Lenses for SLR and DSLR cameras - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Photographic lens

A camera lens is an optical lens or assembly of lenses used in conjunction with a camera body and mechanism to make images of objects either on photographic film or on other media capable of storing an image chemically or electronically.While in principle a simple convex lens will suffice, in...

es for single-lens reflex film cameras (SLRs)

Single-lens reflex camera

A single-lens reflex camera is a camera that typically uses a semi-automatic moving mirror system that permits the photographer to see exactly what will be captured by the film or digital imaging system, as opposed to pre-SLR cameras where the view through the viewfinder could be significantly...

and digital single-lens reflex cameras (DSLRs)

Digital single-lens reflex camera

Most digital single-lens reflex cameras are digital cameras that use a mechanical mirror system and pentaprism to direct light from the lens to an optical viewfinder on the back of the camera....

.

Furthermore, the emphasis is on modern lenses for 35 mm film

135 film

The term 135 was introduced by Kodak in 1934 as a designation for cartridge film wide, specifically for still photography. It quickly grew in popularity, surpassing 120 film by the late 1960s to become the most popular photographic film format...

SLRs and for DSLRs with sensor sizes

Image sensor format

In digital photography, the image sensor format is the shape and size of the image sensor.The image sensor format of a digital camera determines the angle of view of a particular lens when used with a particular camera...

less than or equal to 35 mm ("full-frame").

Interchangeable lenses

The major advantage of SLR and DSLR cameras is the possibility of changing lenses, to select the best lens for the current photographic need, and to allow the attachment of specialized lenses. Film SLR cameras have existed since the late 1950s, and over the years a very large number of different lenses have been produced, both by camera manufacturers (who typically only make lenses intended for their own camera bodies) and by third-party optics companies who may make lenses for several different camera lines.

DSLRs became available around the mid-1990s, and have become extremely popular in recent years. Some manufacturers, for example Minolta

Minolta

Minolta Co., Ltd. was a Japanese worldwide manufacturer of cameras, camera accessories, photocopiers, fax machines, and laser printers. Minolta was founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1928 as . It is perhaps best known for making the first integrated autofocus 35mm SLR camera system...

, Canon

Canon Inc.

is a Japanese multinational corporation that specialises in the manufacture of imaging and optical products, including cameras, camcorders, photocopiers, steppers and computer printers. Its headquarters are located in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan.-Origins:...

and Nikon

Nikon

, also known as just Nikon, is a multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optics and imaging. Its products include cameras, binoculars, microscopes, measurement instruments, and the steppers used in the photolithography steps of semiconductor fabrication, of which...

, chose to make their DSLRs 100% compatible with their existing SLR lenses in the beginning, allowing owners of new DSLR's to continue to use their existing lenses and get a longer lifespan from their investment. Others, for example Olympus, chose to create a completely new lens mount and series of lenses for their DSLRs. The Pentax

Pentax

Pentax is a brand name used by Hoya Corporation for its medical-related products & services and Pentax Ricoh Imaging Company for cameras, sport optics , etc. Hoya purchased and merged with the Japanese optics company on March 31, 2008. Hoya's Pentax imaging business was sold to Ricoh Company, Ltd...

SLR camera K-mount system is backward compatible to all previous lens generations from Pentax, including the latest digital SLRs like the K-5 and K-R. A Pentax K-mount lens from the early 70s can be utilized on the newest Pentax DSLR. There are a few exceptions from the MZ and ZX series of Pentax film cameras that do not work with some of the older lenses.

As implied by the above, lenses are only directly interchangeable within the "mount system

Lens mount

A lens mount is an interface — mechanical and often also electrical — between a photographic camera body and a lens. It is confined to cameras where the body allows interchangeable lenses, most usually the single lens reflex type or any movie camera of 16 mm or higher gauge...

" for which they are built. Mixing mounting systems requires an adapter, and most often results in compromises such as loss of functionality, i.e. auto focus or automatic aperture control. Further, in some cases the adapter will require an additional optical element to correct for varied registration distances (the distance from the rear of the mount to the focal plane on the image sensor or film). Additionally, there are instances where an adapter is not available.

Aperture and depth of field

The aperture

Aperture

In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture of an optical system is the opening that determines the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. The aperture determines how collimated the admitted rays are,...

of a lens is the opening that regulates the amount of light that passes through the lens. It is controlled by a diaphragm

Diaphragm (optics)

In optics, a diaphragm is a thin opaque structure with an opening at its center. The role of the diaphragm is to stop the passage of light, except for the light passing through the aperture...

inside the lens, which is in turn controlled either manually or by the exposure circuitry in the camera body.

The relative aperture is specified as an f-number

F-number

In optics, the f-number of an optical system expresses the diameter of the entrance pupil in terms of the focal length of the lens; in simpler terms, the f-number is the focal length divided by the "effective" aperture diameter...

, the ratio of the lens focal length to its effective aperture diameter. A small f-number like 2.0 indicates a large aperture (more light passes through), while a large f-number like 22 indicates a small aperture (little light passes through). Aperture settings are usually not continuously variable; instead the diaphragm has typically 5–10 discrete settings. The normal "full-stop" f-number scale for modern lenses is as follows: 1, 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22, 32, but many lenses also allow setting to half-stop or third-stop increments. A "slow" lens (one that is not capable of passing a lot of light through) might have a maximum aperture from 5.6 to 11, while a "fast" lens (one that can pass more light through) might have a maximum aperture from 1 to 4. Fast lenses are typically larger than slow lenses (for comparable focal length), and typically cost more.
The aperture affects not only the amount of light that passes through the lens, but also the depth of field

Depth of field

In optics, particularly as it relates to film and photography, depth of field is the distance between the nearest and farthest objects in a scene that appear acceptably sharp in an image...

of the resulting image: a larger aperture will have a shallow depth of field, while a smaller aperture will have a greater depth of field.

Focal length and angle of view

The focal length

Focal length

The focal length of an optical system is a measure of how strongly the system converges or diverges light. For an optical system in air, it is the distance over which initially collimated rays are brought to a focus...

of a lens, together with the size of the image sensor

Image sensor

An image sensor is a device that converts an optical image into an electronic signal. It is used mostly in digital cameras and other imaging devices...

in the camera (or size of the 35 mm film

135 film

), determines the angle of view

Angle of view

In photography, angle of view describes the angular extent of a given scene that is imaged by a camera. It is used interchangeably with the more general term field of view....

. A lens is considered to be a "normal lens", in terms of its angle of view

Angle of view

In photography, angle of view describes the angular extent of a given scene that is imaged by a camera. It is used interchangeably with the more general term field of view....

on a camera, when its focal length is approximately equal to the diagonal dimension of the film format

Film format

A film format is a technical definition of a set of standard characteristics regarding image capture on photographic film, for either stills or movies. It can also apply to projected film, either slides or movies. The primary characteristic of a film format is its size and shape.In the case of...

or image sensor format

Image sensor format

. The resulting diagonal angle of view of about 53 degrees is often said to approximate the angle of human vision; since the angle of view of a human eye is at least 140 degrees, more careful authors will qualify that, for example as "similar to the angle of crisp human vision." A wide-angle lens

Wide-angle lens

From a design perspective, a wide angle lens is one that projects a substantially larger image circle than would be typical for a standard design lens of the same focal length; this enables either large tilt & shift movements with a view camera, or lenses with wide fields of view.More informally,...

has a shorter focal length, and includes more of the viewed scene than a normal lens; a telephoto lens

Telephoto lens

In photography and cinematography, a telephoto lens is a specific type of a long-focus lens in which the physical length of the lens is shorter than the focal length. This is achieved by incorporating a special lens group known as a telephoto group that extends the light path to create a long-focus...

has a longer focal length, and images a small portion of the scene, making it seem closer.

