Nikon RF lenses

[joey]

Hi,

Could someone point me to a resource on www for a list of lenses compatible with Nikon RF cameras please? e.g lenses manufactured by Nikon and by third party companies.

Thanks!

 

[VinceC]

I haven't seen them all sumarized anywhere.

Most lenses came in early chrome barrel and later black barrel. Optically identical, but black barrels weigh considerably less, look more "modern" and cost more. This is an attempt at a mainstream list and so doesn't include really exotic things like stereo lenses.

Nikkors:
21/4 (astronomically priced collectible)
25/4 chrome and black
28/3.5 chrome and black
35/3.5 chrome and black
35/2.5 chrome and black
35/1.8 Black only
50/3.5 Micro (astronomically priced collectible)
50/2 chrome and black
50/1.4 chrome and black
50/1.5 (only a few hundred made very early, astronomically priced collectible)
50/1.1 (astronomically priced collectible)
85/1.5 (astronomically priced collectible)
85/2 chrome and black
105/2.5 Black only
105/4 (Sort of pricey for what it is)
135/3.5 chrome and black
135/4 chrome, very early collectible

Cosina Voigtlaender created a batch of several hundred S-Mount lenses out of their popular Leica-mount offerings. These haven't sold well and so tend to be available new:
21/4
25/4
28/3.5
35/2.5
50/1.5
50/2.5
50/3.5
85/3.5

In theory, you can put a CV 12/5.6 or 15/4.5 onto a Nikon RF camera using a special Cosina F-mount to S-mount adapter. However, these adapters were one CV item that was popular, so they are sold out and extremely difficult/close-to-impossible to find.

Any Zeiss Contax RF wide-angle lens from the 1930s to 1960 will fit. These include:
21/4.5 Biogon
25/4 Topogon (Astronomically priced collectible)
28/8 Tessar (has anyone ever shot a picture with this lens?)
35/2.8 Biogon

Soviet wide-angle lenses to fit Contax-mount Kievs will fit Nikon rangefinder, though some fit tightly and can scratch the Nikon frontplate:
28/6 Orion
35/2.8 Jupiter-12
I have seen on Ebay several years ago 20/5.6 Russars adapted to fit Kiev/Contax/Nikon mount. Appeared to be a fixed-focus adaption.

Zunow, during the 1950s, made specialty lenses which are now astronomically priced collectibles:
35/1.7
50/1.1


The two best sites are:
www.Cameraquest.com
www.pacificirimcamera.com

 

[joey]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. Your list provides more than enough.

 

[VinceC]

I of course forgot the new CV lenses from Stephen Gandy's Cameraquest. I'll edit to add them in.

 

[dexdog]

I haven't seen them all sumarized anywhere.


Any Zeiss Contax RF wide-angle lens from the 1930s to 1960 will fit. These include:
21/4.5 Biogon
25/4 Topogon (Astronomically priced collectible)
28/8 Tessar (has anyone ever shot a picture with this lens?)
35/2.8 Biogon


The two best sites are:
www.Cameraquest.com
www.pacificirimcamera.com

You forgot to include a couple of other ZI lenses made for the Contax

35mm f: 3.5 Planar (collectible, but not astronomical, yet)
35mm f: 4.5 Orthometar (collectable, but not astronomical, yet)
35mm f: ??? Biometar (collectable, semi-astronomical)

Like you, I am not sure that anyone has ever used the Contax 28/8 to take a photo- too slow for everyday purposes, except copy work (it's intended use).

 

[VinceC]

Thanks. I'm admittedly weak on my knowledge of Zeiss Contax lenses.

Also, some collectibles are just highly priced, not astronomically priced. The most astronomically priced lens is the 21/4 Nikkor, which costs thousands and thousands and changes hands too seldom to really have its value fixed at any given time. Lenses like the 50/1.1 and 85/1.5 can actually be found in the $1,500 to $3,000 range, which, for a high performance specialty lens, isn't necessarily outrageous -- in fact, that's less than many Leica lenses or, for that matter, less than some modern professional zooms.

