As promised earlier I have repeated the lens test. Result shown below ...

AF 200mm /2.8 APO
AF 2.8/70-200mm APO SSM D
AF 2.8/80-200mm APO
AF 70-210mm/4.0 ("beercan")
AF 100-200mm/4.5 ("small beercan")

Sony alpha 700, Firmware V4, ISO 100, mirror lock-up, remote control, AF-S, super steady shot "off", Auto exposure (A) mode.

Tripod Manfrotto 055CB with Manfrotto 410 3-way head

100% crops; RAW files developed with Photoshop CS3: sharpening "25", radius "0.5 points", detail "50". No lens corrections applied!

		MINOLTA AF APO TELE 200mm 1:2.8 (32) f2.8 left image: centre right image: corner
		MINOLTA AF APO TELE 200mm 1:2.8 (32) f5.6 left image: centre right image: corner
		MINOLTA AF APO TELE ZOOM 70-200mm 1:2.8 (32) D SSM   f2.8 left image: centre right image: corner
		MINOLTA AF APO TELE ZOOM 70-200mm 1:2.8 (32) D SSM   f5.6 left image: centre right image: corner
		MINOLTA AF APO TELE ZOOM 80-200mm 1:2.8 (32)   f2.8 left image: centre right image: corner
		MINOLTA AF APO TELE ZOOM 80-200mm 1:2.8 (32)   f5.6 left image: centre right image: corner
		MINOLTA AF ZOOM 70-210mm 1:4 (32) f4.0 left image: centre right image: corner
		MINOLTA AF ZOOM 70-210mm 1:4 (32) f8.0 left image: centre right image: corner
		MINOLTA AF ZOOM 100-200mm 1:4.5 (22) f4.5 left image: centre right image: corner
		MINOLTA AF ZOOM 100-200mm 1:4.5 (22) f8.0 left image: centre right image: corner

Here's the promised telephoto lens review! Six Minolta classics in an interesting comparison:

AF 200mm /2.8 APO
AF 2.8/70-200mm APO SSM D
AF 2.8/80-200mm APO
AF 70-210mm/4.0 ("beercan")
AF 75-300mm/4.5-5.6 ("big beercan" )
AF 100-200mm/4.5 ("small beercan")

The winner is ... my 20-year-old 2.8/200mm APO HS! No surprise: The German "Photomagazin" has awarded this lens as "one of the ten best 24x36mm lenses ever", based on thorough testing.

I must admit that I had quite a lot of difficulties getting the test done more or less properly. First, 200mm at the Sony alpha 700 are equivalent to 300mm in FF. That's already quite a lot. In spite of a good Manfrotto tripod the long slow lenses (e. g. the 75-300mm @ f11) were quite troublesome. Of course I have used mirror lock up and remote control, but still... Then there was slight wind: another source of vibrations. Finally I noticed (especially with the 2.8/200mm APO HS and the 2.8/70-200mm APO SSM) some irregular behaviour. The resolution of these two lenses was varying from shot to shot. It took me a while to understand the reason. Part of this was due to air movements: the objects shown are in a distance of nearly 2 km, and often the resolution of these lenses was simply limited by the air. In addition my copy of the 2.8/70-200mm APO SSM has a nasty problem: when the zoom ring was turned clockwise before shooting the resolution is much better! Turning it counter-clockwise before shooting causes clearly reduced sharpness at f2.8 until about f5.6. I know that several other SSM have the same problem, and even a sample tested by a well known German photo magazine seems to have suffered from the same difficulty.

I promise that the test will be repeated soon!

		Minolta 70-200mm/2.8 APO SSM @ 200mm/f2.8 DETAILED DESCRIPTION WILL FOLLOW SOON
		Minolta 70-200mm/2.8 APO SSM @ 200mm/f5.6
		Minolta 80-200mm/2.8 APO @ 200mm/f2.8
		Minolta 80-200mm/2.8 APO @ 200mm/f5.6
		Minolta 200mm/2.8 APO HS @ 200mm/f2.8 Annoyingly the 200mm/2.8 APO HS test shot at f2.8 was ruined - I have repeated it, under different weather conditions however. Will be replaced as soon as possible!
		Minolta 200mm/2.8 APO HS @ 200mm/f5.6
		Minolta 70-210mm/4.0 ("beercan") @ 200mm/f4.0
		Minolta 70-210mm/4.0 ("beercan") @ 200mm/f8.0
		Minolta 75-300mm/4.5-5.6 ("big beercan") @ 200mm/f5.6
		Minolta 75-300mm/4.5-5.6 ("big beercan") @ 200mm/f11
		Minolta 100-200mm/4.5 ("small beercan") @ 200mm/f4.5
		Minolta 100-200mm/4.5 ("small beercan") @ 200mm/f8.0