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Lens Mount Adapters
Adapters for F bayonet | Adapters for AR bayonet
Adapters for the use of different mount lenses on Konica bodies were available for the older F bayonet as well as for the younger AR bayonet.
Lens mount adapters for F bayonet
When Konica started their SLR line, there were only a few lenses in matching 
F bayonet mount available. To be able to sell more cameras, Konica offered an adapters which allowed the use of "foreign" lenses.
- Exa- / Exakta bayonet:
Konica Exakta Lens Adapter - M42- / Praktica screw thread:
Konica for Praktica
Just like the later mount adapters for the AR bayonet, this was a very simple mount adapter, just converting the mount, not having any aperture-related functions. The Exakta lenses had an aperture which was being closed by pressing the shutter button on the lens, which then actuated the cameras shutter button. There was no aperture control by the camera with the Exa / Exakta mount. As at that time many Konica lenses still were fully manual preset lenses without any automatic aperture, the loss of comfort when using Exakta lenses was not too much.
camera-wiki.org also mentiones a Nikon-Konica F adapter. I have never seen one and I am not sure if such an adapter really existed. Contradictory to camera-wiki's claim is, that the adapter Nikon to Konica AR does not have a "II" or "2" in its name, as Konica usually did with all updated accessory parts.
Lens mount adapters for AR bayonet
Especially in the beginning after the switch to the new AR bayonet, Konica offered some lens mount adapters for use of foreign mount lenses with the AR bayonet bodies. Probably this was necessary as a sales argument in the first years after the introduction of the new bayonet, because the Konica AR bayonet lens line-up was still somewhat limited – this was quickly fixed during the following years.
Adapters were available for the following lens mounts:
- Old Konica F bayonet
Konica Lens Adapter - Exa- / Exakta bayonet:
Konica Exakta Lens Mount Adapter II - M42- / Praktica screw thread:
Konica Praktica Lens Adapter II / Konica Praktica Lens Adapter 2 AR - Nikon F bayonet:
Konica Nikon Lens Adapter
Lens mount adapter
Konica Lens Adapter
Lens mount adapter
Exakta Lens Adapter II
Lens mount adapter
Praktica Lens Adapter 2 AR
The adapters are all purely mechanical and contain no optical elements – they consist of a ring which has the Konica AR bayonet on the body side and the respective required lens mount bayonet or thread on the lens side.
With these adapters, no automatic aperture setting by the camera body is possible – when a lens is mounted with such an adapter, the aperture has to be closed manually prior to the exposure. Obviously, no automatic exposure control is possible in this case, the metering has to be done by the match-needle system through a closed aperture.
The mounting of a lens with an adapter thus means quite a loss of comfort on automatic-exposure bodies, photography is a more complicated and slower as when using matching AR lenses. For quick snapshots, this method is not very well-suited. But for once-in-a-while use of exotic lenses or for planned shots this is a usable compromise.
The adapters can be used with all Konica bodies that are equipped with the AR bayonet, with the exception of the FP-1 – but you will be limited to manual exposure control. A sensible use with the FP-1 is not possible, because this camera does not provide a possibility to manually set exposure controls in normal operation – only in flash mode.
All these adapters – with exception of the M42-/Praktica adapter which is being offered frequently – are quite rare and difficult to get.
Especially the M42 adapter is of some interest, as there is a huge variety of good and sometimes very inexpensive lenses available for this mount on the second-hand market. Fish-eye or super-wide-angle lenses, which are not used all too often, are a lot easier to find in M42 screw mount than for the Konica AR bayonet.
The Konica F bayonet adapter as well as the Exakta adapter have not much relevance today. Lenses for the newer AR bayonet are easier to get and typically less expensive than the rare, old F bayonet lenses; on top, they tend to have better coatings, so that the purchase of a F mount lens for a newer Konica body does not make much sense. Exakta lenses are more collector's items than lenses for everyday use, so that you will be better off with a matching Konica AR lens in most cases. The Nikon adapter is very rare and tends to be quite expensive.
More pages on Konica accessories:
Overview | Flashes and strobes | Close-up and macro accessories | Winder | Battery compartments | Lens mount adapters | User's manuals | 
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