My New Years Lenses and Nikkorexes

I recently bid on two Nikon Nikkormats, having long ago sold mine. To my surprise I won both, one in chrome finish, one in black, One came with a Nikkor 50mm H.C. , which I had used before and really liked, the other came with the “legendary” 55mm f/3.5 micro-Nikkor, which was in poor cosmetic shape, with multiple filter dings and dents, making attaching a filter, or even a lens cap impossible, That was ok, I’d used lots of macro lenses over the years, and was interested in trying this one, which I had read was really sharp up close, but not so great at distances. This post is about that classic lens rather than the classic bodies.

I noticed that both camera bodies had dried up light shields and mirror bumpers, so replacing those was my first task of the day. As I finished, my daughter called and we talked about the Netflix series, “Yellowstone” which we had both independently begun watching. It snowed last night, and when I hung up the phone and turned around in my chair I noticed a different snow maintenance truck about 100 ft. from my window, and it being a dull day decided my first shot with the micro-Nikkor lens, mounted on my Sony A7Rii would be a B&W thru my window of the truck. When I enlarged the shot on my screen, to my surprise, there was a sharp image of the truck with “Yellowstone” printed on the side (I really had to reduce the size of shots here so details are sacrificed)

The distance shot thru my window

Later in the day the sun came out, and I had a chance to try out several handheld color shots in a contrasty situation at 4-8ft at f/5.6, my usual shooting aperture. I was pleasantly surprised. The shots below are the full frame and a crop at the point of focus.

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I think I’ll be using this lens on both digital and film bodies when I go out for nature walks in the upcoming weeks. Thanks for your patience in reading of my early experience with this new (to me) lens and a happy new year to all..

Good for you!

I presume the bodies are Nikkormat FTn?

Sounds like a good acquisition.

Actually the Nikkorex was to some extent a predecessor of the Nikkormat, in particular the Nikkorex F, which unlike other models with fixed lenses, had the interchangeable Nikon F mount.

LINK ------ Using a Nikkorex F

The title says Nikkorex (a camera some versions (F) of which were actually made for Nikon by Mamiya (Prismat)). My experience with the many brandings of the Prismat has been fairly bad. The several companies that offered the Nikkorex F under their own name (and own mount) were looking for a bottom-of-the-line 'cheap' camera. They got what they paid for. Most avoid admitting they ever sold it.

The text says Nikkormat, built by Nikon and an excellent camera.

Which is it? NTIM,

the images are nice either way.:)

A Nikomat FTn and a 55/3.5 were some of my first purchases when I first got into manual focus gear. I've used the 55/3.5 on both film and digital for years and have never had any complaints about the sharpness, up close or at a distance. Maybe it's not as sharp as the later 55/2.8, but I never felt the need to "upgrade" and thus, have no means of comparing the two.

As a side note, my FTn came with a working mercury cell of unknown age in it, which I have swapped in and out of various other cameras through the years. I've just now checked and that battery still has a charge some 11 years later.

I've had some mercury batteries last a very long time, but never 11 years!

In the, perhaps very unlikely, chance that someone here wants to know more of the Nikkorex/Prismat story: https://www.photo.net/discuss/threads/reflexa-a-rebadged-mamiya-prismat-np.400055/ in that case with a Canon-brand lens in an Exakta mount (yess.....)

Although the meter has gone into a coma (or perhaps died) on my Nikkormat FTn, I still use it occasion with Sunny-16 and broad latitude film (Ilford XP2 and other C-41).

A large number of my older shots were taken with my Nikkormat. There are other cameras that I rank ahead of it, but not by much.

They'll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands.

Last month I bought a final-year-of-production minty black Nikkormat FTn for a crazy low price... even the meter works. I shot a test roll of Tri-X with multiple lenses and got gorgeous results. Personally, I always preferred shooting with the Nikkormat to the Nikon F and F2...

I have a VERY long history with these cameras. My parents were pros with their own little commercial studio. Our first 35mm SLR was a Nikkorex F with 50/2 bought in 1963 when I was 8. Initially, it was just used for making vacation slides - we were a mainly 4x5 shop, Dad didn't consider 35mm a "serious" format. But we soon also had a Nikkormat FT, and within a few years had acquired a Nikkormat FTn, a Nikon F with a couple of different meter heads, and a bunch of classic lenses: 28/3.5, 35/2, 45/2.8 GN (my favorite!), 43-86/3.5 zoom (in our experience soft at all focal lengths, and quickly consigned to just vacation slides), 50/1.4, 55/3.5 Micro, and the awesome 105.2.5.

