Old Minolta mount lenses worth anything?

[Flightrisk]

Do I just have fancy bricks to make sculptures out of, or is there any possible use for my old Minolta/Vivitar, competely manual SR mount lenses? I have a Nikon D5200. I don't know if even with a converter I can use these on my camera. And with Minolta out of business, I wonder if anyone would want them if I try to sell them on eBay. Thoughts?

 

[Robin Usagani]

Mounted mine on my 5d3. A lot of work though. I paid someone to do it.

 

[Flightrisk]

What kind of "work" was involved? Don't you just buy a bayonet (SR mount) to F mount (or canon mount in your case)? I've heard that there can be focal length issues since the adapter now moved the lens further from the sensor than it was designed to be from the film plane. I know if it works I will lose auto-focus, no biggie because I often use manual focus and have older nikon lenses I use. But the nikon still has a cpu in it. So will I lose anything else? Like metering? Also with a flash, I would think the camera would have no idea how far from the lens I am focusing, so the flash won't be able to match the distance? And how does the camera control the aperture? I guess that is the other function of the adapter ring?

 

[Robin Usagani]

It will involve replacing the mount and shaving the metal near the rear element so the mirror can clear it. You can still meter, it will still give you focus confirmation. You change the aperture on the lens but it sticks to whatever aperture you are on while you look trough viewfinder.

 

[Derrel]

Unless you have RARE and uncommon Minolta lenses, like Robin's 58mm f/1.2, the majority of interest in Minolta SR lenses died off years and years ago. ANd as to Vivitar lenses made for Minolta? Again, unless it is **exotic**, the value is very,very low. A 50mm f/1.7 Rokkor goes for about $24.95--and that is WITH a nice Minolta SRT-series body holding up the back end of the lens...

Here is an adapter that WILL work, and I believe if you add it to your shopping cart, they shave the price from $39.99 to $31.96

Minolta MD Lens to Nikon Camera - Fotodiox Lens Mount Adapter