Patent ID: 7848634

Claim:
An apparatus for identifying an interchangeable lens, comprising: the interchangeable lens with a locking apparatus, the interchangeable lens being connectable in a prescribed position to a support surface on a camera of a camera system using the locking apparatus, wherein, after a locking operation is performed, a defined optical radiation is directed from two or more light transmitters arranged in the support surface to reflecting or absorbing surfaces on the locking apparatus which are assigned to said light transmitters, wherein the radiation returning from the respective reflecting/absorbing surfaces is picked up by light receivers arranged next to the light transmitters in the support surface, wherein a binary coded signal for identifying the interchangeable lens is formed from output signals of the light receivers; and the camera of the camera system with the support surface for mounting the locking apparatus of the interchangeable lens, in which the support surface has a latching lock as an orientation mark, and a fixing device for the locking apparatus of the interchangeable lens, wherein a sensor region for attaching sensors for detecting codings provided on the locking apparatus is provided in the support surface in a fashion counter to a direction of rotation of the locking operation and at a spacing from the latching lock in an angle segment from 90° to 180°.