Lenses are not labeled or sold according to their angle of view, but rather by their focal length, usually expressed in millimeters. But this specification is insufficient to compare lenses for different cameras because field of view also depends on the sensor size

Image sensor format

. For example, a 50 mm lens mounted on a Nikon D3

Nikon D3

The Nikon D3 is a 12.1 megapixel professional grade full frame digital single lens reflex camera announced by the Nikon Corporation on 23 August 2007 along with the Nikon D300 DX format camera. The D3, along with the Nikon D3X, was a flagship model in Nikon's line of DSLRs, superseding the D2Hs...

(a full-frame camera) provides approximately the same field of view as a 32 mm lens mounted on a Sony α 100 (an APS-C

APS-C

Advanced Photo System type-C is an image sensor format approximately equivalent in size to the Advanced Photo System "classic" size negatives...

camera). Conversely, the same lens can produce different fields of view when mounted on different cameras. For example, a 35 mm lens mounted on a Canon EOS 5D

Canon EOS 5D

The EOS 5D is a 12.8 megapixel digital single-lens reflex camera body produced by Canon. The EOS 5D was announced by Canon on August 22, 2005, and at the time was priced above the EOS 20D but below the EOS-1D Mark II and EOS-1Ds Mark II in Canon's EOS digital SLR series...

(full-frame) provides a slightly wide-angle view, while the same lens mounted on a Canon EOS 400D

Canon EOS 400D

The EOS 400D, called Digital Rebel XTi in North America and EOS Kiss Digital X in Japan, is a mid-range digital single-lens reflex camera introduced by Canon August 24, 2006....

(APS-C) provides a "normal" or slightly telephoto view.

In order to make it easier to compare lens–camera pairs, it is common to talk about their 35 mm equivalent focal length

35 mm equivalent focal length

In photography, the 35 mm equivalent focal length is a measure that indicates the angle of view of a particular combination of a camera lens and film or sensor size...

. For example, when talking about a 14 mm lens for a Four Thirds System

Four Thirds System

The Four Thirds system is a standard created by Olympus and Kodak for digital single-lens reflex camera design and development.The system provides a standard that, with digital cameras and lenses available from multiple manufacturers, allows for the interchange of lenses and bodies from different...

camera, one would not only indicate that it had a focal length of 14 mm, but also that its "35 mm equivalent focal length" is 28 mm. This way of talking about lenses is not just limited to SLR and DSLR lenses; it is very common to see this focal length equivalency in the specification of the lens on a digicam.

Values in the following table are approximate, and apply to rectilinear lens

Rectilinear lens

In photography, a rectilinear lens is a photographic lens that yields images where straight features, such as the walls of buildings, appear with straight lines, as opposed to being curved. In other words, it is a lens with little or no barrel or pincushion distortion...

es only, not to fisheye lens

Fisheye lens

In photography, a fisheye lens is a wide-angle lens that takes in a broad, panoramic and hemispherical image. Originally developed for use in meteorology to study cloud formation and called "whole-sky lenses", fisheye lenses quickly became popular in general photography for their unique, distorted...

es.

