The Fish-Eye Rokkor 16mm f/2.8 is a prime fisheye lens produced by Minolta for Minolta SR-mount single lens reflex cameras, introduced in 1969 to replace an earlier fisheye lens, the UW Rokkor 18mm f/9.5. It is a full-frame fisheye lens with a 180° viewing angle across the diagonal.
This lens was licensed by Leitz and released for Leica R mount cameras as the Leica Fisheye-Elmarit-R 16mm f/2.8; it also was released as an autofocus lens for Minolta A-mount system cameras.
Design and history Minolta updated the design several times during the course of production: 1969: MC Fish-Eye Rokkor-OK 16mm 1973: MC Fish-Eye Rokkor(-X) OK 16mm 1977: MD Fish-Eye Rokkor(-X) 16mm 1978: MD Fish-Eye Rokkor(-X) 16mm 1980: MD Fish-Eye Rokkor(-X) 16mm 1981: MD Fish-Eye 16mm
The original design, by Toshinobu Ogura, used 11 elements in 8 groups, as designated by the -OK suffix. Lenses sold in the United States starting in 1973 were given Rokkor-X branding. Most of the updates since the original release were cosmetic, aside from the 1980 update, which changed the design to 10 elements in 7 groups and reduced the size and weight, designed by Mitsuaki Horimoto.
The 11e/8g Ogura design was licensed by Leitz and assembled by Minolta for Leica R-mount cameras; the Fisheye-Elmarit-R was released in 1974 and continued in production until 2001. When the Minolta A-mount system was released in 1985, the 11e/8g Ogura design was revived as an autofocus lens, the Minolta AF Fish-Eye 16mm f/2.8 (1986). Production of this lens continued after the A-mount system was purchased by Sony.
Due to the extreme angle of view, the front of the lens does not have a mount for filters; four filters for black-and-white and color photography are built in and selected by a rotating dial near the front on the body of the lens. Filter selection varies by the lens design. The 1969 version includes normal/UV (1A), orange (O56), yellow (Y48), and cooling (80B) filters.
+Minolta 16mm fisheye lenses for SR-mount colspan=2 MC Fish-Eye Rokkor-OK 16mm MC Fish-Eye Rokkor(-X) OK 16mm MD Fish-Eye Rokkor(-X) 16mm MD Fish-Eye Rokkor(-X) 16mm MD Fish-Eye Rokkor(-X) 16mm MD Fish-Eye 16mm Year 1969 1973 1977 1978 1980 1981 Construction Diagram Elements 11 10 Groups 8 7 Aperture –16 –22 Min. focus Metering features Meter coupling (MC) tab Minimum diaphragm (MD) tab Aperture lock Dimensions Diam. Length Weight Filters 1A (Normal) R60 (Red) O56 (Orange) Y48 (Yellow) Y52 (Yellow) B12 (Blue) 80B (Cooling)
See also List of Minolta SR-mount lenses
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