Minolta lenses?

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Covanant

New member
My father in law tells me he has a few older slr lenses which are minolta.He doesn't use them anymore and wants me to have them.these are from the late 80's to early 90's lenses.
im not able to get the exact model numbers yet,but I'm sure these we're used on a sony slr camera.
so I have been looking into adapters to use these on my 3100.
the adapter exists,but most info I read tells me they won't work even in manual mode.anyone have any experience with this?
 
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jrleo33

Senior Member
If I remember correctly, these are the alpha mounts, and you can buy adapters with or without a glass refocusing lens, and even with the adapter, the user can only focus at infinity, if you are lucky. These lenses will work on the Sony A mount DSLRs.

One big problem with the older Minoltas, the grease breaks down on the focus mechanism, and allows oil to drip onto the aperture blades, and another is fungus inside the front glass elements.
 
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Just-Clayton

Senior Member
I had Vivitar lenses given to me. I got the adapters and tried them on my camera. Pictures were very soft. I ended up selling them on Ebay and made $50. I,m guessing the same will happen with your minolta lenses.
 
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Steve B

Senior Member
In most cases it is difficult to adapt a lens designed for a shorter flange distance to a camera with a greater flange distance while retaining infinity focus without adding additional optics. Minolta MD lenses have a flange distance of 43.72, Minolta AF and Sony lenses have a flange distance of 44.6, and Nikon F mount has a flange distance of 46.5. Going the other way, adapting Minolta MD lenses to something like micro four thirds with a flange distance of 19.25 works very well. (I do it with old Minolta MD lenses on my Olympus cameras)
 
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Mike D90

Senior Member
I used to have tons of Minolta lenses when I first started photography. I never liked a single lens I had when compared to even the cheaper Nikon glass I have had after I went to Nikon.
 
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Brian

Senior Member
You need to find out which series lens they are, Minolta had a number of variations in their AF series of lenses. Manual focus- completely different mount. Late 80s, puts it at first generation AF lenses which were made concurrently with MD series manual lenses.

Minolta lenses are very good, same caliber as Nikon, "Almost". The Minolta 50/1.4 Manual focus lens is center-sharp, edges "not so much".

Wide-open, converted to Leica mount, on the M8 which is 1.3x crop.

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Adapters with glass in them will yield poor results. Best used on a mirrorless camera. Or a Rangefinder.
 
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RubenAlonzo

Senior Member
If you are lucky, you might get a "Beercan", if memory serves, that would be a 70-210mm F4 prime lens. Those are awesome and have a huge following not to mention they are very desirable lenses.

They are called "Beercan" because they are about the size of a can of beer.
 
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RubenAlonzo

Senior Member
You can get a Minolta to Nikon adapter at Amazon (this will work on the D3100), if you copy/paste the following in their search engine:
[h=1]Fotodiox Lens Mount Adapter, Minolta MD/ MC Rokkor Lens to Nikon Camera[/h]
Best of luck, and if all else fails, just sell the glass if you wish.
 
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Geoffc

Senior Member
Don Kuykendall said:
stick with Nikon lenses or lenses made for use on a Nikon. Free will cost you quality at best and damage to your camera at worst.
Click to expand...

I'm with Don. Unless it was something fantastic it just won't be up to the standard of modern average lenses.

I have a Nikon 75-300 from 1992 and it's just not up to the same image quality as my modern glass. Don't get me wrong, until I knew what good looked like I thought it was great.
 
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Covanant

New member
Turns out the lenses fit an old x-570 slr.
one is a 28mm prime,another is an 80-210mm,a macro extension tube,and a few other odds n ends.Funny thing is he hasnt found the camera yet?
too bad,this stuff looks like its never been used.
 
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