NikonGear'23
Gear Talk => Other => Topic started by: richardHaw on October 07, 2018, 15:29:07
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http://richardhaw.com/2018/10/07/report-nikkor-prototypes-part-1/
part 1 is out :o :o :o in my patented iPhone photo style. ::)
i took hundreds of pictures that overflowed my iPhone that day so i may end up with 5-parts!
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Richard, i will gladly read all 5 parts :)
Thanks, Jakov
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Great, I'm waiting for the other parts... ;)
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http://richardhaw.com/2018/10/08/report-nikkor-prototypes-part-2/
part 2 is here! :o :o :o
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Thank you, Rick, for the report!
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pt3 will be out in a few days...before weekend :o :o :o
much more interesting stuff over there...
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this is interesting :o :o :o
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http://richardhaw.com/2018/10/14/report-nikkor-prototypes-part-3/
part 3! :o :o :o
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I love those Micro Nikkors with F-mount in the front ;) that is actually quite clever 8) Thanks!
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I love those Micro Nikkors with F-mount in the front ;) that is actually quite clever 8) Thanks!
Erik, BR-2A will serve you at anytime!
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I have enjoyed reading this series a lot. Thank you Richardhaw!
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Erik, BR-2A will serve you at anytime!
I just wish they had released these double F-mount lenses, I have always disliked the 52mm interface as it has no way of locking, indexing rotation nor fixed length,,,
Sure these mount reversing rings as well as the K-Ring set has the potential for great usage as more or less universal building blocks, I just see the practical and secure part of the use as equal important
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Great stuff! Thanks
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I love those Micro Nikkors with F-mount in the front ;) that is actually quite clever 8) Thanks!
wait till you see what i saw (not in the museum) ::)
a 55/3.5 with ring lights :o :o :o
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thanks everyone! part 4 will be out by this weekend :o :o :o
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Especially nteresting to see a 10 mm f/2,8 OP-Fisheye with AI-S Characteristics
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http://richardhaw.com/2018/10/21/report-nikkor-prototypes-part-4/
pt4 :o :o :o
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http://richardhaw.com/2018/10/08/report-nikkor-prototypes-part-2/
part 2 is here! :o :o :o
Nikkor-H 2.8cm 1:3.5 Did you manage to get a picture of the tick mark prototype? This lens is shown in some very old Nikon literature but the serial number is never shown. Your pictures seem to show the lens slightly stopped down, I think I can see the aperture blades showing through the front element, but the picture is not clear enough to count them. It either has more than 5 blades from the production model, or the blades are curved so the opening is more rounded ...?
Nikkor-S 28mm f/2.8 Auto You write: "you can say that it’s the for-runner of what’s to become the New-Nikkor 28mm f/2.8 but it has 1 less element and the barrel design is not the same".
Correction - the production New Nikkor 28/2.8 has 7 elements so it is a Nikkor-S. Also the production lens starts with serial number 382011, and the prototype has serial number 382002, so this prototype is clearly related to the production lens. Just after the prototype was made in 1971, Nikon must have decided to change the styling for the New Nikkor (K) series, but kept the optical design more or less the same.
Nikkor-D 20mm f/4 Auto (1966) "This lens has a unique design with integrated lens hood" ... maybe that is a mistake, the hood looks like a normal screw-in hood ...?
Nikkor-D 20mm f/4 Auto (1971) This lens is clearly a predecesor to the New Nikkor 20/4, it has the same number of elements (Nikkor-D = Deci = 10 elements) and a 52mm filter size but I think the design is still a little different as the production lens is shorter and even more compact.
Nikkor-TD 20mm f/2.8 13 elements! What a cool lens :)
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updated part 4 :o :o :o
Roland: I can check the serials if you want. thanks for your inputs, i will revise it as soon as i get time. super busy lately ::)
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http://richardhaw.com/2018/10/28/report-nikkor-prototypes-part-5/
Part 5 is now up! :o :o :o
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http://richardhaw.com/2018/10/28/report-nikkor-prototypes-part-5/
Part 5 is now up! :o :o :o
Thank you, Rick, for the effort! It has been a long journey, but well worth it.
I guess that the 600/5.6 ED is a prototype with the automatic aperture which the focusing unit didn't offer.
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It was interesting that Nikon tried the New Nikkor smaller lens styling on the 300mm. Looked cool, anyway!
