Nikon 5cm SC in Leica Mount

[raid]

Correction of title: It should read Nikon 5cm H-C in Leica Mount

Hi,
I received today in the mail a Nikon 5cm 2.0 #628xxx. It is a "Japan" lens and not a "Tokyo" lens.

Who knows of a link for a list on serial numbers and history of such Niokn lenses? Old threads discussed the differences between Tokyo/Japan lenses, where some said that differences can only been found for 5cm 1.4 lenses while others claimed that even for the 5cm 2.0 there were differences. The Tokyo lens has supposedly a creamier OOF rendering.

I sold a while ago a Tokyo lens, and now I have a Japan lens, The aperture ring has clicks from one stop to the next.

What do you know about the history of my new lens?

Thanks.

 

[bobkonos]

Bob Rotoloni, both personally through the Nikon Historical Society, and through his fine book on Nikon rangefinders, should have the answers.

 

[ferider]

There is no list, Raid, but you can roughly estimate it using Rotoloni's book. I'll check tonight. I am assuming it is mid 50's. I have a younger sister, 640xxx.

Good lenses. Easy to modify for 0.7m min. focus 🙂

Roland.

 

[raid]

Mine is a 5cm 2.0; isn't yours a 5cm 1.4?

Thanks.

 

[ferider]

You need both, Raid 🙂

 

[raid]

I will next look for the 50 1.4, Roland. I went through many good 5cm RF lenses, and now I want the Nikon ones.

 

[kermaier]

You need both, Raid 🙂

At the very least! More than one of each is better. 😉
When I get home, I'll check the SN of the one you sold me a few years ago, Raid.
::Ari

 

[raid]

So you have it, Ari! If you sell it one day, I get first cut.
Thanks.

 

[raid]

Nikon Kiu one time lend me his Nikon 5cm 1.1. Now that was a large lens.

 

[raid]

 

[LeicaTom]

Ca. 1953/54 version, great lens, one of the best vintage non Leica lenses for a LEICA M8 or M film I think, the 1949/52 "Tokyo" ones shoot smoother creamier Bokeh styles and the post 1953 "Japan" ones a sharper still creamy REAL SONNAR look and that's just MY opinion really, (SAME LOOK GOES FOR THE VERSIONS OF S.C. f1.4 AS WELL)

I use a 1955 one..........I love the results with color and the B&W's look great too, a lens for everyone who wants that true "Retro" look in their photos. 😀

I just go by what MY PinUps look like after I use this thing 😉 Really any era of these H.C. f2's is kickass, one of my favorite lenses of all RF lenses to really use on a daily basis 🙂

Greedy dealers have pushed the prices up lately, they are not a rare lens, but just hard to find in good shape, while all the shooters back in the 1950's KNEW that it was a keeper and they kept them till they wore out!

Enjoy it Raid, you have a nice example there.

Tom

 

[raid]

Thank you, Tom. It was sold for $200 here at RFF, and it is a lens that I actually miss not having anymore since I sold my last one. I don't have pin-ups, but I recall that the images taken with my first 50/2 were very nice looking.

I use a Canon lens hood for a 50mm/2.8 lens with the Nikkor.

 

[LeicaTom]

Thank you, Tom. It was sold for $200 here at RFF, and it is a lens that I actually miss not having anymore since I sold my last one. I don't have pin-ups, but I recall that the images taken with my first 50/2 were very nice looking.

I use a Canon lens hood for a 50mm/2.8 lens with the Nikkor.

Yeh, took me like 6 months to find a decent clean one, they are hard to find clean most have really bad cleaning marks.

I use a original Walz 40.5mm hood on it when shooting film and when on the M8 I use a step up ring, a Walz 43mm with a Leica IR/CUT filter under that.

Those once cheap plastic 40.5mm "dog ear" Nikkor lens caps work perfectly too on these lenses. 🙂

Tom

 

[raid]

It came with a Walz filter on it. I have many lens hoods to choose from.

 

[kermaier]

So you have it, Ari! If you sell it one day, I get first cut.
Thanks.

Yes, it's NK Japan #623701, all chrome, no aperture click stops. I think it's not the most recent one you bought and sold, but the one before that. 🙂 going by serial numbers, you've re-purchased a close contemporary of the one I have.

I'll definitely give you first crack at it if I decide to sell, but it's not too likely. I've made a rule against selling lenses that I've taken good pictures with, and your old Nikkor-H.C seems to have a special affinity for my younger daughter. (My Canon 50/1.2 loves my older daughter, so I can't dump it, despite its crappy, uncoated, fungus-etched element in the rear group.)

::Ari

 

[raid]

You may be right here, Ari. Keeping the good lenses makes lots of sense.

 

[kermaier]

It's not even necessarily the best lenses, but the ones for which the stars aligned to make a good picture. For example, I've gotten one or two really fine keepers with my Canon 35/2.8; though I hardly ever use it anymore, having since acquired much "better" 35mm lenses, I still can't bring myself to sell it. Probably a silly attitude, verging on superstition, but that's what I'm going with for now. 😱

::Ari

 

[raid]

I know what you mean. I also kept my Canon 35/2.8 while I have two 35mm Summicrons.

 

[bowieknife]

Raid, the 5cm f/2.0 is the Nikkor H-C model, the f/1.4 is the S-C.
Mine is marked Nippon Kogaku Tokyo, therefore made before the end of occupation in Sept. 1951, serial of my lens is 50080217. It had some fungus behind the front element, have it cleaned, tough wide open pics are a bit soft compared to later Nikkor lenses. Coating still present on the inner lens elements. Nikon built Zeiss Sonnar 50mm f/2.0 copies for the Canon rangefinders, in a special mount, since 1939. Then in 1948 they started their own rangefinder line, based roughly on the Contax mount. There have been collapsible and non-collapsible versions of this lens, in Nikon mount and Leica M39, for the Nicca/Tower brand Leica copies. Some 100,000 have been made.

 

[bowieknife]

btw my lens came in a machined alloy container, marked NIKKOR, together with an alloy lens cap, lined with black velvet and marked Nippon Kogaku Tokyo, the lens itself is heavyweight, made of chromed brass