Lens Mounts - What They Are and How They Affect Your Camera

If you have an SLR, Digital SLR, or any other camera that uses interchangeable lenses you will come across the term "lens mount". Lens mount refers to the end of the lens that fits into the camera and describes the size/shape/electronic components/compatibility of the lens to the camera. Much like the old saying "you can't fit a square peg into a round hole," lenses will not fit or work with your camera if they do not have a compatible lens mount.

Each camera manufacturer has a different type of lens mount design. Most manufacturers have several different lens mounts based on different camera models. This means that not all Canon lenses will fit all Canon cameras (or Nikon, or Sony, etc). It also means that almost no lens will fit a camera from a different manufacturer (Canon to Nikon, etc). The exception to this are third party manufacturers such as Sigma and Tamron. These companies make camera lenses in a variety of different lens mounts.

When buying a camera lens it is important to make sure you purchase a lens that has the proper lens mount for your camera. A few manufacturers produce adapter mounts to make a few select lenses fit cameras they were not designed for originally but these adapters almost always cause some compatibility issues as well as some image quality loss.

Examples of Common Lens Mount Names
(note that while names may be similar, mounts are manufacturer specific) Canon - EF
Nikon - F, DAF
Pentax - KAF, KA, KAF2