In the seventies, the Nikkorex and 50/2 (plus a Gossen Pilot I wish we'd kept) was sold to a friend, and the Nikon F traded in and replaced with a pair of F2 Photomics. The Nikkormat FTn was broken by then and remained so: it ultimately went into Dad's coffin alongside him when he died (with the also broken 43-86 mounted), which seemed appropriate for a lifelong photographer...

Anyway, I always liked using the streamlined Nikkormats more than the heavier, clunkier Nikons. I inherited the surviving Nikon F2s (along with the rest of the studio's equipment) and over the last decade-plus have shot a lot of b/w with an F2. Most often with just the plain prism head (using a little GE-1 selenium meter or just sunny-sixteening) and the tiny 45 GN to keep weight down. This past summer, I had occasion to handle a (broken) Nikkormat for the first time in decades... and realized hat I STILL preferred its feel to the F2s.

Now that I have a Nikkormat again, the F2s are being put aside as backup bodies. Anyway, I love Nikkormats, and am surprised how underrated they are in the current booming film camera market. Below: one of my test roll shots; Nikkormat FTn with vintage-1966 105mm, Tri-X in D-76 1:1:

I recently bid on two Nikon Nikkormats, having long ago sold mine. To my surprise I won both, one in chrome finish, one in black, One came with a Nikkor 50mm H.C. , which I had used before and really liked, the other came with the “legendary” 55mm f/3.5 micro-Nikkor, which was in poor cosmetic shape, with multiple filter dings and dents, making attaching a filter, or even a lens cap impossible, That was ok, I’d used lots of macro lenses over the years, and was interested in trying this one, which I had read was really sharp up close, but not so great at distances. This post is about that classic lens rather than the classic bodies.

 

I noticed that both camera bodies had dried up light shields and mirror bumpers, so replacing those was my first task of the day. As I finished, my daughter called and we talked about the Netflix series, “Yellowstone” which we had both independently begun watching. It snowed last night, and when I hung up the phone and turned around in my chair I noticed a different snow maintenance truck about 100 ft. from my window, and it being a dull day decided my first shot with the micro-Nikkor lens, mounted on my Sony A7Rii would be a B&W thru my window of the truck. When I enlarged the shot on my screen, to my surprise, there was a sharp image of the truck with “Yellowstone” printed on the side (I really had to reduce the size of shots here so details are sacrificed)

 

The distance shot thru my window

 

 

Later in the day the sun came out, and I had a chance to try out several handheld color shots in a contrasty situation at 4-8ft at f/5.6, my usual shooting aperture. I was pleasantly surprised. The shots below are the full frame and a crop at the point of focus.

 

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I think I’ll be using this lens on both digital and film bodies when I go out for nature walks in the upcoming weeks. Thanks for your patience in reading of my early experience with this new (to me) lens and a happy new year to all..

 

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You make me want to own a nice Micro-Nikkor for my Nikomat FTn. Excellent photos. Enjoy using your nice gear. I love my Nikomat FTn and my 50/1.4 Nikkor very well. Makes beautiful images. I use a Gossen Luna Pro meter with mine.

A Nikkormat FTn any day over a Pentax K1000. It appears that the latter is having a renaissance for reasons unknown to me, as it was only touted by photo educators back in its day because it was cheap and had the required basic functions - not because it was a particularly great camera.

A Nikkormat body would probably cost 3 times more than the K1000 back then, but can be had for 1/3 compared to the K1000 today.

New

A Nikkormat FTn any day over a Pentax K1000. It appears that the latter is having a renaissance for reasons unknown to me, as it was only touted by photo educators back in its day because it was cheap and had the required basic functions - not because it was a particularly great camera.

A Nikkormat body would probably cost 3 times more than the K1000 back then, but can be had for 1/3 compared to the K1000 today.

Fully agreed. I bought my K1000 when a poor student, many years ago, because it was cheap; could not afford even an used Nikon. It came out a good business decision!

Fully agreed. I bought my K1000 when a poor student, many years ago, because it was cheap; could not afford even an used Nikon. It came out a good business decision!

