I have never heard of anyone who actually kept this lens - and I talk to a number of Minolta toutin' folk.

Don't get me wrong - it is an excellent performer, perhaps Minolta's best performer at 35mm focal length and apertures overlapping with other lenses.

However this lens's undoing were the facts that
- Minolta had priced it about $300 more than they should have (have they priced it at $500, the extra sales would have more than made up for the lesser per-item profit). As it is, the lens hardly sells at all.
- Minolta makes an excellent 35 mm f/2.0 lens and a so-so 35mm f/2.8 lens, not to mention a slew of quality zooms covering the range, making that focal length range pretty crowded.

In my opinion, one should only get this lens if one could not do with a f/2.0 aperture. Otherwise,
- If you needs are indoor / available light shooting, get the Maxxum 35mm f/2.0 instead
- If you could make do with an f/4 aperture, get a 24-50mm f/4 zoom instead. This particular zoom has a conservative f.l. range and as such is unique in that there are little if any tradeoffs of sharpness, flare, and distortion vs. fixed focal lenses - some say it is in fact sharper than 35/2.8, 28/2.8 at those focal lengths!

Happy shooting!



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