Minolta lenses?

[Victor Nguyen]

my uncle have a bunch of minolta lenses and he was wondering which is the best Minolta to eos adapter ?

[Joel Peregrine]

Hi Victor,

Unfortunately the Minolta SLR system had a narrower distance between the rear element and the focal plane than Canon EOS does. The lenses aren't usable without an adapter that has optics to make them work. This makes the focal length longer, makes them slower lenses and also reduces the quality of the image, especially when wide-open. To use a Minolta lens on an EOS camera a conversion is necessary that removes the old lens mount and puts on one that is thinner. This allows the lens to go further into the camera body and achieve infinite focus. But this creates another problem - the rear element can come very close to or even hit the mirror. This is only an issue on full-frame cameras though. This is a good reference which show most lens' register:

http://www.graphics.cornell.edu/~wes...-register.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flange_focal_distance

Camera systems with registers that are wider than the Canon/EOS system can be adapted without optics.

One of the most amazing lenses I've owned was a Minolta 58/1.2. Just sold it off to fund some other purchases:

Minolta MC Rokkor PG 58 58mm 1.2 f1.2 professionally converted to Canon EOS/EF* | eBay

[Victor Nguyen]

I think my uncle now wants a different camera brand because of this problem. I heard the sony nex 5n are good with minolta lenses is that correct?

[Steve Oakley]

minolta OM manual focus mount lenses do NOT require any glass. I have a pile of OM mount glass that works fine. bottom line is : get a couple CHEAP adapters on ebay. try them between lenses. use the one that works best. having had quite a few of them some are a little tighter than others, and swapping them around helps. I'm sure they all come from the same line and just have variations in manufacture.

[Kin Lau]

Originally Posted by Steve Oakley

minolta OM manual focus mount lenses do NOT require any glass. I have a pile of OM mount glass that works fine. bottom line is : get a couple CHEAP adapters on ebay. try them between lenses. use the one that works best. having had quite a few of them some are a little tighter than others, and swapping them around helps. I'm sure they all come from the same line and just have variations in manufacture.

Sorry bud, but you have them mixed up.

OM = Olympus Mount.

Definitely not the same as Minolta MC/MD mount nor the AF A-mount.

I have lenses for all three mounts, and you've definitely got them mixed up.

[Steve Oakley]

ya...you're right.... OM is olympus GRRRRRR. must not post too late again :>

[Bruce Foreman]

Vintage Minolta lenses work fine on the Micro Four Thirds format bodies, Olympus Pen, OMD E-M5, and just about all of the Panasonic MFT cameras, GH1, GH2, G series, GF series, etc.

He should watch the "for sale" forums on this site and several others for a used GH2 body in good shape. With the GH3 rumored to be announced soon I look for folks to be selling off GH2's.

[Victor Nguyen]

I thought the gh3 is not gonna be announce until september? man am I excited to see what panasonic is gonna bring and I'm hoping to snatch a cheap gh2.