The four Printing Nikkors are hard to use and are really only workable on a bellows for my work. These are among the sharpest and fastest true APO lenses that you can find, if you can find one. And they are very expensive. They have non-standard rear-mounts that require special adaptors, but they have 52mm front threads and the lenses can be reverse-mounted using the Nikon BR2 adapter, etc. Coin collectors, who are complete fanatics on sharpness, prize them and often have them on the top of their “want lists” to own. That should tell you something.
Focal Length: 150mm
Widest Aperture: f/2.8
Narrowest Aperture: f/11
Aperture Blades: none
Filter Size: 62mm Hood:
Close Focus Distance: 22.5” at 1x
Reproduction Ratio: 1x
Focus Throw: none
Front threads: 52mm
Weight: 1,020g
Color: 400 ~800nm APO
Rear Mount: M70
Resolution: 240 lines/nm
Image Size: 30mm
Sharpest Aperture: f/3.3 to f/5.6
The 150mm Printing Nikkor has front threads that can be attached to the camera, which have M58x0.75 threads. Since the lens is built symmetrically, it does not matter which way the lens is mounted. This lens is heavy and long, so keep that in mind. It wants to be mounted on a bellows, so that you can find the right length for what you are doing. These lenses originally cost $12,000. They may still be for sale under the Nikon Rayfact label, but I understand the lenses are not of the same quality as the originals.
The lens has 0% distortion, excellent corner-to-corner coverage on a FF of APS-C camera. The image circle is 88mm in diameter and claims to be a true apochromatic (APO) lens for light waves between 400mm and 800mm. The 150mm has the highest focal length and the longest working distance of the four. It does not allow infinity focus in any of the uses for it I have found. It is optimized for 1:1 magnification.
The 150mm Printing Nikkor is my favorite of the three I have. I also own the 95mm and 105mm, but have never seen the ultra-rare 75mm Printing Nikkor offered for sale.
These photos were taken with the Nikon D810 this morning just to show the kind of quality they can produce. Zerene Stacker used. I have a question whether these Printing Nikkors, since they were used in film-copying machines in a special environment, have all the coatings they deserve, but they probably do have them.
I go through bouts of using these lenses a lot, putting them down for others, and finding my way back to them again and again.
