Miscellaneous Camera Lenses

[MD0483]

Clearing out various parts of my house for a possible upcoming house move and came across these 2 Minolta lenses. I used these on a Minolta 5000 then lent the body out, when it came back the batteries had leaked and trashed the camera. Both are autofocus and could possibly fit 5000, 7000 or 9000. 50mm 1:1.7, 100-200mm zoom 1:4.5. Would appreciate any thoughts, thank you.

 

[Phil]

Im not sure what kind of thoughts you want. If you want a camera pick up a used body. Your location will dictate the value of the lenses if you want to sell them. For the going rates look on ebay at completed auctions. Bummer about the battery toasting the body.

 

[jonf]

When Minolta pulled out of the camera market in the early 2000s, they transferred all rights to the mount to Sony, which still uses the same mount in the Sony Alpha mount system. I don't know for sure whether the electronic couplings are identical, but they should work, so there is some limited market for them. A quick peruse of the Devil's Junkyard suggests the 100-200 should go for £30 to £40, the 50mm 1.7 maybe a bit more. I'd guess the 50mm would be seen as more desirable, as it's a good sharp lens, and would be a lot cheaper than buying a Sony prime.

Should be worth a go - anything you get for them is better than chucking them.

 

[turf3]

Well, they're good lenses, fairly small apertures, in other words more or less basic mass market lenses. Not going to be much monetary value there. Even big glass (like, 50 mm/1.2) for film cameras isn't worth big bucks. I'd guess maybe $50 for the 50 mm and $75 for the zoom? But take my valuations with a block of salt, I haven't been involved in film cameras for almost 20 years now.

 

[MD0483]

Sorry, perhaps I worded it wrong, these lenses are so old and the cameras that they fit were discontinued years ago so prices for a couple of lenses are very hard to gauge. I don’t care much for EBay I would rather give any commission to the charity on this site, thought perhaps someone on this site might have a compatible camera and be able to use them.

 

[Jimmymack]

Lenses have developed enormously since these were made and obviously mounts have changed. Minolta lenses are considered good but it's unlikely that they are suitable for modern cameras. However there is a market and you can probably sell them to collectors and people who love the qualities of old lenses. You are looking primarily for Minolta users, who are thinner on the ground than Nikon and Canon but they are out there and if you want to give them to somebody who will use them you could advertise this, try a site like talkphotography.co.uk and I'm sure you'll get some takers and a valuation.

 

[Jeanette]

Sorry, perhaps I worded it wrong, these lenses are so old and the cameras that they fit were discontinued years ago so prices for a couple of lenses are very hard to gauge. I don’t care much for EBay I would rather give any commission to the charity on this site, thought perhaps someone on this site might have a compatible camera and be able to use them.

Please feel free to list them in the yardsale.

Jx

 

[jonf]

Lenses have developed enormously since these were made and obviously mounts have changed. Minolta lenses are considered good but it's unlikely that they are suitable for modern cameras. However there is a market and you can probably sell them to collectors and people who love the qualities of old lenses. You are looking primarily for Minolta users, who are thinner on the ground than Nikon and Canon but they are out there and if you want to give them to somebody who will use them you could advertise this, try a site like talkphotography.co.uk and I'm sure you'll get some takers and a valuation.

As I mentioned earlier, these mounts are still in use on Sony Alpha digital cameras, which gives a continuing use on modern cameras. This creates a limited ongoing market, way beyond the market for vintage Minolta cameras, which haven't been sold for over 15 years.

 

[Numerouscolours]

So, in a previous life I worked as a tattoo artist and we used these kind of lenses to check the needle points, especially when using 3's and 5's checking that the points were straight and the bow was wide enough for a good ink pick-up.

It might be worth just popping to your local studio and seeing if they could make use of them if you can't find someone with a camera who would use them. Just a thought. 🙂

 

[Jimmymack]

As I mentioned earlier, these mounts are still in use on Sony Alpha digital cameras, which gives a continuing use on modern cameras. This creates a limited ongoing market, way beyond the market for vintage Minolta cameras, which haven't been sold for over 15 years.

I believe you are right, the main problem is that they aren't so good at resolving detail when used on newer, increasingly large sensors and they can only be focussed manually. That said, there are people who want that and will buy them, either for Sony or other cameras using a converter, and Minolta lenses were highly rated.

 

[LisaP2026]

I can see this is an older post but what did you do with these lenses eventually?

 

[MD0483]