Minolta 28-85mm f/3.5-4.5 Lens for for Sony A/Minolta Maxxum

Minolta’s 28-85mm f/3.5-4.5 Lens for Sony A/Minolta Maxxum offers a practical, everyday zoom range that spans wide-angle to short telephoto, making it a versatile choice for travel, landscapes, and general photography on both vintage Minolta Maxxum film cameras and modern Sony A-mount bodies. Originally released in 1985 alongside the groundbreaking Minolta Maxxum 7000, the world’s first mass-produced autofocus SLR system, this lens served as a popular standard zoom for photographers wanting flexibility without carrying multiple primes.

The optical formula uses 13 elements arranged in 10 groups, delivering solid image quality across its focal range while keeping the lens reasonably compact for a zoom of its era. A 7-blade diaphragm contributes to the lens’s rendering characteristics, and a built-in macro switch extends the minimum focus distance down to roughly 10 inches, allowing for closer working distances than the standard 31.5-inch minimum focus and adding useful versatility for close-up subjects like flowers or small objects.

Autofocus is driven by the camera body rather than an in-lens motor, consistent with the Minolta A-mount system’s original design, and the filter ring rotates during focusing but not zooming, keeping polarizers and graduated filters aligned when adjusting focal length. The lens ships with front and rear caps as well as a clip-on round hood, and its 55mm filter thread is shared with several other lenses in the Minolta A-mount lineup, adding convenience for photographers building out a filter kit.

Specifications:

– Mount: Sony A / Minolta A-mount
– Type: Standard zoom, autofocus
– Focal length: 28-85mm
– Maximum aperture: f/3.5-4.5 (variable)
– Minimum aperture: f/22-27
– Lens construction: 13 elements in 10 groups
– Aperture blades: 7
– Angle of view: 75.3° – 28.5°
– Minimum focus distance: 800mm (31.5″); approx. 10″ with macro switch engaged
– Maximum magnification: 0.12x (1:8.3)
– Filter diameter: 55mm
– Length: 85.5mm – 110mm (extends with zoom)
– Weight: 490g
– Included: Front cap, rear cap, clip-on hood