Nikon Series

[Assunta Gergely]

Although the optics of the Series E lenses are, in some cases on par with the regular Nikkors, the build of the lenses isn't as good. The E Series marked the beginning of the plastic era that eventually spilled over into the pro lenses.

Regarding the series-E 135/2.8, it is a good lens but I would pay a little more for the AI or AIS version. They are more solid to handle, a shade sharper, and they focus closer - 1.3m (4ft) compared to 1.5m (5ft). That extra foot at close range is suprisingly useful.

The only reason I would go for the series-E lens is if you are on a very tight budget, or want a smal light lens for travel and hiking. Even then, the diffence is not great - I'd go for an AI or AIS lens.

I own none of the series E lenses but was around when they were available new - the finish & weights were well below the Nikkor line. However - some of them have acheived legendary status which would have surprised me years ago but not now.

Having said that, 135/2.8's are dirt cheap today, and if it were me I would go for the Nikkor for the better build. It's also slightly different optically, with a 5/4 design versus the simpler 4/4 design in the Series E.

I'm quite fond of my Series E lenses, and currently own the 35 and 100 in non-ring form and the 50 in chrome ring form. Build quality is on par with the better AF primes of similar length. Optically they're excellent, as Nikon chose to cost-cut on build and coatings rather than optics, although they tend to be simple designs.

Adam -- That may very well have been true for all of the earlier non-chrome ring primes (the zooms were always NIC to the best of my knowledge). It's possible that when Nikon upgraded the E line to the chrome ring versions, the 28mm and 35mm wide angle primes also got a coating upgrade. It may only be "marketing hype", but in "Eyes of Nikon" (1985), NIC multi-coating is explicitly listed in the descriptions for all except the 50/1.8 and 100/2.8.

I've shot numerous photos with my Nikon 50mm AIS f1.8 Series E lens and had great results. On average, nobody will ever tell the difference. In high contrast scenes with glare, the Nikkor lens may fare slightly better because of multicoating, but even then, I dare anyone to prove that the Series E optics are inferior enough to show an obvious difference in quality. And don't point me to some test site, I want real images.

I have only 1 Series E lens, the 75-150/3.5. That thing indeed has a very nice look. The boke is often more interesting--even if not quite as smooth as the 105/2.5 AIS--and it is very crisp, especially stopped down a bit.

If the money is particularly important, get the Series E. If the difference isn't major and you can get a good condition Nikkor, I'd go that direction. The other interesting possibility would be a new Series E as someone else mentioned.

There are two vesions, and the one with chrome ring is better. The lens is not as sturdy as the primes, but at this price who cares. The zoom is loose and creeps. I had my first one "tightened" by a camera shop. For the second one, I followed the DIY tip offered by someone at Thom's site. The lens is not AF, but I shoot manually anyway.

I don't understand why people pooh-pooh the Series E lenses. The only one I have is the 50/1.8 but it has returned fine results from every subject at which I have aimed it. I'd love to have the 28mm and the 35mm versions. I'd give them regular workouts.

I think it's just camera snobbery. Like the Minolta MD series and the Celtic line of lenses, maybe the build may not be as robust, but image-wise, the same. Of course, there will always be naysayers on any given photographic subject, but in reality, the images produced by the E lenses are perfectly fine.

Nikon's products include cameras, camera lenses, binoculars, microscopes, ophthalmic lenses, measurement instruments, rifle scopes, spotting scopes, and equipment related to semiconductor fabrication, such as 'steppers' used in the photolithography steps of such manufacturing. Nikon is the world's second largest manufacturer of such equipment.[4]

The company is the eighth-largest chip equipment maker as reported in 2017.[5] Also, it has diversified into new areas like 3D printing and regenerative medicine to compensate for the shrinking digital camera market.[6][7][8][9]

Among Nikon's many notable product lines are Nikkor imaging lenses (for F-mount cameras, large format photography, photographic enlargers, and other applications), the Nikon F-series of 35 mm film SLR cameras, the Nikon D-series of digital SLR cameras, the Nikon Z-series of digital mirrorless cameras, the Coolpix series of compact digital cameras, and the Nikonos series of underwater film cameras.

The Nikon Corporation was established on 25 July 1917 when three leading optical manufacturers merged to form a comprehensive, fully integrated optical company known as Nippon Kōgaku Tōkyō K.K. Over the next sixty years, this growing company became a manufacturer of optical lenses (including those for the first Canon cameras) and equipment used in cameras, binoculars, microscopes and inspection equipment.

