MINOLTA 1000mm LENS
Minolta made one super-fast, super-tele lens -- the 1000mm f6.3. It's a mirror lens, but it's unusually large and heavy due to the super-fast aperture. If you can't find this lens -- and you won't -- check out the Minolta 800 f8 or the Minolta 1600 f11 lenses. The best alternative is the Minolta 800 f8.
The competition
There are a few alternatives, but most of the alternatives are designed as telescopes and need to be converted to photographic use. Most of these, like the Celetrons, are fine for viewing the stars, but produce lackluster terrestrial results. The few exceptions, like the Questars are very expensive. Some are attached to, or sold with, stellar tracking and timing units which are not needed for photographic purposes. These double the price. The closest matches are the Amitar 1000mm f6.3 and the Omnitar 1000mm f6.3 -- which are really the same lens. You will never find these, but you might find a Honeywell Lumitar 1250mm f10 mirror -- really a stripped down Celestron C5. It's very large, but not as heavy, and not as fast, and not as expensive as the Minolta.
LENS FEATURES |
IMAGE |
COMMENTS |
FOCAL LENGTH: 1000mm |
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Introduced in Juky of 1965, this is Minolta's ultimate "hunk of glass", weighing in at over 23 pounds! It's a mirror lens, but it is unusually large and heavy due to the super-fast aperture -- f6.3. It's so big, it can be mistaken for its longer 1600mm Rokkor cousin! The exposure is controlled with the shutter speed, and THREE built-in ND filters for f11, f16 and f22. Another turret dial on the back switches the built-in filters: L39(UV), Y48 (Yellow), O56 (Orange), and R60 (Red). Additional 49mm filters can be used on the rear -- or 200mm filters on the front! Rack-and-pinion focusing -- with dials on the back. |
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The material on this website is protected by US Federal copyright laws. It cannot be copied or used in any manner without specific approval from the owner.