	Sensor size Image sensor format In digital photography, the image sensor format is the shape and size of the image sensor.The image sensor format of a digital camera determines the angle of view of a particular lens when used with a particular camera... :	35 mm 135 film The term 135 was introduced by Kodak in 1934 as a designation for cartridge film wide, specifically for still photography. It quickly grew in popularity, surpassing 120 film by the late 1960s to become the most popular photographic film format... or full-frame	APS-H	APS-C APS-C Advanced Photo System type-C is an image sensor format approximately equivalent in size to the Advanced Photo System "classic" size negatives...	Foveon X3	Four Thirds Four Thirds System The Four Thirds system is a standard created by Olympus and Kodak for digital single-lens reflex camera design and development.The system provides a standard that, with digital cameras and lenses available from multiple manufacturers, allows for the interchange of lenses and bodies from different...
	Crop factor Crop factor In digital photography, a crop factor is related to the ratio of the dimensions of a camera's imaging area compared to a reference format; most often, this term is applied to digital cameras, relative to 35 mm film format as a reference. In the case of digital cameras, the imaging device would be a... :	1.0	1.3	1.5 or 1.6	1.7	2.0
Lens view	Angle of view (deg. diagonal)	Focal length (mm)
Ultra wide-angle	118	13	10	8	8	7
	111	15	12	10	9	8
	100	18	14	12	11	9
	92	21	16	14	12	11
Typical wide-angle	84	24	18	15	14	12
	75	28	22	18	16	14
Slightly wide-angle	63	35	27	23	21	18
"Normal"	59–47	40–50	30–38	25–32	23–29	20–25
Portrait lens	29	85	65	55	50	43
	23	105	81	68	62	53
Telephoto	18	135	104	87	79	68
	14	180	138	116	106	90
	12	210	162	135	134	105
Long telephoto	8	300	231	192	176	150
	6	400	308	258	235	200
	5	500	385	323	294	250
	4	600	462	387	353	300
	3	830	638	535	488	415
Very long telephoto	2	1200	923	774	706	600
Some cameras using this sensor size:		35 mm film 135 film The term 135 was introduced by Kodak in 1934 as a designation for cartridge film wide, specifically for still photography. It quickly grew in popularity, surpassing 120 film by the late 1960s to become the most popular photographic film format... Canon EOS-1Ds Canon EOS-1Ds The EOS-1Ds is a full-frame 11.4 megapixel digital SLR camera body formerly made by Canon, released in the spring of 2003. Its dimensions are 156 mm in width, 157.6 mm in height, and 79.9 mm in depth. Its mass is 1,265 g.-Functions:... Canon EOS-1Ds II Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II The EOS-1Ds Mark II is a digital SLR camera body by Canon Inc. of Japan. It was the top model in the Canon EOS line of digital cameras until April 2007, with a full-frame 16.7 megapixel CMOS sensor. The EOS-1Ds Mark II had the highest pixel count available in a 35mm format digital SLR at the time... Canon EOS-1Ds III Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III The EOS-1Ds Mark III is a digital SLR camera body by Canon designed for professional photographers. The Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III is successor to the EOS-1Ds Mark II and was announced in August 2007. The camera features a full-frame 21.1 megapixel CMOS sensor with 14 bit A/D converters for a total... Canon EOS 5D Canon EOS 5D The EOS 5D is a 12.8 megapixel digital single-lens reflex camera body produced by Canon. The EOS 5D was announced by Canon on August 22, 2005, and at the time was priced above the EOS 20D but below the EOS-1D Mark II and EOS-1Ds Mark II in Canon's EOS digital SLR series... Canon EOS 5D Mark II Canon EOS 5D Mark II The Canon EOS 5D Mark II is a 21.1-megapixel full-frame CMOS digital single-lens reflex camera made by Canon. It succeeds the EOS 5D and was announced on September 17, 2008.-Improvements compared to original EOS 5D:... Nikon D3 Nikon D3 The Nikon D3 is a 12.1 megapixel professional grade full frame digital single lens reflex camera announced by the Nikon Corporation on 23 August 2007 along with the Nikon D300 DX format camera. The D3, along with the Nikon D3X, was a flagship model in Nikon's line of DSLRs, superseding the D2Hs... (X Nikon D3X The Nikon D3X is a 24.5 megapixel professional-grade full frame digital single-lens reflex camera announced by the Nikon Corporation on 1 December 2008. The D3X is the third camera in Nikon's line to offer a full frame sensor, following the D3 and D700... , S Nikon D3S The Nikon D3S is a 12.1 megapixel professional-grade full frame digital single-lens reflex camera announced by Nikon Corporation on 14 October 2009. The D3S is the fourth camera in Nikon's line to feature a full frame sensor, following the D3, D700 and D3X. It is also Nikon's first full frame... ) Nikon D700 Nikon D700 The Nikon D700 is a professional grade full-frame digital single-lens reflex camera introduced by the Nikon Corporation in July 2008 and manufactured in Japan. It uses the same 12.1 megapixel "FX" CMOS image sensor as the Nikon D3, and is Nikon's second full-frame digital SLR camera... Sony α 850 Sony α 850 The α850 was Sony's second full-frame digital SLR, introduced on 27 August 2009. Similar to the DSLR-A900, the camera featured the same 24.6-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor used in the a900... , α 900 Leica M9 Leica M9 The Leica M9 is the second digital camera in Leica Camera AG's rangefinder M series. It was introduced on 9 September 2009 and uses an 18.5-megapixel Kodak KAF-18500 Full Frame CCD image sensor....	Canon EOS-1D Canon EOS-1D The Canon EOS-1D is a 4-megapixel professional digital single-lens reflex camera launched in November 2001. It was Canon's first professional-level digital camera developed and released by themselves, the previous D2000 being a collaborative effort with Kodak. It has a 1.3x crop factor with a CCD... Canon EOS-1D II N Canon EOS-1D Mark II The EOS 1D Mark II is a professional 8.2 megapixel digital single lens reflex camera camera body produced by Canon. The EOS 1D Mark II is the successor of the EOS 1D.-Features:The EOS 1D Mark II features:* 28.7 × 19.1 mm CMOS sensor... Canon EOS-1D III Canon EOS-1D Mark III The EOS 1D Mark III is a professional 10.1 megapixel digital single lens reflex camera camera body produced by Canon. The EOS 1D Mark III was announced on February 21, 2007 and is the successor of the Canon EOS-1D Mark II N and was first released in May 2007... Canon EOS-1D IV Canon EOS-1D Mark IV The EOS-1D Mark IV is a professional 16.1 effective megapixels digital single lens reflex camera camera body produced by Canon. The EOS-1D Mark IV is the successor of the Canon EOS-1D Mark III and was announced on October 20, 2009, just four days after Nikon announced the D3s... Kodak DCS 460 Kodak DCS The Kodak Digital Camera System is a series of digital single-lens reflex cameras and digital camera backs that were released by Kodak in the 1990s and 2000s, and discontinued in 2005. They were all based on existing 35mm film SLRs from Nikon and Canon... - 760 Kodak DCS The Kodak Digital Camera System is a series of digital single-lens reflex cameras and digital camera backs that were released by Kodak in the 1990s and 2000s, and discontinued in 2005. They were all based on existing 35mm film SLRs from Nikon and Canon... Leica M8 Leica M8 The Leica M8 is the first digital camera in the rangefinder M series introduced by Leica Camera AG on 14 September 2006. It uses a 10.3-megapixel Kodak KAF-10500 CCD image sensor.As of 15/07/2011, the most recent firmware version is 2.014.-Features:...	