M42

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About M42

The group for photos taken with M42 screw mount lenses. You are welcome to post photos taken on film and digital alike!

Please tag all submitted photos with the M42 lens used! Tagging is important for lens enthusiasts and collectors, and it helps people find your photos when searching for samples taken with a specific lens. The tag should preferably include the name of the manufacturer and/or the lens, as well as focal length and maximum aperture, e.g., “Carl Zeiss Sonnar 135mm f/3.5”.


The M42 Mount

The name of the M42 mount simply means that the lenses have 42×1mm screw threads with which they attach to the camera. The M42 mount begun with an East German Zeiss camera slightly after World War II, but it was later popularised in the West by Pentax, which is why it is sometimes called the “Pentax Screw Mount”. However, dozens of manufacturers made M42 mount cameras and lenses, making it perhaps the most popular and diverse mount of all time.

Notable brands with M42 mount products include Asahi/Honeywell Pentax (Takumar lenses, Spotmatic cameras), Carl Zeiss Jena, Pentacon Praktica, Fuji Photo Film Co. (Fujinon lenses, Fujica cameras), Yashica (cameras and Yashinon lenses), Mamiya/Sekor, Meyer Optik Görlitz, Steinheil München, Schneider Kreuznach, Wirgin Edixa, Chinon, Cosina, Vivitar, various (now former) Soviet manufacturers (e.g., Zenit cameras, and lenses such as Helios, Jupiter, Tair, MIR, Volna), Voigtländer, the modern day Zeiss (ZS lenses), etc.

M42 lenses can be readily adapted to other systems, including most modern DSLRs and mirrorless digital cameras, often by means of “passive” adapters without additional optical elements, meaning the full original image quality can be preserved. Native M42 mount film bodies are also readily available on the used market. This versatility combined with wide selection and availability makes M42 an excellent choice for anyone interested in manual focus lenses.


Photos taken with M42 lenses on film and digital alike are welcome in this group! The discussion area is open for questions and discussion about M42 in general, specific M42 lenses and cameras, reviews thereof, etc. However, please do not post “for sale” notices here!