The Nikon F-mount is a type of interchangeable lens mount developed by Nikon for its 35mm format single-lens reflex 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. The company continues, with the 2020 D6 model, to use variations of the same lens mount specification for its film and digital SLR cameras. The Nikon F-mount successor is the Nikon Z-mount. The FTZ II (and the original FTZ) lens adapter allows many F-mount lenses to be used on Z-mount cameras.
History The Nikon F-mount is one of only two SLR lens mounts (the other being the Pentax K-mount) which were not abandoned by their associated manufacturer upon the introduction of autofocus, but rather extended to meet new requirements related to metering, autofocus, and aperture control. The large variety of F-mount compatible lenses makes it the largest system of interchangeable flange-mount photographic lenses in history. Over 400 different Nikkor lenses are compatible with the system. The F-mount is also popular in scientific and industrial applications, most notably machine vision. The F-mount has been in production for over 67 years, the only SLR lens mount with such longevity.
Design
System of lenses In addition to Nikon's own range of "Nikkor" lenses, brands of F-mount photographic lenses include Zeiss, Voigtländer, Schneider, Angénieux, Samyang, Sigma, Tokina, Tamron, Hartblei, Kiev-Arsenal, Lensbaby, and Vivitar. F-mount cameras include current models from Nikon, Fujifilm, Sinar, JVC, Kenko and Horseman. Numerous other manufacturers employ the F-mount in non-photographic imaging applications.
Compatibility The F-mount has a significant degree of both backward and forward compatibility. Many current autofocus F-mount lenses can be used on the original Nikon F, and the earliest manual-focus F-mount lenses of the 1960s and early 1970s can, with some modification, still be used to their fullest on all professional-class Nikon cameras. Incompatibilities do exist, however, and adventurous F-mount users should consult product documentation in order to avoid problems. For example, many electronic camera bodies cannot meter without a CPU enabled lens; the aperture of G designated lenses cannot be controlled without an electronic camera body; non-AI lenses (manufactured prior to 1977) can cause mechanical damage to later model bodies unless they are modified to meet the AI specification; and AF-P lenses (introduced in 2016) will not focus, even manually, on cameras introduced before roughly 2013. Many manual focus lenses can be converted to allow metering with consumer Nikon bodies by adding a Dandelion chip to the lens.
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Most Nikon F-mount lenses cover a minimum of the standard 36×24 mm area of 35mm format and the Nikon FX format, while DX designated lenses cover the 24×16 mm area of the Nikon DX format, and industrial F-mount lenses have varying coverage. DX lenses may produce vignetting when used on film and FX cameras. However, Nikon lenses designed for film cameras will work on Nikon digital system cameras with the limitations noted above.
Mounting and control rings F-mount lenses lock by turning counter-clockwise (when looking at the front of lens) and unlock clockwise. Nearly all F-mount lenses have zoom and focus controls that rotate in the clockwise direction (as viewed from behind the camera) to increase focal length and focus distance respectively. This convention is also used in Pentax K-mount and Sony A-mount lenses but is opposite of the direction normally used by Canon. F-mount lenses also typically have aperture rings that turn clockwise to close. The aperture rings have two sets of f-stop numbers. On cameras equipped with Nikon's Aperture Direct Readout (ADR) system, a small window under the pentaprism reads the smaller scale and displays the selected f-stop in the viewfinder.
Nikkor
Designations Nikon has introduced many proprietary designations for F-mount Nikkor lenses, reflecting design variations and developments both in lenses and the F-mount itself. There are also "unofficial" designations used by collectors and dealers to differentiate similar lenses.
Pre-autofocus There are four major generations of manual-focus Nikkor lens styles, which may be distinguished cosmetically and functionally:
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