Nikon T-Ed 600/800/1200 questions

[Nicholas F. Jones]

Some questions about the Nikon T-Ed 600/800/1200 set:

(1) Is the Copal #3 shutter "designed exclusively for Nikon" (B&H) interchangeable with the stock Copal #3 (3-585) with M58-0.75 front and rear threads, with M62-0.75 mount thread, and requiring a 65mm lensboard hole?

(2) If so, how difficult would it be to set the stock shutter's aperture dial to correspond to one of the three rear elements?

(3) There seem to be two versions of the lens set, a 600/800, and the later 600/800/1200. Except for the absence of a 1200 aperture scale on the earlier shutter, are there any essential differences in design or specs? Could an older front element be combined with a later rear element?

(4) Has anyone out there cobbled together a complete lens from old and new components and/or by incorporating a stock copal shutter?

Any help will be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Nicholas F. Jones

[Ed Richards]

There is one of these sets for sale at Igor's Cameras.

[Walter Calahan]

Good questions. I own a complete set, so haven't had the need to think about answers to your observations.

I believe the shutter is designed exclusively so that it has a triple aperture scale. The scale isn't that sophisticated. Each change in rear elements means the aperture of the lens falls off one whole f/stop. Meaning, w/600mm at f/64, you must move the aperture to f/32 to get f/64 on the 800mm, and move the aperture to f/22 to get f/64 on the 1200mm.

I doubt that Nikon re-engineered the lens design when they added the 1200mm rear element. Nikon wanted people to buy these elements separately. I'm sure they wanted buyers who got the 600/800 combo to upgrade with the 1200 element.

I just tried to screw the 600mm rear into the Copal 3 shutter of my Cooke XVa, and found the 600mm element too small. Then I took my Rodenstock Sinorar-N 360mm copal 3 shutter, and successfully screwed the 600mm element into it. Also successfully screwed the 600mm element into the rear of the copal 3 shutter for my Nikkor 240mm lens.

So if you have a shutter similar to the Rodenstock and Nikon lenses I have, the rear elements of the 6/8/1200 combo will work. Clearly the copal 3 for the XVa is too large.

Hope my very limited knowledge is helpful.

[Eric Leppanen]

I can only answer your question #3. I once owned a 600/800 front element and shutter, which I purchased with a 1200 rear element. The 1200 configuration worked just fine.