 

[NIKON KIU]

Telephoto?

Telephoto?

As good as Vince is he forgot the Telephotos that mount with the prism Housing:

• 18cm F2.5(fastest)
• 25cm F4.0
• 35cm F4.5
• 50cm F5.0
• 100cm F6.3(yes folks thats 1000mm)

Kiu

 

[dexdog]

Also, some collectibles are just highly priced, not astronomically priced. The most astronomically priced lens is the 21/4 Nikkor, which costs thousands and thousands and changes hands too seldom to really have its value fixed at any given time. Lenses like the 50/1.1 and 85/1.5 can actually be found in the $1,500 to $3,000 range, which, for a high performance specialty lens, isn't necessarily outrageous -- in fact, that's less than many Leica lenses or, for that matter, less than some modern professional zooms.

I agree, not astronomical, and in many cases less than many zeiss lenses, or Canon L zooms. WRT my judgements on the Contax lenses, astronomical is relative to other Contax lenses, many of which are pretty cheap.

 

[venchka]

Prices new

Prices new

Here's a bit of trivia I found this afternoon.

Is the Leica a Good Investment?

You often hear on the Leica User Group about people who bought a Leica for $300 in the 1950s, and how it's now worth $1000. So are Leica's good investments? Just as point of info, the February 1952 issue of Photography had ads for:

Sterling Howard Company (NYC):

Contax III, f/1.5 Sonnar $189.50 used
Leica IIIc, f/2 Summitar $209 used
Leica IIIf, f/2 Summitar $385 new
Brooks Camera (San Francisco)

Contax IIa, T coated f/2 Sonnar $440 new
Contax IIIa, T-coated f/1.5 Sonnar $550 new
Leica IIIf no lens $221 new
Leica IIIc f/2 Summitar $350 new
Nikon 50mm Nikkor $198 new

In the mid to late 70s I paid $125 for the 5.0cm/1.4 Nikkor-S.C + Canon 35mm/2.8 lens with caps, case & finder + Canon VI-T body. Keepers all.

 

[VinceC]

Don't forget about inflation and the Consumer Price Index. $198 in 1952 was worth $1,400.

 

[venchka]

Figured as much

Figured as much

Vince,

I didn't do the math, but had a hunch it was something like that. Still, $198 in 1952 was a HUGE amount of money. Heck, $125 in the 70s for used cameras was a lot of money. Still, that was probably the best money I ever spent on cameras and lenses. More amazing is that I kept all 3 pieces long enough to really appreciate how good they are.

 

[David Murphy]

There were also some telephoto lenses made by Nikon -- rare and super expensive, but spotted on eBay from time-to-time. In addition I once owned a Komura 35/3.5 that had a Contax or Nikon mount -- I suspect it was a Nikon lens, but I did not have a Nikon body to check it.

 

[Meleica]

My Nikon made, Nikon RF Lens Page:


http://members.aol.com/dcolucci/nik.htm

Dan

 

[furcafe]

The CZJ Biometar is f/2.8.

According to Keesing's monograph, approximate production numbers:

35/2.8 CZJ Biogon (post-WWII): 2500
35/2.8 Zeiss-Opton or CZ Biogon: 9700-9800
35/2.8 CZJ Biometar: 1100
35/3.5 CZ Planar: 5000
35/4.5 CZJ Orthometar: 1700

You forgot to include a couple of other ZI lenses made for the Contax

35mm f: 3.5 Planar (collectible, but not astronomical, yet)
35mm f: 4.5 Orthometar (collectable, but not astronomical, yet)
35mm f: ??? Biometar (collectable, semi-astronomical)

Like you, I am not sure that anyone has ever used the Contax 28/8 to take a photo- too slow for everyday purposes, except copy work (it's intended use).

