Redface Photomic Finder

[farlymac]

I know I've seen one of these before in my early life, back when they were new, but can't for the life of me remember what they were in particular.

shopgoodwill.com - #29136411 - Nikon F With 50mm f/1.4 FD Nippon Kogaku Lens - 4/20/2016 5:15:00 PM

And for some reason the Nikkor- has been ground out on the lens name ring.

PF

 

[CameraQuest]

I know I've seen one of these before in my early life, back when they were new, but can't for the life of me remember what they were in particular.

shopgoodwill.com - #29136411 - Nikon F With 50mm f/1.4 FD Nippon Kogaku Lens - 4/20/2016 5:15:00 PM

And for some reason the Nikkor- has been ground out on the lens name ring.

PF

Customs made them remove Nikon from the front plate
looks like they replaced it with red leather or vinyl ?

 

[farlymac]

Customs made them remove Nikon from the front plate
looks like they replaced it with red leather or vinyl ?

Thanks, Stephan. I didn't think about that until I looked at the lens again. The red part is name-tag plastic which has a white center so that when routed it shows through.

PF

 

[Shac]

OK but why did customs (US?) make them do this?
TIA

 

[wes loder]

My brother dealt with a private Japanese exporter expert in selling Nikons to customers in the United States. He carefully covered the words "nippon" and "Nikkor" on the beauty ring with a clear tape, then black painted over the tape. The same for the mark on the camera. The TN finder front plate was removed and shipped separately. Camera and lens slipped through without a problem. On receipt of same, one pulled off the tape and took the paint with it. Screwed the plate back on and you would never know it was a shadow import. cheers, WES

 

[Fuchs]

Is this the same reason behind the "Nikomat" instead of "Nikkormat" nameplate on some early cameras?

 

[sevo]

Is this the same reason behind the "Nikomat" instead of "Nikkormat" nameplate on some early cameras?

No - that was Zeiss Ikon. Zeiss considered the "ikon" in Nikon a trademark violation, and Nikomat a violation of Ikomat (their projector branding), and frequently went to court over it. In Germany, where courts were the most Zeiss friendly, Nikon never offered their rangefinders at all, and there as well as in some other European countries the F went by "Nikkor F" until the early seventies. For the consumer cameras, Nikon did not even attempt exports by the domestic Nikomat branding, but renamed the export versions to Nikkormat throughout...

 

[sevo]

Thanks, Stephan. I didn't think about that until I looked at the lens again. The red part is name-tag plastic which has a white center so that when routed it shows through.

I suppose it was originally black, and the blue part of the pigment has faded, leaving only red...

 

[Fuchs]

No - that was Zeiss Ikon. Zeiss considered the "ikon" in Nikon a trademark violation, and Nikomat a violation of Ikomat (their projector branding), and frequently went to court over it. In Germany, where courts were the most Zeiss friendly, Nikon never offered their rangefinders at all, and there as well as in some other European countries the F went by "Nikkor F" until the early seventies. For the consumer cameras, Nikon did not even attempt exports by the domestic Nikomat branding, but renamed the export versions to Nikkormat throughout...

Thank you for the info, Sevo.

 

[Dwig]

No - that was Zeiss Ikon. Zeiss considered the "ikon" in Nikon a trademark violation, and Nikomat a violation of Ikomat (their projector branding), and frequently went to court over it. In Germany, where courts were the most Zeiss friendly, Nikon never offered their rangefinders at all, and there as well as in some other European countries the F went by "Nikkor F" until the early seventies. For the consumer cameras, Nikon did not even attempt exports by the domestic Nikomat branding, but renamed the export versions to Nikkormat throughout...

The same trademark regs were involved when Leitz challenged Olympus' import of their new M-1 forcing a name change from the M-1 used initially in Japan to OM-1 when it was exported to other markets in North America and Europe.