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Some rare looking lenses, interesting how one is so accustomed to the actual production lenses that these seems strange and unfamiliar,,,
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if anybody wants me to revisit anything, i will go there around december and I can take photos of the lenses that you want :o :o :o
just make a list of which lens and WHAT angle and i will see if I can squeeze my iPhone between the glass cases. the staff there are usually familiar with me and they usually let me be anyway but if I needed to touch anything i will have to ask the curator first if he is around ::)
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http://richardhaw.com/2018/10/28/report-nikkor-prototypes-part-5/
Part 5 is now up! :o :o :o
Nikkor-P 135mm f/3.5 Auto It is interesting that Nikon was planning a new version as early as 1963. The new lens would have 5 elements (Nikkor=P = Penta = 5) compared to 4 elements for the existing lens (Nikkor-Q = Quatro = 4). As it turned out, the existing lens remained in production until 1969 when it was replaced by an updated Nikkor-Q, also with 4 elements.
It's interesting that so many prototypes have the diamond pattern rubber grip. In production lenses this was normally used on special lenses such as zooms, reflex, 55mm micro etc, while most lenses continued to use the metal scalloped focus grip until the K/New Nikkor series in 1974.
Reflex-Nikkor 250mm f/8 A interesting little lens, but the not-very-long focal length and slow aperture would have limted its usefulness.
Nikkor-H 300mm f/4.5 Auto I wonder why this lens is so fat? The optics are probably the same as the production model Nikkor-H 300/4.5. Maybe they wanted to make the focus throw longer? The production lens has a relatively focus throw of just 150°, they could easily have made it much longer without changing anything else. The prototype also has a rotating tripod collar, instead of the two fixed points on the production model.
Nikkor-H 400mm f/5.6 Auto This lens is also very fat, and obviously a pre-ED design.
Nikkor 600mm f/5.6 ED This must be a prototype which lead to the AI 600/5.6 IF-ED. A small number of trial pre-AI 400/3.5 and 600/5.6 IF-ED were made for the Montreal Olympics - see https://imaging.nikon.com/history/story/0066/index.htm - but the prototype shown at the Museum has a different design from the trial lenses.
(http://photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/k60056.jpg)
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Nikkor-P 135mm f/3.5 Auto It is interesting that Nikon was planning a new version as early as 1963. The new lens would have 5 elements (Nikkor=P = Penta = 5) compared to 4 elements for the existing lens (Nikkor-Q = Quatro = 4). As it turned out, the existing lens remained in production until 1969 when it was replaced by an updated Nikkor-Q, also with 4 elements.
It's interesting that so many prototypes have the diamond pattern rubber grip. In production lenses this was normally used on special lenses such as zooms, reflex, 55mm micro etc, while most lenses continued to use the metal scalloped focus grip until the K/New Nikkor series in 1974.
Reflex-Nikkor 250mm f/8 A interesting little lens, but the not-very-long focal length and slow aperture would have limted its usefulness.
Nikkor-H 300mm f/4.5 Auto I wonder why this lens is so fat? The optics are probably the same as the production model Nikkor-H 300/4.5. Maybe they wanted to make the focus throw longer? The production lens has a relatively focus throw of just 150°, they could easily have made it much longer without changing anything else. The prototype also has a rotating tripod collar, instead of the two fixed points on the production model.
Nikkor-H 400mm f/5.6 Auto This lens is also very fat, and obviously a pre-ED design.
Nikkor 600mm f/5.6 ED This must be a prototype which lead to the AI 600/5.6 IF-ED. A small number of trial pre-AI 400/3.5 and 600/5.6 IF-ED were made for the Montreal Olympics - see https://imaging.nikon.com/history/story/0066/index.htm - but the prototype shown at the Museum has a different design from the trial lenses.
(http://photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/k60056.jpg)
Thanks for your input :o :o :o
i am also wondering why that lens is so fat. there must be some hidden gimmick ::)
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VR?? :) :o
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The scalloped rings has to be custom cast to fit, a round ring for the rubber grip can easily be made for each prototype. I'm actually surprice that so many of the prototypes has the scalloped rings ;)
The fat versions of the pre production lenses could be due to not wanting to optimise and or down size the internal mechanics for focusing and aperture etc. until the optics where fine tuned.
Thank you for your report Rick and thank you Roland for your detailed comments! Amazing to get behind the scenes info.!
