New serial number for lens produced from 2006

[NikunVn]

Hi, by looking at Mr.Roland's great website on lenses (http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/serialno.html), isn't it quite an "interesting coincidence" that there are quite a number of lenses that Nikon started new serial number from year 2006, for example like the 50mm f1.4 Ais with serial 60xxxxx, 20mm f2.8 Ais with serial 300xxxx, 24mm f2.8 Ais with serial 900xxxx...

May I know any reason for this change? Did Nikon have new improvements on all of these lenses such as SIC coating...?

Thanks!

[Bjørn Rørslett]

The old numbers were used up? (just kidding - I don't know)

[Roland Vink]

The new serial numbers started appearing in 2006 after Nikon announced they would direct their efforts to digital imaging, which was only DX format at that time. Most manual focus AIS lenses were discontinued, all film cameras discontinued (except F6 and FM10), and many AF lenses designed for film format such as 28-105 were discontinued. It seems that as part of the reorganization, serial numbers for most (all?) lenses were reset at that time.

Quite a few lenses also had new serial numbers in 2005 also - this series is obviously quite short lived, so these lenses are not common.

As far as I know there is no difference to the lenses over this time, only the serial numbers are different.

[Akira]

As far as I know there is no difference to the lenses over this time, only the serial numbers are different.

I noticed that the blue and orange paints of the f-numbers on the aperture rings of the post-2006 production looked a bit matte and cheap.  SIC had been applied before 2006, if I remember correctly.

[Roland Vink]

SIC coatings date from at least 2000, maybe a year or two earlier for some models, so that is not the explanation for the new serial numbers.
Nikon may well have used different/cheaper paint on the aperture ring, this most likely would be introduced at some random point when old stocks were used up and the next batch of lenses were produced, I can't see Nikon resetting serial numbers because of different paint

I really don't know why Nikon reset the serial numbers in 2006, maybe it was nothing more than signalling the start of a new digital era.
The 2005 serial numbers are a mystery also, but much of what comes out of Nikon is a mystery ...

[RonVol]

Welcome to the group NikunVn...............nice to see you here