After the war Nippon Kōgaku reverted to producing its civilian product range in a single factory. In 1948, the first Nikon-branded camera was released, the Nikon I.[12] Nikon lenses were popularised by the American photojournalist David Douglas Duncan.

Duncan was working in Tokyo when the Korean War began. Duncan had met a young Japanese photographer, Jun Miki, who introduced Duncan to Nikon lenses. From July 1950 to January 1951, Duncan covered the Korean War.[13] Fitting Nikon optics (especially the NIKKOR-P.C 1:2 f=8,5 cm)[14] to his Leica rangefinder cameras allowed him to produce high contrast negatives with very sharp resolution at the centre field.[15]

Another early brand used on microscopes was Joico,[19] an abbreviation of "Japan Optical Industries Co".[citation needed] Expeed is the brand Nikon uses for its image processors since 2007.

The Nikon SP and other 1950s and 1960s rangefinder cameras competed directly with models from Leica and Zeiss. However, the company quickly ceased developing its rangefinder line to focus its efforts on the Nikon F single-lens reflex line of cameras, which was successful[20] upon its introduction in 1959.

For nearly 30 years, Nikon's F-series SLRs were the most widely used small-format cameras among professional photographers,[citation needed] as well as by some U.S. space program, the first in 1971 on Apollo 15 (as lighter and smaller alternative to the Hasselblad, used in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs, 12 of which are still on the Moon) and later once in 1973 on the Skylab and later again on it in 1981.

Nikon popularized many features in professional SLR photography,[citation needed] such as the modular camera system with interchangeable lenses, viewfinders, motor drives, and data backs; integrated light metering and lens indexing; electronic strobe flashguns instead of expendable flashbulbs; electronic shutter control; evaluative multi-zone "matrix" metering; and built-in motorized film advance. However, as auto focus SLRs became available from Minolta and others in the mid-1980s, Nikon's line of manual-focus cameras began to seem out of date.[citation needed]

Despite introducing one of the first autofocus models, the slow and bulky F3AF, the company's determination to maintain lens compatibility with its F-mount prevented rapid advances in autofocus technology. Canon introduced a new type of lens-camera interface with its entirely electronic Canon EOS cameras and Canon EF lens mount in 1987.

The much faster lens performance permitted by Canon's electronic focusing and aperture control prompted many professional photographers (especially in sports and news) to switch to the Canon system through the 1990s.[21]

Once Nikon introduced affordable consumer-level DSLRs such as the Nikon D70 in the mid-2000s, sales of its consumer and professional film cameras fell rapidly, following the general trend in the industry. In January 2006, Nikon announced it would stop making most of its film camera models and all of its large format lenses, and focus on digital models.[22]

Nevertheless, Nikon remained the only[citation needed] major camera manufacturer still making film SLR cameras for a long time. The high-end Nikon F6 and the entry-level FM10[22] remained in production all the way up until October 2020.[23]

Nikon created some of the first digital SLRs (DSLRs, Nikon NASA F4) for NASA, used in the Space Shuttle since 1991.[24] After a 1990s partnership with Kodak to produce digital SLR cameras based on existing Nikon film bodies, Nikon released the Nikon D1 SLR under its own name in 1999. Although it used an APS-C-size light sensor only 2/3 the size of a 35 mm film frame (later called a "DX sensor"), the D1 was among the first digital cameras to have sufficient image quality and a low enough price for some professionals (particularly photojournalists and sports photographers) to use it as a replacement for a film SLR. The company also has a Coolpix line which grew as consumer digital photography became increasingly prevalent through the early 2000s. Nikon also never made any phones.

Through the mid-2000s, Nikon's line of professional and enthusiast DSLRs and lenses including their back compatible AF-S lens line remained in second place behind Canon in SLR camera sales, and Canon had several years' lead in producing professional DSLRs with light sensors as large as traditional 35 mm film frames.[25] All Nikon DSLRs from 1999 to 2007, by contrast, used the smaller DX size sensor.

Then, 2005 management changes at Nikon led to new camera designs such as the full-frame Nikon D3 in late 2007, the Nikon D700 a few months later, and mid-range SLRs. Nikon regained much of its reputation among professional and amateur enthusiast photographers as a leading innovator in the field, especially because of the speed, ergonomics, and low-light performance of its latest models.[26][unreliable source?] The mid-range Nikon D90, introduced in 2008, was also the first SLR camera to record video.[27][28] Since then video mode has been introduced to many more of the Nikon and non-Nikon DSLR cameras including the Nikon D3S, Nikon D3100, Nikon D3200, Nikon D5100, and Nikon D7000.[29][30][31][32][33]

c80f0f1006