What digital camera can I use my Minolta MC and NMD lenses on natively without an adapter?

[GaryFlorida]

I have a nikon d40 that i use my nikkor manual lenses on and its fine. I would like to be able to use my minolta lenses also but i read the adapters dont work well. Whats a good way i can use my manual minolta lenses on a digital camera with no adapters or adapter with no issues?

 

[xkaes]

As far as I know, no one made a digital camera that could accept Rokkor lenses without an adapter. But despite what you have heard, adapters are not your enemy. I use my Rokkor lenses on Sony digital cameras all the time -- with adapters, of course -- and I've lived to tell about it.

There may or may not be an adapter for your d40, and I have no idea what limitations there will be. You obviously lose auto-focusing, and you'll have to use stop-down metering, but A & M exposure modes will work -- perhaps others. If your camera is APS, the lens focal length will effectively increase.

 

[Dan Fromm]

MD register is 43.5 mm. Nikon F register is 46.5 mm. No go no way.

 

[GaryFlorida]

MD register is 43.5 mm. Nikon F register is 46.5 mm. No go no way.

what is register?

 

[Dan Fromm]

what is register?

The distance from the front of the lens mount on the camera body to the sensitive surface (film or chip).

 

[MattKing]

As Dan posted, the problem is the register or registration distance.
In order to provide the option of using the lens for distant subjects will require you to employ an adapter that would feature one or more lens elements included in the light path - sort of like a teleconverter, but different.
The expense involved, and the quality that results varies among such adapter solutions.

 

[GaryFlorida]

So it only affects infinity focus?

 

[MattKing]

So it only affects infinity focus?

Depending on the registration distance discrepancy, it could affect things that are quite a bit closer.
And if one can't use a lens and camera combination for something, as an example, that is just ten feet away, it is unlikely that anyone ever made an adapter for that combination.

 

[xkaes]

So it only affects infinity focus?

It depends on the lens. For example, an adapter without any corrective glass that adds 5mm of space between the lens and the camera acts just like an extension tube. On a 28mm lens set at infinity, you will only get a couple of feet away from the camera in focus. However, on a 500mm lens you can probably focus about 200 feet away -- and some long focal length lenses focus passed infinity, so it might not be a problem.

I use my LONG Rokkor-mount lenses on my Sony digital cameras without an adapter when I only need to focus 100 feet away or so -- but a lot of long lenses come in a T-mount which fits directly on my Sony cameras.

I also use Rokkor-mount lenses for close-up & macro/micro work without any problem.

I also use Rokkor-mount lenses on my Sony cameras with a converter. It increases the focal length of the lens by a factor of 1.2X -- and I try to stop-down the lens to get the best quality (which should be done with any type of lens converter).

 

[Chan Tran]

No digital camera has the SR mount (Minolta MC and MD are SR mount) but with an adapter you can use them on most mirrorless camera without the extra glass element in the adapter. It's possible to use it on the Nikon DSLR but the adapter must have some element in it and can degrade the image quality.

 

[qqphot]

As far as I know, no one made a digital camera that could accept Rokkor lenses without an adapter. But despite what you have heard, adapters are not your enemy. I use my Rokkor lenses on Sony digital cameras all the time -- with adapters, of course -- and I've lived to tell about it.

There may or may not be an adapter for your d40, and I have no idea what limitations there will be. You obviously lose auto-focusing, and you'll have to use stop-down metering, but A & M exposure modes will work -- perhaps others. If your camera is APS, the lens focal length will effectively increase.

I think he wants to use them on his Nikon D40, which is a DSLR and has a deeper mount than the minolta, so he wouldn't get infinity focus without additional optics. If he were using mirrorless, it would be a non-issue, they're all shallower than the minolta SR mount afaik, so a $9 adapter with no optics would be fine and allow infinity.

 

[GaryFlorida]

Ideally i would like a digital camera that i could use them on with no restrictions or work arounds but if no digital cameras have SR mounts natively then I guess thats moot. I was hoping Konica, or Minolta made digital cameras with SR mount.

 

[GaryFlorida]

As Dan posted, the problem is the register or registration distance.
In order to provide the option of using the lens for distant subjects will require you to employ an adapter that would feature one or more lens elements included in the light path - sort of like a teleconverter, but different.
The expense involved, and the quality that results varies among such adapter solutions.

Is this why sometimes when removing lenses from old cameras you find thin shims between the lens and the body?

