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Nikkor
ニッコール
Product typeCamera lenses
Industrial optics
Enlarger lenses
Microscope objectives
OwnerNikon Corp
CountryJapan
Introduced1932; 92 years ago (1932)
MarketsWorldwide
Websitewww.nikkor.com

Nikkor is the brand of lenses produced by Nikon Corporation, including camera lenses for the Nikon F-mount.

Nikko parent company brand, from which the Nikkor brand evolved.

The Nikkor brand was introduced in 1932, a Westernised rendering of an earlier version Nikkō (日光), an abbreviation of the company's original full name Nippon Kōgaku ("Japan Optics"; 日本光学工業株式会社).[1] (Nikkō also means "sunlight" and is the name of a Japanese town.) In 1933, Nikon marketed its first camera lens under the Nikkor brand name, the "Aero-NIKKOR," for aerial photography.[1]

Nikon originally reserved the Nikkor designation for its highest-quality imaging optics, but in recent history almost all Nikon lenses are so branded.

Notable Nikkor branded optics have included:

Nikkor Z 24-70 f/4 S lens

Lenses for Nikon systems

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Nikon Z-mount

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Nikon introduced the Z-mount in 2018 for their system of digital full-frame and APS-C (DX) mirrorless cameras. All of Nikon's Z-mount lenses are Nikkors.

Nikon F-mount

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Nikkors constitute the majority of lenses available for the Nikon F-mount, which is itself the largest system of interchangeable flange-mount photographic lenses in history[clarification needed]. These lenses are designed for the 135 (35mm) and Nikon DX formats. Over 400 different F-mount Nikkor models are known to exist.[2]

Nikon 1-mount

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Nikon introduced the compact mirrorless Nikon 1 camera system using 2.7x-crop sensors in 2011. The Nikon 1 system was effectively discontinued in 2018 with the introduction of the full-frame Nikon Z system.

Nikonos

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The original Nikonos system introduced in 1963 is a scale-focus and rangefinder system for underwater photography. The 1992 Nikonos RS system is an underwater autofocus SLR system based on the F-mount.

Nikon S-mount

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Nikkor-S-C 5 cm F1.4 on a Nikon S2 camera

Rangefinder camera system dating to the late 1940s which became popular with the 1951 Nikon S.

Lenses for other camera systems

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This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (August 2008)

Note: In the case of the Nikkor wides, "W" just means "wide". Prior to approximately 1976, most Nikon lenses had a suffix appended directly after the "Nikkor" name that was used to denote the number of optical elements in the lens design.

No. of Elements Designator Letter Origin of Designator
1 U "Uns"
2 B "Bini"
3 T "Tres"
4 Q "Quatour"
5 P "Pente"
6 H "Hex"
7 S "Septem"
8 O "Octo"
9 N "Novem"
10 D "Decem"
11 UD "Uns" and "Decem"

For example, a lens with eight elements would be marked "Nikkor-O", and a lens with eleven elements "Nikkor-UD".

Zenza Bronica SLR

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Leica "L" rangefinder

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Plaubel Makina

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Airesflex TLR

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Marshal Press

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Hansa Canon rangefinder

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Lenses for large format photography

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Nikkor-SW

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Four-group wide-angle lens series, consisting of six, seven, or eight elements:

Nikkor-W

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Six-element, four-group series:

Nikkor-M

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Compact, 4-element, 3-group series.

Nikkor-AM

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8-element, 4-group true Apochromat macro lens series, optimized for 1:1 reproduction.

Nikkor-T

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Telephoto series. The 360 mm / 600 mm are triple-convertible lenses with 500 mm and 720 mm / 800 mm and 1200 mm interchangeable rear elements which were available separately.

Apo-Nikkor

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Apo-Nikkor 240mmF9

true Apochromat series, designed for the printing industry, optimized for 1:1 reproduction.

With Waterhouse type Filter Slot.

Apo-Nikkor / Early type

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Lens Construction 4 elements in 3 groups / Tessar Type Lenses.

Apo-Nikkor / Later type

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Lens Construction 4 elements in 4 groups / Double Gauss Type Lenses.

