I’ve been working on a post about lenses and their characteristics to accompany an upcoming talk at Bromsgrove Photographic Society, and tried to include a description of what lens mounts were in use by different manufacturers.
Trying to summarise this information for that post has only helped make it clear how complex the situation is! The list below is not exhaustive but covers most mounts you are likely to encounter when shopping for new lenses. Add used lenses into the equation and the situation becomes even more complicated.
Canon
- RF – For latest R series mirrorless full frame cameras
- RF-S – For crop-sensor R mount mirrorless cameras. If used on full frame R camera, image will be cropped
- EF – For previous generation full frame DSLR and SLR cameras. Fully compatible with R series cameras using adaptor.
- EF-S – For crop sensor DLSRs only. Will not mount on full frame DSLRs due to mirror clash.
- M – For now-discontinued crop-sensor mirrorless mount
- FD, FL, R – Older incompatible film-era mounts
Nikon
- Z – For latest Z series mirrorless full frame cameras
- FX – For full frame DLSRs
- DX – for crop-sensor DSLRs. If mounted on a full frame camera, expect severe vignetting
Older Nikon lenses from the film era may be compatible with Nikon DSLRs – they went through a few variations while trying to maintain back compatibility (unlike Canon who abandoned FD-mount users when they introduced the EF mount) which can make it complicated to know what works with what.
Sony
- E-mount (E/FE) – Lenses for now-obsolete E series crop-sensor cameras
- A-mount – For Sony’s A series mirrorless cameras (full frame and crop sensor)
Fuji
- X – Used on Fuji’s range of crop sensor cameras
- GF – Fuji’s medium-format system
Pentax
The Pentax K mount is a bit like the Nikon mount, in that it’s been around for a long time and been through multiple versions, mostly backward but not forward compatible. So you may be able to mount an older K mount lens on a newer body, but not vice-versa. The permutations are too complex to try to cover here – see for example Wikipedia for more details.
Micro 4/3
This is a bit of an exception as it’s not tied to a single vendor’s cameras, but designed to be compatible with any camera using the m43 standard. Major players in the m43 consortium are OM Systems (formerly Olympus) and Panasonic, though there are also a couple of other niche manufacturers. Panasonic lenses for this mount are called “Lumix G” – some are may be branded “Leica DG” since Panasonic have licensed some Leica technology (and branding) for them.
Although Panasonic lenses work on Olympus cameras and vice versa (that’s the whole point of the standard), there are some disadvantages to “mixing” manufacturers like this. For example, Panasonic lenses often have aperture control rings on the lens which Olympus cameras ignore, and “Sync-IS” where the in-lens and in-body stabilisation work together is only available when mounting Olympus lenses on Olympus bodies.
Older 4/3 lenses (without the micro) are useable on m43 cameras with an adaptor (and some limitations).
L-Mount alliance
A bit like the Micro 4/3 alliance mentioned above, but for full-frame cameras from Leica, Panasonic, and Sigma. Panasonic L-mount lenses are called “Lumix S”, Leica lenses for this mount will have SL or TL in the name. Sigma make lenses for all sorts of mounts so identifying the mount on a Sigma lens requires checking the box/spec…
Third party lenses
While all the major camera manufacturers make lenses that fit their own cameras only (or others in the same alliance – see above), there also exist a number of lens manufacturers that make lenses to fit multiple different mounts from a variety of manufacturers. Most of these manufacturers do not make cameras (Sigma is a notable exception, though their cameras have never really been “mainstream”). These third party lenses are usually towards the budget end (other than Zeiss, who are definitely not). Notable manufacturers include Sigma, Tamron, Samyang, Laowa, Zeiss, TTArtisan, 7Artisans, Voigtlander…
It used to be the case that third-party lenses might have compatibility issues – in particular with autofocus behaviour – when used on camera bodies from the major manufacturers, though this is less common of late. Some third party lenses may be manual-focus only (which avoids any such compatibility issues!).
Vintage lenses
Old film-era lenses can sometimes be mounted on modern digital cameras, especially more recent mirrorless mounts. These lenses will be manual-focus only and typically you will have to operate the aperture manually too – but that’s not always a problem, especially for shorter focal lengths, or for macro work. There used to be some real bargains around, with some very capable lenses going for £10 or so, but these days enough people are looking for these lenses that prices for decent lenses are often nearer £100 and can go higher for rarer specimens. Still a lot cheaper than new lenses though…
Some vintage lenses have signature optical flaws that lend “character” to photos taken with them – for example swirly bokeh, and are now sought after for precisely the characteristics that might have been sneered at when they were new.
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