The Legend of the Nikon Telescope

[mike_grigsby]

Legend has it that Nikon made a really nice refractor telescope in the

70's or 80's, then decided not to sell them. Supposedly they just

stored them all. Does anyone know about this legend? I was told about

it from a Nikon technical person I knew.

[michaelging]

I too have heard of this. I believe I saw one at a nikon store on okinawa in the mid 1970's . There used to be company camera stores that had every kind of item that Nikon, Canon, Olympus ,ect made. If you need a +3 diopter for a centain Nikon micoscope, this store had them. Many times Items were made for the market in Japan and not exported.I do remember seeing telescopes in this store.

[bill_chiarchiaro]

Are you talking about an astronomical telescope? Really nice Nikon refracting terrestrial scopes are available today. See for example <a href="http://www.nikonsportoptics.com/group.php?group=15&subgroup=154"><b>this link</b></a>.

 

<p>

--Bill

[richard_meyers]

I seem to recall seeing ads for Nikon Telescopes in Sky and Telescope magazine back in the 60's and 70's. Very similar to the Unitron refractors. I doubt the story of just storing them. That sounds like urban legend. However, they may not have brought them to the US market.

[john schroeder]

Use This link

http://fotomuveszet.elender.hu/9734/973412_eng.html

 

Reflex-Nikkor 2000mm f/11 - First version - 1972<div></div>

[alex_lofquist]

Then there is the Nikon Lens Scope Converter that you attach to your Nikkor lens to give you a magnification of 1/10 the focal length in mm. I bought one from KEH last month, and was very pleased with the visual images of Jupiter and the moon, using my 500mm.

[michaelging]

I like the Urban legend, when I was a kid there was all these rumors about Harley Davison motocycles with sidecars that were left over from WWII. They were going for $50 a piece and had been packed in Grease to protect them. There was a story about Jeeps as well.The possablilty of this kept me happy for many years.

[mike_grigsby]

They weren't mirror lenses, like the 500 or 1000 (or apparently 2000<g>), but a refractor design as I've been told. I don't believe they were ever in the US market, I think it would have been overseas based on what my friend told me.

 

Yes, I am talking about astronomical. I just wondered how good they were, if I should bother looking for used ones, etc.

[alex_lofquist]

Try asking at one of the sites listed here:

 

http://astro.umsystem.edu/

[john_sabella1]

<p>I once met a Antique dealer in Huntington, NY who at the time(around 1986) said he<br>

had a Nikon 2 1/2 refractor with equatorial tripod mount. He told me it was sold by that famous & pricy NYC toy store(FA0 Schwarz) and sold around the 1950's. Back then he wanted $5000 cash only for it. Even then it was steep price for a 2 1/2 inch refractor. He even showed me a photograph of the item to, so I know it exists. The main tube clearly had the NIKON label on it.</p>

[brett_gocka]

<p>The 2.5 inch refractor to my understanding was never sold in the US (at least thats what I am told by person that sold me mine). You are correct it says nikon on the scope and comes in a wooden nikon case the eq mount is made in germany and came with wooden legs. The mount and legs are heavy and kind of a pain to move. I personally have never seen one sold in the US if you search the net I have only seen one for sale in Europe, if memory serves me right it was around $1500.00. I am new here but, if you really need to see it, I can set it up this weekend and take some photos of it.</p>

[p_mui]

<p>They definitely existed. The 4 inch f/12 version was produced a short time by Nikon. Being f/12, it wasn't a short tube in the least, nor was it using any advanced glass or mating glass that Astro Physics, TEC and Takahashi use today. You can find many telescopes in the 4 inch diameter ranging from f/5 (takahashi FSQ106N / ED) to f/8 (Astro Physics AP102). Below is a link of the Nikon f/12 model with pics. </p>

<p>http://www.astromart.com/classifieds/details.asp?classified_id=666037</p>

[ken_mason1]

<p>I owned two Nikon 4" APO refractors in the early/mid 1990's,paid $6-$7K each from a free lance dealer from Japan. Came in a velvet lined wooden case and the tripod had an optional polar alinement feature. Nice optics for planetary and globular work but I was spoiled previously from my 20" Tectron Dobsonion light bucket on deep sky objects. Nothing beat aperture when it come to dim objects and bringing out color. I sold both scopes later in that decade being content with my 20" since deep sky objects were my 'focus'.</p>

[ken_mason1]

<p><a href="/photodb/user?user_id=5993540">John Sabella,</a><br>

<a href="/photodb/user?user_id=5993540">Yes in response to John's comments let me clarify and elaborate on my 4" Nikon APO. The "tripod" was actually an equatorial mount on a pier and the OTA I believe was an f-12. The optics were superb but just as mentioned earlier it was limited by aperture but on the moon,Saturn and Jupiter it was beautiful. Diffraction rings around bright stars,Alberio was gorgeous like blue and red gems sparkling in the heavens. I advertised one scope in S&T Mag when I needed money to buy accessories for my 20" like Televue oculars and dielectric coatings on the secondary mirror. BTW, the Nikon Dealer was somewhere in the eastern US,NY or FL, and sold mainly or entirely Japanese telescopes. They had an accessory called a "Teaching Eyepiece" which was a beam splitter using a prism so 2 eyepieces could be used in parallel to share the view with a friend,nice feature I've not seen elsewhere. He spoke of a 7 or 8" Nikon APO but that was something like $25K! I think Nikon priced themselves out of the market, in fact I believe he said Nikon was going to discontinue some or all of their astronomical products and stick to binoculars, cameras and other terrestrial equipment. I sold both scopes by the mid 90's before my move to NM to build and test rocket engines. I eventually sold my 20" to the folks at the astronomy club at the VLA in Socorro, NM as well as donating my 15' 'HomeDome' S/N 01.</a><br>

Thank You,<br>

Ken</p>