How to fit Nikon F lenses the right way

Nikon's F-mount lens fitting system has been around since 1959 and, like other bayonet mounts, it's supposed to make fitting lenses fast and foolproof.

But there are a couple of things to be aware of that could catch out someone new to the F-mount, or more familiar with other systems.

Modern lenses - line up the dots

G-type lenses, which don't have aperture rings, are the simplest case. There's a white dot near the lens mount which you line up with the white dot on the camera body, which is at about 2 o'clock rather than at the top as on Canons and many other cameras.

Push the lens in and give it a quarter turn to mount - remembering that Nikon lenses mount by turning them anti-clockwise. (Why? Well the Nikon Z-mount is anti-clockwise to be consistent with the F-mount. The F-mount was anti-clockwise to be consistent with the old Nikon rangefinders. The Nikon rangefinder mount was anti-clockwise because it was a near copy of the Zeiss/Contax mount. Why that was anti-clockwise, nobody seems to know...)

Older lenses - find the aperture index

On pre-G-type lenses which do have aperture rings there isn't a mark next to the lens mount (because it would turn with the aperture ring and end up in the wrong place).

The technique with these lenses is to line up the dot on the camera body with the index mark for the aperture on the lens - a dot or line above the aperture ring which shows you which aperture is selected.

On the Nikon Series E lens above this mark is a white dot (just above the 2.8 mark), while on the Vivitar below it's a red dot. On some lenses it's a white line, or a coloured one.