Repair: W-Nikkor•C 2.5cm f/4 (Leica Thread Mount)

25 Oct 2025 Leave a comment

by richardhaw in nikon,lens repair,lens maintenance,nikon repair,, Nikon,museum,classic lenses,, Uncategorized Tags: , , , ,

Hello, everybody! Have you heard the late Marlene Dietrich? She was a famous singer and actress from Germany in the 1930s, but she left for the United States in 1937 just 2 years before the war started. She is known for being the favorite singer of both Allied and Axis forces that fought in the Western Front. She is capable of singing in both German and English which contributed to her popularity among soldiers. Her case is rather unusual during those times and her talent serves as a commonality between people who are bent on killing each other, for duty or liberty. Our subject today is similar to Marlene, it has German roots but it is also 100% Japanese. Not only was it made for the Nikon but it’s also adapted for the Leica. It was also considered to be a very capable lens of the time for either camera system. This is the story of a great and rare lens that you will only get to know this intimately from this site.

Introduction:

The W-Nikkor•C 2.5cm f/4 that came out in 1953 was also sold for the Leica mount. This variant is not as common as the one made for the Nikon mount so it’s more expensive due to its rarity. Nobody knew if it was made until the end of production nor how many of them were ever sold. This makes it very valuable because every serious collector wants one.

The lens is tiny, it’s definitely the smallest W-Nikkor ever made for the Leica mount that I know of. Unlike the W-Nikkor•C 2.5cm f/4 for the S-mount, this one has an aperture ring that’s easier to access so I like it more specially considering that I take sample photos at various apertures for this blog. Anything else is in a familiar layout that’s typical of LTM lenses of that time.

More

Repair: Nikkor-O 2.1cm f/4 (S-mount)

10 Oct 2025 Leave a comment

by richardhaw in nikon,lens repair,lens maintenance,nikon repair,, Nikon,museum,classic lenses,, Uncategorized Tags: , , , ,

Hello, everybody! Have you heard of the story of the “Giant Radish“? It’s an old East Asian folk tale about a farmer pulling off a giant radish off the ground with the help of his whole family along with the family’s pet rabbit. Some say that the story is just a variation of an old Slavic tale called the “Giant Turnip“, where the vegetable is the only thing that’s different between both versions. It’s just a lesson about people who get together to solve a big challenge, such as pulling an impossibly huge tuber from the ground that is as huge as a house. Today, I’ll tell you a story about something huge that has most of its body hidden, it’s so huge that it’s considered by many to be somewhat difficult to use with modern cameras but I’ll show you how to get around that issue. Read my article to know more about it.

Introduction:

The Nikkor-O 2.1cm f/4 for the Nikon S-mount was sold from 1959 to an unknown date, with numbers as low as 300+ copies made. Some speculate that it was only sold for a year or less, but everyone agrees it’s one of the most desirable items in the Nikkor collectibles game. This lens was originally conceived for the Nikon rangefinder system but was later made as a Nikon F-mount lens, too. The latter is common and the rarest of them all is the mythical Leica mount one, once only thought of as a “phantom lens” until one was sold a couple of years ago! Many consider this to be a milestone in Japanese optics design.

Everything is made out of metal except for the glass, there’s no plastic parts here. It sports the late design of many Nikkors made from the late 1950s like as the W-Nikkor 3.5cm f/2.5 which looks near the identical at a glance. The aperture ring has been modernized so the numbers are easier to read. The skirt also has a deep learning so it’s easy to grip it even while wearing gloves.

More