Pardon me if this is a dumb question, but I tried looking up the answer on Google and couldn't come up with refined enough search parameters to find an answer. Could I take a lens from an old movie camera that is an M42 mount and shoot with it on a still film or digital camera with an M42 adapter? The lenses are old Russian movie camera lenses. I assume if it is M42 mount, it will fit . . . but the question then is there something about their construction that would cause vignetting, or an inability to focus, or foul the mirror. And to answer the obivous question--why don't I just put them on the camera and try them: they're not here, a friend of mine offered to send them, but I am trying to figure out if it is worth the effort.
You sure it's M42 mount? It would well be some variation of M39 mount which the Russians used extensively (They made the common LTM/M39 RF lenses, M39 SLR lenses that use the M42 register as well. Wouldn't be shocked to find their Cine lenses were M39 as well, with LTM or C mount registers)
If these are 35mm movie lenses, then do be aware that 35mm film places the negatives sideways on the carrier, so they are smaller. A lens made for this may not cover FF. Some minor calculations should show if it would be a problem with a 1.5x or 1.6x crop camera. You would also need to know if they used the same register distance. They may have used the same mount, for expediency, but used a different register distance. What about aperture control? I don't recall ever seeing an aperture ring on a movie camera lens.
I think your better bet would be looking into old projector lenses. There was a thread sometime back about using some with decent and interesting results.
