3 that come to mind are the 35mm 1.4 and the 85mm 1.4 and the 28mm f2.0. Even though they're 15-20 years old their value seems to hold up on e-Bay. That says a lot about their performance.
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Noooo! The 35 1.4 and 84 1.4 definately yes, but the 28 2.0 was always noted for its sharpness, but its bokkeh let it down. The 35 2.0, which I own, is supposedly better in the bokkeh stakes, but still not up to the 1.4. A lot cheaper though
I have been hoping that someone would suggest which lenses they have used from Minolta that offer this quality described so well in the article "lush colour, smoother-than-smooth bokeh and an appealing rendition that eschews the dramatically contrasty nature of Canon and Nikon lenses in favour of a Leica-flavoured, high-res presentation that gently rolls off the tonal extremes for open shadows and well-tamed highlights."
Right, this is tricky because I don't know your budget. However you did say that the new, top end stuff was out of your league, so I'm going to start from the bottom. You're also after wide-moderate telephoto.
Incidently, all the info I'm going on is taken from here:
[a href=\"http://www.dyxum.com/lenses/index.asp]http://www.dyxum.com/lenses/index.asp[/url]
It lists just about every lens ever made for Minolta (400odd at last count...) and is home to some very knowledgable forum members.
17-35 f3.5 G - This is the top-dog for wide zooms for Minolta, at least until the expected CZ releases this summer. The most expensive lens I'm suggesting, but probably worth it. Pay £500/600 for it.
24-50 f4 - Very cheap, one of the original series of AF lenses from the 80s. Should provide you with 'that' look - designed for full-frame so no worries about sharpness. Pay under £100.
70-200 f4 - Plentiful and affordable, excellent image quality and beautiful bokkeh. Watch for CAs and AF speed. Build quality is fine. £80odd.
If you've got more to spend or want some more reccomendations then shout, but you've not really given me much to work with yet. I'm a big fan of Minolta's primes - in fact Sony gives autofocus stabilsed f1.4 lenses; that's why I chose them. You can also get stabilised manual focus f1.2s if that's your thing - it certainly is mine. So just to throw out a list of primes I'd reccomend on a fair budget:
100/2
35 1.4 original
85 1.4 original
100 2.8 original
50 1.7
24 2.8
135 2.8
Hope that helped