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Article on Noritsu lenses
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 09, 2023 12:23 pm    Post subject: Article on Noritsu lenses Reply with quote
The weirdos escaped from the (mini)labs! by simple.joy, on Flickr

Thanks to the help of Mark (16:9) I've finally managed to publish my second article on a quite unusual family of industrial lenses, namely the ones labeled Noritsu and used in their minilabs/one-hour-labs in the 80s and 90s. Some of those lenses are made by big names such as Nikon or Tamron and there are even rumors of Tomioka/Zeiss being involved... In addition to some information about these unusual lenses, I also tried to show an array of images taken with them.

If you're interested you can find the article here:
https://deltalenses.com/the-makers-noritsu/

I appreciate any feedback or help in correcting errors, adding additional information and hope that at least some people enjoy reading about an unusual topic no one has ever attempted to write about (of course, why would they want to... 😂) as far as I'm aware.


PostPosted: Sat Sep 09, 2023 12:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
A lovely piece. I for one would like to hear how you light / go about your macro shots, particularly the very colourful ones such as here in the article, but also on the forum more broadly. I shall make a longer comment when I've got the time..

Honestly, I need to better seek out obscure macro lenses such as these on auction sites. But these Noritsus are atleast decently labelled.


PostPosted: Sat Sep 09, 2023 1:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Like 1 Friends


PostPosted: Sat Sep 09, 2023 6:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
The Nikkor patent you mention obviously is closely related to the (rather mediocre) Nikkor 28-45mm early wideangle zoom (in fact the first 28mm wideangle zoom on the market!).

Left: Patent, right: Nikkor 28-45mm zoom



It seems Nikon tried to improve the performance of the patented sample (left) by splitting the last doublet into two elements - a doublet plus a single positive lens.

I would be rather surprised if the same basic construction would have been used on a high quality enlarger lens.

S


PostPosted: Sun Sep 10, 2023 2:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
stevemark wrote:
The Nikkor patent you mention obviously is closely related to the (rather mediocre) Nikkor 28-45mm early wideangle zoom (in fact the first 28mm wideangle zoom on the market!).

Left: Patent, right: Nikkor 28-45mm zoom



It seems Nikon tried to improve the performance of the patented sample (left) by splitting the last doublet into two elements - a doublet plus a single positive lens.

I would be rather surprised if the same basic construction would have been used on a high quality enlarger lens.

S


Thanks a lot for that hint, Stephan! You're completely correct...I must have mixed something up from two different patents. Because the one this drawing is from, is not specified as an enlarging lens, while another one is, namely Patent US4303311 (https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/a1/b2/d5/f3b4ff597c93b2/US4303311.pdf):

"Specifically, the invention relates to an enlarg
ing lens used for enlarged printing of photographs."



Many thanks for bringing that to my attention! I'll have to re-assess that... I'm thinking that US4303311 might be related to the El-Zoom Nikkor, because it does define the lens as a "short distance zoom lens" but from what I understand of what's written there (which - in all honesty - isn't very much, as I'm not a well-versed person in that regard) the focal length is quite different. I'm not aware of any other Nikon zoom enlarging lenses, but who knows... They surely made a number of lenses for industrial applications, never meant to be seen by the public and thus perhaps unlabeled.

Do you agree or is it possible that this patent might be the basis for the later El-Zoom Nikkor regardless?


PostPosted: Sun Sep 10, 2023 2:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
calvin83 wrote:
Like 1 Friends


Thank you!


eggplant wrote:
A lovely piece. I for one would like to hear how you light / go about your macro shots, particularly the very colourful ones such as here in the article, but also on the forum more broadly. I shall make a longer comment when I've got the time..

Honestly, I need to better seek out obscure macro lenses such as these on auction sites. But these Noritsus are atleast decently labelled.


Thanks a lot - I'm really glad you think so!

If you're talking about images like this one:

You're a light collector as well? by simple.joy, on Flickr

I used something which acts as a kind of prism (a cut glass crystal) in the background. I don't remember the exact arrangement, but I'm sure I used diffused light for the bottle, and likely some blueish paper above and below it. In many instances I use a single light source (an Aputure LS-20C - a small, not very powerful LED light, but with barn doors, which is quite useful from time to time) and everything else is reflected light.


BTW. in case someone doesn't have the time or motivation to take a look at the full article, here are a couple of shots made with some of these lenses, to perhaps give you an idea, why I found it a worthwhile endeavor to try adapting and using those unusual lenses:

Pinch watching by simple.joy, on Flickr

Sing our names in unison by simple.joy, on Flickr

Newlywets by simple.joy, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2nh7Vns]
Grass-ping life[/url] by simple.joy, on Flickr

Ante up! by simple.joy, on Flickr

Protection no longer in production by simple.joy, on Flickr


PostPosted: Mon Sep 18, 2023 4:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
simple.joy wrote:
I'm thinking that US4303311 might be related to the El-Zoom Nikkor, because it does define the lens as a "short distance zoom lens" but from what I understand of what's written there (which - in all honesty - isn't very much, as I'm not a well-versed person in that regard) the focal length is quite different. I'm not aware of any other Nikon zoom enlarging lenses, but who knows... They surely made a number of lenses for industrial applications, never meant to be seen by the public and thus perhaps unlabeled.

Do you agree or is it possible that this patent might be the basis for the later El-Zoom Nikkor regardless?


When looking up some stuff, I stumbled upon information about two additional El-Zoom Nikkors on the Nikkor Wiki page... I thought it might be some kind of AI scam trickery, but it actually seems like this info has been there for a long time. I wasn't able to find any significant information on that anywhere else though...

EL-Zoom-Nikkor 45-91 mm F5.6-11.4 - Mount φ86mm (Lens Construction 15 elements in 12 groups)
EL-Zoom-Nikkor 77-111 mm F5.6-9.8 - Mount φ125mm (Lens Construction 10 elements in 10 groups)

The latter one is surprisingly similar to one of the Noritsu lenses in focal length... Has anyone ever heard of those lenses before?

And while we're at it, what about those? 😂

Ortho-EL-Nikkor 105 mm F5.6
Ortho-EL-Nikkor 135 mm F5.6

I've seen some mention of Fax Ortho Nikkor lenses, but not in the foca lengths/apertures mentioned above... If anyone perhaps Klaus knows about it, or Michio Akiyama? 🤔


PostPosted: Wed Sep 20, 2023 12:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
An interesting and informative investigation. Thank you!
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