Canon EOS 7D Canon EOS 7D The Canon EOS 7D is an 18.0 effective megapixel APS-C crop CMOS digital single-lens reflex camera made by Canon. It was announced on September 1, 2009... Canon EOS D30 Canon EOS D30 The Canon EOS D30 is a discontinued 3.1-megapixel professional digital single lens reflex camera body, initially announced by Canon on May 17, 2000. It is part of the Canon EOS line of cameras and uses the EF lens mount. The EOS D30 was Canon's first "home grown" digital SLR... , D60 Canon EOS D60 The Canon EOS D60 is a discontinued 6.3 megapixel digital single lens reflex camera body, announced by Canon on February 22, 2002. It is part of the Canon EOS range, and accepts Canon EF, TS-E and MP-E lenses, but not Canon's later digital-only EF-S lens range.The EOS D60 sits in the prosumer ... Canon EOS 10D Canon EOS 10D The Canon EOS 10D is a discontinued 6.3-megapixel semi-professional digital SLR camera, initially announced on February 27, 2003. It replaced the EOS D60, which is also a 6.3-megapixel digital SLR camera. It was succeeded by the EOS 20D in August 2004.... - 60D Canon EOS 60D The Canon EOS 60D is a digital single-lens reflex camera from Canon. It is part of the Canon EOS line of cameras and succeeds the EOS 50D. It was publicly announced on August 26, 2010.... Canon EOS 300D Canon EOS 300D The Canon EOS 300D, manufactured by Canon, marketed in North America as the EOS Digital Rebel, and in Japan as the EOS Kiss Digital, is a 6.3-megapixel entry-level digital single-lens reflex camera. It was initially announced on 20 August, 2003 at a price point of $899 without lens, $999 with the... - 1100D Canon EOS 1100D Canon EOS 1100D is a 12.2-megapixel digital single-lens reflex camera announced by Canon on February 7, 2011. It is known as the EOS Kiss X50 in Japan and the EOS Rebel T3 in the United States and Canada. The 1100D is an entry-level DSLR that introduces movie mode to Canon's entry level DSLRs and... Nikon D1 Nikon D1 The Nikon D1 is a digital single-lens reflex camera introduced on June 15, 1999. It featured a 2.7 megapixel image sensor, 4.5 frames per second continuous shooting, and accepted the full range of Nikon F-mount lenses... (H,X) Nikon D2H Nikon D2H The Nikon D2H is a professional-grade digital single-lens reflex camera introduced by Nikon Corporation on July 22, 2003. It uses Nikon's own JFET-LBCAST sensor with a 4.1 megapixel resolution, and is optimised for sports and action shooting that require a high frame rate. In 2005, the D2H was... (Hs,X,Xs) Nikon D40 Nikon D40 The D40 is a now-discontinued Nikon F-mount entry-level digital SLR, announced November 16, 2006. Compared to its predecessor, the D50, the D40 had several features removed, a few added, and a lower price: US$499.95 ESP as of November 2009 with the 18–55 mm G-II kit lens, positioning it as an... (x) - D90 Nikon D90 The Nikon D90 is a 12.3 megapixel digital single-lens reflex camera model announced by Nikon on August 27, 2008. It is a prosumer model that replaces the Nikon D80, fitting between the company's entry-level and professional DSLR models. Nikon gives the D90's Estimated Selling Price in the U.S... Nikon D100 Nikon D100 The Nikon D100 is a discontinued 6-megapixel digital single-lens reflex camera designed for professionals and advanced hobbyists. It was introduced on February 21, 2002 at the PMA Annual Convention and Trade Show as a direct competitor to the Canon EOS D60... - D300 Nikon D300 The Nikon D300 is a 12.3-megapixel professional DX format digital single-lens reflex camera that Nikon Corporation announced on 23 August 2007 along with the Nikon D3 FX format camera. It replaced the D200 as Nikon's DX format flagship DSLR... Nikon Nikon D3000 Nikon D3000 The Nikon D3000 is a 10.2 megapixel DX format DSLR Nikon F-mount camera announced by Nikon on 30 July 2009. It replaces the D40 as Nikon's entry level DSLR. It features a 3.0-inch 230,000-dot resolution LCD monitor, CCD sensor with ISO 100–1600 and 3D tracking Multi-CAM1000 11-point AF system... -D7000 Nikon D7000 The Nikon D7000 is a 16.2 megapixel digital single-lens reflex camera model announced by Nikon on September 15, 2010. It is a new class of camera placed between the professional D300S and the 'midrange' D90... Pentax *ist D-Series Pentax K10D Pentax K10D The Pentax K10D and similar Samsung GX-10 are 10.2 megapixel digital single-lens reflex cameras launched in late 2006. They were developed in a collaboration between Pentax of Japan and Samsung of Korea.... - K200D Pentax K200D The Pentax K200D is a 10.2 megapixel digital single-lens reflex camera, announced on January 24, 2008 along with the higher-end K20D. It was discontinued in December 2008, giving it the distinction of being one of the shortest-lived DSLR cameras.... Pentax K-5 Pentax K-5 The Pentax K-5 is a 16.3-megapixel digital single-lens reflex camera, announced on 20 September 2010. It began shipping in mid-October 2010.Externally, the camera body is almost unchanged from the Pentax K-7... , K-7 Pentax K-7 The Pentax K-7 is a 14.6-megapixel digital single-lens reflex camera, announced on 20 May 2009. This is the first new flagship model released by Pentax since its merger with Hoya Corporation on 31 March 2008.- Features :... Pentax K-m, K-r Pentax K-r The Pentax K-r is a 12.4-megapixel digital single-lens reflex camera, announced on September 9, 2010. The K-r is available in 3 body colors in North America, with other colors available only in the Japanese market. The K-r introduces a new SAFOX IX autofocus system and has a 3-inch... , K-x Pentax K-x The Pentax K-x is a 12.4 megapixel digital single-lens reflex camera, announced on September 16, 2009. Pentax K-x uses an Exmor, Sony-made sensor . In some cases it even approaches the quality produced by full-frame DSLRs like the Nikon D700 and the Canon 5DMkII, both with larger sensors... Sony α 33 - α 700 Konica Minolta 5D Konica Minolta Maxxum 5D The Konica Minolta Maxxum 5D was a digital single-lens reflex camera introduced by Konica Minolta in 2005.The camera has a sensor-shifting image stabilization feature inherited from the Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D.... , 7D Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D The Maxxum 7D, labelled Dynax 7D in Europe/Hong Kong and α-7 Digital in Japan and officially named "DG-7D", is a 6.1 megapixel digital single-lens reflex camera, or dSLR, produced by Konica Minolta...	Sigma SD9 Sigma SD9 The Sigma SD9 is a digital SLR camera produced by the Sigma Corporation of Japan. The camera was launched at the Photo Marketing Association Annual Show on February 18, 2002. It was Sigma's first digital camera, and was the first production camera to use the unique Foveon X3 image sensor, which... Sigma SD10 Sigma SD10 The Sigma SD10 is a digital SLR camera produced by the Sigma Corporation of Japan. It was announced on October 27, 2003 and is an evolution of the previous SD9 model, addressing many of the shortcomings of that camera... Sigma SD14 Sigma SD14 The Sigma SD14 is a digital single-lens reflex camera produced by the Sigma Corporation of Japan. It is fitted with a Sigma SA mount which takes Sigma SA lenses.... Sigma DP1 Sigma DP1 The Sigma DP1 is a high-end compact digital camera introduced by the Sigma Corporation. It features a 14-megapixel Foveon X3 sensor , a fixed 16.6 mm F4.0 lens , a 2.5” LCD and a pop-up flash... Sigma DP2 Sigma DP2 The Sigma DP2 is a high-end compact digital camera introduced by the Sigma Corporation. It features a 14-megapixel Foveon X3 sensor , the same sensor used in its predecessor, the Sigma DP1 and in the Sigma SD14 DSLR, a fixed 24.2mm F2.8 lens , a 2.5” LCD and a pop-up flash.With its predecessor, the... Canon EOS DCS 3 Canon EOS DCS 3 The Canon EOS DCS 3 was Kodak's first Canon based Digital SLR camera released in July 1995. It uses a modified Canon EOS-1N film camera with a modified Kodak NC2000e digital camera back attached. As a result, it maintained the Canon EF lens mount, and full compatibility with all of Canon's EF...	Leica Digilux 3 Leica Digilux 3 The Digilux 3 is a digital single-lens reflex camera introduced by Leica on 14 September 2006. The Digilux 3 and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1 are identical cameras, using the Four Thirds standard lens mount and featuring a 7.5 Megapixels live view N-MOS sensor, but the Digilux 3 has improved firmware... Olympus E-3 Olympus E-3 The Olympus E-3 was until 2011 Olympus Corporation's previous flagship camera, positioned as a professional DSLR camera. It is the successor to the Olympus E-1, which was launched in November 2003. The E-3, originally codenamed Olympus E-P1, was announced on 17 October 2007. The E-3, like the other... Olympus E-30 Olympus E-30 The Olympus E-30 is a Four Thirds System camera, sitting between the Olympus E-520 and the E-3 cameras in terms of size, weight, capabilities and price. It is sold in a kit with the Zuiko Digital ED 14–54mm f2.8–3.5 II lens.... Olympus E-620 Olympus E-620 The Olympus E-620 is a Four Thirds digital single-lens reflex camera from Olympus announced February 24, 2009. It combines features of the E-420 , E-520 , and E-30 .-Features:The camera is marketed by Olympus as the world's smallest DSLR with built-in image stabilization... Panasonic DMC-G1 Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 The Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 is the first digital mirrorless interchangeable lens camera adhering to the recently developed Micro Four Thirds System system design standard...

