Data sheet: Minolta MC Tele Rokkor-PF 100mm f/2.5

Pekka Buttler, 01/2023 (Updated 11/2024)

Specifications

The table below summarizes the lens’ key specifications (Measurements based on pictured sample):

Brand:	Minolta	Lens name	MC Rokkor-PF 1:2.5 f=100mm
Focal length(s) 1	100 mm	Angle-of-view 2	24,4 °
Maximum Aperture	f/2.5	In Production	1968–1970
Lens mounts	Minolta SR	Subfamily (if applicable)	MC (I)
Length 3	68,2 mm	Diameter 4	63,1 mm
Filter ring diameter	55 mm	Weight	414 grams
Lens element count	6	Lens group count	5
Aperture blades (S/R/C) 5	6 S	Focus throw	250 °
Minimum focusing distance	1,2 m	Maximum magnification	1:9,9
Has manual aperture ring	YES	Has Manual focus ring	YES
Aperture mechanism type	Automatic	Aperture click stops 6	2.5-4•5.6•8•11•16-22

Further notes:
• From the introduction if the Minolta SR system in 1958, Minolta typically offered a 100 mm lenses as short tele lenses, complemented by a 135 mm and 200 mm lenses as regular tele lenses. The first 85 mm lens was only introduced in 1970.
• This lens offers a small external aperture stop-down lever to be used on cameras that did not offer that functionality.
• Within the category of 100 mm lenses, Minolta offered a total 17 different designs (see versions)
• This lens comes from the first generation of Minolta 100 mm lenses sporting a max aperture of f/2.5.
• Up until 1977 (and the launch of the MD versions) Minolta lens names typically were followed by two letters: One signifying the number of lens groups, and the second signifying the number of elements. See Minolta elements and groups coding (click for details).
• The original Minolta 55 mm thread lens hood might be hard to come by, but most 55 mm thread tele lens hoods should work.

Versions

Before settling on the 100mm f/2.5 design in 1968, Minolta offered a number of other maximum aperture 100 mm lenses:
• 100 mm f/4 preset lenses (1959–1960)
• 100 mm f/3.5 lenses (1959–1968)
• 100 mm f/2 lenses (1961–1968)

The table below shows the genealogy of all Minolta 100 mm f/2.5 lenses:

Name (on lens)	Variant & Generation	years	focal length	max. aperture	min. aperture	elements	groups	filter thread	weight
MC TELE ROKKOR-PF	MC I	1968-1970	100	f/2.5	f/22	6	5	55	410
MC TELE ROKKOR-PF	MC II	1970-1973	100	f/2.5	f/22	6	5	55	410
MC TELE ROKKOR(-X)-PF	MC X	1973-1976	100	f/2.5	f/22	6	5	55	430
MD TELE ROKKOR(-X)	MC X	1976-1977	100	f/2.5	f/22	5	5	55	375
MD TELE ROKKOR(-X)	MD I	1977-1978	100	f/2.5	f/22	5	5	55	375
MD TELE ROKKOR(-X)	MD II	1978-1981	100	f/2.5	f/22	5	5	55	375
MD	MD III	1981–≈1985	100	f/2.5	f/22	5	5	49	310

Adapting

This lens cannot be used natively on any current SLR or dSLRs. To use it in its native environment, you will need a Minolta SR (SR/MC/MD/X-600) film camera. Luckily these are quite easy to find. To use the lens’ full designed capabilities, a Minolta MD-compatible body (any Minolta SR body launched after 1977) is most recommended..

Thanks to being a fully manual lens (manual aperture, manual focus), the lens can be adapted to all mirrorless cameras using a suitable adapter. Moreover, a simple ‘dumb adapter’ will do the job perfectly. Thanks to the popularity of the Minolta SR mount, the availability of adapters to all mirrorless mounts can be taken for granted, on the other hand, specialist adapters (speed boosters, helicoid adapters, tilt/shift adapters) are not available for all mirrorless mounts, but daisy-chaining adapters (e.g. Minolta SR -> Canon EF; Canon EF –> mirrorless) can offer a work-around.

Using Minolta SR mount lenses on dSLRs is also be an option, but it is not trouble-free due to that the Minolta SR mount’s flange focal distance is shorter than that of any dSLR mount (technically with the exception of Olympus’ four thirds mount). Hence, any attempt at adapting Minolta SR lenses must rely on an adapter that uses corrective optics to allow infinity focus. However, such adapters are readily available.

History of Minolta

Minolta exited the camera business in 2006 and sold its remaining photographic assets to Sony. The 50 years before that ignominious date tell a very different story: one of a Japanese optics and innovation powerhouse that has interesting links to Germany – not Nazi Germany, but both pre WWII Germany as well as postwar West Germany. Read more in the Minolta company profile.

Footnotes

1. Focal length is (unless stated otherwise) given in absolute terms, and not in Full-frame equivalent. For an understanding of whether the lens is wide/tele, see ‘Angle-of-view’. ↩︎
2. Picture angle is given in degrees (based on manufacturers’ specs) and concerns the diagonal picture angle. Rule of thumb:
   > 90 ° ==> Ultra-wide-angle
   70–90 ° ==> Wide-angle
   50–70 ° ==> Moderate wide-angle
   40–50 ° ==> ‘Standard’ or ‘normal’ lens
   20–40 ° ==> Short tele lens
   10-20 ° ==> Tele lens
   5-10 ° ==> Long tele lens
   < 5 ° ==> Ultra-tele lens ↩︎
3. Length is given from the mount flange to the front of lens at infinity. ↩︎
4. Diameter excludes protrusions such as rabbit ears or stop-down levers. ↩︎
5. S=straight; R=rounded; C=(almost)circular at all apertures. ↩︎
6. Numbers equal aperture values on aperture ring; • intermediate click; – no intermediate click. ↩︎