The A mount was introduced by Minolta in 1985; it was the world’s first integrated autofocus system with interchangeable lenses. Minolta engineers moved the motor needed for moving lens elements from the lens itself to the camera body, reducing size and weight of lenses. It is a bayonet mount with three tabs, a focal flange distance of 44.5mm, and a throat diameter of 49.7mm, for 35mm film. Autofocusing technology is partially based on the development done by Leica — Minolta’s partner of the era — for their never-released Correfot camera. The mount uses a combination of electronic and mechanical connections — beside five or eight electronic connections, it uses a mechanical arm to control the aperture, and a screw-drive for focusing. Later revisions introduced electronically controlled focusing, with lenses featuring Super Sonic Motors (SSM). It supports 35mm film and digital sensors — both APS-C with industry-standard 1.5\u00d7 crop factor, and 35mm “full-frame”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Minolta A mount system was branded as Maxxum in North America, \u03b1 (Alpha) in Japan and the rest of Asia. Later, the name Dynax was used in Europe and the rest of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2003, Konica and Minolta merged to form Konica-Minolta, and in 2006, the camera business was sold to Sony and was renamed to \u03b1 (Alpha). Sony continued the development of the system until early 2022, when it finally discontinued all A-mount lenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Except Minolta (1985\u2013\u200d2003), Konica-Minolta (2003\u2013\u200d2006) and Sony (2006\u2013\u200d2022), the A mount was also used by Agfa (1995), Carl Zeiss (2007\u2013\u200d2022) and Hasselblad (2012\u2013\u200d2015).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jump to: Minolta AF<\/a><\/strong>, Konica-Minolta DT<\/a><\/strong>, Sony<\/a><\/strong>, Carl Zeiss ZA<\/a><\/strong>, Sony & Carl Zeiss DT<\/a><\/strong> lenses; Adapters<\/a><\/strong>, Terminology<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Multiple generations, as well as multiple different naming schemes of Minolta AF lenses exists. First generation of A mount lenses are branded as Maxxum, with crossed double-x, and all later North American lenses use the same Maxxum branding, albeit spelled the standard way. RS lenses are optically identical, except their outer shells are Re-Styled — focus rings are no longer ribbed plastic, but use smoother rubber material, and the rest of bodies are deep grey, instead of shiny black. N lenses are different from their predecessors, without changing basic parameters. Some Minolta and all Konica Minolta branded lenses use yet another, finely ribbed style of focusing ring. Wording on the side of the lens also isn’t the same in the original, RS, N and later lenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Xi lenses have motorized zooming and focusing, and use the same ring both for focusing and zooming, making them incompatible with older cameras. Newer cameras don’t support their zoom motors, leaving them permanently in non-powered mode. Xi and D lenses use eight electronic contacts, while all older lenses use only five.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SSM lenses use an in-lens motor for focusing, making them incompatible with earlier cameras.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DT lenses are designed for APS-C sensors with crop factor of 1.5\u00d7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sony A mount lenses are mostly directly rebranded last generation Konica-Minolta lenses, with just a few exceptions. With SAM lenses, Sony introduced another set of lenses with in-lens focus motors — Smooth Autofocus Motor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The dagger symbol indicates lenses that were designed by Konica-Minolta, and recived updated styling and branding; optically they are identical as their original releases.<\/p>\n\n\n\nMinolta AF lenses<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Konica Minolta DT lenses<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Sony lenses<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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