This match is a fight between telezoom provided as kit lens with DSLR and an old high end autofocus zoom.
- The Minolta AF 75-300 D f/4.5-5.6 (kit telezoom)
- The Minolta AF 75-300 f/4.5-5.6 also known as Big Beercan
The test protocol is very simple :
- Sony Alpha 700 mounted on a tripod,
- Super Steady Shot off
- cRAW file format
- 100 iso
- A mode
The full scene is the following :
Minolta 75-300 Big Beercan @f/5.6 (center 100% crop)
Konica Minolta 75-300 D @f/5.6 (center 100% crop)
Minolta 75-300 Big Beercan @f/8.0 (center 100% crop)
Konica Minolta 75-300 D @f/8.0 (center 100% crop)
Minolta 75-300 Big Beercan @f/5.6 (corner 100% crop)
Konica-Minolta 75-300 @f/5.6 (corner 100% crop)
Minolta 75-300 Big Beercan @f/8.0 (corner 100% crop)
Konica-Minolta 75-300 D @f/8.0 (corner 100% crop)
First, you shoud keep in mind that comparing on 100% crop from a 12MPIX make sense only if you plan to print large pictures (e.g. 75cm*50cm)
Center @5.6 The "D" recent zoom would be slightly sharper than the old Big Beercan. This result does not correspond to what I am used to observe in real life shooting.
Center @8.0 The Big Beercan is slightly sharper than the newer "D".
The center test shows that both are sharp on the center @300mm in the easy (light) conditions of this static test.
Corner @5.6 Big Beercan is sharper
Corner @8.0 Big Beercan is sharper
Bottom line, in my opinion, the Big Beercan is a better zoom than the kit D telezoom. The 20 years old discontinued lens beat the still continued recent one (rebranded by SONY).
But the recent D zoom is not a bad lens at all. It is really a good lens for sport shooting because at 300mm the part of the picture which is intersting correspond very often to what is on the center of the viewfinder if you really shoot sport events. So the corner are not really intersting or could disturb the reading of the picture. It would be different for a landscape lens.