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Good point about the rubber grip - they are easier to make for each prototype. I thought the scalloped rings were milled not cast, but it still requires more work...
As for the fat Nikkor-H 300/4.5 (6 elements), the optics of the production lens are almost identical to the older Nikkor-P 300/4.5 (5 elements). The main difference is that the front element of the Nikkor-P is replaced by a doublet in the Nikkor-H (which is where the extra element comes from). This improves correction for chromatic aberrations which was important as colour films were becoming more common in the late 1960s. The rest of the optical design looks the same, maybe some minor adjustment to spacing, curvature or glass materials. Since the optics are basically the same, they can be housed in a similar barrel, indeed the Nikkor-H 300/4.5 looks identical to the Nikkor-P, it is only a few mm longer due to the thicker doublet, and a little heavier. So it is surprising the prototype is housed in such a different barrel. The other difference is that the prototype appears to have a rotating tripod collar rather than the two fixed points of the production lenses, but that does not explain why the barrel is so fat...
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im not sure but i guess that some of the components that were used to make these lenses were re-purposed from existing models. :o :o :o hence, the weird dimensions ::) its like me wearing my cousins' clothes as a youngster because kids usually tend to soil or ruin their clothes quite easily as I can affirm with my own child. the shoes that i bought her last month now has holes on both sides...
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Good point about the rubber grip - they are easier to make for each prototype. I thought the scalloped rings were milled not cast, but it still requires more work...
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To me it would make sense to cast this geometri more or less complete and then finish off with milling/turning the ends and internals, with tight tolerances for large production volumes.
It takes a lot of machining to make these scallops and then engrave all of the meter and feet values all around the ring, would not make sense IMHO
That's also why I wonder why they did the prototypes with scalloped rings, but they could be engraved, maybe Rick can examine closely the engravings on the prototypes and compare with old normal pre Ai and Ai, Ais lenses,,,
It also looks like the numbers on old lenses are not directly engraved when you compare them to engraved lenses, modern lenses. One can see the material underneath the black paint bulges a bit like it's cast, not the distinct square look of an engraving.
Strip some old lenses for paint and let's see ;) I saw some 55mm 1.2 stripped from paint once,,, :o
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http://richardhaw.com/2018/10/08/report-nikkor-prototypes-part-2/
part 2 is here! :o :o :o
Going back to the wide-angle prototypes:
Nikkor-N 25mm f/2.8 Auto
The label says 1971 but I think that is a mistake, this lens looks earlier than that:
1. It is engraved "Nippon Kogaku Japan No.400011". By 1971 Nikon had simplified the engraving to just "Nikon" and the serial number without the "No." prefix.
2. The filter ring is chrome which is a feature of Nikkors in the early 1960s. The trend during the late 1960s and early 1970s was towards black filter ring, eg Nikkor-N 24/2.8, Nikkor-O 35/2, Nikkor-S 55/1.2
3. The focal length is 25mm, not 24mm like the Nikkor-N 24/2.8 from 1967. During the early-mid 1960s Nikon was working on a lens with focal length wider than 28mm but did not require mirror lock-up like the Nikkor-O 2.1cm lens. The early prototypes have focal length of 25mm following the W-Nikkor 2.5cm 1:4 rangefinder lens, such as this:http://photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/F24mm/25_35_proto.html (http://photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/F24mm/25_35_proto.html). Later they switched to 24mm to provide better separation from the 28mm focal length, so it seems strange to change back to 25mm in 1971.
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Strip some old lenses for paint and let's see ;) I saw some 55mm 1.2 stripped from paint once,,, :o
Wow, this is neat! You wouldn't need a ring flash to do the closeups with it. :D
Which mount did you attatch to this K, by the way?
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Roland, you always impress me on these details, Thank you!
Akira, it's not mine, it's used on a Canon,,, but I have seen several over the years :)
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Akira, it's not mine, it's used on a Canon,,, but I have seen several over the years :)
Ah, I see. Thank you!
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Roland, you always impress me on these details, Thank you!
That come from maintaining my Nikon database for 25 years... :o
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That come from maintaining my Nikon database for 25 years... :o
And a priceless work it is too Roland, many thanks.
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A Nikon mainstay service. Kudos.
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With due diligence and a keen eye on details ;) much appreciated!
Rick, you really have a lot to bring back to the prototype exhibit, both questions and answers ;D
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And a priceless work it is too Roland, many thanks.
+1, have used it for many years, thanks