Wide-Angle-Apo-Nikkor

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Lens Construction 6 elements in 4 groups / Orthometar Type Lenses. The wide angle version Apo-Nikkor lens was developed for small-scale platemaking cameras.

Photographic enlarging lenses

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EL-Nikkor 68mmF3.5
Apo-EL-Nikkor 170mmF5.6
Apo-EL-Nikkor 105mmF5.6 Old Type & New Type(small)

EL-Nikkor

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The EL-Nikkor series of lenses are designed for photographic enlargers. Most feature 39mm Leica thread mounts, although some feature a 50mm screw mount. Most are 6-element, 4-group designs. Some slower, lower-cost designs (marked †) are 4-element, 3-group designs. Newer versions of these lenses are marked with an "N" (focal lengths to 105mm) or "A" (focal lengths from 135mm). (Per Nikon, Inc. Technical and Service Support (800-645-6689), manufacture and sale of all enlarging lenses has been discontinued.)

EL-Nikkor N

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EL-Nikkor A

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Apo-EL-Nikkor

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The Apo-EL-Nikkor series of lenses are true Apochromat photo enlarging lenses with chromatic aberration corrected not only for the entire visible range of the spectrum, but also in near ultraviolet and near infrared ranges (380-700 nm). They are all 8-element, 4-group designs with maximum-minimum aperture of f/5.6-45.

Apo-EL-Nikkor N

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EL-Zoom-Nikkor

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Ortho-EL-Nikkor

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Industrial special-purpose lenses

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This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (June 2023)

Fax-Nikkor

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Designed for 1:1 reproduction with a usable magnification range from 0.3x to 3x. Transmission from 350 to 700 nm, no focus shift between visible and actinic light used for photoresists. Completely symmetric lenses with no distortion.

Fax-Ortho-Nikkor

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Designed for 10:1 reproduction. Field size varies from 200x200 mm to 400x400 mm with correspondingly larger image sizes and very long back-focal distances (several meters). Completely symmetric lenses with no distortion.

Fish-Eye-Nikkor

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Pro-Fish-Eye-Nikkor

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Aero-Nikkor

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The lens for aerial photographs produced at prewar days

Aero-Nikkor

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R-Aero-Nikkor

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COM-Nikkor

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for Computer Output Microfilming Lens

CRT-Nikkor

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for Oscilloscope Output Microfilming Lens

Micro-Nikkor

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Ultra-Micro-Nikkor

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for Microfilming Lens

Macro-Nikkor

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The interchangeable lens only for large-sized macro photography equipment "Multiphot"

Printing-Nikkor

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Was developed as an optical lens for optical printing, as demand occurs after the line sensor lenses. Thoroughly eliminate various aberrations in the reference scale, with a high color fidelity and resolution. Has now been redesigned for the Eco-glass, like the current product.

Printing-Nikkor

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Printing-Nikkor N

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Printing-Nikkor A

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Process-Nikkor

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The lens for table type small platemaking cameras. Lens Construction 4 elements in 4 groups. Topogon Type Lens. Standard magnification is ×1. A 400 to 650 nm chromatic aberration compensation wavelength band.

Rayfact

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Rayfact is the current industrial lens brand of Tochigi-Nikon, which doesn't use the Nikkor brand any more.

Rayfact

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Rayfact IL

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The succeeding kind of "EL-Nikkor" which ended sale in 2006.

Rayfact VL

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The succeeding kind of "Printing-Nikkor". Use by a line sensor was designed as a premise from the beginning.

Repro-Nikkor

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It is designed supposing the use as x1 copy or a relay lens.

Regno-Nikkor

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The lens for X-rays indirect photograph equipment.

TV-Nikkor

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The lens for fluoroscopy of an X-ray.

Xero-Nikkor

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The lens for about doubling the enlarging radiography of the documents displayed on CRT.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b The 75th Anniversary of NIKKOR Lenses Archived 2008-04-07 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ "Nikon Lenses". Roland's Nikon pages. 2023-06-05. Retrieved 2023-06-10.
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