Quantaray (by Sigma) 28mm F/2.8 Prime Lens

in Minolta MD mount, manual focus

Just Serviced

Excellent Glass, Mechanics and Appearance, Lens works 100%

Quantaray lenses are made by Sigma for Ritz camera chain stores. This wide angle prime lens is from 1980's and very well made with all metal construct. The optics are multi-coated.

The lens is in Minolta MD mount that fits Minolta manual focus cameras XE, XD, XG, X and SRT series. It can be adapted to various mirrorless 4/3, micro 4/3, NEX, FX cameras (Sony Olympus Panasonic Fujifilm etc). On such camera its equivalent focal length is close to a standard lens - no adapter is included here. You will have to buy your own.

These manual focus lenses are nearly 40 years old and generally need service to restore their performance. The main culprit is the grease in the lens. After decades of use (or disuse) it usually has separated and the lighter oil part has evaporated and condensed onto the internal glass surfaces to form a film of numerous tiny oil droplets (oil haze) - very detrimental to image quality as it softens the image quite a lot. The oil haze is much worse than a little swirls of cleaning mark on the coating or a few sporadic dust particles inside the lens.

Some of the lenses, if they have experienced hot/cold conditions for example in a storage unit, the lighter oil may have got onto the blades to cause a sluggish or completely stuck aperture. Even if not yet on blades, often the oil has crept close to the aperture cartridge and before long it will get onto the blades. The grease on the focus helicoids may have deteriorated (separated, lighter oil is gone, heavier part has gummed up) to cause a stiff focus ring or very loose focus action with some play. If the lens has been on beach or in dusty environment, the focus action may be gritty.

The lens has just been serviced. We cleaned it inside out. Internal glass surfaces have been cleaned. Oil in vicinity of the aperture cartridge as well as gummed up grease at various places has been cleaned off. New helicoid grease applied as needed. The lens will serve you many more years without you worrying about those issues mentioned above.

The lens glass is clear and bright. No scratch, fungus or haze. If you shine strong light through the lens you may see a few small dusts. That's normal for older lenses and has no effects on lens performance. Aperture blades has no oil and are snappy. The focus ring is smooth with proper resistance, and consistent across the entire range. The aperture ring clicks to stops positively. Filter threads are good - filters screw on/off without effort. Lens is working 100% - tested on camera.

Cosmetically the lens barrel is in excellent condition with just a little bright spots on the sharp edges of the barrel, mostly on the bottom side of the lens. Len barrel overall looks clean and nice with no visible scratches or scuffs. All lettering looks crisp. See photos for cosmetics.

Includes a pair of generic caps as show.

Photo shows actual item

Text and Pictures Copyright © WizCamera