Metal tab / ears on old Nikon lenses?

[digitaldave]

I've been looking around at manual SLRs, and whilst checking out the Nikons, I noticed that a lot of old Nikon lenses have a metal tab that looks like small rabbit ears! What are they for? Do all their manual focus lenses have them?

Dave.

 

[Mark J]

The "ears" were used for metering on the older Nikon F Photomic heads as well as the Nikormat of the same vintage. Mid 60's to the late 70's, possibly into the 80's. The ears indexed a cam similar to the one used on the Pentax 67 cameras and allowed full aperature metering.

 

[digitaldave]

Thanks for the explanation 🙂.

Edit: I assume they aren't used on bodies like the FM, FE etc?

 

[hans voralberg]

No I dont think so

 

[Roger Hicks]

They are still found on current ZF lenses, for people who still use 'real' Nikons (and Nikkormats/Nikomats).

Cheers,

R.

 

[Bill58]

See this website for an expert explanation: http://www.aiconversions.com/

 

[M. Valdemar]

They are simply mechanical couplers to the metering heads.

You can take them off if you only use AI cameras.

 

[kjoosten]

I've been looking around at manual SLRs, and whilst checking out the Nikons, I noticed that a lot of old Nikon lenses have a metal tab that looks like small rabbit ears! What are they for? Do all their manual focus lenses have them?

Dave.

They coupled to the metering heads on the Nikon F and F2 (except for the F2AS). Also all but the last model of the Nikkormat. None of the FM or AF bodies need them.

I believe all the manual focus lenses except for the E-series (economy) and the 45P pancake have them. The newly minted Zeiss ZF lenses have them also.

 

[Leighgion]

While the rabbit ears tend to snag on clothing at times, they were a wonderfully long-running commitment to backward compatibility.