Nikkor-P(·C) 8.5cm f/2
Nippon Kogaku · Nikon S + LTM + Contax RF · 85mm · f/2 · 1948 · Sonnar
Also known as: Nikkor-P·C 8.5cm f/2 · Nikkor-P.C 8.5cm f/2 · Nikkor-PC 8.5cm f2 · Nikkor-P 8.5cm f/2 · Nikkor-P·C 85mm f/2 · Nikkor-P 85mm f/2 · Nippon Kogaku 8.5cm f/2 · Nikkor P.C 8.5cm F2.0 · 8.5cm f2
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nikon S, chrome (1948 baseline) | Nikon S | 1948 | — | ~21,500 family total across mounts and finishes (sum of Vink's five block quantities 295 + 1,093 + 10,318 + 8,276 + 1,512 — span-derived arithmetic; no published total exists) |
| Black paint over brass | Nikon S | — | 399xxx–403xxx | — |
| Black anodized aluminum (final) | Nikon S | 1956 | 496xxx–497xxx | <2,000 made |
| Leica screw mount | LTM | — | — | — |
| Contax RF | Contax RF | — | — | — |
How to tell them apart
Nikon S, chrome (1948 baseline):
- Chrome-over-brass barrel; early examples have no filter thread — the hood is friction-fit — and some early aperture rings are click-less (Richard Haw)
- 10 rounded aperture blades keep the opening circular when stopped down
Black paint over brass:
- Black paint over brass, same barrel as late chrome
- Black and chrome OVERLAP in the 399–404k block — serial alone doesn't date the finish
Black anodized aluminum (final):
- Black anodized aluminum barrel — the 1956 aluminum change; the family's final form
- Black paint over brass: The census gives no per-mount split for the black finishes; a final-type all-black example in Leica screw mount is documented (Kasyapa), so the Nikon S mount here reflects the primary market, not an exclusive attribution.
- Black anodized aluminum (final): As with the black-paint variant, no per-mount split is published; Kasyapa's all-black final-type sample lens is Leica screw mount.
- Leica screw mount: The mount Duncan and FORTUNE's Bristol bought Nikkors in on the spot after the Ohi plant projection tests (official Chronicle; Kasyapa echoes the story in brief). Kasyapa's modern sample set was shot with an LTM example — the all-black final type — on a Leica M9-P. No per-mount production figure exists.
- Contax RF: Nikon modified this lens's rangefinder coupling for LIFE photographer Carl Mydans's Contax — the origin of all Contax-mount Nikkors (official Chronicle, via census verification 2026-08-17). No per-mount production figure exists.
Serial-range notes
- earliest blocks, May 1949 onward
- First recorded serials date to May 1949, against the March 1948 launch date (ja.wiki; the Nikon Chronicle groups the lens only 'by 1949').
- 399xxx–403xxx
- Black paint over brass, on the same barrel as late chrome — but black and chrome overlap through the 399–404k block, so serial alone doesn't date the finish.
- 496xxx–497xxx
- Final black anodized aluminum version, <2,000 made; the aluminum change came in 1956.
Specifications
- Formula
- Sonnar
- Construction
- 5 elements / 3 groups
- Aperture range
- f/2
- Diaphragm blades
- 10
- Min. focus
- 1 m
- Weight
- 425 g
- Filter
- 48 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1948
- Country
- Japan
What reviewers say
- BastianK (phillipreeve.net) (blog) — Soft and hazy wide open but sharpening well from f/2.8, with unexpectedly high contrast, near-nonexistent distortion, and build tolerances tighter than the Jupiter-9's — though the bokeh is a mixed bag and cheaper legacy SLR 85s leave its price premium a question only the buyer can answer.
- Richard Haw (blog) — Already pretty sharp wide open with almost no chromatic aberration, mild well-controlled spherical aberration that lends a moody glow, and smooth Sonnar bokeh — a legendary first-generation Nikkor, still visibly leaning on its Zeiss inspiration, that he rates a great portrait lens.
