systems, this lens is an anomaly, being the only lens guaranteed to autofocus at f/8.
Minolta also produced a V-mount 400 mm f/8 Reflex lens that can autofocus at f/8, but only fits the APS Minolta Vectis S-1, Minolta Vectis S-100 and Minolta Dimâge RD 3000 cameras.
The mirror design does not utilize aperture blades, and thus the aperture of the lens is fixed at f/8. Exposure may only be controlled by shutter speed, film or sensor sensitivity, or a slot-in neutral density filter. The lens possesses a filter holder to that avail.
By using a mirror design similar to that of a telescope, this lens uses very little glass compared to traditional telephoto lenses and is thus much smaller, lighter, and far less expensive than traditional lenses in the same focal length. However, like all mirror lenses, it can produce donut-shaped bokeh in images, due to the secondary mirror partially obstructing the front element.
Using this lens on a Sony E-mount camera requires an adapter such as one of the Sony LA-EA series, not all of which are compatible with all E-mount cameras [1] or A-mount lenses. [2] The LA-EA2, LA-EA4 and LA-EA5 adapters have the screw drive required to enable autofocus, which is however limited to select cameras for each adapter. [3] Otherwise, the lens will be manual focus only. The latter proves a very viable solution, even despite the shallow depth of field of the long focal length.
Since 1977, i.e. before the introduction of its autofocus system, Minolta also made manual focus, SR-mount 500mm f/8 catadioptric lenses, designated RF, RF ROKKOR, and RF ROKKOR-X successively. Their optical schemes of 6 lens elements in 5 groups differ slightly between each other, and are not the same as this autofocus lens [4] [5] , using 7 elements. Still, it can of course be used (fully manually) on modern cameras such as Sony E-mount, but requires a different adapter type.
Minolta Co., Ltd. was a Japanese manufacturer of cameras, camera accessories, photocopiers, fax machines, and laser printers. Minolta Co., Ltd., which is also known simply as Minolta, was founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1928 as Nichi-Doku Shashinki Shōten. It made the first integrated autofocus 35 mm SLR camera system. In 1931, the company adopted its final name, an acronym for "Mechanism, Instruments, Optics, and Lenses by Tashima".
The Minolta MAXXUM 7000 35 mm SLR camera was introduced in February 1985. It was the first camera to feature both integrated autofocus (AF) and motorised film advance, the standard configuration for later amateur and professional single lens reflex cameras.
A digital single-lens reflex camera is a digital camera that combines the optics and the mechanisms of a single-lens reflex camera with a solid-state image sensor and digitally records the images from the sensor.
A catadioptric optical system is one where refraction and reflection are combined in an optical system, usually via lenses (dioptrics) and curved mirrors (catoptrics). Catadioptric combinations are used in focusing systems such as searchlights, headlamps, early lighthouse focusing systems, optical telescopes, microscopes, and telephoto lenses. Other optical systems that use lenses and mirrors are also referred to as "catadioptric", such as surveillance catadioptric sensors.
The Minolta Vectis S-series comprises two APS system models of film SLR cameras made by Minolta, the flagship model Vectis S-1 and the Vectis S-100. The cameras feature a compact design, owing to the use of mirrors instead of prisms in the viewfinder.
The Pentax K-mount, sometimes referred to as the "PK-mount", is a bayonet lens mount standard for mounting interchangeable photographic lenses to 35 mm single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras. It was created by Pentax in 1975, and has since been used by all Pentax 35 mm and digital SLRs and also the MILC Pentax K-01. A number of other manufacturers have also produced many K-mount lenses and K-mount cameras.
The Minolta X-700 is a 35 mm single-lens reflex film camera introduced by Minolta in 1981. It was the top model of their final manual-focus SLR series before the introduction of the auto-focus Minolta Maxxum 7000.
Sony α is a brand of digital camera. This line has been active since 2006, building upon the Konica Minolta camera technologies, whose assets were acquired by Sony.
Originally produced by Minolta, and currently produced by Sony, the STF 135mm f/2.8 [T4.5] is a photographic lens compatible with cameras using the Minolta AF and Sony α A-mount. STF stands for Smooth Trans Focus, in reference to its special optical system, which is intended to smooth the transition between the plane of focus and out-of-focus areas in the image. This is accomplished by the use of an apodization filter that provides the high-quality bokeh effect. The lens is not a soft-focus lens.
