The Minolta MD W-Rokkor-X 17mm F4 is one of the rarest and most interesting vintage optics from the film era and it's a masterpiece.
This was the widest rectilinear lens made for the MD system and a fantastic performer. It has an 11e/9g optical formula with floating elements.
Keep in mind that it's not easy to make such a wide lens geometrically corrected for a 24x36 mm frame. This is top notch optics even today and its performance rivals or even surpasses the Canon EF 17-40 F4 L, for half the price.
It has very low distortion and it's considered rectilinear. Not too heavy (325g), reasonably compact and takes standard 72mm filters, but they need to have thin rings, otherwise some vigneting will occur.
I've been using this lens on a regular basis with the Sony A7-III and it works superbly. For me, it's a keeper.
The Rokinon/Samyang 18mm F2.8 is far more available and also a good performer, but the Minolta smashes it if we're talking about distortion.
Coma is nearly absent from F5.6 and it's very sharp on corners stopped down to F8. Let's say, it's very usable from F5.6 if you're really worried about corner performance.
Due to the very wide field of view, it's very easy to include strong light sources in the frame without paying attention and then have some interesting flares on the image. A hood is always a good thing to have.
Warning: Servicing this lens is an extremely complicated task, do not attempt to CLA it unless you're a very skilled technician, otherwise you will ruin it.
Pros:
- Compact
- Excellent performance
- Not too heavy
- Takes 72mm filters
- Extremely low distortion
Cons:
- Very rare to find
- Coma at corners wide open
- Blurry corners wide open (due to coma)
For more technical info and tests, please look here.
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