Of course I just read back and saw that you have a MC Rokkor-PG 1.4. How far did you get into the lens? If you just took off the aperture ring, I think your problem has to do witht the position on the silver insert that attaches to the ring and pushes the pin that moves the aperture. See picture. Is yours in the same position?

"Actually I can open it to f1.4, but it won't hold that open by its own. If I release the aperture ring, it jumps to aprox 2.8" i added cellophane tape to increase the friction, and it holds to wherever I set it. I don't get how it is all close when you reach f8?

My point was not that the 45mm was better than the 50--although, to my eye it is--but that the 50 and 55 Vivitar are the only ones I ever use much. I think if you like the look of the old lenses, film a short sequence, one with the Olly 45, one with the Rokkor 50 and post it. Then we can really see what the differences are.

I did a short test with the Olly 45, the Rokkor 50 and the Vivitar 55 and asked people to pick the winner. Since the clips were unlabeled, I didn't get many voters, so the sample was too small to be meaningful, but the Vivitar got the most votes, then the Olly, then the Rokkor 50mm. I actually had no preference between the Vivitar and the Olly, but of course the Olly is sharp wide open. If you pixel peep, you can see some junk in the image of the old lenses.

I personally think it would be interesting to see more such comparisons, using different subjects, to see what these old lenses really bring to the table. More vid!

@fredfred27 @aljimenez
Please guys, I need your help! I think I f*cked my 50mm up.
I was able to declick my 135 2.8 successfully and it was pretty easy. Happy with the results, I opened my 50mm to do the same, but found a very different scenario.
After a couple of hours of fighting with it, I was able to assemble the lens again but the ring is extremely loose and I can't reach 1.4 or even 2 (it always closes to 2.8) and it also gets fully closed when the ring is about 8 or 11.
Is there any way to put the bearing back in?
Can you give me some direction on how to do that?
I won't mess with my lenses anymore :S
Thanks a lot!

Here is what my workspace looks like. The lens that is being worked on is a 1966 (MC 1st series) MC Rokkor-PF 58mm 1:14.

I've been having a conversation about de-clicking these Minoltas with a member of this forum. Here is a photo of a 58mm/F1.4 that I opened to clean the aperture blades and to de-click. This photo shows the aperture ring after just removing the screws from the back and lifting the back. Notice the ridges on the aperture ring toward SouthEast direction. The ball bearing that implements the clicks is right there.

i agree with nomad, i have minolta 50mm MD and the oly 45mm and i'm using the minolta more than the oly. i love the look of old glasses as i love the video look of the oly too :)

Well... following @nomad advice I finally sold some vintage glass and purchased a set of Rokkors for filmmaking: 24 2.8, 35 1.8, 50 1.4 (PG) and 85 2.8 (Varisoft). I was lucky enough to find all of them in mint condition. Actually the Varisoft is NEW :) I spent less than 900 bucks in total and I'm pretty happy with my purchase. I think I will add SLR 12mm 1.6 to cover wide land in the near future. I hope I can test them all this weekend.

I have 14-15 lenses from the Rokkors because I bought into the system in the 70s. My 50/1.4 MF is a very good lens, slightly sharper than the AF version I paid a premium price for in 1983 I think. So I have two 50mm :) These lenses were really very good in the 70s and 80s. Great glass, solid hand made lenses.

I bought the GH1 to use these and the Nikkor lenses, I figured, I have all these amazing lenses, just bolt them on the GH1. And then I bought the Panny 20mm, the Olly 45 and the Panny 14, and the Rokkors and Nokkors, they just can't compare. The Vivitar 55 comes pretty close (I have the Minolta mount version) but the Olly 45 is sharper, lighter, faster. It's ironic and tragic, to buy the system for lenses I don't use. Even the Olly 40-150 lightweight zoom is sharper. Maybe Sony will come out with a budget 4K cam that fits the AF lenses.

@Flaaandeeers In general, Minolta lenses need some CA and de-fringing corrections when wide opened. I also find they need small exposure adjustments, but need little color adjustments. They have a lot of character and I spent around $1,000 for my collection, so they are worth and fun to fiddle with. I do mostly family videos and photos so I am not super-picky about precisely matching them with Panny lenses. I am shortly going to retire and will spend more time learning film-making in a more serious manner.

@aljimenez Really nice collection! I'm looking into Minoltas myself. Can you easily match your Minoltas with your Summilux 25 1.4? Which of them would be the best for that? Thanks!

Thanks! In a strange coincidence, I just spent the whole day yesterday on Ebay buying Rokkor lenses. Have never used them and can't wait to give them a try. Wish you would have waited a few days though...now I will have competition for bidding! :-)