Nikkor lenses in LTM: years, numbers?

[johannielscom]

Hello,

recently acquired a Nikkor 1.8/35mm in LTM and was wondering, where to locate intel on production years and amounts of Nikkor lenses made in LTM mount?

IIRC the 1.8/35mm was made around 1956 in approx. 1400 examples, but what about the other Nikkor LTM lenses? Anybody know anything about production years, and amounts?

 

[nikonosguy]

love. the 85/mm f2 - killer lens on an m3

 

[Bar8barian]

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[johannielscom]

Hi,

that's interesting. Mine is a chrome with black f-stop ring, but number is 181xxx and I'm seeing more in that range online for sale too.

Maybe those numbers are for Nikon mount lenses, not LTM?

 

[Bar8barian]

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[johannielscom]

Thanks Barbarian, much obliged!

Those files indeed list the Nikkor mount lenses, but not the LTM data...!

 

[Mackinaw]

Rotoloni, in his Nikon rangefinder book, often lists production numbers of Nikkor lenses in both Nikon mount and LTM.

Unfortunately, no LTM breakout is given for the 35/1.8.

Jim B.

 

[Bar8barian]

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[James24]

LTM 3.5/1.8 serial numbers begin with 181 and 182. Roland Vink has recently started to list rangefinder serial numbers on his excellent Nikon lenses site and has recorded the following numbers for ltm lenses


- 181581 - 181787 -
- 182523 - 182582 -


See http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/lenses.html#RF

Nikon S mount lenses begin with 351801 with the highest he has noted as 359436.

2005 reissue 35/1.8 numbers are 4 digits matched with SP 2005 bodies commencing 0001 and presumably running to 2500.

 

[James24]

There is clearly much that can be added to Vinks current information. A quick check online reveals that lens 182669 was sold at Christies in August 2000, number 181856 is currently for sale on ebay and my own copy is outside of his list with a 1819xx number.

In Nikon S mount I see that Rotoloni records a highest number of 360079.

 

[johannielscom]

Mine is 1818xx too. Pretty close to that currently on eBay lens actually!

 

[furcafe]

I would like to have this information as well.

Thanks, Chris

Hi Johan,
I have e-mailed the Nikon Lens Data files to you at :-
Your :- contact@jxxxxxxxxxs.com.

Just click on DOWNLOAD for each of the 3 files and use Microsoft Word to open the files.

 

[ferider]

AFAIK, the LTM 35/1.8 is the only RF Nikkor with a different number scheme in LTM than S (for the focal lengths that I have used, anyways, i.e. from 2.8cm to 13.5cm). My 35/1.8 is 181* as well. For the other LTM Nikkors, the serial numbers are in sequence with the S mount copies. The overall LTM window is 1946 to 59 or so.

Mapping of year to nr. can only be done roughly and depends on which lens exactly. Rotoloni is the best source for this, IMO. Which lens are you interested in, Johan ? (I can look it up).

 

[Phil_F_NM]

Johan,
An excellent question that I'm curious about as well but I'm not fortunate enough to own one.
One thing to note is that (if I recall correctly) the lens has a thorium glass element, making it among an even fewer number of lenses in a class of optic that has never really been matched for their look, tonality and sharpness. A fantastic lens and I'm green with envy! 😀

Phil Forrest

 

[James24]

To add to the 3.5/1.8 LTM serials already noted on this thread, in the link below are photos of highest so far serial number 182680 together with the extremely rare hood.

http://nikonhistoricalsociety.yuku.com/topic/880/Holy-35cm-18-shade-for-Leica-Batman#.UVsR1zfJJAM

 

[Hacker]

Here is a picture of the lens hood

 

[NIKON KIU]

As far as the 3.5cm f1.8 goes, Nippon Kogaku made a total of 8372 of which 1471 were in screw-mount. How many are still out there today? Who knows after half a century? The lens was produced late in Nippon Kogaku's Rangefinder era and only made for a few years.
I started a sample of numbers here:
http://nikonhistoricalsociety.yuku.com/topic/387/WNIKKOR-35CM-f18-screwmount#.UX5nxKI3tI4

Rest of LTM Nikkors were produced all over the entire rangefinder era, earliest ones are found on Seiki Kogaku's(Canon), Nicca and Tower cameras. Most of these serial numbers fall within regular Nikon mount serial number range although the earliest 5cm lenses had their own strange number batches.
There are no known guides or books that classify these lenses, I can't blame Bob for not including them too much in his book, it's a very vast subject that requires lots of research....So be my guest and someone start one, I say Leica Tom is a good candidate.
😉
This subject deserves it's own book!
NK made just about every lens in Screw mount, all had same formula but different barrel design, some had revolutionary barrel designs, such as the early barrel designs on some telephoto lenses that eliminated front element rotation while focusing.

They are fascinating to say the least, a good chunk of the history of this optical company can be seen when looking at the evolution of their lens designs.

Kiu

 

[James24]

As far as the 3.5cm f1.8 goes, Nippon Kogaku made a total of 8372 of which 1471 were in screw-mount.

Lowest noted LTM number of 181311 and highest number of 182680 (both gleaned from the NHS forum threads) are 1369 apart. About 10 more numbers in between these high and low recorded. Of course there might be gaps but this limited information gives a reasonable guide to the serial numbers of the 1471 lenses in LTM.

 

[kermaier]

NK made just about every lens in Screw mount

From what I've been able to see, the following is the L vs. S mount list:

2.1cm f/4 - S
2.5cm f/4 - S, L
2.8cm f/3.5 - S, L
3.5cm f/3.5 - S, L
3.5cm f/2.5 - S, L
3.5cm f/1.8 - S, L
5cm f/3.5 coll - S, L
5cm f/3.5 rigid - S, L
5cm f/3.5 micro - S, L
5cm f/2 coll - S, L
5cm f/2 rigid - S, L
5cm f/1.5 - S, L
5cm f/1.4 - S, L
5cm f/1.4 Olympic - S
5cm f/1.4 Millenium - S
5cm f/1.1 - S, L
8.5cm f/2 - S, L
8.5cm f/1.5 - S, L
10.5cm f/4 - S
10.5cm f/2.5 - S, L
13.5cm f/3.5 - S, L

Anyone know of any others?

::Ari

 

[ferider]

I think the 5cm/1.1 also came in LTM, Ari.

The famous 5cm/1.4 Olympic from the 60s and the 200x re-edition of the 50/1.4 was only made in S mount.