MC Rokkor 85mm f1.7
Technical data
Angle of view: 29 degrees
Min. focus distance: 1 m
Filter thread: 55mm
Diaphgram: f1.7 - f22
Weight: 455 g.
My personal experiences
"New
mother with son"
Minolta XE-1
MC Rokkor 85mm f1.7
Kodak 400 ASA b&w film for colour process
winter 2001, Raisio, Finland
The 85mm f1.7 dates back to the introduction of the Sr-T 101 in the late 1960's, and its optical structure remained the same almost through the whole production, with changes only in the coatings. Contrary to my earlier knowledge, the last MC and MD Rokkors have a slightly different optical structure. I haven't yet figured out, if this can be seen from outside, but the newer one has , accordingly to some test, a slightly better performance. (look at "Rokkor files", a great Minolta site anyway, at http://users.bigpond.net.au/antony_hands/Index.html). I don't know yet which one mine is!
This lens is quite a magnificient piece of glass and metal, with appearance close to the MC Rokkor 58mm f1.2. It was the only way to get a really fast tele lens for Minolta, until the 135mm f2 came out at the "plain" MD era. Compared to other big Japanese manufacturers, Minolta actually lacked the superfast short tele lenses like 105/1.8 and 85/1.4 or 1.2 - this was closest to them.
I bought this lens used with its original, leather case and metal hood in 1998 from Helsinki. It is a late MC Rokkor without the two-letter code. It was then one of the most expensive lenses I had - second only to the long tele lenses. I don't take a lot of portraits, but I've found this lens has other uses as well. Originally I used it to isolate larger plants in the forest, and in general landscape photography, but soon dropped it out of my nature setup - it was too close to my macro lens in focal length. For years it has had a role as a long, fast normal lens when shooting family events and people; I use to carry my XE-1 with 24/2.8, 35/1.8, 85/1.7 and 135/2.8 for this kind of work. No way I would let this lens go any more. I find the combination of fast 35 and 85mm lenses better than one fast 50 or 58mm lens. In my AF setup the 85-200/2.8 makes the job the 85 does, but it is not the same - that AF kit is painfully large, and, surprisingly, does not produce any better photos (but is much faster to use, especially with flash). For natural light photos indoors there is no substitute for fast, fixed lenses.
Optically the lens is excellent. It is a bit soft at full aperture, but at f5.6 it is superb. It also has a good colour rendition. At close focusing the corners are soft, and this lens is not suitable for close-up photography - I've never been satisfied with results I've got using this lens on extension or with Canon achromatic close-up lenses. But I have to say I haven't tried to use this lens for closeup except on a few occasions I hadn't my macro lenses with me, so my experience is not only discouraging but also very limted. The bokeh is also very pleasant for my eyes, which is important for these lenses.
Do I recommend this lens? Yes, if you need the speed and if it fits into your lens selection (the 50, 58 and 100 are all pretty close to this lens). Actually there is not much choise in this speed class - 58/1.2, 58/1.4, 85/2 and 135/2 being the closest ones. If you already own a 100mm lens or, for example, the Tamron SP 90mm f2.5 macro lens, I would think twice before investing in this lens - it is usually such an expensive one that buying it for fun is not exactly reasonable.
I don't have experience over the Nikon fixed 85mm lenses, so I cannot
say how this old Rokkor compares against them.
"Moment in park"
Minolta XE-1
MC Rokkor 85mm f1.7
Kodak T-Max 400
Turku, Finland