I am stunned at the price of a K1000. I just checked on eBay and a K1000 with 50mm 2.0 has a BIN of $238. A Canon A1 with 50 1.8 is only $258.

I agree Michael. I have preferred my Nikkormats Ft and FTn over my Nikon F and F2. They just feel better to me for some reason and have been totally reliable over the years.

My Nikomat FTn just feels right to me, and is well built, solid, and a faithful companion. And the Nikkor 50 1.4 which I bought with it, are an extension of Kent. I use a Gossen Luna Pro with mine. This combo makes superb images reliably and consistently.

Robin Smith said:

My only beef about FT and FTNs is that they are amazingly heavy and large cameras.

Good grief! Hardly enough difference in dimensions and weight to be noticeable, in my opinion. Body only, the Nikon FTn weighs in at 750g, the SRT at 700g, and the Spotty at 650g.

With standard lenses fitted as in the pic below, the Nikon weighs 950g, the SRT 950g, and the Spotmatic 900g.

These weights may not be totally accurate due to the informal nature of my weighing equipment, but they were all weighed, one after the other, on the same scales, so the comparisons should be accurate,

As for dimensions, there's very little difference, as the photograph shows.

I'm constantly amazed by members talking about "heavy" cameras. The Mamiya 645 1000s with power winder and zoom lens that I showed a while ago in the "What camera are you using this weekend?" thread weighs 3000g. and, while I wouldn't want to go hiking with it, it's perfectly manageable on a walk about town.

 

With standard lenses fitted as in the pic below, <snip>

 

 

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Rick, do you need a lesson in how to properly mount a Nikkor lens on a Nikkormat? ;)

NHSN said:

Rick, do you need a lesson in how to properly mount a Nikkor lens on a Nikkormat?

Ah yes, I certainly goofed there, in my haste! I actually have never found the rotate/contra-rotate procedure too onerous, but I guess this is a good demonstration of a failure that must have happened a few million times in the history of the Nikkomat!

I am bemused, bordering on annoyed, with how seemingly every young "analog photography" dude trying out a Nikkormat finds both the lens mounting method AND the shutter speed control "difficult", "fiddly", "obnoxious", "uncomfortable", "too complicated", "difficult to remember", etc.

Historically, the standard position for shutter speed knobs in most cameras was set by the connection to the underlying focal plane shutter assembly, not an act of God to determine the most ergonomic spot. And not for nothing, my favorite non-Nikon SLRs, the Olympus OM series, use the same around-the-lensmount control. In contrast, I find the knob on the F2 (etc.) far less comfortable/convenient.

And the Nikon Shuffle takes about a second and a half. We used to consider it a miracle of engineering, an incredibly simple means to index the lens to the meter. I still think it's brilliant. But then, I haven't been ruined for old school mechanical technology by immersion in recent electronic auto-everything cameras.

I am bemused, bordering on annoyed, with how seemingly every young "analog photography" dude trying out a Nikkormat finds both the lens mounting method AND the shutter speed control "difficult", "fiddly", "obnoxious", "uncomfortable", "too complicated", "difficult to remember", etc.

 

Historically, the standard position for shutter speed knobs in most cameras was set by the connection to the underlying focal plane shutter assembly, not an act of God to determine the most ergonomic spot. And not for nothing, my favorite non-Nikon SLRs, the Olympus OM series, use the same around-the-lensmount control. In contrast, I find the knob on the F2 (etc.) far less comfortable/convenient.

 

And the Nikon Shuffle takes about a second and a half. We used to consider it a miracle of engineering, an incredibly simple means to index the lens to the meter. I still think it's brilliant. But then, I haven't been ruined for old school mechanical technology by immersion in recent electronic auto-everything cameras.

When I bought my first serious 35 SLR in the late 70's I didn't get an Olympus OM-1 precisely because of the placement of the shutter speed control. It felt awkward, especially with gloves on, so I went with a Pentax MX instead. The salesman in the camera store was amused when I came in with a pair of gloves on a 70 degree day in October, but I knew I wanted to use the camera in our cold upstate NY winters so if I didn't like it with gloves on it wasn't coming home with me. Everybody's different so the shutter speed dial placement that works for you may not work for everyone.

As for lens mounting, the "Nikon shuffle" is a cakewalk compared to the screw mount lenses that I had on my previous SLR. Bayonet lens mounting was another non-negotiable feature when I bought that Pentax MX, but I certainly could have lived with the Nikon system.