Zoom lenses

The focal length

Focal length

of a zoom lens

Zoom lens

A zoom lens is a mechanical assembly of lens elements for which the focal length can be varied, as opposed to a fixed focal length lens...

is not fixed; instead it can be varied between a specified minimum and maximum value. Modern lens technology is such that the loss of image quality in zoom lenses (relative to non-zoom lenses) is minimal, and zoom lenses have become the standard lenses for SLRs and DSLRs. This is different from the late 1980s when, due to image quality concerns, most professional photographers still relied primarily on standard non-zoom lenses. However, zoom lenses still typically have a lower maximum aperture than fixed-focal ("prime") lenses for the same weight and cost, especially for shorter focal lengths.

Zoom lenses are often described by the ratio of their longest to shortest focal lengths. For example, a zoom lens with focal lengths ranging from 100 mm to 400 mm may be described as a 4:1 or "4×" zoom. Typical zoom lenses cover a 3.5× range, for example from 24 – 90 mm (standard zoom) or 60 – 200 mm (telephoto zoom). "Super-zoom" lenses with a range of 10× or even 14× are becoming more common, although the image quality does typically suffer a bit compared with the more traditional zooms.

The maximum aperture

Aperture

for a zoom lens may be the same (constant) for all focal lengths, but it is more common that the maximum aperture is greater at the wide-angle end than at the telephoto end of the zoom range. For example, a 100 mm to 400 mm lens may have a maximum aperture of f/4.0 at the 100 mm end but will diminish to only f/5.6 at the 400 mm end of the zoom range. Zoom lenses with constant maximum apertures (such as f/2.8 for a 24-70mm lens) are usually reserved for lenses with higher build quality and are thus more expensive than those with variable maximum apertures.

Prime lenses

Standard non-zoom lenses are called prime lenses or simply "primes". Their advantage, in addition to typically giving a slightly better image quality, is that they are smaller, lighter and cheaper than a zoom lens of the same quality. A prime lens may also be "faster", i.e., have a larger maximum aperture

Aperture

(smaller f-number

F-number

), so it can be used with less light (with the same shutter speed

Shutter speed

In photography, shutter speed is a common term used to discuss exposure time, the effective length of time a camera's shutter is open....

), and can provide less depth of field

Depth of field

In optics, particularly as it relates to film and photography, depth of field is the distance between the nearest and farthest objects in a scene that appear acceptably sharp in an image...

in situations where this is desirable.

Macro lenses

Macro lenses are designed for extreme closeup work. Such lenses are popular for nature shooting such as small flowers, as well as for many technical applications. As most of these lenses can also focus to infinity and tend to be quite sharp, many are used as general-purpose optics.

Special purpose lenses

Most users of SLR and DSLR cameras stick to using zoom lenses, while a few of the more adventurous amateurs and many professional photographers also invest in a few prime lenses. Special purpose lenses are, as the designation implies, for special purposes, and are not so common.

There are many different kinds of special purpose lenses, the most popular being fisheye lens

Fisheye lens

es, which are extreme wide-angle lenses with an angle of view of up to 180 degrees or more, with very noticeable (and intended) distortion.

Some other kinds of special purpose lenses, such as perspective control lenses and soft-focus

Soft focus

In photography, soft focus is a lens flaw, in which the lens forms images that are blurred due to spherical aberration. A soft focus lens deliberately introduces spherical aberration in order to give the appearance of blurring the image while retaining sharp edges; it is not the same as an...

lenses, were more popular with film SLRs but are less popular for DSLRs because the same or similar results can be obtained with post-processing software.

Graphics software

In computer graphics, graphics software or image editing software is a program or collection of programs that enable a person to manipulate visual images on a computer....

For a more complete discussion of special purpose lenses see Special-purpose photographic lenses.

Automatic focus

Almost all modern lenses for SLRs and DSLRs provide automatic focus

Autofocus

An autofocus optical system uses a sensor, a control system and a motor to focus fully automatic or on a manually selected point or area. An electronic rangefinder has a display instead of the motor; the adjustment of the optical system has to be done manually until indication...

. The autofocus sensor(s) and electronics are actually in the camera body, and this circuitry provides electrical power and signals to a motor inside the lens that adjusts the focus. (Some older autofocus systems are based on a motor in the camera body and using a mechanical connection to the focus mechanism in the lens.)

There are two different kinds of in-lens electronic focus drive motors currently in use, the traditional servo motor and the more modern "ultrasonic" drive

Ultrasonic motor

An ultrasonic motor is a type of electric motor powered by the ultrasonic vibration of a component, the stator, placedagainst another component, the rotor or slider depending on the scheme of operation...

systems. These ultrasonic drives go by different names according to the manufacturer, for example USM (Canon), AF-S/Silent Wave (Nikon), Super Sonicwave Motor/SSM (Sony), Supersonic Wave Drive (Olympus), Extra Silent Motor (Panasonic/Leica), Supersonic Drive Motor (Pentax), and Hypersonic Motor/HSM (Sigma). These ultrasonic focus drives typically provide faster focusing than the non-ultrasonic drives, as well as being practically silent and using less battery power.

Optical image stabilization

Image stabilization

Image stabilization is a family of techniques used to reduce blurring associated with the motion of a camera during exposure. Specifically, it compensates for pan and tilt of a camera or other imaging device. It is used in image-stabilized binoculars, still and video cameras, and astronomical...

is a technique used to reduce image blur caused by the camera not being held steady. There are two kinds of image stabilization used in SLR and DSLR cameras and their lenses:

In-body image stabilization is implemented by moving the image sensor in an attempt to counteract the sensed motion of the camera. The advantage of this technique is that it works for all lenses mounted on the camera, at least if the camera electronics are aware of the lens' focal length. This is most commonly done automatically, but some cameras (such as all Olympus bodies with IS) allow the user to input the focal length manually for use with lenses with no electronic coupling. In-body image stabilization is used in modern Olympus, Sony, and Pentax cameras.
In-lens image stabilization is implemented in the lens itself, and moves the lens elements in an attempt to counteract the sensed motion of the camera. The inherent advantage of this kind of image stabilization is that it steadies the viewfinder image, allowing for more accurate framing and autofocus. The disadvantage is that you have to pay the extra cost for every lens you buy for which you want image stabilization. Panasonic, Canon, and Nikon use lens-based image stabilization. Some third-party lenses from Sigma and Tamron also have lens-based IS systems.

The effectiveness of image stabilization systems varies somewhat from implementation to implementation, but there seems to be no inherent superiority to either lens-based or sensor-based systems as far as the actual improvement in captured images.

Image stabilization systems can degrade image quality if the photographer is intentionally panning (as the system tries to negate the panning motion), or if the camera is mounted on a very sturdy tripod (the system drifts around slowly due to spurious measurements over the course of a long exposure). Some more recent IS systems can automatically detect these situations and disable the IS along the panning axis, or disable it completely if the camera is on a tripod.

Mounting a lens with optical image stabilization on a camera with in-body image stabilization does not provide improved results, since the combined effect of both systems will "overcorrect". Users of image-stabilized lenses on bodies with sensor-shift IS should determine which system offers superior performance and turn the other off.

Lens mounts

There is almost no commonality between different camera makers regarding lens mount systems. Each manufacturer has developed their own system, and build camera bodies and lenses that only work with their own lens mount, with the Four Thirds System

Four Thirds System

being a partial exception.
This was different before 1970 when most of the manufacturers use either M42

M42 lens mount

The M42 lens mount is a screw thread mounting standard for attaching lenses to 35 mm cameras, primarily single-lens reflex models. It is more accurately known as the M42 × 1 mm standard, which means that it is a metric screw thread of 42 mm diameter and 1 mm thread pitch...

or M39

M39 lens mount

The M39 lens mount is a screw thread mounting system for attaching lenses to 35 mm cameras, primarily rangefinder Leicas. It is also the most common mount for Photographic enlarger lenses....

lenses, most of which can still be used depending on the particular adapter you can find.

