It all started with a Soviet Camera Lens. Dialing back the Technology: Manual Focus Nikon Camera.

March 21, 2018

#241

Gentle reader,

It all started with a lens (below). 

At first, I had bought an adapter to mount Leica and other maker's (M39/L39/LTM screw-mount) lenses that work on pre-M-mount Leica rangefinder cameras as well as scores of copies of Leica cameras. I wanted to use them on my Nikon DSLR. Using classic film camera lenses on modern digital camera bodies is all the rage, and I wanted to try it. Examples can be seen in the first image below. My Leica IIIC is on the left and Zorki I on the right, behind the lenses.

While I knew the lenses would not focus to infinity, I did not know they wouldn't focus on anything more than a few inches away! Here are what I was hoping to use:

I solved that problem by buying a used Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 body and two adapters: M39 and Pentax 110. I wrote about it here with a few beginner's photos:
Using Vintage Film Camera Lenses on Digital Camera Bodies PART TWO.

Here is that camera. I have since bought the "kit" lens that came with it originally. I needed it to adjust the camera's diopter to my left eye so that I could correctly manual focus lenses on that body:

So, it was time for another tack. M39 lenses were out unless I wanted to shoot extreme close-up shots. A search on eBay yielded a seller in the former Soviet Union that was melding a classic Soviet SLR 50mm lens to an adapter for Nikon SLR cameras. The price was decent, so I took a chance.

And here it is, a classic manual focus lens meant to be on a Zenit SLR. It is M42 mount which has often been called, "Pentax Screw". The problem was, I have a Nikon N90S autofocus film SLR and a D200 autofocus digital SLR. The latter isn't happy using strange lenses on it's modern digital body. The camera (above) I just bought it is an EL2 model. And it is in pristine condition. And yes, I know it is NOT digital. Bear with me.

In the past, the only other film Nikon cameras I'd had was a pair of Nikkormats. A chrome FT and an all-black ELW. The latter, I went all out on equipping it with all kinds of lenses. 

Now, you may be thinking, that's the same camera! No, it is not. This was (to my knowledge) the last of the "entry-level" Nikons. It used the classic fork-shaped coupling on the lens that mechanically told the meter what aperture the lens is using. One has to have lenses with that fork and it must be set at f5.6 or smaller (larger F number) when installing the lens on the body. 

And here is the kit I set up for it. From 7.5mm courtesy of the Spiratone Fisheye lens that when attached to a fast (f1.8 or quicker) 50mm lens gives a 360 degree circular image on the film, to a 110-500mm zoom lens and many in between. Monster at the bottom is 55-300mm f4.

Back to the present. I now have this Industar lens and don't really want to use it on the D200. So, I hunted for an inexpensive manual focus classic Nikon SLR that was not a Nikomat. What's that? Yes, I DID type Nikkormat before. That is the name assigned to USA bound cameras back then. The rest of the world received Nikomat bodies. Same camera, different spellings. 

I looked at many choices and even lusted after some of the more famous, but avoided F2 and earlier. I wanted to avoid the coupling fork-to-meter setup. I finally found this EL2 which the seller had reduced from $79.98 to $31.98. The photos showed it's pristine exterior. I bit and once it finally arrived, ( a screw up on his part make for a two-week journey from New Jersey to Virginia, I was very pleased.

It looked like it had sat for a while with a body cap on it, but loose. A lot of dust outside and little inside. Plus, as usual, the foam that cushions the mirror when it folds up had crumbled. Fortunately, I had already bought a sheet of proper light seal foam, made in Japan. 

As it turns out, the four lenses I purchased for it had all arrived before the body finally did. I'd tried them on both bodies and anxiously awaited the EL2's arrival.

No, you eyes are not deceiving you, that IS only three lenses. The first to arrive and least expensive at $10 was a Vivitar 75-210mm f3.8 zoom lens. That turned to have an inoperative aperture. The seller quickly refunded the money and told me to keep the lens. I found a Soligor CD 80-200mm f4.5 lens to replace it. The CD series is equivalent to Vivitar's Series 1 lenses.

Here is the broken Vivitar mounted. The Soligor has not arrived yet, but now I've seen there was a Vivitar Series 1 lens with the same fast aperture, so maybe that one.

