Minolta MD Varisoft 85mm F/2.8
Short telephoto prime lens • Film era • Discontinued
- Announced:
- · 1984
- Production status:
- ● Discontinued
- Country of design:
- · Japan
- Original name:
- · MINOLTA VARISOFT 85mm 1:2.8
- Class:
- · Fast full-frame short telephoto prime lens
- · Soft Focus lens
- System:
- · Minolta SR (1958)
Abbreviations
| MD | The lens is coupled to the camera's TTL exposure meter for full-aperture measurement. In addition to aperture-priority auto exposure mode, the lens also supports shutter-priority auto exposure mode. |
| VARISOFT | The lens features soft focus effect control. |
Model history (2)
| ■Minolta MD Varisoft Rokkor 85mm F/2.8 | A | 6 - 5 | 0.80m | ⌀55 | 1978 ● | |
| ■Minolta MD Varisoft 85mm F/2.8 | A | 6 - 5 | 0.80m | ⌀55 | 1984 ● | |
Specification
| Optical design: | |
| 35mm full frame | |
| 85mm | |
| F/2.8 | |
| 6 elements in 5 groups | |
| Minolta SR [43.5mm] | |
| 28.5° (35mm full frame) | |
| Diaphragm mechanism: | |
Diaphragm type: | Automatic |
Aperture control: | Aperture ring (Manual settings only) |
| 8 (eight) | |
| Focusing: | |
| 0.80m | |
| <No data> | |
Focusing modes: | Manual focus only |
Manual focus control: | Focusing ring |
| Physical characteristics: | |
| 430g | |
| ⌀70×80mm | |
| Accessories: | |
| Screw-type 55mm | |
| Clip-in | |
| Minolta MD 2X Tele Converter 300-S → 170mm F/5.6 |
Sources of data
- A guide to the Minolta SLR system of creative photography 0209-F1.
- A guide to the Minolta SLR system of creative photography 0411-K7 (1984).
Frequently asked questions
What is a Soft Focus effect and what are its benefits?
Spherical aberration has been purposely introduced into this lens to produce photographic images that are sharp yet which have an alluring softness.
Because of the ethereal glow that can be achieved by using Soft Focus, the lens is ideal for creating scenes with a dreamy feel. It is also good for masking blemishes in portrait photography, leaving the model's skin looking flawless.
The effect of Soft Focus is a complex phenomenon that depends on focusing distance, distance to background, relative aperture etc. It is not the same as an out-of-focus image, and cannot be achieved simply by defocusing a common lens.
The effect can be approximated in post-processing but it is not as trivial as just applying a blur filter over the image.
Other short telephoto prime lenses in the Minolta SR system
Lenses with similar focal length
| ■Minolta SR mount (2) | |||||||||
| Cosina Voigtlander Color-Heliar 75mm F/2.5 SL | A | 6 - 5 | 0.70m | ⌀49 | 2001 ● | ||||
| Sankyo Kohki Komura 85mm F/1.4 | P | 7 - 5 | 1.00m | ⌀67 | ● | ||||
| ■Interchangeable mount (6) | |||||||||
| Kenko 85mm F/2.5 Soft MC [T] | M | 3 - 3 | 0.80m | ⌀52 | 1987 ● | ||||
| Sankyo Kohki Komura 85mm F/1.4 [Unidapter] | P | 7 - 5 | 1.00m | ⌀67 | 1965 ● | ||||
| Soligor 85mm F/1.5 (s/n 3xxxxxx) [T] | P | 7 - 5 | 0.90m | ⌀62 | 1966 ● | ||||
| Soligor 85mm F/1.8 (s/n 3xxxxxx) [T] | P | ? - ? | 0.90m | ⌀58 | 1966 ● | ||||
| Spiratone Telephoto 85mm F/1.7 [YS] | A | ? - ? | 0.90m | ⌀55 | ● | ||||
| Vivitar Tele 85mm F/1.8 [T] | P | 6 - 4 | 1.50m | ⌀55 | ● | ||||