Noserider
Christiaan Phleger
Ah yes, the ever charming puzzle of the Nikkor Series E, the much reviled subset of Nikkors. I've recently had the pleasure of going inside one, and the things I've seen! Some of the rumors about these lenses were confirmed, and others made me re-examine the whole Series E line. I did some 'regular CLA' on a Series E 36-72 f3.5/
First off, The Cheap. Everything about this lens starts and ends with Make It Cheap. Keep in mind, this kind of cheap has to be put in relation to the industry/market/image leading Nikkors of the previous few generations as well as those being built at the time, the 1980's.
Where the standard Pro-grade Nikkors got a precision milled heavy brass chrome-plated lens mount, the 36-72 SE gets a Two-Piece mount, held together with 3 longer screws and two shorter ones, all of which are smaller, thinner, and made out of steel rather than the nickel alloy of the regular Nikkors.
The Two-Piece mount is of high grade steel, still milled yet very simply and the inner surface of the flat part (part 1 of 2) is actually quite unfinished rather roughly, very different compared to the Nikkors.
Of course there is plastic! The whole apeture ring is, I'm sure that came to quite a shock the regular users of the All Metal NAi crowd. Now-adays just having an actual apeture ring is a cause for amazment. The apeture click stops on the SE is a small metal spring inside the plastic ring, the indents come from milled slots on the 2nd piece of the mount assembly.
Oh, the Shims! I recall 5 that I came across, 3 thin brass ones (2 of them together, more on this) one thicker brass, and one black alloy. There might be more, I didn't go that deep into my 'adjustment'. At first I thought the lens probably had looser tolerences and the shims were to correct for maybe even a design error, but then I saw they compressed as the lens mount was tightend, allow a less-precise final mount assembly, with little chance of a crucial mount screw possibly working loose (and falling out!).
Correct infinity focus was probably done last by a more skilled worker. Three long thin set screws, very slightly tapered thinner at the tip (those must be costly!) hold the wide focussing/zooming collar, allowing for potential for slop and play. Infinity focus is set by setting the simple front helicoid (the only grease seems to be in here) then snugging up those 3 screws. Quick, simple, cheap, less skilled workers slap it together, then the last guy inspects and does focus.
To wrap up this exploration, this Series E lens shows where and how Nikon made a less expensive lens, without cutting the actual quality too much. Most cost savings seem to be in the higher cost/labor components, where several low cost components with looser tolerences replace one high cost/labor/tolerence component.
In comparison to the 2nd version of the 43-86mm AI Nikkor Zoom, the Series E
36-72mm shows actually how well built the 43-86mm is! Although the internal build of the Ai 43-86 is quite simplified, it is still fully constructed like a Nikkor, solid milled mount and all.
All said, even though the 36-72 Series E is made very different than the other 45+ Nikkors I've worked on, it was an easy lens to adjust and clean, with many fine tuning adjustment points to help compensate for variation in re-assembly. Total time, in and out was probably less than 45 min, even accounting for my investigation and mental note-taking. I'll slap it on a body soon to check out the optical properties, especially compared with its older cousin 43-86mm Ai. Cheers, thanks for reading.
First off, The Cheap. Everything about this lens starts and ends with Make It Cheap. Keep in mind, this kind of cheap has to be put in relation to the industry/market/image leading Nikkors of the previous few generations as well as those being built at the time, the 1980's.
Where the standard Pro-grade Nikkors got a precision milled heavy brass chrome-plated lens mount, the 36-72 SE gets a Two-Piece mount, held together with 3 longer screws and two shorter ones, all of which are smaller, thinner, and made out of steel rather than the nickel alloy of the regular Nikkors.
The Two-Piece mount is of high grade steel, still milled yet very simply and the inner surface of the flat part (part 1 of 2) is actually quite unfinished rather roughly, very different compared to the Nikkors.
Of course there is plastic! The whole apeture ring is, I'm sure that came to quite a shock the regular users of the All Metal NAi crowd. Now-adays just having an actual apeture ring is a cause for amazment. The apeture click stops on the SE is a small metal spring inside the plastic ring, the indents come from milled slots on the 2nd piece of the mount assembly.
Oh, the Shims! I recall 5 that I came across, 3 thin brass ones (2 of them together, more on this) one thicker brass, and one black alloy. There might be more, I didn't go that deep into my 'adjustment'. At first I thought the lens probably had looser tolerences and the shims were to correct for maybe even a design error, but then I saw they compressed as the lens mount was tightend, allow a less-precise final mount assembly, with little chance of a crucial mount screw possibly working loose (and falling out!).