- Kasyapa (MAP CAMERA staff) (blog) — On a Leica M9-P the focus plane is impressively keen even at f/2 with vivid contrast and color, flare and blooming surface in tough light wide open, and stopping down brings astonishing resolution and lifelike texture — a two-faced character the author finds central to its appeal. via machine translation — corrections welcome
- aremo-koremo (カメラが欲しい、レンズが欲しい、あれもこれも欲しい) (blog) — Shot on a Nikon S2 with SFX200, it shrugged off harsh coastal backlight with no noticeable ghosting — credited to the Sonnar's few air-glass surfaces — and delivered satisfying stopped-down sharpness, though the bokeh can turn busy in the classic Sonnar way. via machine translation — corrections welcome
History
Few lenses can claim to have changed a company’s fortunes as directly as the Nikkor-P·C 8.5cm f/2. Launched in March 1948 (per Japanese Wikipedia; Nikon’s own Chronicle groups it only “by 1949”), it was a five-element, three-group Sonnar derived from the Zeiss 85mm f/2, newly computed after the war by Saburo Murakami (村上三郎) — working, as Nikon’s house history relates, with log tables, hand-cranked calculators, and abacuses. In June 1950, photographer Jun Miki (三木淳) borrowed this lens and snapped LIFE’s David Douglas Duncan; the sharpness of the enlargement so impressed Duncan that he visited Nippon Kogaku’s Ohi plant, watched projection tests pit his own lenses against Nikkors, and left a convert. That visit — triggered by this lens — is what made Nikkor’s Western reputation.
The familiar lore does need one correction: Duncan did not take the 8.5cm f/2 to war. When he left to cover Korea, he carried Leicas fitted with the Nikkor 5cm f/1.5 and 13.5cm f/4 — the 8.5/2 was the trigger of the story, not his Korea lens. The episode seeded a second lineage too: Nikon modified this lens’s rangefinder coupling to fit LIFE photographer Carl Mydans’s Contax, and every Contax-mount Nikkor that followed traces back to that job. The optical design itself had legs — Richard Haw notes the same five-in-three Sonnar layout became the basis of the beloved Nikkor-P·C 10.5cm f/2.5 — and Nikon’s essay credits it with high contrast and little coma flare even wide open, which is much of why the Duncan enlargement looked the way it did.
Production is best estimated at ~21,500 — the sum of Roland Vink’s five serial-block quantities (295 + 1,093 + 10,318 + 8,276 + 1,512), span-derived arithmetic in the absence of any published total — with the first recorded serials appearing in May 1949, a year after the launch date. The lens itself is a dense 425g of chrome-over-brass and glass, with a 48mm filter, ten rounded aperture blades, and a 1.0m minimum focus. The barrel evolved over the run: chrome gave way to black paint over brass in the 399xxx–403xxx serials — though black and chrome overlap through the 399–404k block, so serial alone won’t date a finish — and finally, with the 1956 change to aluminum, to a black anodized version in the 496xxx–497xxx range, of which fewer than 2,000 were made.
Example photos
More sample photos elsewhere
- Flickr tag "Nikkor-P.C 1:2 f=8.5cm" — 30+ genuine samples by multiple photographers (portraits, street, florals; marc.l'esperance, Claude Allaert, Brian Chu, others)
- ♫ marc.l'esperance's 16-photo album — 1953 Nikkor P-C 1:2 f=8.5cm LTM adapted to Sony full-frame, all rights reserved (Flickr)
- dourbalistar's 29-photo album — Nikkor-P.C 8.5cm f/2 LTM (Type IV, c. 1951), mostly film scans shot with the lens (Flickr)
These photographers keep all rights to their work — enjoy it at the source.
Sample photo wanted — shot with a Nikkor-P(·C) 8.5cm f/2? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
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