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Home · Lens mounts

14 mounts

Lens mounts

On an interchangeable-lens camera the mount decides which lenses fit, and the lenses usually outlive the body. Pick the mount first and the body second, and you can swap bodies later without starting your lens kit over. Fixed-lens rangefinders and compacts don't appear here.

35mm SLR

Canon FD6 bodies1971–1990Canon launched the FD mount in March 1971 on the professional F-1, and it carried the FTb, AE-1, AT-1, A-1, AE-1 Program and the rest of Canon's manual-focus SLRs. Original FD lenses lock on with a breech-lock ring you turn while the lens stays put. New FD lenses from 1979 mount by twisting the whole lens like a bayonet, and they fit the same bodies. Canon moved to EOS and the EF mount in 1987, and the T60 of 1990 was the last FD body it introduced.
Nikon F9 bodiesFrom 1959Nikon introduced the F mount on the Nikon F in 1959, a three-lug bayonet with a 44 mm throat and a 46.5 mm flange distance, and every Nikon SLR in our catalog uses it. Manual-focus lenses come in three generations. Pre-AI lenses couple to the meter with a prong on the aperture ring, and you set the lens's maximum aperture on the body by hand. AI lenses from 1977 add a coupling ridge and an indexing post so the body reads the aperture itself. AI-S lenses from 1981 standardized aperture control for later automation.
Pentax K4 bodiesFrom 1975Pentax introduced the K bayonet in 1975 with the K2, KM and KX, replacing the M42 screw mount, and the K1000 followed in 1976. It's a three-tab bayonet that locks with about a 70° turn. Lenses are marked by generation, SMC Pentax, then SMC Pentax-M, then SMC Pentax-A. The KA version of 1983 added six electrical contacts and an A setting on the aperture ring, so KA bodies can set the aperture themselves for program and shutter priority. The P30 in our catalog is a KA body.
Olympus OM3 bodies1972–2002Olympus launched the OM bayonet in 1972 with the M-1, renamed OM-1 after Leica disputed the name. OM stands for Olympus Maitani, after chief designer Yoshihisa Maitani, whose team set out to cut the size, weight and noise of an SLR. Zuiko lenses for the mount ran from 8 mm to 1000 mm, fisheye and macro included. The OM-1, the OM-2 of 1975 with off-the-film metering and the OM-10 of 1979 all share it, and the system lasted until 2002.
Minolta SR (MC / MD)4 bodies1958–2001Minolta's SR bayonet arrived with the SR-2 in 1958, with a 43.5 mm flange distance, and lenses swap between Minolta's manual-focus SLRs old and new. There are three main generations. SR-era Rokkors from 1958 to 1966 have an automatic diaphragm. MC Rokkors from 1966 add meter coupling for full-aperture metering. MD lenses from 1977 add a lever that tells the body the smallest aperture, which the XD-11 uses for shutter priority and the X-700 for program mode. The autofocus A-mount replaced it in 1985.
M42 screw mount1 bodyFrom 1949M42 is a 42 mm screw thread with a 1 mm pitch and a 45.5 mm flange distance. Carl Zeiss in Jena developed it in 1938, and it first appeared in 1949 on the Contax S and the Praktica, which is why it's also called the Praktica or universal thread mount. Pentax, Zenit, Fujica, Yashica, Mamiya, Olympus, Ricoh and Chinon all used it. Pentax's Spotmatic of 1964 metered through the lens with the lens stopped down, and Pentax moved to the K mount from 1975.
Contax/Yashica (C/Y)1 body1975–2005The C/Y bayonet came out of Yashica's 1973 project with Carl Zeiss and arrived with the Contax RTS in 1975. Every 35mm Contax and Yashica SLR shares it, so a Yashica body takes the same Zeiss lenses as a Contax like the 139 Quartz. Zeiss C/Y lenses come in two kinds. AE lenses are the earlier type, and MM lenses add a setting that lets the body choose the aperture as part of its autoexposure. Kyocera, which bought Yashica in 1983, ended production in 2005.

