Minolta manual-focus lens basics

Briefly, there arefour major groups of manual-focus Minolta lenses.
First are the SR mounts. These are the oldest, being developed for the SR-series cameras (SR-1, SR-7, etc. but not the SRTs!). This mount has no coupling for the meter, since these cameras did not have TTL metering. Generally, thelater cameras can still mount these lenses, but the metering will not function correctly due to the lack of a aperture-setting tab. These lenses generally have milled focussing rings instead of the later rubber-coated rings.
CAUTION: many of the very wide SR lenses (less than 28mm focal length) are non-retro-focus designs, and will have catastrophic interference with the mirror of the camera unless properly used with a camera having a mirror lock-up! Damage to both camera and lens will occur if improperly used! This is also true of the early very-wide MC lenses as well.
Next gees the MC mount, which was introduced with the SRT cameras. These lenses have a single square tab on the rear edge of the aperture ring, close to the camera body, which "tells" the camera what aperture is set. These lenses will give full functionality with the SRTs, the XG-series (XG5, XG7, etc.), and the XK, as well as with most of the earlier SRs. (Reportedly, a few of the very early SR-series cameras have a mechanical interference between the lens' stopdown lever and the mirror box, so caution is required.) These lenses will give partial functionality in manual or aperture-priority modes on the XD- or X700-series cameras, but not in shutter-priority or program modes. These lenses may have either milled metal or rubber-coated focussing rings and may say "MC" on the front ring, around the front lens element.
The last of the manual-focus Minolta lenses is the MD series, which was introduced with the XD series (XD5, XD11, etc.) cameras. This lens is very similar to the earlier MC lens, but has two square tabs on the rear of the aperture ring. The "first" tab tells the camera what aperture is set, and the second tells the camera if the aperture is the minimum aperture for that lens. Late MD lenses also add an aperture-ring lock, to prevent misadjustments from causing trouble in shutter-priority or program modes; MD lenses are necessary for proper functioning in these modes, respectively,on the XD- and X700-series cameras (e.g., the X700, X570, X370, etc.). MD lenses can be used with full functionality on all of the earlier cameras (except for the interference problem reported above with some early SRs). These lenses have rubber-coated focussing rings and will say "MD" on the front ring around the front lens element.
Also, there are a few lenses that do not fall into any of the above categories; the most notable of these are the fixed-aperture catadioptric mirror lenses, which are marked "PF" or "RF". Since these lenses do not have a diaphragm, they fall into a different category, and require setting the camera to agree with the lens. They cannot be used in shutter-priority or program modes with the XD or X700 series cameras, but must be used in aperture-priority or manual modes.
The Shift CA also must be used in aperture-priority or manual modes.
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Unlike some other makers, there is no crossover between the manual-focus and autofocus lines. If the lens has electrical contacts inside the mount, it is autofocus and will not work with Minolta's manual-focus cameras; norcan a manual-focus lens be mounted on an autofocus camera without a converter/adaptor, which induces its own problems.
Konica lenses will not fit manual-focus Minolta camera bodies, nor will manual-focus Minolta lenses fit Konica camera bodies. The two makes were seperate at all times during the manufacture of manual-focus Minolta cameras and lenses and only merged after Minolta dropped all manual-focus items from their line.

In cameras using 35mm film, the following list should give an idea of the class of lens associated with the various ranges of focal length:
5mm-18mm: extreme wide-angle lenses, sometimes called fisheye lenses, though strictly speaking the fisheye lens must produce a severe barrel distortion; that is, it will make square objects round.
16mm-24mm: very wide-angle lenses. These usually do not have the severe distortion; meaning that things viewed through them look relatively normal, though distant.
20mm-40mm: Wide-angle lenses. Things viewed through these lenses should look relatively normal, but somewhat distant.
45mm-60mm: normal lenses. These record pretty much what the eye sees.
60mm-100mm: portrait lenses, aka mild telephoto lenses. These produce a mildly magnified image.
100mm-200mm: telephoto lenses. These produce a moderate magnification.
180mm or more: long telephoto lenses. These produce a significantly magnified image; the longer specimens are telescopes.

The basic rule for determining magnification in a 35mm camera is that lens focal length in mm divided by fifty is the approximate magnification, e.g. 200mm divided by 50mm equals about 4 times the apparent size.
Understand that these categories are approximate and for cameras using 35mm film only; a medium format camera such as a 120-film Hasselblad will use a lens of around 110mm as normal!