Minolta MC W Rokkor-HG 35/2.8 and Nikon Z5 – An Empirical Field-Test

This is another episode featuring a Nikon Z camera and a vintage lens. This time, I’m using the Minolta MC Rokkor-HG 35mm 2.8, which I recently took out of the cupboard where I keep my old manual lenses.

The following shots have all been taken wide open, in no particular order and are intended to demonstrate how the lens performs in different conditions. The Z5 was instructed to use a flat picture profile and the photos were post-processed to the final results should not be considered as a true ‘rough’ example of the lens’ character.

Although this lens may look ‘dumb’ to some particularly trained eyes, I like how it renders colours. Also, in daylight, this Rokkor shows a good global contrast and decent on-axis performances.

Its resolving power on a 24-megapixel sensor and the flare resistance are pretty good. Of course they are no match for the usual high-end vintage lenses or modern ones. However, I find them pleasant enough when pursuing a non razor-sharp aesthetic. This can easily be seen by looking at the mesh of the fence and the clouds behind the branches of the olive tree.

The light dressing gives this tree a creepish look, but this contrasted scene allowed testing the Rokkor’s low light performances. This photo was taken hand-held, at 1/125 of a second and at ISO100 while crossing a street. Thus, its softness is more likely due to misfocus and the lack of contrast and fine details to a much too slow shutter speed. However, it seems not optimised for high-contrast night work.

This is another gone piece of my hometown history. Pizzeria Serafino has been around the block since the late seventies and is now on sale. I don’t know if the business sunk or if the owners have simply decided to retire. Either way, it’s sad news. Shot at ISO800 and 1/25 one cannot expect miracles, however, in these conditions the lens maintains a reasonable contrast and a decent overall performance.

This car repo truck was taken at ISO1600 and 1/13 shutter speed. The challenging shooting conditions exposed a visible purple fringing —likely, a mix of channel clipping and chromatic aberration – but the central definition is good enough.

The portrait of The Joker at the top of this post was taken at ISO100 from behind the glass of a display so it is not possible to use it as a reliable example of the lens’ intrinsic performance. However, it is a good test for real-world use through barriers.

I am not an optical engineer, I have no experience in optics and camera lens manufacturing so my opinions are highly subjective. With this caveat, I can say that this exemplar looks like a decent vintage lens. In daylight, the contrast and centre performance are good enough, while at night the quality deteriorates. Maybe a lens hood might have helped, but mine was too long and caused a heavy vignetting, so I had to strip it away.

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