Medium-format SLR

Hasselblad V2 bodies1957–2013The V system is the modular 6×6 line that began with the 500C in 1957. Each Carl Zeiss C or CF lens carries its own leaf shutter, so flash syncs at every speed, and film backs swap on and off the body. The 500C ran until 1970, the 500C/M from 1970 to 1994 and the 503CW from 1996 to 2013. Motor-driven 500 EL bodies went to the Moon, three of them on Apollo 11. Hasselblad only started calling it the V system after the H system arrived in 2002.
Mamiya 6451 body1975–2006Mamiya's M645 of 1975 was the first SLR built only for the 6×4.5 cm format on 120 film, and its bayonet stayed with the manual-focus bodies through the 645 Pro TL, made until 2006. The 645 1000S in our catalog ran from 1976 to 1990. Manual-focus lenses carry the Sekor C name, which marks multi-coated optics. The first-generation bodies use an electronically controlled cloth focal-plane shutter, and the 645 Super of 1985 added film backs that come off mid-roll with a dark slide.
Mamiya RB671 bodyFrom 1970The RB67 Pro of 1970 is a fully mechanical 6×7 SLR, and its bayonet carries on through the Pro-S of 1974 and the Pro-SD of 1990. The lenses come in three generations. The 1970 originals are single-coated, the C lenses that came with the Pro-S are multi-coated, and the later K/L lenses have better coatings again. Each has a leaf shutter from 1 s to 1/400, cocked by the body, that syncs flash at every speed. A bellows on the body does the focusing, and the back rotates for vertical or horizontal frames.
Pentax 671 bodyFrom 1969Pentax showed a prototype in 1965 and released the Asahi Pentax 6×7 in 1969, a 6×7 SLR for 120 or 220 film with an actual frame of 56 × 70 mm. It became the Pentax 67 in 1990, and the 67 II followed in 1999. Lens names follow their age, Super-Takumar first, then Takumar Super-Multi-Coated, then SMC Pentax 67, and the standard lens is the 105 mm f/2.4. The focal-plane shutter is timed electronically, so the camera needs a battery to fire.
Pentax 6451 bodyFrom 1984Pentax launched the 645 in 1984 with its own line of manual-focus A lenses, shooting 6×4.5 on 120, 220 or 70 mm film with an actual frame of 56 × 41.5 mm. The 645N of 1997 added autofocus and the FA lenses, and the 645NII came in 2001. The digital 645D and 645Z kept the mount, and the 645Z takes older manual and autofocus lenses. The original body has no interchangeable back. Film loads into holders that slide into the rear.

Medium-format TLR

Mamiya C-series TLR1 bodyFrom 1958Mamiya's C-series twin-lens reflexes, from the Mamiyaflex C2 Professional of 1958 to the C330, are among the very few TLRs with interchangeable lenses. Each lens is a matched taking and viewing pair with its own leaf shutter, Seikosha on chrome lenses and Seiko on black ones, running from 1 s to 1/500 and B. Focal lengths run from a 55 mm wide angle to a 250 mm telephoto, and the bellows focusing gets you close. The C330 corrects for parallax automatically.

Half-frame SLR

Olympus Pen F1 body1963–1972The Pen F of 1963, the Pen FT of 1966 and the Pen FV of 1967 share this bayonet on one of the smallest SLR systems ever made. Designer Yoshihisa Maitani gave them an 18 × 24 mm vertical frame, so a 36-exposure roll yields 72 pictures, and a rotating metal-disc shutter that syncs flash at every speed up to 1/500. The FT added a single-stroke advance and a built-in TTL meter. Olympus made about 190,000 Pen F, 275,000 Pen FT and 45,000 Pen FV bodies.

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Brand

Canon
Nikon
Pentax
Olympus
Minolta
Yashica
Mamiya
Hasselblad
Rolleiflex
Contax
Konica
Ricoh

Type

35mm SLRs
35mm rangefinders
35mm compacts
Medium-format SLRs
Medium-format TLRs
Half-frame cameras

Mount

Canon FD
Nikon F
Pentax K
Olympus OM
Minolta SR (MC / MD)
Hasselblad V
Mamiya 645
Mamiya RB67
Mamiya C-series TLR
Pentax 67
Pentax 645
Olympus Pen F
M42 screw mount
Contax/Yashica (C/Y)
All mounts

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