68degrees
Well-known
I see some spelling one way and another what is the truth im reading confilcting info
Nikomat vs Nikkormat - What's the deal?
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Paulbe
Well-known
I always heard they were the exact same camera, and the Nikomat was sold outside the US; the Nikkormat, within the US. I'm sure there are quite a few Nikon experts who can give us the correct info..either way, they are both great cameras.
Paul
Paul
Dwig
Well-known
Nikon, then Nippon Kogaku KK, originally named the line the "Nikomat". When they began to import them into the US they found that the name ran afoul of the then current interpretation of the US Trademark regulations. It seems that Zeiss owned "Ikomat" and argued that "Nikomat" was too similar. Nikon continued with the Nikomat name elsewhere, but coined the "Nikkormat", derived from their lens trademark rather than their camera body trademark, for those samples sold in the US, as because of the nature of the distribution channel, the rest of North America.
There was a similar issue for awhile in Germany with "Nikon", again because of Zeiss' ownership of "Ikon". There are samples of the Nikon F sold in Germany with "Nikkor" on their front nameplate instead of Nikon.
68degrees
Well-known
wow that is very interesting!
charjohncarter
Veteran
Whatever it was called, I wanted one in the USA in 1964. $200; almost in reach at that time, but not for me, I was a student. I settled for a IIIf for $50 which I still have. But back then the Nikkormat was pure unadulterated sex appeal.
Photo_Smith
Well-known
Nikomat was the Japanese model, Nikkormat pretty much everywhere elsa.
Same camera.
Same camera.
George Bonanno
Well-known
I don't know but when I bought my Nikomat FTn and Nikomat EL from Lucky Camera and came back to the states my photo buddies had the same cameras badged as Nikkormat. I didn't give it much thought but now that it's mentioned it's a curiosity. Personally I think they're the same.
sevo
Fokutorendaburando
The cameras positively are the same, even with serials mixed. It was just a rebranding, for whatever reasons. The use of Nikkor... rather than Nikon throughout product lines in West Germany is known to have been in response to a court ban regarding Zeiss Ikon trademark violations. And using Nikomat over Nikon in Japan was done to keep the consumer cameras a separate strain from the pro line-up, presumably while picking a name that borrowed more from the successful F than from the ill-reputed Nikkorex series.
As far as other markets go, there obviously was no ban on the term Nikon anywhere except in Germany, as evident by the Nikon F not being sold as Nikkor F anywhere else, and the Nikkorex was rare enough outside Japan that they didn't have to fear its reputation. I remember one claim that the name division was somehow a matter of Japanese writing, but overall it is more likely that they used Nikkormat over Nikomat because it was their preferred choice, associated to their existing and successful lens brand name (but considered a poor naming for Japan in the trail of the Nikkorex). That a name division would hamper the grey market won't have made them sad either, battling any kind of - even personal - third party imports from Japan appears to have been something their US importer dedicated much effort to.
Erik van Straten
Veteran
I've always thought that the Nikkormat was named Nikomat in Japan because the Japanese had difficulties with the pronounciation of the word "Nikkormat".
Erik.
Erik.
sevo
Fokutorendaburando
That was one of the legends around it - the other was that the Japanese (presumably Kanji) transcription has some (embarrassing or insulting) ambiguous meaning. But the lenses were and are named Nikkor in Japan as well, so either seems implausible.
Besides, these are issues the Japanese don't really bother about - after all, their pronunciation of a Japanese brand name is the right one no matter how much it may differ from what the English make of it. And none of my Japanese friends ever wasted a single thought on any of the Kanji ambiguities which we Westerners find so funny - that is the Japanese analogy to the scatological word play we'd expect from small children...
Hehe that's really interesting to read 😀
The Japanese actually have no trouble pronouncing double consonants (e.g. kk in Nikkormat, pp in Nippon, pp in teppan-yaki etc.) at all. It just signals a short pause in the sound between the preceding vowel sound and the consonant sound. The "r" in Nikkormat would just be pronounced as an extension of the preceding vowel sound (a long "o" instead of a short "o" in this case).
Red Robin
It Is What It Is
Don't forget a Nikkormat by any other name will shoot as sweet!
