Old Glass

[Mr_Mac]

I was looking through CL the other day and saw some old Minolta MD lenses for sale cheap. Has anyone used older none AF lenses with a good adapter with positive results or would this be a hit/miss kind of ordeal?

 

[Dinardy]

It would depend on the camera you intend to use them on... I don't believe Minolta will work with Nikon DSLRs but might with the Canon. I really liked the Rokkor primes, they're sweet. I have a couple of them.

 

[Mr_Mac]

Sorry, should have given that info. Right now I'm shooting a Sony SLT-a35.

 

[nzmacro]

Only own non AF lenses and always plan to use only MF. Depends on the lenses though for sure. It pays to check out google on the lenses you are interested in. Do they work, they sure do and some are just crazy sharp.

From the Sony NEX-7 with Canon FD manual focus lenses........

http://www.birdsinaction.com/

AF doesn't appeal, but do your homework first before buying older lenses.

All the best and good luck.

Danny.

 

[KmH]

Sony took over Konica Minolta's camera business in 2006.

The Minolta MD lenses use the Minolta SR mount with the MD aperture lever.

Minolta SR-mount - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
MD - In 1977, the XD series introduced an additional tab on the lens which reported the smallest available aperture (f/16, f/22, or f/32) to the camera to accomplish shutter priority automatic exposure in S mode on the Minolta XD-7 (XD-11 in the U.S.A.), and later in the P (programmed automatic exposure) mode on the X-700. The proper use of this feature meant that the lenses had to be set to their smallest aperture. In 1981, MD lenses included a minimum aperture lock that prevented the aperture ring from accidentally being moved.

There are also adapters for Minolta/Sony A-mount cameras, but they either do not maintain infinity focus or contain glass-elements, working as 1.2-2× tele-converter, changing the optical properties of the system and often deteriorating the image-quality.

 

[cgw119 144]

More satisfying would be using old Minolta MF lenses via adapter on a Sony NEX MILC body.

 

[timor]

I think Minolta SR mount lenses have shorter flange distance than current dslrs from Nikon and Canon so no infinity is obtainable. But NEX or other 4/3 cameras are perfect for them. As cgw said.
Minolta MC Rokkor-X PG 50mm F/1.4 Lens Review ? Sony Nex-6 | SonyAlphaLab.com

 

[vimwiz]

Yeah, I think minolta lenses have the same issues under EOS that the FD stuff does (short back distance requiring corrective optics for infinity focus)