This does not necessarily mean that one is limited to only mounting, for example, Pentax lenses on a Pentax camera body. There are independent optics companies that make lenses for the various otherwise proprietary mount systems, thus providing alternative sources for lenses that are often of equal quality and/or less expensive than the camera maker's own lenses. Another possibility is the use of adaptors that allow mounting a lens for one system on a camera with a different lens mount. However, the use of an adaptor usually results in reduced functionality, typically requiring the manual setting of aperture and focus, or perhaps not being able to use any aperture other than "wide open".

M42

Used by Leica, Nikon

Nikon

, Pentax

Pentax

, Canon, Zenit

Zenit (camera)

Zenit is a Russian camera brand manufactured by KMZ in the town of Krasnogorsk near Moscow since 1952 and by BelOMO in Belarus since the 1970s. The Zenit trademark is associated with 35mm SLR cameras...

Canon EF and EF-S lens mounts

Canon introduced the EF lens mount

Canon EF lens mount

Introduced in 1987, the EF lens mount is the standard lens mount on the Canon EOS family of SLR film and digital cameras. EF stands for "Electro-Focus": automatic focusing on EF lenses is handled by a dedicated electric motor built into the lens...

in 1987 as part of the EOS

Canon EOS

The Canon EOS autofocus 35 mm film and digital SLR camera system was introduced in 1987 with the Canon EOS 650 and is still in production as Canon's current DSLR system...

system. It broke with the most common technique for implementing autofocus at that time by not having a mechanical connection to a motor in the camera body, having instead only electrical connections and requiring a motor to be part of each autofocus lens.

The EF-S lens mount

Canon EF-S lens mount

The EF-S lens mount is a derivative of the EF lens mount created for a subset of Canon digital single-lens reflex cameras with APS-C sized image sensors. It was released in 2003. Cameras supporting the EF-S mount are backward-compatible with the EF lens mount and, as such, have a flange focal...

is a newer subset of the EF standard, introduced in 2003. EF-S lenses can only be used on Canon digital cameras that use the APS-C sensor, for example the 400D

Canon EOS 400D

The EOS 400D, called Digital Rebel XTi in North America and EOS Kiss Digital X in Japan, is a mid-range digital single-lens reflex camera introduced by Canon August 24, 2006....

(EOS Digital Rebel XTi) and the 40D

Canon EOS 40D

The Canon EOS 40D is a 10.1-megapixel semi-professional digital single-lens reflex camera. It was initially announced on August 20, 2007 and was released at the end of that month. It is the successor of the Canon EOS 30D, and is succeeded by the EOS 50D. It can accept EF and EF-S lenses...

. Note that while an EF-S lens can not be mounted on a camera that uses the EF mount, EF lenses can be mounted on cameras designed for the EF-S standard.

As noted above under focal length, Canon makes DSLRs with various sensor sizes, and all using the EF or EF-S lens mounts. This leads to the interesting phenomenon of the same EF lens providing different angles of view

Angle of view

In photography, angle of view describes the angular extent of a given scene that is imaged by a camera. It is used interchangeably with the more general term field of view....

depending on which camera it is mounted on.

Third-party lenses compatible with Canon's EF and EF-S mounts are manufactured by Sigma

Sigma Corporation

is a Japanese company founded in 1961, manufacturing cameras, lenses, flashes and other photographic accessories. All Sigma products are produced in the company's own Aizu factory in Bandai, Fukushima, Japan...

, Tamron

Tamron

is a Japanese company manufacturing photographic lenses, optical components and commercial/industrial-use optics. Tamron Headquarters is located in Saitama City in the Saitama Prefecture of Japan....

, Tokina

Tokina

is a Japanese manufacturer of photographic lenses and CCTV security equipment.-History:Tokina, become a partner of Pentax, division of Hoya Corporation and jointly developed some lenses. These will be available under the Pentax and Schneider Kreuznach D-Xenon and D-Xenogon brands in Pentax K mount...

and Zeiss. The manufacturers of these lenses have reverse engineered the electronics of the EF lens mount. The use of these lenses is not supported by Canon. However, many users find these lenses to be cheaper (with the exception of Zeiss), and sometimes superior alternatives to Canon lenses.

Four Thirds System

The Four Thirds System

Four Thirds System

was created by Olympus and Kodak

Eastman Kodak

Eastman Kodak Company is a multinational imaging and photographic equipment, materials and services company headquarted in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded by George Eastman in 1892....

in 2001, and is designed exclusively for digital cameras. It is the only lens mounting system that is not completely proprietary; it is a semi-open standard that may be licensed by third parties. Currently Olympus, Leica (in cooperation with Panasonic), and Sigma

Sigma Corporation

are making lenses under Four Thirds System consortium licensing.

The Four Thirds System sensor size (17.3 mm x 13 mm) is the smallest currently being used in DSLR cameras. This leads to both advantages (theoretically smaller, lighter and cheaper lenses and camera bodies) and disadvantages (slightly lower image quality, especially in low-light situations).

There are currently over 35 lenses available for Four Thirds System cameras. A complete list can be found on Andrzej Wrotniak's web site.

Micro Four Thirds

Micro Four Thirds is a variant on the standard Four Thirds system, developed by Olympus and Panasonic. While these cameras are technically not DSLRs, they use the same image sensors, are similar in operation, and use similar interchangeable lenses. The Micro Four Thirds lens mount is a slightly modified version of the standard Four Thirds mount, and a number of lenses have been built for it. Because the lack of a mirror, optical viewfinder, and a shorter flange-focal distance these lenses can be more compact than those for standard Four Thirds.

Standard Four Thirds lenses can be used on a Micro Four Thirds camera with full electronic communication using an adapter, but those that do not support contrast-detect autofocus

Autofocus

will only autofocus slowly, if at all. Micro Four Thirds lenses can not be used on a standard Four Thirds camera.

Minolta AF lens mount

Konica Minolta

is a Japanese manufacturer of office equipment, medical imaging, graphic imaging, optical devices, and measuring instruments. It is headquartered in the Marunouchi Center Building in Marunouchi, Chiyoda, Tokyo, with a Kansai office in Nishi-ku, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture...

sold the rights to their Minolta AF lens mount

Minolta AF

The Minolta Alpha camera system was a collection of photographic equipment from Minolta. The system used a lens mount called A-mount, with a flange focal distance 44.50 mm. The new mount was larger than the older SR-mount making old manual lenses incompatible with the new system...

to Sony in 2006. See below under Sony α mount system.

In North America, Minolta began using the name 'Maxxum' for the SLR autofocus cameras, lenses and flashes while in Europe they were called 'Dynax', and in Asia the 'Alpha' branding was used, though they were otherwise identical in appearance and function - all of the equipment is 100% interchangeable regardless which of the names it carries.

Most Minolta Maxxum/Dynax compatible lenses, whether built by Minolta or one of the aftermarket lens manufacturers, are focused externally by a shaft connecting the autofocus computer and motor inside the camera body that mechanically connects to the internal focusing gears inside of the lens body. A couple of later Minolta lenses do have a built-in ultrasonic focus motor (SSM lenses), like other SLR and DSLR systems (i.e. Canon and Nikon) where the AF computer is inside the camera body and there is a digital interface connecting body to an electric motor and the focusing gears built into the lens body creating a "drive-by-wire" focusing system.

