Lens adapter for a Sony / Minolta body

[andyred]

Hi, possibly a more obscure question than normally gets asked, but my father-in-law has a 300mm prime lens (I think it's a Leica) and he would like to use it on his Minolta body. He is aware it will be manual focus only and at present it has a pentax adapter on when he used it on his older Pentax body.

Does anyone know if

1) there is an adapter from Leica to Minolta or
2) there is an adapter from Pantax to Minolta

I appreciate, option 2 would mean using 2 adapters which would be far from ideal, but the questions out there, does any kind person have the answer :shrug:


Thanks :clap:

[Mike.P]

Is the Pentax Adapter K mount or m42 screw mount?

Actually, is the lens a M42 screw mount?

[andyred]

Is the Pentax Adapter K mount or m42 screw mount?

Pass :shrug:

I'll give him a bell in the morning and let you know - I'll find out re the lens as well

Thanks

[Mike.P]

Well if the lens itself it m42 then something like this (http://shop.ebay.co.uk/items/_W0QQ_dmptZUKQ5fPhotographyQ5fCameraLensesQ5fLensQ 5fcapsQ5fhoodsQ5fadaptorsQ5fET?_nkw=+m42+sony&_sacat=0&_trksid=p3286.m270.l1313&_odkw=leica+m42&_osacat=0) would probably work. I don't know of an adapter that would allow a Leica mount lens to work on Pentax K mount so I would think it is probably an old M42 Leica lens.

[andrew748]

you need to find out exactly what lens it is

there are 3 potential leica mounts

for example Leica R (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/macro-Leica-R-to-Sony-a200-a300-a350-a700-a900-adapter_W0QQitemZ350133567173QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLe ns_Accessories?hash=item5185963ec5&_trksid=p3286.m63.l1177&_trkparms=240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50)

[andyred]

Hi

The Pentax adapter is a screw thread, as is the Leica lens mount. Does this help (or not) :shrug:

Cheers :thumbs:

[Mike.P]

Hi

The Pentax adapter is a screw thread, as is the Leica lens mount. Does this help (or not) :shrug:

Cheers :thumbs:

Yes, you need the adapter I linked to in post 4.
One of those will allow a m42 screw mount to be used on a Minolta body, you won't need the Pentax one at all. (all donations gratefully received :lol:).

[andyred]

One of those will allow a m42 screw mount to be used on a Minolta body, you won't need the Pentax one at all.

Thanks Mike

When you say the Pentax adapter won't be needed, is that because the Leica lens is M42 ?

[Mike.P]

Thanks Mike

When you say the Pentax adapter won't be needed, is that because the Leica lens is M42 ?

Yes, all you need is a M42 to Minolta/Sony adapter.
The Pentax would only be needed if he wants to carry on using it on the Pentax body.

[who?]

careful.
Leica made cameras with an M39 mount, so the lens could easily be M39. But at least an M39-> M42 adapter is readily available.

The other thing to watch would be to be careful that the lens will focus at infinity with the adpaters in place. You would need to know the register distance for the different cameras to be sure. I dont have leicas or sony so have no idea on that aspect.

edit: reading on - I guess that the pentax adapter he is using is actually an m39->m42 ?

[Mike.P]

edit: reading on - I guess that the pentax adapter he is using is actually an m39->m42 ?

Not necessarily, it could be a M42 to K mount adapter which is very popular amongst Pentax users (I actually use one myself for a couple of M42 Vivitar macro lenses I have).

I think you need to know the exact mount of the lens before going further tbh.

[chrism_scotland]

Can someone explain to me what these M42 lenses are?

[heidfirst]

M42 is the old Pentax screw mount - it was almost a universal mount as so many companies used it. Expect manual AF & metering but many of them are excellent glass & cheap.
There is a whole section at Dyxum on using them http://www.dyxum.com/dforum/m42_forum18.html

there is a Leica to Minolta AF adapter http://www.leitax.com/Leica-lens-for-Sony-cameras.html or SRB Griturn could probably make 1 as well.

[andyred]

Not necessarily, it could be a M42 to K mount adapter which is very popular amongst Pentax users (I actually use one myself for a couple of M42 Vivitar macro lenses I have).

I think you need to know the exact mount of the lens before going further tbh.

I think this is the lens adapter being used - I'm going to call round later on to have a look, see if any adapter markings etc are present.

Thanks for all your advice, will keep you up to speed :thumbs:

Cheers

Andy

[andyred]

Yes, you need the adapter I linked to in post 4.


Thanks Mike, will look at them when I've the lens in front of me :thumbs:


SRB Griturn could probably make 1 as well.

Will give them a ring tomorrow as well, when I know exactly what the lens is / mount is etc :thumbs:

[who?]

You said that both the lens and the adapter had screw threads?

Leica have used several mounts - some bayonet and the M39 screw.

Pentax have used bayonet and M42 screw.

The number 42/39 is the diameter of the screw thread in mm. So if you measure across the lens and adapter in mm that will differentiate the m39 and m42 threads.

To be totally acurate you also need the thread pitch because there are a couple of very similar threads T1/T2 etc (I'm not sure how all the various T's vary). I think M42 has a pitch of 1thread/mm and t2 is .75 thread/mm but that could be rubbish.

google and wikipedia will have answers of varying degrees of reliability.

[puddleduck]

You probably need one of these (M42 Sony / KM adaptor)



http://www.odysseus-software.co.uk/LensTests/DSC_1614-m42.jpg


About £20 - works with M42 with AF confirm.

[andyred]

Spoken to SRB - what a very helpfull and genuine guy - and they had an adapter from the Leica screw thread to a Minolta AF body, hopefully will be with us tomorrow, :thumbs:

Thanks to everyone for their help and advice - if it works (!) will try to post a picture up :thumbs:

[andyred]

Just to update all those who offered help and advice, the adapter arrived from SRB and after some manipulation in the camera settings, everything works. Had a 1/2 hour lesson from my father-in-law on how to use a manual lens - can now understand why he knows so much about exposure etc.

Thanks again to everyone :thumbs: