Medical-Nikkor 200mm

[Engandiyur]

Hi,

I seek advice from those who have experience with this lens. Somebody has offered me this lens with its magnification glass, cables etc. but without the battery pack. So I am thinking how useful it will be without battery pack. Is it usable without battery? What type of metering method is required for this lens?

Thanks for your answers.

 

[Michael Benveniste]

You may find this useful:

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/manuals/nikonf/medicalnikkor.pdf

Note that this is a pre-AI lens and may require some modifications to mount safely on modern dSLR's, but it's usable on an F4.

 

[Bernard Delley]

Hi,

I seek advice from those who have experience with this lens. Somebody has offered me this lens with its magnification glass, cables etc. but without the battery pack. So I am thinking how useful it will be without battery pack. Is it usable without battery? What type of metering method is required for this lens?

Thanks for your answers.

I do not have it. My feeling is that this is not a terribly interesting lens today. It may be a lot of fun to play around with it an experiment. Some info can be found at this site.

the medical 200mm f/5.6 is a specialty lens (then very pricey) and perhaps a collectors item.

I consider the AI 200mm f/4 more interesting for some purposes.see here

 

[labalaba]

NÆRFOTO Bjørn Rørslett

 

[timb5881]

Do not get it unless it is dirt cheap like under $100!
I had played with one back in the late 70' s and found it to be mediocre at best. You would be better off buying a 200 micro nikkor and a ring light, much sharper and over all useful . I am not even sure you could track down a battery pack let alone a new battery for it.

 

[brightcolours]

Do not get it unless it is dirt cheap like under $100!
I had played with one back in the late 70' s and found it to be mediocre at best. You would be better off buying a 200 micro nikkor and a ring light, much sharper and over all useful . I am not even sure you could track down a battery pack let alone a new battery for it.

Took about 3 minutes ....

Pardon Our Interruption...

 

[Engandiyur]

Thanks everyone for the answers. The asking price is $350 for it. Anyways I decided not to buy it.

 

[Leonard Shepherd]

I presume the one you decided not to buy had the Xenon tube which was an early ring flash.

I have handled one. Braczko's book list 3 versions with different lens coatings and other changes introduced between 1962 and 1974. The 1972 version 2 battery pack enabled numbers 1-38 to be recorded on each frame of film.

A mint version with all accessories and hold-all bag could command a decent price to a collector. Otherwise I regard it as an interesting piece of technology from an era long gone.

--

Leonard Shepherd
Is where you are in photography best defined by your recent photos or the equipment you own?

 

[Engandiyur]

I presume the one you decided not to buy had the Xenon tube which was an early ring flash.

I have handled one. Braczko's book list 3 versions with different lens coatings and other changes introduced between 1962 and 1974. The 1972 version 2 battery pack enabled numbers 1-38 to be recorded on each frame of film.

A mint version with all accessories and hold-all bag could command a decent price to a collector. Otherwise I regard it as an interesting piece of technology from an era long gone.

--

Leonard Shepherd
Is where you are in photography best defined by your recent photos or the equipment you own?

But is it really usable without the battery pack at all? I have F4s, so I can mount it and do stop down metering. I presume setting the ASA on the lens is useless without having the battery for ring flash.

 

[Engandiyur]

These are the pictures of the lens which I consider. What is the spring type thing in the last photo? Is it something defective? I can't identify any fungus or haze inside the glass. What is you people's opinion?

 

[brightcolours]

These are the pictures of the lens which I consider. What is the spring type thing in the last photo? Is it something defective? I can't identify any fungus or haze inside the glass. What is you people's opinion?

The spring sits in all your lenses, it closes the aperture (notice the aperture lever above it?)

The lens looks to be in fine condition.

 

[User0345460385]

I have 2 of the 200mm only because I collect old nikkors.

in its day the lens was remarkable

but without the battery or AC packs the lens is next to useless

and dont forget that the lens doesnt focus - you have to move closer/further from the subject to focus. A very clumsy system - not to mention iTTL

 

[Engandiyur]

I have 2 of the 200mm only because I collect old nikkors.

in its day the lens was remarkable

but without the battery or AC packs the lens is next to useless

and dont forget that the lens doesnt focus - you have to move closer/further from the subject to focus. A very clumsy system - not to mention iTTL

That means it is totally useless for general photography. Because there is no focus ring you can't focus at infinity, right?

 

[Gord Clark - Rockburn QC]

I have owned my 200MM Medical Nikkor for 40 years. Used properly, it surpasses most, if not all, of today's macro lenses, two of which I have, and choose not use.

You can't compare 1960 technology with that of today's optics. It is not intended to focus to infinity; in fact, there is no focusing. If it were being hand-held (as in operating rooms), the ring-light won't be effective much beyond 1 or 2 metres.

Focusing is achieved, by moving the entire lens. In my case, I use a focusing rail, with a Nikon F film body mounted on a Miranda copy stand.

I photo-document coin and stamp collections for insurance companies, and they have unanimously endorsed my system. Images were* crisp and sharp, with excellent colour rendition. My clients now demand my material in digital form, So I have been converting slides to digital, with a slight *loss of resolution, but worse, suffering an excessively long time to get my slides processed.

Because the Medical Nikkor is at the heart of my business, I have now converted to an Olympus body. with an inexpensive adapter (it all boiled down to a body that would fit the camera bracket of the stand mounting). The whole process was already totally manual, so I have not yet experienced any new problems; and finally bypassing the baulky and expensive process of converting images.

For reasons purely of quality, the Medical-Nikor continues to be my lens of choice for this app, and I will use it 'till I stop working.

Incidentally, for those owners of the early (Series I, 4-pin) lens, and unfortunate enough to have only the DC power pack, the 250 volt battery has not been available for quite a few years, and the AC power pack is the only alternative. The lens will not function without an external power supply.

Gord Clark

 

[SkvLTD]

I've looked at these and pondered them myself, but I find any more modern 1:1 + 2x TC to be about as ultimate combo as you can get for versatility.

 

[Bernard Delley]

make make a wide variety of macro lenses (micro nikkors) functionally similar.

In addition some units like the Sigma EM-140 DG allow to adjust the relative intensity of the two half-rings for a less flat illumination.

 

[Gord Clark - Rockburn QC]

I originally bought the Medical Nikkor to document stamp and coin collections. I did this successfully for quite a few years and the lens paid for itself, many times over.

But now at 83, I'm going to up-date my own collection for one last time. I've given up looking for the 250 volt battery needed for the Power Pack. I'm having to abandon my trusty Medical Nikkor.

Instead, and for a paltry $82, (less than what I paid for my last battery), I'm going to use a digital microscope (see https://globetronix.com/dbpower-5mp...led-base-stand-software-for-windows-mac-vista). I have seen some results of this device and they are outstanding, with resolution approaching that of fine grain film. And it by-passes all the in-between steps and directly creates a digital image file which I can message with Photoshop. Wish I'd had this 30 years ago!

Hey, ain't life great!

Gord Clark