Medical Nikkor 120mm f4

[Macro_Cosmos]

I figured it out, and this method I am using does not strictly require destructive removal of parts to decouple.
With the conversion, I decided to remove all the electronics anyway, it is a useless nuisance for my work.  I will mount a LED ring light in place instead.  A controller board can definitely be tucked within that housing. 

I am going to reverse the disassembly to verify its function.  If this works, it is unnecessary to enter from the rear element.

Edit:
Here it is, I got in from the front and removed all the ring light stuff.  I thought the ring light was plugged in, so I tried pulling and got a handful of glass shards.  How do they fix these if the ring light goes bust?  A typical user would not be able to perform the repair.
Anyhow, there is a white gear that engages a much larger internal gear which is a part of the "focus ring" with scales on.  I simply rotated the gear to close down the aperture fully, and then removed the gear.
Doing so disables the coupling, which allows me to control the aperture using the BR-4 ring.  I purchased an expensive ai/ais to Z-mount "PK cine style" adaptor from Kipon/XPimage.  This adaptor allows external clickless aperture coupling which will make the lens much easier to use.

Does this affect chipping?  I think it still works!  The aperture is set to minimum already, a chip should allow my camera to set the appropriate aperture from the body.  I do need to get the rear ring chipped first, hopefully I can pay a more experienced member to do this for me, I will mail just the rear mount.  I think this conversion is better.  Accessing the rear mount requires the removal of some kind of rear element group which may cause dust to enter.  For mine, all you have to do is snip all the wires, remove all the electronics and then remove one gear, much less disassembly involved.  It is possible to carefully remove all electronics using a soldering iron but I see no value in that tungsten ring flash which requires some stupid bulky dated external box.   

I will try and get another to make a video.
Here is the XPimage adaptor being demonstrated: https://youtube.com/shorts/gL3lPh0woSQ?si=V3PlVz8oJd6JKQeG
I took it from their Taobao listing.  It should arrive next week.

[Wannabebetter]

It's been a great while since I last visited here and I'm heartened to see that this lens is still being discussed. Only moments ago I was looking at a Nikon extension ring posted on an auction site, finding myself once again wondering if there isn't something I could do to modify one to facilitate manual control over the aperture lever. Clearly, I'm not the only one thinking these things, moreover implementing these solutions. Now, the fun stuff! Shortly after receiving my own 120mm Medical Nikkor I devised my own crude but effective solution to controlling the aperture, precluding any "surgery on the lens". In effect I found I could use dental rubber bands between the bayonet mount and aperture lever allowing for a friction-hold of the lever at an approximate preset f-stop value. It's a pain and often requires dismounting the lens to reposition the lever on it - but it works! And should a rubber band come off in use, it bounces harmlessly off the mirror. At which point I can shake it out of the body and put it back on the lens.

[Wannabebetter]

Reading further along in this discussion, I see the LED ring-light solution is also being explored! Frustrated by my own inability to find any cords for this lens, never mind an OEM battery pack costing nearly as much as a plane ticket to Japan, I resigned myself to building my own portable power supply. Only, I couldn't source a schematic and/or pin-out diagram for this lens and didn't want to risk blowing any number of leaking capacitors or shock myself with an indeterminate number of joules; my heart couldn't take it. So, I thought, why not go the LED solution? Simply put: I don't believe it's the same as real "flash", moreover provide enough output for some night time UV experiments I wish to conduct. But I might be wrong.

[Patrick Blancheton]

Hello,

I have the repair manual for the the "AC Power Unit LA-2" at home.
Of course there is the schematic and the pin-out diagram inside.
As soon as I have access to a scanner I post them.

[Patrick Blancheton]

Here you go 

I have the repair manual for the lens as well (thanks to Tim Becraft).
I can post the schematic of the flash unit, but it's harder to read because you have to dig into the parts list to figure out what are the components.

[Wannabebetter]

Been away for awhile with school and personal business, and hadn't realized until just now that you troubled yourself to post these schematics. They are a great help - and I thank you!

[ggoodes]

BTW, are the optics of the Medical-Nikkor considered particularly good (against the pallet of other Micro-Nikkor options), and thus making it worthwhile to resurrect?  I have seen a couple of Medical-Nikkor setups for sale over the years, but of course the power-supply (and the built-in ring-light generally) made it one of those fragile dinosaurs from the past, worth very little except to a completist/collector.  Speaking as someone who just bought a Bellows-Nikkor 105/4 (a lens which I thought was totally superseded by my Micro-Nikkor 105/2., I guess I'm re-evaluating the advantages of some of these older designs.

