Nikon's BR-1 ring, an adapter to allow using the 135mm f4 Nikkor in barrel mount on a Nikon F

 The BR-1 ring was the first of a number of different adapters sold by Nikon to aid in closeup photography. One might suspect the BR stands for “Bellows Ring.” There was also a BR2, BR3 and later a BR4.

Three versions of the BR1 ring for the Nikon F

When Nikon introduced the Nikon F in July 1959, they included a new bellows designed specifically for their new reflex camera: the Bellows, model two. However, there was a problem. The already released Nikkor for Macro work—the 135mm f4 Nikkor-Q in barrel mount—was designed for use with the S-mount Bellows, model one. This, in turn, mounted on the Nikon reflex housing. The BR-1 rung solved two problems. It changed the mount from the S bayonet to the F bayonet  and it corrected the distance from the S mount to the new bellows to give the user infinity focus with the bellows two collapsed on the Nikon F.

    However, when Nikon introduced the Photomic finder, a new problem arose. It was impossible to mount a Nikon F with the Photomic finder in place on the bellows due to the overhang of the Photomic finder. A user would have to take off the finder, mount the camera, then put the finder back on. Nikon solved this problem by extending the bellows back mount by a few millimeters to allow for the Photomic finder to clear. It then shortened the BR-1 ring to compensate for the change.

    The three BR-1 rings shown here illustrate some of the many changes that a simple adapter could go through to reflect both focus and mounting requirements and identification.

    The BR-1 ring to the left is an original. In 1959, ‘Nikon’ still was a name primarily limited to identifying the company’s camera. “Nippon Kogaku,” part of the company’s name, was the preferred mark for all other products. This ring sports the company mark, the prism-lens combo that appeared universally all the way into the mid-1960s. Nowhere does it say Nikon, but it does sport the “gothic F” that would soon appear on all products for the new reflex camera.
   

Note the pin guiding groove on the lens mount

 

 

This ring differs in other less obvious ways. Instead of a black paint coating, it is anodized and shows a slight purple sheen in bright light. It is also a millimeter smaller in diameter than the later rings—a pattern seen in other adapter rings such as the NF tubes. It also has the machine-ground groove to guide the locking pin when mounting on the camera—a feature Nikon soon stopped using.
    The second ring is black-painted and slightly thicker. The NK logo is gone, replaced by ‘Nikon,’ all part of the change in labeling in the early -to-mid Sixties. It is still the same depth as the original. It came in the grey box shown. The price tag is from Classic Camera, once one of Allentown, Pennsylvania’s premier stores and long gone.

    The last ring is the one that came with the 135mm Nikkor when I bought it. It is the shorter version and would go with the deeper Bellows model two or any other later Nikon bellows. and would allow infinity focus and mounting of a Nikon F with a Photomic series finder. It is labelled ‘Nikkor’ instead of Nikon. This was part of a trend to label all lens accessories with the word Nikkor. This included filters and other attachments. This made it simpler for marketing in all countries, including in Germany where the word Nikon was then not allowed.
    Note that even all these changes, the gothic F is always there.

Two 135mm Nikkors: A Study in Contrasts

Two 135mm f3.5 Nikkors: 1951 and 1959, with hoods.

For much of the 35mm camera era, a 135mm lens was the most popular auxiliary focal length for  most photographers. A 135 combined moderate telephoto length, moderate speed and a modest price in a compact enough body that a photographer did not have to think twice about taking it with him or her. It made an decent portrait lens and was also good for most sports coverage. It was also the longest focal length that most interchangeable rangefinder 35s could handle and still allow focusing accuracy.

The 135mm f3.5 Nikkor-Q was to prove to be Nippon Kogaku’s most popular accessory lens for their rangefinder camera series. Rotoloni in his book on the Nikon rangefinder camera* estimates that the company produced more than 30,000 over a 13 year period from 1951 until 1964. A few prototypes went out in 1950 with full production starting in January 1951—concurrent with the earlier 135mm f4 Nikkor that dated back to 1948. For a few months production of the two optics continued side-by-side with the older optic selling mostly to the Occupation forces  and the new, faster optic going to the United States where its speed gave it a sales edge over the similar Zeiss 135mm f4 Sonnar.

All 135mm f3.5 Nikkors are similar in size and features. They all focus down to five feet, all take 43mm screw-on accessories and all have a built-in tripod bushing. All of them use the same tele-Sonnar optical formula—a formula Nikon would carry over to its reflex camera lenses in 1959. But the company made a lot of other changes over the lens’ production lifetime.

Changes in minimum f-stops

The "Tokyo" mark on the early Nikkor

The two 135mm f3.5 Nikkors in these pictures help give an idea of some of those changes. The all-chrome-finished Nikkor is an “Occupied-Type II” lens probably dating to late spring of 1951. Serial numbers in this series begin with 253XX. The beauty ring is engraved “Nippon Kogaku Tokyo.” The diaphragm closes down to only f16 and the distance scale starts with “Inf.” Lenses meant for sale in the military exchanges were still being engraved with “Made in Occupied Japan” on their rangefinder engagement cams. Perhaps the Central Purchasing Office (CPO) still wanted that mark, or perhaps this was because NK still had a bunch of engraved cam rings in stock and could not afford to waste good parts.

The barely-visible "Made in Occupied Japan" on the 135's RF linkage ring.

With chrome-over-brass construction throughout, this is a heavy lens, weighing 22.5 ounces (639 grams). It is heavier than either a Nikon S2 or SP camera.

The black-finished 135mm Nikkor dates from 1959. The ribbing is bolder making focusing easier. The body is mostly aluminum and now weighs only 14 ounces (398 grams), a reduction in weight of over 40 percent. The focus scale starts with the infinity mark, a change that dates back to 1956. The lens stops down to f32 and the beauty ring now says “Nippon Kogaku Japan.” Another change is the absence of the red ‘C’ past the “Nikkor-Q” engraving. This first appeared on all Nikkors in 1946 and indicated that the lens was coated. By 1959 this was no longer seen as a notable feature since virtually all optical lenses were by then routinely coated, and NK had dropped that code.

Earlier telephoto Nikkors came with heavy, screw-on lens hoods that reversed onto the lens for storage and came apart to allow use of series 7 filters. A lens cap, in turn, reversed threaded onto stored hood. In 1956, NK went to snap-on hoods that still could be reversed, along with snap-on caps that could be used on either the reversed hood or the directly on the lens.

* Robert Rotoloni. The Complete Nikon Rangefinder System. Hove Foto Books, 2007.

Copyright. Michael W. Loder 2013. All rights reserved.