The Original Rangefinder Micro Nikkor

It can be easily successfully argued that this originally obscure Nikkor introduction was the most significant in its early lens history. While the 5cm F1.4 was commercially much more significant and the 3.5cm F1.8 was a set of more technologically interesting optical breakthroughs, this is the lens that actually dethroned Leica and Zeiss as the co leaders in ultra sharp lens design and production. At the time that it was introduced it was simply the sharpest 35mm rangefinder lens bar none. At a resolving power of 200-300 lines/mm (some have been measured in excess of 300 lines/mm at the critical F5.6 aperture) no lens available to the public was sharper at that time. It was as sharp or sharper than any film available at the time. It was simply the best that was out there.

As marvelous an optical achievement as it was, commercially it was almost a bust. During the nearly ten years that it was available, only 901 were produced in Nikon BM and 287 in Leica Screw Mount for a complete total of only 1,188 .

This lens is the immediate predecessor of the 55mm f3.5 F Micro Nikkor and it can be argued the ultimate predecessor of the very successful entire Mico Nikkor lens line.

Why was the "F" or reflex version so successful while the rangefinder version was so limited in sales ? Obviously the reflex regime is much more easily employed employed in macro or close up work. But this may not be the comprehensive answer. A less than completely appreciated fact about "F" or reflex capable lens design is that for most of the shorter focal length designs, the first consideration in design is mirror clearance of the len's rear element. This resulted in very early retro focus lens designs being very compromised in technical characteristics. Early normal and wide angle lenses suffered losses of sharpness and contrast when compared to their rangefinder counterparts. To adapt the 51mm Micro Nikkor to "F" use, only an approximate 8% scale up in physical dimensions was needed to achieve reflex mirror clearance. As a result, the "F" Micro Nikkor is more dramatic in improved optical characteristics over wider aperture "normals" than obtained with rangefinder equivalents. Hence, "in the know users" had a strong preference for the Micro when a wide aperture was not needed.