General purpose F-mount lenses are used with large format CCD/CMOS cameras when C-mount lenses are too small.  This includes most very high resolution area scan and most linescan cameras where the sensor size exceeds 16-20mm.  They are generally optimised for magnifications between 2 and 20 times the size of the sensor although some can be adapted to work outside this range.

They can be used with extension tubes to optimise coverage and working distance.

As with C-mount lenses, high performance F-mount lenses give superior optical performance to standard resolution models although pixel sizes tend to be larger with large format sensors which is often not as optically demanding as working with smaller sensor/pixel sensors.

These lenses are generally optimised for use in the visible spectrum but some models are also IR corrected.