Nippon Kogaku No 225392 Micro-Nikkor Auto 1:3.5 55mm

[beryllium10]

Elsid - magnificent photos!  I have what Richard labels the New-Nikkor 55/3.5 (it's an Ai or Ais Micro-Nikkor), with the 6-bladed diaphragm. If I remember correctly it was $US89, not much more than you'd pay for a UV filter (!), probably less than a polarizer, though it's a while since I bought one of those.  I bought it initially for transferring slides to digital, for which it works flawlessly, but then almost by accident discovered its equally amazing ability at landscape distances.  I needed a medium focal-length lens for a vertical 'panorama' in which I wanted to capture foreground detail and background scene in a narrow strip, focusing progressively away from the camera as I raised it.  Even just reviewing the pictures on the camera LCD screen I was amazed by the definition, contrast, and crispness of minute details.  That was on a D7000. I recently replaced that camera with a D810 and find that the lens loses none of its brilliance.  I can also add that in my experience, focusing by the arrow-dot-arrow display in the finder works very reliably with this lens on the camera.  It's also focused at infinity when it reaches the infinity stop, with no apparent temperature variability between -25 and + 30C (I've read that infinity settings are omitted nowadays because the infinity focus point changes with the temperature of the lens, but perhaps that's more of a problem with zooms).  Very much a favorite lens and very capable at all distances for the kinds of photos I like to take.

Cheers,  John

[Bill De Jager]

The 55/2.8 is known for getting oil on the blades - mine has gummed up for the second time and the focus ring has become extremely tight (I'll sell it for parts/repair soon as I replaced it with another late serial number lens which has clean aperture blades and delightfully smooth focusing).

My first 55/2.8 suddenly developed a completely immovable focus ring after previously working just fine.  Is this a common problem?  Any ideas on what could cause this?

[richardHaw]

My first 55/2.8 suddenly developed a completely immovable focus ring.  Is this a common problem?  Any ideas on what could cause this?

Hi, Bill!

http://richardhaw.com/2016/02/22/repair-micro-nikkor-55mm-f2-8-ai-s/

Check this out! instead of selling it for parts just play around with while fixing it as a new hobby

the inner CRC helicoids gets dirty or jammed and that would cause the the focusing to stiffen or seize.

[richardHaw]

OK, i am kind of busy working on a TV commercial these days on camera tracking so i have not touched my blog. 12 hour days have become normal for me now. 

if any of you guys are up for it, I can do a complete lens teardown next week of the 55mm 3.5

i have the following lenses in my repair notes folder:

1: metal nose
2: P
3: K
4: 5.5cm (preset aperture)

[elsid]

Thank you john for your comment.

[Øivind Tøien]

For the record of this thread, in the early days of the forum I posted a partial disassembly of the later AI version of 55mm f/3.5:
"55mm f/3.5 Micro Nikkor photographs its own disassembly."
http://nikongear.net/revival/index.php/topic,504.0.html
Not a complete tear down, just enough to re-grease it.

[Erik Lund]

Re re-posted

Øivind your images are a pleasure, very well layed out, sharp and show nicely all parts!

And again the non compensating slit visible,,,

[Bill De Jager]

Thank you, Richard!

[dslater]

I have seen pre-AI versions of the 55 Micro go for $20 or less.

I prefer the older versions myself so it is well worth the efforts to get it AI-modified. Also an easy lens to CPU-modify if you remove the aperture compensating lever. The latter not necessary for the CPU as such, but the aperture compensating mechanism thwarts the metering results.

Bjørn, take a look at this site and what this guy has to say about the aperture compensation feature of this lens. Is this guy way off base about how to disable the aperture compensation feature of this lens? From your post, it sounds like you have a different idea of how to accomplish this.

http://pindelski.org/Photography/2013/10/21/55mm-f3-5-micro-nikkor/

[dslater]

So I took a look inside my compensating lens as well as a non-compensating version I have. It appears that the picture in the link I provided is of the wrong claw/fork. However, on the opposite side of the lens, I notice a similar piece that has a narrow slot in it. This appears to be thelinkage between the aperture ring on the lens and the diaphragm. On the compensating lens, then slot is angled, while its straight on the non-compensating lens. So it appears that making a compensating lens into a non-compensating version involves replacing this piece correct?

[Bjørn Rørslett]

There are factual errors in the article that makes it difficult to discuss. My Compensating Micro-Nikkor 55/3.5 has a later serial number than the lens used by the author to question Roland Vink's listings of the compensating version. The author claims that the arrival of the Photomic head for the Nikon F entailed production of the compensating lens ceased and it became replaced by the non-compensating version, but this is a false conclusion. The TTL finder heads and the compensating 55 co-existed for a good while, something the users of the system, yours truly inclusive, had to learn to live with and master those days. Worth note that the frequency of Photomic-headed Nikon F's was low in those first years, thus Nikon being the conservative company then as later, just soldiered on with the existing designs.

[Roland Vink]

I probably should add a note to that page to indicate the compensating version. It is clearly listed on the serial number page though. I'm pretty sure all the 55/3.5 with the metal scalloped focus rings are compensating. This feature was dropped with the Micro-Nikkor-P version with the diamond pattern rubber grip.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

"This feature was dropped with the Micro-Nikkor-P version with the diamond pattern rubber grip."

That is what my (admittedly vague) recollections from that period tell me as well.

[dslater]

Is that also when the optical formula changed to improve performance at infinity at the expense of close up performance?

[dslater]

My compensating lens is serial # 203XXX. It doesn't have a P designation at all. It just says Micro-Nikkor Auto. I have located a factory Ai conversion kit for it (Kit type 63), and I wanted to remove the compensating feature when I installed the Ai conversion kit. I'm also considering chipping the lens. However, it looks like removing the compensating feature is not as easy as I thought. Do you have any information about what is involved to convert this lens to a non-compensating lens? Is it something that can realistically be accomplished?