The Konica Minolta Maxxum 100-300mm f/4.5-5.6 APO D is an easy-to-carry, easy-to-handle lens that is great for anyone looking to take photos on the go. With there being so many choices of lenses available, it is hard to choose a great one that provides a good value. Many lenses suffer from long-end drop of softness and saturation that defeats the purpose of a long-range lens. In this particular lens, APO means "apochromatic correction," and "apochromatic" means "for all colors." Simply speaking, light does not focus at the same point for all wavelengths. Apochromatic correction makes a lens better, and the extra care in design and use of more expensive materials makes a difference in the end: beautiful, sharp photographs. This is the lens that you have been looking to give you those beautiful, sharp pictures from 100mm to 300mm. The Konica Minolta Maxxum 100-300mm f/4.5-5.6 APO D provides excellent dual operation for auto and manual focusing, and switching between them is a breeze. The focus-hold button allows for stopping and releasing the shutter at the desired position. The button is able to provide different functions, such as continuous auto focus or central sensor selection, such as on different types of Sony cameras. In manual focusing, the wide ring is easy to control and rotates smoothly, both of which help to focus the camera where you want it. The size of the Konica Minolta Maxxum 100-300mm f/4.5-5.6 APO D lens is ideal. It’s not too short to sacrifice handling, and much smaller than other lenses in this zoom range that cover full frame-sized sensors. This lens fits many different camera bodies, including the Sony Alpha, and will match many other Sony cameras. As far as aesthetics go, this lens will match numerous cameras since it has an exterior finish that is a smooth black satin, typical of many camera bodies. Not only is the build quality extremely excellent on this Minolta lens, the weight is minimal and the size is compact. An outstanding part of this lens is the color and contrast. It’s easy to appreciate the exceptional clarity and color of this lens, and you’ll learn to use a telephoto lens with ease. This Minolta lens works exceedingly well set at f/8/9, but It works just as well at other f stops, too. The sharpness is quite excellent as well. However, at f/5.6 or wide open at f/4.5, the APO D 100-300mm lens is already quite good. Stop it down to f/8 and see the kind of magic that only the highest-priced lenses deliver. The contrast and color are on par with other quality lenses, but at a fraction of the price. Two low-dispersion AD glass elements help to limit chromatic aberrations and other color defects, so you’re sure to get a true-to-life photo each and every time. This Minolta lens also supports Dynax 7’s ADI flash metering by providing precise distance information from the lens to the flash.