Nikkor-O.C 35mm f/2 Lens

Factory AI’d. Made in Japan between 1973 and 1975.
Photographed with a Canon EOS 30D and a Chinon 55mm f/1.4 lens.

Dante Stella has observed that manual focus 35mm f/2 SLR lenses are thin on the ground. www.dantestella.com/technical/lenses.html

According to data at www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/serialno.html between the introduction of the manual focus Nikkor 35mm f/2 lens in 1965 and its withdrawal in 2005, 438,411 were manufactured, with 246,793 being to AI standard, along with some of the other 191,618 which were converted, such as mine, in the photograph.

You would have thought that with this quantity of 35mm f/2 Nikkors having been made it would be easy to pick one up on the second-hand market. Why is this not the case?

Thomas Pindelski has remarked, ‘this lens is fully the equal of any Leitz or Leica 35mm Summicron on a Leica M, regarded by many as the standard at this focal length. Having owned and used 8 element and 6 element spherical Summicrons and the Aspherical model, I can testify to this’.

So perhaps those who own one of these lenses hold on to it because it is so good.

Perhaps also, it was chiefly professional photographers who bought this focal length and speed, and simply wore them out, despite the excellence of their construction.

For some time I searched for a 35mm f/2 Nikkor in AI configuration before I found this at one of the UK’s expensive boutique Nikon stores at a price commensurate with its relative scarcity. By the time I found it I had already settled for a slower Nikkor-S Auto f/2.8 35mm which had also been factory AI’d, and found it pretty decent; certainly very well made and a pleasure to use. But in comparison to its faster stablemate, it is ordinary: whilst it has good contrast, the f/2 has outstanding clarity and definition.

In case you’re wondering, the AF 35mm f/2 Nikkor which succeeded the manual version was a new optical design, and is not as well regarded. Just to add insult to injury, early versions had a reputation for getting oily iris blades. Anyway, with the decent depth-of-field of the 35mm focal length, AF is probably not vital.

Good luck to all who seek one of these splendid lenses.