This shaft driven autofocus design has several benefits such as allowing for smaller and lighter lenses and also keeps the cost of lenses down because there are no internal focusing motors or digital interfaces built into the lens. Keeping the autofocus motors inside the camera body and as far away from the lens glass as possible, reduces vibration, an additional benefit.

This shaft-driven autofocus system has been extremely successful and continues to this day with Sony's current breed of state-of-the-art digital SLR cameras, the A-100, A-200, A-300, A-350 and A-700. However, Sony has also released more SSM lenses under the Sony and Zeiss brands.

Nikon F-mount

The Nikon F-mount

Nikon F-mount

The Nikon F-mount is a type of interchangeable lens mount developed by Nikon for its 35 mm SLR cameras. The F-mount was first introduced on the Nikon F camera in 1959, and features a three lug bayonet mount with a 44 mm throat and a flange to focal plane distance of 46.5 mm...

was introduced by Nikon

Nikon

in 1959, and is thus one of the most venerable lens mounts still in existence. Another factor that makes the Nikon F-mount popular is that several other camera manufacturers, for example Fujifilm

Fujifilm

is a multinational photography and imaging company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.Fujifilm's principal activities are the development, production, sale and servicing of color photographic film, digital cameras, photofinishing equipment, color paper, photofinishing chemicals, medical imaging...

, have adopted it. F-mount photographic lenses are currently made by Nikon

Nikon

, Zeiss, Voigtländer

Voigtländer

Voigtländer is an optical company founded by Johann Christoph Voigtländer in Vienna in 1756 and is thus the oldest name in cameras. It produced the Petzval photographic lens in 1840, and the world's first all-metal daguerrotype camera in 1841, also bringing out plate cameras shortly afterwards...

, Schneider

Schneider Kreuznach

Schneider Kreuznach is the abbreviated name of the company Jos. Schneider Optische Werke GmbH, which is sometimes also simply referred to as Schneider. They are a manufacturer of industrial and photographic optics....

, Sigma

Sigma Corporation

, Tokina

Tokina

, Tamron

Tamron

is a Japanese company manufacturing photographic lenses, optical components and commercial/industrial-use optics. Tamron Headquarters is located in Saitama City in the Saitama Prefecture of Japan....

, Hartblei

Hartblei

Hartblei is a Ukrainian manufacturer of optical equipment for photography based in Kiev. They are primarily known for producing tilt-shift lenses . Taking lens designs produced by Kiev-Arsenal they modify these into tilt and shift designs of their own...

, Kiev-Arsenal

Kiev-Arsenal (photo camera)

Kiev is a Soviet brand of photographic equipment including cameras manufactured by the Arsenal Factory in Kiev, Ukraine. The camera nameplates show the name "KIEV", with older cameras using "КИЕВ" or "КИЇВ" in the cyrillic alphabet.At the end of November 2009 Gevorg Vartanyan of Arax, a Ukrainian...

, Lensbaby

Lensbaby

Lensbaby is a line of camera lenses for SLR cameras that combine a simple lens with a bellows or ball and socket mechanism for use in special-effect photography. A lensbaby can give effects normally associated with view cameras...

, Vivitar

Vivitar

Vivitar Corporation was a manufacturer, distributor and marketer of photographic and optical equipment originally based in Oxnard, California. Since 2008 the Vivitar name serves as Sakar International's photographic and optical equipment brand.-Products:...

, and others, and over 400 lenses are compatible with the system.

Most Nikon F-mount lenses cover the standard 36×24 mm area of 135 film

135 film

, while "DX" designated lenses cover the 24×16 mm area of the Nikon DX format

Nikon DX format

The Nikon DX format is an alternative name used by Nikon corporation for APS-C image sensor format being approximately 24×16 mm. Its dimensions are about 2/3 those of the 35mm film format . The format was created by Nikon for its digital SLR cameras, many of which are equipped with DX-sized...

sensors, commonly referred to as APS-C format

APS-C

Advanced Photo System type-C is an image sensor format approximately equivalent in size to the Advanced Photo System "classic" size negatives...

. "DX" lenses produce vignetting

Vignetting

In photography and optics, vignetting is a reduction of an image's brightness or saturation at the periphery compared to the image center. The word vignette, from the same root as vine, originally referred to a decorative border in a book. Later, the word came to be used for a photographic...

when used on film cameras or full frame

Full frame

In cinematography, full frame refers to the use of the full film gate at maximum width and height for 35 mm film cameras. It is sometimes also referred to as silent aperture, full gate, or a number of other similar word combinations. It is the original gate size pioneered by William Dickson and...

digital cameras such as the Nikon D3

Nikon D3

. The D3 and D700 have a DX-compatible mode that reduces the resolution from 12.2 megapixel to 5.1 megapixel that avoids vignetting.

There are basically three types of F mount Nikon lens:

MF = Manual focus lenses
AF & AF-D = Auto focus by camera body driven focus motor, the D version provides distance information
AF-I & AF-S = Auto focus by integrated/ultrasonic motor in lens, see also List of Nikon compatible lenses with integrated autofocus-motor

Industrial F-mount lenses have varying, often small, film/sensor coverage. Older F-mount lenses designed for film cameras will work on modern SLR or DSLR cameras with some limitations, typically not providing autofocus or automatic aperture

Aperture

setting. Entry level Nikon DSLRs such as Nikon D40

Nikon D40

The D40 is a now-discontinued Nikon F-mount entry-level digital SLR, announced November 16, 2006. Compared to its predecessor, the D50, the D40 had several features removed, a few added, and a lower price: US$499.95 ESP as of November 2009 with the 18–55 mm G-II kit lens, positioning it as an...

, D40X, D60

Nikon D60

The Nikon D60 is a 10.2 megapixel Nikon F-mount digital single-lens reflex camera announced in January 2008. The D60 succeeds the entry-level Nikon D40x...

, D3000

Nikon D3000

The Nikon D3000 is a 10.2 megapixel DX format DSLR Nikon F-mount camera announced by Nikon on 30 July 2009. It replaces the D40 as Nikon's entry level DSLR. It features a 3.0-inch 230,000-dot resolution LCD monitor, CCD sensor with ISO 100–1600 and 3D tracking Multi-CAM1000 11-point AF system...

, D3100

Nikon D3100

The Nikon D3100 is a 14.2 megapixel DX format DSLR Nikon F-mount camera announced by Nikon on August 19, 2010. It replaces the D3000 as Nikon's entry level DSLR. It introduces Nikon's new EXPEED 2 image processor and is the first Nikon DSLR featuring full high definition video recording with full...

, D5000

Nikon D5000

The D5000 is a 12.3 megapixel DX format DSLR Nikon F-mount camera, announced by Nikon on 14 April 2009, and rumored to have been discontinued in November 2010. Although it is listed as discontinued on the Nikon Japan website, it is still available in other regions as of April 2011. The D5000 has...

and D5100

Nikon D5100

The Nikon D5100 is a 16.2 megapixel DX format DSLR F-mount camera announced by Nikon on April 5, 2011. It features the same 16.2-megapixel CMOS sensor as the D7000 with 14-bit resolution, while delivering Full HD 1080p video mode with up to 30fps...

do not have an integrated focus motor, so they will not autofocus with AF & AF-D lenses. Similarly, some AF-I & AF-S lenses will not work on some older Nikon AF film SLR's.

