9 mounts

Lens mounts

A film-era lens is defined first by its mount, the bayonet or thread that held it to a camera. The mount decides which adapter you need, which versions to watch for in listings and how the aperture behaves once the lens is on a mirrorless body.

M42 screw mount21 lensesFrom 1949 · 45.46 mm flangeM42 is a 42mm screw thread with a 1mm pitch. Carl Zeiss developed it at Jena in 1938, and it first appeared in 1949 on the Contax S and the Praktica, which is why some call it the Praktica thread. Pentax, Zeiss Jena, Zenit and many other makers used it, so it carries Takumars, Helios lenses and Pancolars alike. Pentax left it for the K bayonet in 1975, and Praktica moved to its B bayonet in 1979.
Canon FD11 lenses1971–1990 · 42 mm flangeCanon launched FD in March 1971 with the F-1, replacing the FL mount, and used it on every manual-focus Canon SLR until EOS arrived in 1987. The last FD body, the T60, came in 1990. Original FD lenses lock on with a silver breech-lock ring that turns while the lens stays still. New FD lenses twist on as a whole, like any bayonet, and fit the same bodies. The 42mm flange is short for an SLR, which is why FD lenses can't focus to infinity on Canon's EF cameras without corrective glass.
Nikon F (AI / AI-S)10 lensesFrom 1959 · 46.5 mm flangeNikon's F mount arrived on the Nikon F in 1959, a three-lug bayonet with a 44mm throat, and Nikon kept it on its SLRs into the digital era. The lenses in our catalog are manual-focus AI and AI-S Nikkors. AI, from 1977, added a ridge on the aperture ring that tells the body the f-stop. AI-S, from 1981, standardized the aperture's travel for shutter-priority and program cameras. Earlier pre-AI lenses mount the same way but couple to the meter with a prong.
Contax/Yashica (C/Y)7 lenses1975–2005 · 45.5 mm flangeThe C/Y bayonet came out of Yashica's 1973 project with Carl Zeiss and arrived with the Contax RTS in 1975. Every 35mm Contax and Yashica SLR shares it, so Zeiss lenses and Yashica's own lenses fit any of them. Kyocera bought Yashica in 1983 and kept both names going until it stopped making cameras in 2005. Kyocera's later Contax N autofocus mount is a different mount and doesn't take C/Y lenses.
Olympus OM7 lenses1972–2002 · 46 mm flangeOlympus launched the OM bayonet in 1972 with the M-1, renamed OM-1 after Leica objected to the name. OM stands for Olympus Maitani, after designer Yoshihisa Maitani, and the system was built to be smaller, lighter and quieter than the SLRs of its day. Zuiko lenses for it ran from 8mm to 1000mm, and the mount lasted until 2002. At 46mm its flange is one of the longer ones in our catalog, so OM lenses adapt to a lot of cameras.
Minolta SR (MC / MD)6 lenses1958–2001 · 43.5 mm flangeMinolta's SR bayonet arrived with the SR-2 in 1958 and stayed on every manual-focus Minolta SLR. SR-era Auto Rokkors already had an automatic diaphragm. MC lenses from 1966 added meter coupling for full-aperture metering, and MD lenses from 1977 added a lever that tells the body the smallest aperture. MD lenses from 1981 also lock at the minimum aperture. The autofocus A-mount replaced SR on new cameras in 1985, and MD lenses were made until 2001.
Konica AR4 lenses1965–1988 · 40.5 mm flangeKonica introduced the AR bayonet in 1965 with the Auto-Reflex and used it on every Konica SLR until it stopped making them in late 1988. Konica sold Hexanon lenses for it, plus a cheaper Hexar line. At 40.5mm its flange is the shortest of any mount in our catalog, which kept AR lenses off most other SLR bodies. On mirrorless it makes no difference, since every mount here has plenty of room for an adapter.
Leica R4 lenses1964–2009 · 47 mm flangeLeitz introduced the R bayonet in 1964 on the Leicaflex, its first SLR, and kept it through the R3 to R9 until Leica announced the end of the R system in March 2009. The bayonet barely changed, though R-only lenses from 1988 have a slightly different shape that won't fit the old Leicaflex bodies. At 47mm the R flange is the longest in our catalog, so R adapters are the thickest.
Praktica B1 lensFrom 1979 · 44.4 mm flangePentacon of Dresden showed the Praktica B 200 at the Leipzig fair in 1978 and built it from 1979, and the B series brought a bayonet that replaced Praktica's M42 thread. Lenses for it are called Prakticar, made by Carl Zeiss Jena, Pentacon and, briefly after 1990, Meyer-Optik. Pentacon sold an adapter so M42 lenses could go on B bodies. B-series production ended in 1990, though a few related models were built into 2001.

Lens mounts

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Lens mounts

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