As mentioned in another thread, I've got a converter for using a Minolta MD lens on an Eos body that is supposed to focus to infinity, but doesn't because it's missing a corrective lens. All I know about the missing lens is that it's 25mm in diameter and (judging by the side of the flange it fitted into) no more than 3mm thick at the rim. I'm guessing it's a concave or concavo-convex lens of some sort. Unfortunately there's no maker's name or other info on the mount and I don't have the packaging - I got it second hand on ebay from a seller who didn't know much about it. If anyone has one of these adapters, it would be very helpful if you could check the packaging, instructions, etc. and see if there's contact details for the manufacturer. Or if you're equipped to test the focal length that would be wonderful! I suspect that it would probably be cheaper and less trouble to buy another, but I'm not in any hurry, I'd prefer to explore other options first. If possible I'd also like to get hold of an adapter for using more recent Minolta and Sony-Minolta (Dynax) lenses on the Eos. I can't seem to find anyone selling them, but maybe there's someone somewhere that does. It would need to have some way of setting aperture, since most of these lenses lack manual controls, but I've seen this done with other mounts so I'm sure it's possible. I should mention that I'm in the UK, so will need to order from sellers who ship here. Thanks!
And of course as soon as I asked this I found a couple of Dynax to Eos adapters on ebay UK! Horribly expensive, and I think I'm going to have to look at alternatives. Older Sony digital cameras with that mount are sometimes on offer for only a little more than the cost of the Eos adapter, so maybe I should be looking in that direction!
Any converter with a lens in it, will diminish the quality in my view, perhaps it will be better (if possible) to connect to a mirrorless camera? Good luck on your search. Meanwhile, untill how far will it focus now? If a few meters, you can still kinda use it to view whether the lens is working/fully functional.
I agree about the image degrading, but this is mostly just to test that there is nothing grossly wrong with the optics before I sell the lens on eBay, and give me some pictures I can add to the listing. For some reason I see a LOT of Minolta Dynax and Dynax-compatible lenses, much more than any other system apart from M42. I typically have at least one listed and one or two ready to list as soon as the first one sells, but they don't make a huge amount of profit. For most other lenses I can include some test photos, but the design of Minolta Dynax lenses makes that unusually difficult - the lens stops down to f22 off the camera and usually has no manual override, and the flange distance is too small to make it possible to use the lens at infinity without a corrective lens. I think that the distance without any converter, just holding the lens onto the camera mount, is about 6ft. But holding that steady for a picture at F22 with no flash isn't easy! A mirrorless camera is a good idea, but the sensor is so much smaller it doesn't give much indication of the lens's coverage on an APS-C body, which is what most people buy them for.
thats because back in the early 90s one could get a Dynax/Maxxum system cheaper than other auto focus systems. then Sony took over Minolta in the digital age and ended up going a different direction (mirrorless) making it an almost defunct system
Well, I've found someone in China selling a Dynax to Eos infinity focus adapter for £24.49 - no chip at that price, of course - and someone else has a chipped adapter for £30-ish. I'm not in any desperate hurry for this, so I'll probably look some more first, my profit on these lenses is so teeny I don't want to spend more than I have to.
Thanks - I'm really only looking at doing a quick test before I sell lenses on, I leave modifying to the person who buys them. But I'll include a link to that video in future eBay listings, it's very useful. I don't actually see MD lenses much anyway, I've only had two or three in the last year - it's the autofocus A-mount Maxxum / Dynax lenses I get a lot, six or seven in the last month or so. The converter I have for MD is probably good enough for test shots, even without a lens, I'll just have to settle for not getting focus to infinity. I've just ordered an A-mount converter for the Dynax lenses, so hopefully this is now sorted out.
Having gone through all this, I just got Minolta AF and MD/MC adapters for a Sony Nex at about £10 each - since the NEX has a much shallower body no corrective lens is needed. Also got a Canon FD adapter at around the same price. I'm not a huge fan of the NEX's focusing, I really prefer an SLR, but for my purposes (basic lens tests) it's probably the best option.
this is a toughie indeed, i mentioned in another thread there about fd-eos adapters, that there are a few japanese made ones online i've been well pleased using one of them. But, i've never been successful in finding a japan made md-eos. So, did a gamble sometime last year on a decent md teleconvertor..haha....not well versed with optic design & focal planes, etc... Don't quite remember exact thoughts & results now but i had it on the camera for less than an hour & gave up. I was using it with the MD 35-70 3.5, too much to handle & i didn't find it practical at all. Maybe with a simple prime it will be easier to handle . I doubt one would get the entire focal range with a teleconv though & yes the image degrade would be a good bit, in my case it just gave me a platform to test with some *again* japanese made piece glass between the target lens & sensor would like to hear thoughts on this, maybe one of the pieces of glass on the variable TC can be removed to achieve the desired calculation?
Sorry, it's been so long that I forgot about this thread. I just couldn't get on with the NEX at all and eventually sold it, but I have started to see more MD stuff and a few weeks ago I picked up an MD 50mm 1:1.4, so I decided to splurge on an MD to EOS converter with infinity capability, Chinese but seems to work well enough for my purposes; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Optical-...ns-to-Canon-EOS-EF-Mount-Adapter/142750826056 The results are acceptable for an eBay listing, though I wouldn't want to do serious photography with it, and my profit on the lens was twice what the converter cost so I'm reasonably happy. Re zooms and teleconverters - rarely a good combination unless the converter is specifically designed for the lens, you get a lot more distortion than with a prime lens.