The Minolta A-mount camera system was a line of photographic equipment from Minolta introduced in 1985 with the world's first integrated autofocus system in the camera body with interchangeable lenses. The system used a lens mount called A-mount, with a flange focal distance 44.50 mm, one millimeter longer, 43.5 mm, than the previous SR mount from 1958. The new mount was wider, 49.7 mm vs. 44.97 mm, than the older SR-mount and due to the longer flange focal distance, old manual lenses were incompatible with the new system. Minolta bought the autofocus technology of Leica Correfot camera which was partly used on the a-mount autofocus technology. The mount is now used by Sony, who bought the SLR camera division from Konica Minolta, Konica and Minolta having merged a few years before.
The Pentax ME F was an amateur level, interchangeable lens, 35 mm film, single-lens reflex (SLR) camera. It was manufactured by Asahi Optical Co., Ltd. of Japan from November 1981 to 1984. The ME F was a heavily modified version of the Pentax ME-Super, and a member of the Pentax M-series family of SLRs. It was the first mass-produced SLR camera to come with an autofocus system.
This article details lensesfor single-lens reflex and digital single-lens reflex cameras. The emphasis is on modern lenses for 35 mm film SLRs and for "full-frame" DSLRs with sensor sizes less than or equal to 35 mm.
The Minolta CLE is a TTL-metering automatic exposure aperture-priority 35 mm rangefinder camera using Leica M lenses, introduced by Minolta in 1980.
The Minolta 9000 AF is a professional Single-lens reflex autofocus camera, introduced by Minolta in August 1985. It was both Minolta's and the world's first professional autofocus SLR. It was called Minolta Maxxum 9000 in the US and Minolta α-9000 in Japan.
The Minolta SR-mount was the bayonet mounting system used in all 35 mm SLR cameras made by Minolta with interchangeable manual focusing lenses. Several iterations of the mounting were produced over the decades, and as a result, the mount itself was sometimes referred to by the name of the corresponding lens generation instead.
The Minolta SR-2 was presented in 1958 as the first 35mm SLR camera from Chiyoda Kogaku. Popular cameras of this type at that time were mainly from Europe but a few from Japan, including the Asahi Pentax, the Miranda T and the Topcon R. The miniature SLR camera concept was conceived in the 1930s at Ihagee in Dresden, resulting in the 1936 Kine Exakta. Influential cameras designs like that of the 1939 KW Praktiflex, the 1949 ZI Contax S, and 1952 the KW Praktina marked the steady progress toward a perfected SLR. Several features of the latter seem to have influenced the design of the SR-2 although dissimilar in many respects. The obvious similarities are the stepped top plate, the carrying strap lugs, the self-timer lever and some general body features.
The E-mount is a lens mount designed by Sony for their NEX and ILCE series of camcorders and mirrorless cameras. The E-mount supplements Sony's α mount, allowing the company to develop more compact imaging devices while maintaining compatibility with 35mm sensors. E-mount achieves this by:
The Sony α NEX-5 is a digital camera launched on 11 May 2010. It is a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera with the body size of a larger model fairly compact point-and-shoot camera with a larger sensor size (APS-C) comparable to that of some digital single-lens reflex cameras. Its major competitors in the market are the cameras based on the micro 4/3 standard created by Panasonic and Olympus, and a few low end Canon, Nikon, and even Sony α DSLRs. The NEX-5 shoots 14.2 megapixel stills and has a 7 frame/s continuous shotmode. It has the capability to shoot 1920×1080i at 60 frame/s in AVCHD or 1440×1080p at 30 frame/s in MPEG4. The NEX-5 was replaced by the 16 megapixel NEX-5N in August 2011.
The invention of the camera in the early 19th century led to an array of lens designs intended for photography. The problems of photographic lens design, creating a lens for a task that would cover a large, flat image plane, were well known even before the invention of photography due to the development of lenses to work with the focal plane of the camera obscura.
Rokkor was a brand name used for all Chiyoda Kōgaku Seikō and later Minolta lenses between 1940 and 1980, including a few, which were marketed and sold by other companies like Leica. The name was derived from the name of Rokkō (六甲山), a 932 metre (3058') high mountain, which could be seen from the company's glass-making and optics factory at Mukogawa near Osaka, Japan. The company's founder Kazuo Tashima wanted the name to symbolize the high quality in optics.