The Minolta Lens mount system by Ken Cork
Hello again, myself and Richard have recently completed a number of reviews of Minolta SLR’s and I thought a note on what is the Minolta Lens mount and what is the MC and MD all about.
Minolta’s first home grown post war camera was the SR2 and with this came the SR mount, and this is the mount used by all Minolta manual camera lenses right up to 1982 when Minolta introduced the A7000 autofocus camera body. So why do we refer to the Minolta MD mount or MC mount and not the correct name of SR mount probably due to lens front being marked MC Rokkor or MD Rokkor and not Minolta SR Rokkor.
1958/69
These are the pre MC manual lenses came as three types the lens type on two are marked simply Rokkor on the lens front and final one is marked Auto Rokkor none of these lenses have the coupling tab on the aperture ring. Although these lenses will fit the later bodies they are only of interest to the collector.
1966/ 19721st Generation MC Lenses.
1st Generation Minolta SR mount MC series 1 lenses. These are the original meter coupled lenses introduced with the SRT series bodies in 1966 (see the review of the SRT 101) you can recognise the lenses by the front marking MC Rokkor, the milled focus ring and plain unpainted metal aperture ring introduced in 1966 and by 1970 they had fully replaced all the pre MC lenses. As these are early lenses the coatings are not as good in quality as those that came later. In some cases lenses used thorium in the glass this is a radioactive so with age as it decays it is noticeable by the yellow cast on the lenses element giving very warm effect on your pictures. If you’re on budget these lenses especially those produced later with the improved coatings are very good value for money.
1972/75 2nd Generation MC and 1975/77 3rd Generation MC
Though two different series MC lenses types they are very much the same with the exception of some cosmetic elements. The big change was the introduction of rubber waffle focus ring replacing the milled metal ring along with other cosmetic changes the white metal aperture ring was replaced with a black one with f stops marked in white. Minolta like to give different makings to different sales markets ( it’s the same with camera bodies) with the lenses they are marked ROKKOR X in the North American market and just ROKKOR in the rest it should be noted there is no difference in quality or performance between those marked ROKKOR X and ROKKOR.With lenses markings the MC series two lenses include a 2 letter code after MC ROKKOR .
The first of these letters referred to the number of lens groups within the lens body T=3 Q=4 P=5 H=6 S=7 O=8 N=9
The second letter is the number of elements used in the lens body C=3 D=4 E=5 F=6 G=7 H=8 I=9 J=10 K=11 L=12
I.E.58mm f1.2 MC Rokkor- PG= 7elements in 5 groups.
The differences between the two are largely cosmetic and the change in the markings on the lens front. These lens exhibits excellent build quality and durability that can put many modern lenses to shame.
Early MD Rokkor 1977-1979 (1st Generation )
When Minolta introduced the new XD range of camera bodies, a new lens range would be needed this was the MD series to enable the “final check” metering and shutter priority mode. The lenses used same mount as the MC series . The lenses looked much the same as the MC series III lenses same waffle focus grip the, the main difference is the addition of the minimum aperture tab on the base of the lens. This was need by the XD series cameras for the Shutter Priority to work. This first generation of MD Series I are very popular even today due to the combination of excellent lens coatings and very good build quality also most of this range use a 55mm filter thread so if you a photographer who like using filters you only need one size to cover most lenses.
Late MD Rokkor 1979 – 1982 (2nd Generation)
By the time production of what became known as MD series I Minolta was already looking at making changes to their lens line. The redesign involved making the lens lighter and more compact at the same time the filter thread was reduced to 49mm to help this along. Also over time the lenses were all produced with black plastic Aperture ring
“Plain” MD Series III 1981/1982 (3rd Generation)
First off the term “plain” refers to Minolta no longer marking the front of the lenses as “ROKKOR”
This series of lenses came about as a result of the introduction of Minolta’s most popular camera the X700 MPS.The main change was the aperture locking tab on the side of the lens. This ensured that the camera would know the lenses minimum aperture when in “Program mode” no taken very seriously by the “pros” but loved by the photography newbie making the camera European camera of the year, the lenses were lightened I weight introduced more plastic in the build with some cosmetic changes.
Minolta also released a range of budget lenses
MD Series IIIa:budget version of Series III does not have the MD locking tab on lens. 1985 – 1996 manufactured by a third party for Minolta.
MC CELTIC: 1972 – 1975 and MD CELTIC 1977 – 1980
Budget series for the North American Market only of cheaper build quality and simpler lens coatings,
The above is just very basic run down of the Minolta Lens mount; most of this information came from two wonderful sources and some from my own experience using Minolta Cameras and lenses.
If you also shoot digital especially mirror less and you are on a budget consider getting mount adapters and trying Minolta Lens they are very affordable
To see more by Ken follow the link www.flickr.com/photos/ken_cork/
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