 

[MattKing]

Is this why sometimes when removing lenses from old cameras you find thin shims between the lens and the body?

The shims are generally found with fixed lens rangefinder cameras - to get the lens into exactly the right location.
With interchangeable lens cameras, that is the job of the lens mount.
Although I believe there are circumstances where adaptation is required with lenses designed mainly for one line of old cameras are sought to be used with another line of camera. Russian/Soviet lenses on Contax or Leica rangefinders come to mind.

 

[xkaes]

I think he wants to use them on his Nikon D40, which is a DSLR and has a deeper mount than the minolta, so he wouldn't get infinity focus without additional optics.

Sony & Minolta have the same flange distance, but with a glass-less adapter I can focus to infinity with some of my long lenses despite the additional extension added by the adapter. It depends on the camera, the lens and the adapter. And as I mentioned lots of long lenses focus PASSED infinity.

 

[xkaes]

Ideally i would like a digital camera that i could use them on with no restrictions or work arounds but if no digital cameras have SR mounts natively then I guess thats moot. I was hoping Konica, or Minolta made digital cameras with SR mount.

You can't always get what you want. I (and lots of others) accept the limitations -- but they vary depending on the camera, the lens, the adapter, and your flexibility.

 

[Chan Tran]

Ideally i would like a digital camera that i could use them on with no restrictions or work arounds but if no digital cameras have SR mounts natively then I guess thats moot. I was hoping Konica, or Minolta made digital cameras with SR mount.

Konica Minolta made DSLR but in their A mount not SR mount. They stopped making SR mount cameras sometimes in the mid 80's or so. Minolta changed the mount when they made their AF 35mm SLR.

 

[GaryFlorida]

Konica Minolta made DSLR but in their A mount not SR mount. They stopped making SR mount cameras sometimes in the mid 80's or so. Minolta changed the mount when they made their AF 35mm SLR.

I see. Thanks

 

[xkaes]

Konica Minolta made DSLR but in their A mount not SR mount. They stopped making SR mount cameras sometimes in the mid 80's or so.

Make that date closer to 2000 with the late Minolta X-370 variants -- made in China by Seagull. And after Minolta stopped production, Seagull continued to produce dozens of cameras with Minolta SR mounts -- for many years -- some with the same designation: Seagull X-9, Seagull DF-370, etc.

www.subclub.org/minchin/

 

[Chan Tran]

Make that date closer to 2000 with the late Minolta X-370 variants -- made in China by Seagull. And after Minolta stopped production, Seagull continued to produce dozens of cameras with Minolta SR mounts -- for many years -- some with the same designation: Seagull X-9, Seagull DF-370, etc.

www.subclub.org/minchin/

Yes but not by or for Konica Minolta. They are Seagull in SR mount.

 

[Paul Howell]

Both Canon and Minolta had a complete redesigns of lens when they introduced their AF systems. Many long time users of both FD and MC systems were very upset. Canon did made an adaptor for a few of their long MF lens, as far I know Minolta did not. Best bet is an adaptor for Sony E or another mirrorless body.

 

[qqphot]

No digital camera has a native SR mount. Almost any mirrorless digital camera with a $9 adapter (which is literally just a metal tube) will work perfectly with all SR mount lenses.

Sony did extend support for A-mount (minolta SLR and DSLRs) by making a series of adapters for their mirrorless alpha series which work very well, and might as well be native support.

 

[GaryFlorida]

No digital camera has a native SR mount. Almost any mirrorless digital camera with a $9 adapter (which is literally just a metal tube) will work perfectly with all SR mount lenses.

Sony did extend support for A-mount (minolta SLR and DSLRs) by making a series of adapters for their mirrorless alpha series which work very well, and might as well be native support.

how did they overcome the register problem?

 

[qqphot]

how did they overcome the register problem?

There isn't one - the mirrorless Sony FE mount is only 18mm deep, so the adapter needs to add something like 25.5mm to reach the SR mount's depth. The register problem is only with DSLRs which have to be deeper to accommodate the mirror.

 

[GaryFlorida]

There isn't one - the mirrorless Sony FE mount is only 18mm deep, so the adapter needs to add something like 25.5mm to reach the SR mount's depth. The register problem is only with DSLRs which have to be deeper to accommodate the mirror.

Oh I see, so it can be closer than the registration point but not further away? Interesting.