Nikon 1 mount

The Nikon 1 mount was announced on 21 September 2011 together with the Nikon 1 series

Nikon 1 series

The Nikon 1 series are high-speed mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras. Announced on 21 September 2011, Nikon claims that it is "Nikon's most significant announcement since we introduced our first digital camera 14 years ago"...

high-speed mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras.

Pentax K mount

The Pentax K mount

Pentax K mount

The Pentax K mount, sometimes referred to as the "PK mount", is a lens mount standard for mounting interchangeable photographic lenses to 35 mm single-lens reflex cameras. It was created by Pentax in 1975, and has been used by all Pentax 35 mm and digital SLRs since...

(or just "PK mount") was created by Pentax

Pentax

in 1975, and has been used by all Pentax 35 mm and digital SLRs since. The mount has been developed over the years, resulting in a large number of designations such as K_F mount, K_A mount, K_AF mount, K_AF2 mount and K_A2 mount, plus a couple of more recent versions that are not completely backward-compatible and are thus referred to as "crippled" versions. ("Crippled" in this context does not imply any lack of modern functionality, just a lack of compatibility with past lenses.) For more information see the Pentax K mount

Pentax K mount

article or Bojidar Dimitrov's web site.

A number of other manufacturers have produced K-mount lenses, and several other manufacturers have made K-mount cameras. In 2005 Pentax and Samsung

Samsung Techwin

Samsung Techwin is a surveillance, aeronautics, optoelectronics, automations and defense company. It is a subsidiary of Samsung Group. The company employs 4720 employees and is headquartered in South Korea. Its totals sales in 2010 was 3,198 billion won....

entered into a cooperation resulting in the Samsung GX line of DSLRs, based largely on Pentax technology including the Pentax K mount.

Sigma SA mount

Sigma Corporation

, better known for manufacturing lenses for other cameras, has made some film SLR and DSLR cameras themselves. These cameras use the Sigma SA mount

Sigma SA mount

The Sigma SA mount is a design of lens mount designed by the Sigma Corporation of Japan for use on their single-lens reflex camera designs. The SA mount uses a bayonet mount which is physically similar to the Pentax K mount but uses a flange focal distance of 44 mm, identical to that of the Canon...

, for which Sigma makes a line of lenses.

The Sigma DSLR cameras that use the SA mount are the Sigma SD9

Sigma SD9

The Sigma SD9 is a digital SLR camera produced by the Sigma Corporation of Japan. The camera was launched at the Photo Marketing Association Annual Show on February 18, 2002. It was Sigma's first digital camera, and was the first production camera to use the unique Foveon X3 image sensor, which...

, Sigma SD10

Sigma SD10

The Sigma SD10 is a digital SLR camera produced by the Sigma Corporation of Japan. It was announced on October 27, 2003 and is an evolution of the previous SD9 model, addressing many of the shortcomings of that camera...

and Sigma SD14

Sigma SD14

The Sigma SD14 is a digital single-lens reflex camera produced by the Sigma Corporation of Japan. It is fitted with a Sigma SA mount which takes Sigma SA lenses....

. These cameras are noteworthy for their use of the Foveon X3 sensor

Foveon X3 sensor

The Foveon X3 sensor is a CMOSimage sensor for digital cameras, designed by Foveon, Inc. and manufactured by National Semiconductorand Dongbu Electronics....

, an image sensor that works on quite different principles from the sensors used in all other digital cameras.

Sony α mount system

The Sony

Sony

, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....

α mount system is based on the Minolta AF lens mount

Minolta AF

, which was introduced with the Minolta Maxxum 7000

Minolta Maxxum 7000

The Minolta MAXXUM 7000 35mm SLR camera was introduced in 1985. It marked a significant milestone in photography as it was the first camera to feature both integrated autofocus and motorised film advance, the standard configuration for later amateur and professional single lens reflex...

camera in 1985, along with 11 AF-mount lenses. Minolta

Minolta

(and later Konica Minolta

Konica Minolta

) followed up by producing a large number of AF-mount lenses over the years up until 2006.

Sony acquired Konica Minolta's camera technologies in 2006, and chose the "α" (alpha) brand name, already in use by Minolta in Asia, for their new "Sony α" digital SLR system. The Minolta AF lens mount was retained from the old cameras and is now officially known as the "Sony α mount system".

Sony has produced several new lenses for the Sony α mount, and the current list of Minolta and Sony α mount lenses has over 60 entries. Some of the newest α mount lenses are designated "DT" for Digital Technology; these are for digital cameras with APS-C

APS-C

Advanced Photo System type-C is an image sensor format approximately equivalent in size to the Advanced Photo System "classic" size negatives...

sensors, and will result in vignetting

Vignetting

if used on a film SLR.

Third party lenses for the AF lens mount are made by Zeiss, Sigma

Sigma Corporation

, Tamron

Tamron

is a Japanese company manufacturing photographic lenses, optical components and commercial/industrial-use optics. Tamron Headquarters is located in Saitama City in the Saitama Prefecture of Japan....

, Tokina

Tokina

and Vivitar

Vivitar

Mount compatibility across camera generations

The Nikon F-mount lens systems and the Pentax K-mount systems are the only 35 mm SLR camera systems (apart from the Leica M-mount rangefinder system) that allow a photographer to use a mechanical SLR camera body, a fully automatic SLR camera body, and a DSLR camera body, all utilizing the same lenses. The only aspects of these manufacturers' lenses that have changed are the addition of electronic contacts, autofocus abilities and, in some cases, the elimination of the external aperture ring for electronic control (i.e., Nikon's 'G-type' auto-Nikkors, which cannot be used on a mechanical SLR camera body).

Canon, Minolta (Sony), Olympus, and other manufacturers have changed lens mounts. Much older Canon film cameras used the FD lens mount, which was discontinued in 1987 in favor of the EF lens mount. Olympus discontinued the OM lens mount for the OM series cameras in favor of the Four Thirds System lens mount. However, due to the size of the Four Thirds mount it is possible to fit legacy SLR lenses from any manufacturer using an adapter, albeit with manual aperture and focus control. Minolta (Sony after 2006) phased out its bayonet-mount MC and MD Rokkor lenses for a modified bayonet mount (supporting autofocus) in 1985.

Resources

The largest database of M42 mount lenses and Pentax K compatible (more than 5000 models) PhotoPentax.com

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Interchangeable lenses

Aperture and depth of field

Focal length and angle of view

Zoom lenses

Prime lenses

Macro lenses

Special purpose lenses

Automatic focus

Optical image stabilization

Lens mounts

M42

Canon EF and EF-S lens mounts

Four Thirds System

Micro Four Thirds

Minolta AF lens mount

Nikon F-mount

Nikon 1 mount

Pentax K mount

Sigma SA mount

Sony α mount system

Mount compatibility across camera generations

See also

Resources