Correct infinity focus was probably done last by a more skilled worker. Three long thin set screws, very slightly tapered thinner at the tip (those must be costly!) hold the wide focussing/zooming collar, allowing for potential for slop and play. Infinity focus is set by setting the simple front helicoid (the only grease seems to be in here) then snugging up those 3 screws. Quick, simple, cheap, less skilled workers slap it together, then the last guy inspects and does focus.
To wrap up this exploration, this Series E lens shows where and how Nikon made a less expensive lens, without cutting the actual quality too much. Most cost savings seem to be in the higher cost/labor components, where several low cost components with looser tolerences replace one high cost/labor/tolerence component.
In comparison to the 2nd version of the 43-86mm AI Nikkor Zoom, the Series E
36-72mm shows actually how well built the 43-86mm is! Although the internal build of the Ai 43-86 is quite simplified, it is still fully constructed like a Nikkor, solid milled mount and all.
All said, even though the 36-72 Series E is made very different than the other 45+ Nikkors I've worked on, it was an easy lens to adjust and clean, with many fine tuning adjustment points to help compensate for variation in re-assembly. Total time, in and out was probably less than 45 min, even accounting for my investigation and mental note-taking. I'll slap it on a body soon to check out the optical properties, especially compared with its older cousin 43-86mm Ai. Cheers, thanks for reading.
sleepyhead
Well-known
I used a 35mm f/2.5 series E for a while on a Nikon FA. It was a SWEET, small combo for an SLR, and the lens was sharp and had very nice bokeh.
None-the-less, interesting post. THANKS
None-the-less, interesting post. THANKS
shadowfox
Darkroom printing lives
Thanks for the interesting writing.
Noserider
Christiaan Phleger
Thanks for your kind words. I often come across interesting items of note while cleaning out Nikkors, and some of these items give quite a lot of insight into how this company makes and impliments decisions.
The above Series E was Nikon's response to the in-flux into the SLR marketplace of the lower cost Zoom, particularly the Tamron, Vivitar (especially IMO) and Soligor (an actually decent option in the 80's).
They had a real hit with the original 43-86mm, and my 1974 guide only shows a few zooms, the 43-86, the vernerable 80-200 4.5 and the 50-300 Non-Ed. In my 1985 copy of "The Eyes of Nikon" there is a whole section devoted to Zooms, I must go over and count them all. So, in 10 years, the industry leader shifted quickly to Zoom-world.
The 36-72mm is clearly derived from the Ai improved version of the 43-86mm, and even the numbering/naming scheme seems to mimic the 'classic'. No doubt they sold a few of them, but maybe not that many, the lens has a definate non-Nikkor 'lightness' of heft and action that would be shocking to someone used to say, an Old NAi 85mm 1.8 with scalloped metal barrel. I don't imagine there are many around, and I picked up my sample for mere tokens, it needed a bit of tightening and I suspect many must have had similar small 'errors' and were likely scrapped.
I've been inside many Nikkors, from 16 up to 400 2.8. If anybody wants some more 'stories' or needs some Nikkor advice let me know, Cheers and ALoha
The above Series E was Nikon's response to the in-flux into the SLR marketplace of the lower cost Zoom, particularly the Tamron, Vivitar (especially IMO) and Soligor (an actually decent option in the 80's).
They had a real hit with the original 43-86mm, and my 1974 guide only shows a few zooms, the 43-86, the vernerable 80-200 4.5 and the 50-300 Non-Ed. In my 1985 copy of "The Eyes of Nikon" there is a whole section devoted to Zooms, I must go over and count them all. So, in 10 years, the industry leader shifted quickly to Zoom-world.
The 36-72mm is clearly derived from the Ai improved version of the 43-86mm, and even the numbering/naming scheme seems to mimic the 'classic'. No doubt they sold a few of them, but maybe not that many, the lens has a definate non-Nikkor 'lightness' of heft and action that would be shocking to someone used to say, an Old NAi 85mm 1.8 with scalloped metal barrel. I don't imagine there are many around, and I picked up my sample for mere tokens, it needed a bit of tightening and I suspect many must have had similar small 'errors' and were likely scrapped.
I've been inside many Nikkors, from 16 up to 400 2.8. If anybody wants some more 'stories' or needs some Nikkor advice let me know, Cheers and ALoha