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5cm f/3.5 MICRO-NIKKOR |
Nippon Kogaku K.K. introduced their first Nikkor lens, a Micro-Nikkor 5cm f/3.5 for their rangefinder series of camera specifically for shooting close-up photography in 1956. It was a creation by renowned Japanese optical designer, Mr. WAKIMOTO, Zenji (1924-1996) who also happened to be the chief designer of Nikkor lenses for the Nikon "S"-series and F-series 35mm cameras those days. The lens was only available in a beautiful chrome finish and collapsible mount. It was also believed to have been produced only in a limited quantity and thus this reason could have had made this rare piece of Nikkor RF lens such a HOT favorite collectible for Nikon enthusiasts worldwide (According to Robert Rotolori's "Nikon Rangefinder cameras" he stated the serial number for this RF lens may have been began from 523000.
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Credit: ALL these beautifully taken images of the RF Micro-Nikkor 50mmf/3.5 lens appeared in this page courtesy of Mr Serhiy <jrpv@gmx.net>© All images Copyright 2002. Please respect the visual property of the owner. |
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Focusing from its closest distance to infinity setting required two operational steps. |
At full lens extension, it is possible to focus from a minimum distance of 3.0 ft to infinity. The closest focusing distance is only achieved by collapsing the lens barrel where it can close focus down to 1.5 ft. Technically, the lens can achieve 1:1 Life Size reproduction ratio via Nikon Repro Copy outfit or by means of a Bellow Unit. Employing a simple 5 lens elements design in its optical construction, this lens claimed to have provided resolving power "beyond the capacity of most commercial production films available during its era ... ". But a true fact, the lens was highly colour corrected to enable it to be used for all types of photography. It is not known whether how is the sucess rate and level of convenience using the lens with Nikon Reflex Housing on a rangefinder camera or rather how will the lens work with the N/F Tube (or BR-1) on Nikon reflex SLR cameras (Wait till you tell me...with notes and illustrations). This rangefinder Nikkor lens has an equivalent version with preset aperture as Micro-Nikkor-P 55mm f/3.5 Preset designed for the Reflex Nikon cameras introduced at later stage with the focal length of the reflex lens increased slightly from 50mm to 55mm.
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The lens uses an odd 34.5mm filter attachment size for other accessories and was supplied with a black plastic lens case. This lens was priced rather quite expensive those days even it has a much slower maximum lens speed but it was very well received and has been selling steadily. |
Credit: ALL these beautifully taken images of the RF Micro-Nikkor 50mmf/3.5 lens appeared in this page courtesy of Mr Serhiy <jrpv@gmx.net>© All images Copyright 2002. Please respect the visual property of the owner.
Update: " ..... The black box at
left hand side which is depicted on photo with this lens is not original. I have
got the lens without any box and included a box from some old LOMO lens to show that
lens will be properly packed. Best regards...." - Serhiy -
This
RF Micro-Nikkor lens has formed the basis for the immensely popularity at later years
of this series of lenses spearheaded by the introduction of direct viewing reflex
SLR camera system which facilitates accuracy and convenience to a new level in close-up
photography previously not possible with rangefinder system.
| Early AF Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/2.8s | Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/2.8s | Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/2.8 | Ai Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 | Pre-Ai Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 | Non-Ai Micro-Nikkor-P 55mm f/3.5 | Non-Ai Micro-Nikkor-P.C 55mm f/3.5 | Non-Ai Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 Preset | Special version Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/2.8 | RF Micro-Nikkor 50mm f/3.5 lens |
| 50mm | 55mm | 60mm | 85mm |
105mm |
200mm |
70-180mm |
| Back | Main Index Page of Micro-Nikkor
Lenses
| Back | Main Index Page of Nikkor Resources
Fisheye-Nikkor Lenses - Circular | Full Frame | Ultrawides Lenses - 13mm15mm18mm20mm | Wideangle Lenses - 24mm28mm35mm | Standard Lenses - 45mm 50mm 58mm | Telephoto Lenses - 85mm105mm135mm180mm & 200mm | Super-Telephoto Lenses - 300mm 400mm 500mm 600mm 800mm 1200mm |
Special Application lenses:
Micro-Nikkor Lenses - 50mm~55mm -60mm 85-105mm 200mm Micro-Zoom 70-180mm
Perspective Control (PC) - 28mm 35mm PC-Micro 85mm
Dedicated Lenses for F3AF: AF 80mm f/2.8 | AF 200mm f/3.5 EDIF
Depth of Field Control (DC): 105mm 135mm
Medical Nikkor: 120mm 200mm
Reflex-Nikkor Lenses - 500mm 1000mm 2000mm
Others: Noct Nikkor | OP-Nikkor | UV Nikkor 55mm 105mm | Focusing Units | Bellows-Nikkor 105mm 135mm
Nikon Series E Lenses: 28mm35mm50mm100mm135mm | E-Series Zoom lenses: 36~72mm75~150mm70~210mm
MF Zoom-Nikkor Lenses: 25~50mm | 28~45mm | 28~50mm | 28~85mm | 35~70mm | 36~72mm E | 35~85mm | 35~105mm | 35~135mm | 35~200mm | 43~86mm | 50~135mm | 50~300mm | 70~210mm E | 75~150mm E | 80~200mm | 85~250mm | 100~300mm | 180~600mm | 200~400mm | 200~600mm | 360~1200mm | 1200~1700mm
Tele-Converters: TC-1 | TC-2 | TC-200 | TC-201 | TC-300 | TC-301 | TC-14 | TC-14A | TC-14B | TC-14C | TC-14E | TC-16 | TC-16A | TC-20E
Recommended links to understand more technical details
related to the Nikkor F-mount and production Serial Number:
http://www.zi.ku.dk/personal/lhhansen/photo/fmount.htm by: Hansen,
Lars Holst
http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/nikonfmount/lens2.htm
http://home.aut.ac.nz/staff/rvink/nikon3.html
Recommended Reading
Reference on
Nikon cameras and Nikkor lenses
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Home - Photography in Malaysia |
Co-developed
with 
Denmark , Creator
of the Nikon Repair Group Mailing-List; A contributing
effort to Michael Liu's Classic Nikon
SLRs and Nikkor optic site.
Credit: To all the good people who has contributed their own experience, resources or those who are kind enough granting us permission to use their images appeared in this site. Mr. MCLau®, who has helped to rewrite some of the content appeared this site. Chuck Hester® who has been helping me all along with the development of all these Nikon websites;LarsHolst Hansen, 'Hawkeye' who shares the same passion I have; Ms Rissa, Sales manager from Nikon Corporation Malaysia for granting permission to use some of the official content; TedWengelaar,Holland who has helped to provide many useful input relating to older Nikkor lenses; Some of the references on production serial numbers used in this site were extracted from Roland Vink's website; HiuraShinsaku from Nikomat Club Japan. t is also a site to remember a long lost friend on the Net. Note:certain content and images appeared in this site were either scanned from official marketing leaflets, brochures, sales manuals or publications published by Nikon over the years and/or contribution from surfers who claimed originality of their work for educational purposes. The creator of the site will not be responsible for may discrepancies arise from such dispute except rectifying them after verification."Nikon", "Nikkormat", "Nippon Kokagu KK" & "Nikkor" are registered tradename of Nikon Corporation Inc., Japan. Site made with an Apple IMac.