Minolta x-700 MC Rokkor 50mm F1.4 VS Zeiss Ikon Opton T Tessa R 75mm F3.5

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Minolta x-700 MC Rokkor 50mm F1.4
VS
Zeiss Ikon Opton T Tessa R 50mm F3.5

I know they are two completely different cameras, but I just can't decide on which one I should go for. Thanks! 🙂
 
Zeiss Ikon Opton T Tessa R 50mm F3.5

I know they are two completely different cameras, but I just can't decide on which one I should go for. Thanks! 🙂

Hi,

"Zeiss ikon opton tessar 50mm f3.5" is a lens, not a camera.

You need to specify the camera.

Your other option is a Minolta X-700 camera with a "MC Rokkor 50mm f1.4" lens. Which is a very very good camera with a very very good lens.
 
PS: I assume you are a beginner. I'll break down the lens description so it gets clearer:

"Zeiss-Opton Tessar T 50mm f3.5" =
Zeiss-Opton: The brand, which is the Carl Zeiss branch from East Germany
Tessar: The design of the lens (google "tessar design")
T: the type of coating: Zeiss "T" coating, this is a type of single-coating
50mm: the focal length
f3.5: the opening, which gives you a measure of how much light the lens allows to enter, also known as "lens speed"

"Minolta MC Rokkor 50mm F1.4" (lens) =
Minolta: The brand
MC: Means it is multi-coated, which means each lens surface has multiple coatings, increasing light transmision and maybe giving richer colors and higher contrast
50mm: focal length is 50mm
f1.4: lens speed is f1.4 which is far "faster" (or brighter) than the f3.5 lens above.
 
Hi,

"Zeiss ikon opton tessar 50mm f3.5" is a lens, not a camera.

You need to specify the camera.

Your other option is a Minolta X-700 camera with a "MC Rokkor 50mm f1.4" lens. Which is a very very good camera with a very very good lens.

And I'll add a very good price...

Regards, David
 
Go for the more modern Minolta , the lens is superb and more lenses are. Inexpensive .
I used a 50mm to learn on and have an approx 50 mm with my now
Dee
 
These are two completely different cameras, so the choice would depend on your reason for purchase and on what you plan to do with the camera.

If you want a more modern (relatively speaking), very competent film camera with an unusually good lens, I would get the Minolta. Note, however, that the MC Rokkor lens will work perfectly in manual mode and with aperture-priority automation, but it isn't designed to work in the X-700's program mode. For the program mode, you really need a later MD Rokkor or even later MD Minolta.

You would get the Zeiss if you are a collector or if you specifically like to use old German cameras. Note that the older the camera is, the more likely it is to be in need of servicing to function as it should.

By the way, an MC Rokkor doesn't mean that it's multi-coated. The MC stands for "meter-coupled." I think the late MC Rokkors might have been multi-coated, but most of them had "Achromatic Coating," which was a two-layer type. (I have the 50mm 1.4 PG Rokkor lens with the rubberized focusing collar that you might have available to you and I'm pretty sure that it's multi-coated.)

The MC Rokkors were succeeded by the MD Rokkors, which had additional indexing tabs and faster operating diaphragms for shutter-priority and programmed automation. The MD Rokkors were all multi-coated, to the best of my knowledge.

- Murray
 
For low-light photography, the faster lens may offer an advantage, but the 1.4 is only a half-stop faster than the 1.7. MD 1.7 lenses are very sharp lenses and they are very inexpensive. I never felt that the extra money for a 1.4 lens was justified for 1/2 stop more light, but others would disagree. (An MD lens would allow you to use the X-700's program mode.)

If by "afternoon" you mean bright sunlight, the two lenses would be equally effective.

I have both a late MC Rokkor PG 50mm 1.4 and an MD 50mm 1.7, and they are both outstanding lenses. The latter might actually be a tiny bit sharper.

By the way, I would probably never use the X-700 is program mode, so the MC vs MD distinction would be moot in my case.

- Murray
 
Jeez there are still so many versions! From like 2011 to 2016! Should I go for the 2016/newest one?

Minolta was no longer making cameras or lenses in 2011. MC Rokkor lenses were made until 1977. The third-generation MC Rokkors, with the rubberized focusing collars, were made from 1973 to 1977. MD Rokkor and the later MD Minolta lenses were made from 1977 well into the 1990s, and possibly past 2000. Minolta started making autofocus lenses in 1985, and they eventually supplanted the MD manual-focus lenses.

Earlier MD lenses are of more robust construction, more like their MC predecessors. After that, they became more compact and lightweight. All MD lenses are multi-coated.

I would get an MD 1.7 or 1.4 if you want to be able to use the X-700's program mode. Otherwise, a late MC 1.7 or 1.4, with the rubberized focusing collar, would be excellent, also.

All of these lenses would be good choices.

- Murray
 
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