 

[furcafe]

I have taken a few shots w/my 2.8cm/8 Tessars:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/furcafe/tags/carlzeissjena28cm8tessarc1938/

I believe the most prominent user of this Tessar was Cornell Capa (Robert's brother). It has a reputation as a dog, & my experience seems to fit, @ least by modern standards. However, both of mine have severe cleaning marks & haze.

28/8 Tessar (has anyone ever shot a picture with this lens?)

 

[xayraa33]

Komura, Tanar, Acall and Accurar all had lenses made to fit the Nikon rf, but I suspect most of these were made by Komura anyways.
I did see a 1950's ad in a US photo magazine of a retailer selling the Contax IIa with the original Voigtlander Nokton 50/ 1.5 as a cheaper alternative to the Sonnar 50/1.5 , but this was never offered on the Nikon rf camera to my knowledge.
some dealers offered the 50mm Zunows on Nikon rfs though.

 

[furcafe]

It is my understanding that after Zeiss Ikon acquired Voigtlander in 1956, ZI did plan to replace the f/1.5 & f/2 Sonnars w/the Nokton & Ultron, which were much cheaper & easier to manufacture, & have them become the new standard lenses, but that idea was discarded when they abandoned the Contax system in favor of the Contarex & Contaflex SLRs. According to Kuc, the lenses never made it into series production, making them even rarer than the LTM versions.

I did see a 1950's ad in a US photo magazine of a retailer selling the Contax IIa with the original Voigtlander Nokton 50/ 1.5 as a cheaper alternative to the Sonnar 50/1.5 , but this was never offered on the Nikon rf camera to my knowledge.
some dealers offered the 50mm Zunows on Nikon rfs though.

 

[Sonnar2]

I have to add, the original Ultron and Nokton weren't just cheaper to manufacture than the Sonnars but also sharper. Voigtlaender claimed a resolution of 165lp/mm (f/4) with special film for the Ultron. Tronnier was a very finicky mathematician who even extended common optical table works for a few decimals to avoid rounding errors and corrected errors of oblique light-rays up to a maximum, resulting in very even sharpness over the whole field for all lenses he designed after WWII.

The problem was, except the Prominent, which was quite uncommon and odd, there were no adequate cameras build for it. It was a major mistake of Zeiss-Ikon/ Voigtlander management not to sell these lenses in other mounts like LTM, Contax bayonet and/or M42.

 

[Sonnar2]

What kind of adapter do you use for the Nokton at the S2, Brian?

 

[furcafe]

The Nokton & Ultron are truly 2 of the great classic 50mm lenses. The fact that they're easier to manufacture must have been just icing on the cake.

You're almost certainly correct that Voigtlander, or Zeiss Ikon-Voigtlander after the merger, would have been able to sell a bundle of them had they made more of them in non-Prominent mounts. However, per Brian's post, they were definitely sold in LTM (it's not clear whether the ones in Contax RF mount were ever offered to the public or simply used internally for testing w/the Contax IV prototypes, etc.), but evidently not in any quantity necessary to make a difference.

All of this makes me wonder whether the original Nokton & Ultron designs (not just the names) are in the public domain &, if so, why Cosina &/or Zeiss haven't bothered to produce new versions in LTM or M mount. I think they would be able to sell a bunch today.

I have to add, the original Ultron and Nokton weren't just cheaper to manufacture than the Sonnars but also sharper. Voigtlaender claimed a resolution of 165lp/mm (f/4) with special film for the Ultron. Tronnier was a very finicky mathematician who even extended common optical table works for a few decimals to avoid rounding errors and corrected errors of oblique light-rays up to a maximum, resulting in very even sharpness over the whole field for all lenses he designed after WWII.

The problem was, except the Prominent, which was quite uncommon and odd, there were no adequate cameras build for it. It was a major mistake of Zeiss-Ikon/ Voigtlander management not to sell these lenses in other mounts like LTM, Contax bayonet and/or M42.