Nikon 5cm SC in Leica Mount

Checked Rotoloni, Raid, and my guess is 1953 or so. You have an early 'Japan' lens (they start at 622000), and click stops were introduced later than 622618.

Possibly more than 105,000 lenses made, about 30% in LTM (many for Nicca bodies).
 
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ferider said:
Checked Rotoloni, Raid, and my guess is 1953 or so. You have an early 'Japan' lens (they start at 622000), and click stops were introduced later than 622618.

Possibly more than 105,000 lenses made, about 30% in LTM (many for Nicca bodies).
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Thanks for the information on my lens, Roland. It is an old lens, which makes it very interesting to me. Nicca cameras with a lens have become costly on ebay. They can go for $750.
 
LeicaTom said:
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. :D

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
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I'm wondering how do you know the year? Is there a serial numbers table of some kind for the Nikkors? I have a later Nikkor-H 50/2 753xxx, would like to know in what year is was made.
 
kermaier said:
Mine is 623701 without click stops, so I guess they were introduced later than that.

::Ari
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I recall that "my lens" that Ari now owns had no click stops. My current lens has such click stops and it is later than Ari's lens by 5000 or so.
 
You would need the book, Mark, and I do not own it since I do not own Nikon RF equipment, except for this one lens and the 105/2.5.
 
I have never made a claim about existing differences, but I referred to such claims.
Then again, your opinion is .... your opinion. Other people's opinions also matter here. This may be hard to understand, but it is a fact.
 
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I have Nikkor H-C No624587 and it has click stops. Wonderful lens. A little heavy but it makes wonderful images with my M6 or IIIc.

Joe
 
Excuse my impertinence, but I want to give to consider, the optical formula is not the only player in the game.
For example, I had at some time two Canon 50/1.8, one with the bluish, the other with a amber coating, which had clearly visible differences in terms of OOF-behaviour.
I'm sure, coating-details changes more often than the optical formula during the period of production.
I don't know if this is the case with the Nikkors. This came me just into my mind during reading this thread.
 
Just a few minutes ago, I asked Lina to model for me quickly. A first snapshot with the 5cm 2.0 on the EP-2. Any faults are mine and not those of the lens. ISO=100 Natural Look setting.

PC154561bw-L.jpg



PC154567-L.jpg



PC154565-L.jpg


PC154564-L.jpg
 
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Beautiful, as always, Raid. The 50+ year old lens does not let down the digital camera. :)
Question: At what aperture were you shooting, and what shutter speed? The face/eyes seem soft compared to the dress, and I'm wondering if that's due to Lina moving her head or sligtly missed focus at wide aperture?
::Ari
 
kermaier said:
Beautiful, as always, Raid. The 50+ year old lens does not let down the digital camera. :)
Question: At what aperture were you shooting, and what shutter speed? The face/eyes seem soft compared to the dress, and I'm wondering if that's due to Lina moving her head or sligtly missed focus at wide aperture?
::Ari
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Thank you, Ari. I used aperture 2.0 at ISO 100, and Lina moved a lot. I did not use the VF, which may have been an error. I hold the camera (back) away from me when I compose and focus based on the camera back, and there is more room for error than when pressing the camera VF to one of my eyes when focusing. with the VF
 
haempe said:
Excuse my impertinence, but I want to give to consider, the optical formula is not the only player in the game.
For example, I had at some time two Canon 50/1.8, one with the bluish, the other with a amber coating, which had clearly visible differences in terms of OOF-behaviour.
I'm sure, coating-details changes more often than the optical formula during the period of production.
I don't know if this is the case with the Nikkors. This came me just into my mind during reading this thread.
Click to expand...

As for the Nikkors, the "Tokyo" have more blueish coatings than the "Japan" and the late black "Japan" (when the -C went away from the lenses namerings) have more amber coatings, but I can't tell any difference as for the OOF behaviour.

Actually I can't think of any law of physics and optics which would explain a difference in the OOF behaviour but for a truly different optical formula. Uncoated/coated/single coated/blue coated/amber coated/multicoated/super multicoated : this will only deal with flare and chromatic dispersion (and so, how sharp and contrasted the picture will look to be), not with anything else.

IIRC the Canon lenses formula were slightly modified alongside with the coatings modifications (especially if you compare an early Serenar with a late black and chrome Canon), but this is not the case with the Nikkors.

No impertinence which I can see, either. ;)
 
Highway 61 said:
No impertinence which I can see, either.
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Good to hear...:)

Highway 61 said:
IIRC the Canon lenses formula were slightly modified alongside with the coatings modifications (especially if you compare an early Serenar with a late black and chrome Canon), but this is not the case with the Nikkors.
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Ok, this (formula changes) is new to me.

Highway 61 said:
As for the Nikkors, the "Tokyo" have more blueish coatings than the "Japan" and the late black "Japan" (when the -C went away from the lenses namerings) have more amber coatings, but I can't tell any difference as for the OOF behaviour.

Actually I can't think of any law of physics and optics which would explain a difference in the OOF behaviour but for a truly different optical formula. Uncoated/coated/single coated/blue coated/amber coated/multicoated/super multicoated : this will only deal with flare and chromatic dispersion (and so, how sharp and contrasted the picture will look to be), not with anything else.
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I observed a harsher bokeh and a overall increased contrast with the amber coated lens. Maybe changes in the formula cause this, but for my humble optical knowledge it seems not impossible, the coatings are involved in the observed different result.

Best regards
 
haempe said:
I observed a harsher bokeh and a overall increased contrast with the amber coated lens.
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Seems pretty logical re. the contrast - and the contrast improvement may also make the bokeh look harsher, because the OOF objects get more precise contours with increased contrast (just try it using PhotoShop ;)).

That darn bokeh (a thing which didn't exist when I began to seriously take photographs back in the 1980's :D) is something which has a look but isn't something you can measure with scientific instruments. ;)

As for the Canon lenses I'm not too sure, you should check this using Peter Dechert's books or so.

Anyway - I do think that this is a total no-brainer. A good lens is a good lens, there are a very few actually bad 50mm lenses produced ever (say, the Tessar formula lenses pushed-up to f/2.8) and very clever would be the guy who would tell a Sonnar from a Nikkor, a Nikkor from a Serenar, a Summicron from a Topcor when it comes to 50mm lenses of the 1950's.

Even a "Tell which is the Tessar and which is the Sonnar" quizz in front of some several A4 size good prints would be quite fun to setup :D
 
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