[Birna Rørslett]

The Medical 120 is an interesting optical design, and despite the short-coming introduced by the lack of an independent aperture ring, is capable of delivering quite excellent results.

My sample has decoupled the internal linkage between focus and aperture, and a CPU added. Thus I can set aperture from the camera, making the lens much more versatile. Usually I don't bother about the internal flash as this actually complicates the matter when aperture is independent.

[Wannabebetter]

The Medical 120 is an interesting optical design, and despite the short-coming introduced by the lack of an independent aperture ring, is capable of delivering quite excellent results.

My sample has decoupled the internal linkage between focus and aperture, and a CPU added. Thus I can set aperture from the camera, making the lens much more versatile. Usually I don't bother about the internal flash as this actually complicates the matter when aperture is independent.

Decoupling the aperture ring and adding a CPU has lately interested me more and more as the practical realities of 21st century digital photography have greatly outweighed my concerns for a post-apocalyptic world in which only analogue cameras would survive. Which in any case would be well served by my F bodies and old Nikkors. Still, I am, or rather was, reticent about irreversibly "converting" such a good lens. Indeed I even considered adding (came to me in a dream as I rarely drink) an aperture ring after doing all the perfunctory decoupling jazz. (About that not drinking...) Surely, I'm a stickler for punishment if not unnecessary grief and effort. But more to the point, the practical utility of this lens - and I have enjoyed using it - have me thinking this is the season to act. So, suitable CPU hunting I go!?

[Wannabebetter]

BTW, are the optics of the Medical-Nikkor considered particularly good (against the pallet of other Micro-Nikkor options), and thus making it worthwhile to resurrect?  I have seen a couple of Medical-Nikkor setups for sale over the years, but of course the power-supply (and the built-in ring-light generally) made it one of those fragile dinosaurs from the past, worth very little except to a completist/collector.  Speaking as someone who just bought a Bellows-Nikkor 105/4 (a lens which I thought was totally superseded by my Micro-Nikkor 105/2., I guess I'm re-evaluating the advantages of some of these older designs.

I've been looking for a Bellows-Nikkor 105mm I could afford, for ages. When I find one, they always come at a premium. I did consider substituting it for something salvaged from an x-ray device but it proved so unwieldly and cumbersome in concept I abandoned the enterprise before any small animals or mad scientists might get hurt. Why I just don't consider a proper, purpose-built and designed, macro lens, escapes me at this time. But it's in so keeping with my character.

[Roland Vink]

The AI and AI-S 105/4 micro have the same optics as the Bellows-Nikkor 105mm, and they are multicoated. You lose the ability to mount it on a bellows if you need tilt/shift functions, but the micro lenses give you the automatic aperture, a focus ring (infinity to 1:2) and a built-in hood. They are nicely built lenses.

[ggoodes]

I've been looking for a Bellows-Nikkor 105mm I could afford, for ages. When I find one, they always come at a premium.

I can only say "be patient".  I found a mint one for $150 earlier this month, and a few days afterwards one turned up on eBay NIB for $200:  https://www.ebay.com/itm/317424946025 (alas already sold).  Agreed, too many people asking insane prices for this lens, especially when as Roland points out the Micro-Nikkor 105/4 AI or AiS is the exact same lens with focusing to 1:2 and a built-in hood, and can be found quite reasonably.  I wanted the Bellow-Nikkor for my PB-4 (and I already have the Micro-Nikkor 105/2., and it took 30 years to find one for a price I would pay!

[David H. Hartman]

I've been looking for a Bellows-Nikkor 105mm I could afford, for ages...

Have you considered a 105/5.6, 135/5.6 or 150/5.6 EL Nikkors?

Just a thought,

Dave

[MEPER]

I agree on the EL-Nikkors. They are 6-lens designs and they have excellent performance for macro use.
Back in the days those lenses were quite expensive but today quite cheap.
The Componon-S enlarger lenses also very nice.

[MEPER]

Check this for ebay price level:
https://www.ebay.de/sch/i.html?_nkw=Nikon+EL-Nikkor+105mm+f%2F5.6&_sacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313