It is said coatings have no color, yet we (and cameras) see colors.

I was aiming to get lenses that covered focal lengths from wide angle to fairly long telephoto. I know, a single 28-200mm would do, but I like variety. 

Speaking of Vivitar Series 1, the fat one is a 24 to 48mm f3.8 wide-angle zoom. I snagged it for $69. The one on the right is really rare: 17-28mm f4-4.5 really wide angle zoom, also from Vivitar. It was the most expensive, but still a bargain at $90. These babies are not only fat, they are heavy. The final one is another unusual focal range at 35-105mm f3.2-4. Also a Vivitar it was a steal at $25. While variable aperture, it is not by much.

For giggles, here is an M39 Jupiter 8 mated to the EL2. You see blue, right?

Speaking of 50mm, when I priced Nikkor models, I was shocked at how high the prices had gotten! Then I remembered I have this AF Nikkor lens, which of course works fine on manual focus Nikons. Below are a series of images showing how nice is the condition of this EL2 camera.

Below, are images with the camera wearing the two wide-angle zoom lenses.

Fat thing, isn't it? Series 1 are Vivitar's top-of-the-line lenses. I shot most of these photos with and without flash. The flash-free shows multiple sizes and colors of the daylight balanced LED bulb in a 10" reflector with full dispersion cover in the lens elements. As each element reflects it, the further into the lens, the smaller the dot.

I've never seen 17mm to 28mm lenses before. I have owned a manual focus one (Phoenix lens in case above) and do now in AF, a 19-35mm zoom lens, however. Now that I think about it, the AF one will work on this body too. While this one is a variable aperture, it only varies a little bit: f4-4.5.

The Soligor lens finally arrived and it's tiny, not much longer than the 35-105mm lens. In the meantime, I found that Vivitar had made a Series 1 model: 70-210mm f3.5 with 67mm filter threads. I bought a pristine one for only $25.00! The only problem is it is non-AI. I'll explain below.
Below are comparison shots between the Soligor which is f4.5 and the Vivitar Series 1 which is f3.5.

I'd bought the cap separately and it arrived days before the lens.

Inlet glass is much wider with the faster Vivitar lens.

 Cool to see inside the lens to see the working parts.

Notice the size difference with the rear elements? Size equals speed: Wider the maximum aperture, the more light that is let in. The LOWER the "f" number is, the faster the lens.

OK, what is "AI"? Auto Indexing is what Nikon named the two black devices on the edge of the Soligor lens (below) that interact with a lever on the camera mount. They tell the camera the lens' maximum aperture. Much like the silver fork does on the original Nikon F SLR bodies. But one does not have to: Set the lens aperture at f5.6, engage the pin above the lens mount (on the body) with the fork. Tighten lens on to the body. Reset lens to maximum aperture. All done automatically.
The cool thing about the Nikon EL2 is that there is a button on the front of the body, pressed by your right index finger, that closes down the aperture. This serves two purposes: Let one determine depth of field by closing the aperture while looking through the viewfinder. Also, in the case of non-AI lenses, one can do stop-down-metering. Set the lens aperture to your desired f-stop. Press aforementioned button and observe the meter needle in the viewfinder as to the shutter speed it is pointing to. Release the button, turn the shutter speed dial to THAT speed, compose the image and press the shutter button. A few extra steps, but that will allow me to use this and other non-AI lenses on this camera.

Vivitar made an AI version of this (huge) lens but it is 62mm filter size and I think a little slower aperture. 
When we were in a thrift store, I spotted this camera bag. I asked the owner how much, and she replied, "$5.00?" "Sound's good to me." Of course, with this big lens, the bag is a little small.
  

Who else had STACKS of camera bags you couldn't give away?
The Soligor and the Vivitar 35-105mm are now on eBay. I realized the latter was unnecessary. I have: 17mm to 48mm covered in the wide end and 70-200mm in the one lens. So, will I miss 49-69mm focal range? I doubt it.

So now, I have a three-lens kit that should cover almost every situation. AND I have all my AF Nikon lenses, including one that reaches 400mm that can all be used on this camera!

Thanks for looking,

Scott

March 21, 2018