Apo- and Process Nikkor info

[Dan Fromm]

Here: http://www.galerie-photo.com/apo-pro...ikkors-en.html in English.

Some was taken from catalogs posted here: http://savazzi.freehostia.com/photog...literature.htm

[Leonard Robertson]

Dan - Thank you for taking the time to put all this information together and post the links. I recently made a thrift store find of a 240mm Apo-Nikkor. I've been curious about this lens for many years. I'm almost certain this is the design Art Kramer of "Modern Photography" magazine had mounted in shutter, sometime in the 1970s or 1980s, and did a write-up on. I probably have the issue somewhere if I can find it. I think he had it mounted in an Ilex shutter, possibly a #3.

Do you have any opinion on the difference (if any) between Apo-Nikkors and Red Dot Artars, for actual picture taking? They seem similar in design, but I suppose the Nikkors have a more modern coating, if that matters.

At least on my computer using Firefox, the quality of the pictures on your site is much better when viewed in pdf format rather than html. I'm not criticizing, just pointing it out for anyone who wants the best view of the photos. Also, the pictures are easily enlargeable in the pdf version. Thanks for putting the page up in both formats.

Len

[Drew Wiley]

All my Apo Nikkors are relatively late dialytes. I use them for enlarging when large apertures are not a priority, and their performance is superb. Wish I could afford to put
a few of the spare ones in shutter, but it's a low priority at the moment. SK Grimes lists
compatible shutters. A local fellow who specializes in ultra-telephoto photography prizes them for inifinity usage. He mounts Nikon SLR's to the back of a Toyo 8x10, and Apo Nikkor process lenses in front, and claims he get better performance than any
dedicated SLR lens.

[Dan Fromm]

Len, thanks for the kind words. Emmanuel Bigler suggested a few changes to the text, translated my and Nikon's English into French and convinced Henri Peyre, who owns www.galerie-photo.info, to put them up. I'm grateful to both of them. Not my site, Henri's. Explore it, if necessary using Google Translate. There's a lot there.

I've never had an Apo-Artar. I see no reason why one should be better than the equivalent dialyte type Apo Nikkor, also see no reason why a dialyte type Apo Nikkor should be better than the equivalent Apo-Artar. Same goes for Apo Ronars, and I have a couple of them.

[Peter De Smidt]

All my Apo Nikkors are relatively late dialytes. I use them for enlarging when large apertures are not a priority, and their performance is superb. Wish I could afford to put
a few of the spare ones in shutter, but it's a low priority at the moment. SK Grimes lists
compatible shutters. A local fellow who specializes in ultra-telephoto photography prizes them for inifinity usage. He mounts Nikon SLR's to the back of a Toyo 8x10, and Apo Nikkor process lenses in front, and claims he get better performance than any
dedicated SLR lens.

Hm. I've done that with a Sinar P, and my results don't agree with his. I was using the older 600mm Nikkor, though.

[Dan Fromm]

Peter, tessar type Apo-Nikkors have got mixed reviews from users. Your news isn't terribly surprising.

[Steve Hamley]

And then there are these...

Thanks to Dan for posting.

Cheers, Steve

[Dan Fromm]

Steve, thanks for the reminder. I'd have put them in if I'd been able to get information about them in Nikon's own words from a catalog.

Four W.A. Apo-Nikkors are listed here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikkor

The wiki says:

Wide-Angle-Apo-Nikkor

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

W.A.Apo-Nikkor 150mmF8 - φ53mmP=0.75 Screw Mount. - Image circle φ350mm。
W.A.Apo-Nikkor 210mmF8 - φ72mmP=1.0mm Screw Mount. - Image circle φ460mm。
W.A.Apo-Nikkor 300mmF9 - φ90mmP=1.0mm Screw Mount. - Image circle φ610mm。
W.A.Apo-Nikkor 360mmF9 - φ90mmP=1.0mm Screw Mount. - Image circle φ730mm

For those of us who are less Zeiss-centric than the person who wrote the entry, Orthometar is another way of spelling Plasmat.

[Steve Hamley]

O.K., I found the Nikon brochure page for the 360mm WA Apo Nikkor - attached. I think I have the jpegs for the other three focal lengths, but will have to find them.

Andrew Glover (Dagor77) has a 360mm, and Colin Myers has or had a 360mm along with me.

Andrew states that he likes it better than the G-Claron and uses it on 8x20 as do I, but maybe 12x20 is stretching it (personal communication some time ago)?

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...p/t-10359.html

BTW, I've never seen one except the 360mm, listed on eBay, here, APUG, or seen any mention of anyone owning any of the other focal lengths. I'd love to see or own some just to play with them.

Cheers, Steve

[Steve Hamley]

Here they are, all I had to do was post then immediately found the others of course.

Cheers, Steve