Micro-Nikkor

Micro-Nikkor is a family of macro lenses produced by Nikon for their 35mm film and digital cameras. The first Micro-Nikkor lens was the 5cm lens introduced in 1956 for Nikon's S-mount rangefinder cameras. It was designed to produce microforms of texts written in Japanese using the Kanji alphabet, a task that, according to Nikon's corporate history, western microphotography systems were ill-equipped to handle, as Kanji text contains many more small details compared to Latin texts. The 5cm was later modified to have a slightly higher focal length of 55mm to accommodate the longer flange-focal distance of Nikon's SLR F-mount.

Longer focal-length Micro-Nikkors were released later, with the 105mm first appearing in 1970 and the 200mm being released in 1978. The Micro-Nikkor family of lenses went through a large number of revisions over the decades, the most recent models are designed for the Nikon Z-mount.

A common feature of Micro-Nikkor lenses is that they reach at least 1:2 (half life size) magnification without the need for extension rings. Micro-Nikkor lenses frequently employ compensating diaphragms, which keep the effective aperture constant, even when magnification is changed.

50-60mm Micro-Nikkor

File:Nikon 55mm Micro-Nikkors (cropped).jpg, Various versions of the 55mm and 60mm Micro-Nikkor for F-mount, from left to right:

• Micro-Nikkor-P·C Auto 55mm , converted to AI
• Micro-Nikkor 55mm AI-s
• AF Micro-Nikkor 55mm
• AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm
• AF-S Micro-Nikkor 60mm ED

105mm Micro-Nikkor

The 105mm Micro-Nikkor series started in 1970 and the newest lens is the Z MC 105/2.8 VR S for Z-mount. The 105mm UV lens, which is called both a Micro-Nikkor and a UV-Nikkor in the literature, is a highly specialized lens for ultraviolet photography made using quartz and phosphate glass instead of regular optical glass. This permits light transmission from roughly 200nm to over 900nm (normal optical glass blocks most UV light). It is specifically corrected for a low amount of focus shift between visible light and UV light, therefore permits focusing for UV using visible light. It had a second production run in 2006 at Tochigi Nikon.

200mm Micro-Nikkor

The 200mm Micro-Nikkor was introduced in 1978 as a manual focus lens for the F-mount, featuring internal focusing, so the physical length of the lens does not change as it is focused closer; it has a maximum magnification ratio of 1:2, similar to other manual focus Micro-Nikkor lenses, but the long focal length gives it a longer working distance, with a closest focus distance of . Instead of a macro extension tube, Nikon recommends using a teleconverter (TC-300/301), providing continuous focus from infinity to a reproduction ratio of 1:1.

It was replaced in 1993 with a completely redesigned autofocus lens, which also incorporates internal focusing and focuses from infinity to a reproduction ratio of 1:1 at a marked distance of . The 200mm AF-D uses a mechanical autofocus linkage to the AF motor in the camera, which makes it slow and noisy, as well as unable to autofocus on low-end DSLRs and Nikon mirroless cameras using the FTZ adapter. Unlike the 50-60mm and 105mm Micro-Nikkor, the 200mm Micro-Nikkor was never updated to incorporate an in-lens ultrasonic motor (AF-S). Instead, it was discontinued in the early 2020s, with no replacement announced.

The apparent discontinuation of the 200mm line is likely due to relatively poor sales numbers, as the 200mm AF-D only sold approx. 30'000 units in its 30 year cycle, while the 105mm AF lenses sold well over 300'000 units in a much shorter time span, and the 105mm AF-S lens sold over 750'000 units.

70-180mm Zoom Micro-Nikkor

The 70-180mm AF-D Micro-Nikkor was introduced in 1997 and discontinued in 2005. It reached a magnification of 1:1.3 and 1:1 with a 6T close-up lens. The aperture is fully compensated for zoom and focus, and does not change at the minimum focusing distance. It has an additional working distance scale besides the usual focus distance and magnification scales found on other Micro-Nikkors. The main advantage of a macro zoom lens is the ability to change magnification without changing the subject-camera distance, i.e. without moving the camera.

The lens is fitted with a focus range-limiting switch with two positions: Full and Limit, restricting focus to greater than or less than , depending on the current focusing distance. Zooming is completely internal and does not change the length of the lens. The front of the lens extends approximately but does not rotate at its minimum focusing distance of , giving it a working distance of .

This lens should not be confused with the 70-180mm lens announced by Nikon in 2023, which is a general-purpose zoom for Nikon Z and not a macro zoom.

Specialty lenses

The perspective control PC-E lenses 85mm and 45mm ED are designated Micro-Nikkor as well, since they reach a magnification of 1:2.

A Micro-Nikkor lens was also offered for the Nikonos RS underwater camera system, the Nikon R-UW AF 50mm Micro-Nikkor. It reaches 1:1 magnification.

Nikon also produced several special-purpose lenses which are grouped with close-up equipment alongside the ''Micro-Nikkor'' family of lenses. These include the 105mm UV lens mentioned above, as well as 120mm and 200mm ''Medical-Nikkor'' lenses for medical applications.

The ''Medical-Nikkor'' lenses have built-in ring flashes and are designed with a fixed focus distance; as the name suggests, these are specialized lenses designed for medical and dental applications. They are meant to be set to a desired reproduction ratio, then focused by moving the camera to the appropriate distance. Both ''Medical-Nikkor'' lenses have optional data imprinting, which projects the reproduction ratio onto the recorded image.

The older 200mm ''Medical-Nikkor'' was introduced in 1962 and is supplied as a kit with six supplemental close-up lenses to change the reproduction ratio in discrete steps, which is accomplished by mounting one or two of the accessory lenses. When two accessory lenses are stacked, the weaker of the two lenses is mounted closer to the parent lens.

Its successor, the ''Medical-Nikkor'' 120 mm IF, was released in late 1981 with an internal focusing mechanism that moves internal elements to adjust the focus distance, resulting in a continuously variable reproduction ratio range from 1:11 to 1:1. It was supplied with a two-element cemented achromat close-up lens; when it was mounted, the reproduction ratio is variable from 0.8:1 to 2:1. Compared to the older 200 mm lens, the 120 mm lens has a longer working distance when capturing equivalent reproduction ratios of 1:2 and greater, despite the ostensibly shorter focal length, due to the internal focusing design. However, the older lens has a greater range of available magnifications.

DX Micro-Nikkor

Nikon released the AF-S Micro-Nikkor 85mm VR in 2009 for their DX (APS-C) line of DSLRs. The 85mm is an internal-focus lens with VR image stabilization. In 2011, the AF-S Micro-Nikkor 40mm was released, which has an extending focus mechanism. These lenses achieve a 1:1 magnification, which is equivalent to 1.5:1 magnification on 35mm film or a full-frame camera.

See also

* Nikon F-mount
* Nikon Z-mount

Notes

References

{{Nikon Nikkor lenses

Nikon F-mount lenses
Nikon lenses