19 17 The optical metrology department of Tokyo Metrology Manufacturing Company and the mirror department of Yancheng Glass Manufacturing Company merged to form a more perfect optical enterprise, named Nippon Kogaku K.K (Japan Optical Industry Co., Ltd.), and then merged Fujii Lens Manufacturing Company, which laid the foundation for Nikon's future development. The name nippon Kogaku K.K has been used until 1988, but its popularity is far less than its brand-Nikon. Therefore, the Japanese elementary school K.K. has long been renamed as Nikon Co., Ltd. (in many cases, people only know that there is a country but don't know that there is a country. For example, everyone knows Panasonic, but few people know that Panasonic is actually called Panasonic. 19 17, Nikon hired 8 optical experts from Germany and has 200 employees. Its early products were mainly telescope microscopes and optical measuring instruments. 19 18, the Japanese elementary school K.K. officially owned a large-scale production center workshop and began to study the production of optical glass. By 192 1, they had launched three reflective telescopes with diameters of 5㎝, 7.5㎝ and 65438+ respectively. 6X Kepler binoculars with inverted prism, which is the beginning of Nikon's 90-year rule in the field of optical equipment. 1920, Nikon invited optical engineer Heinrich Acht (pictured right above) from Germany to design the lens. After Heinrich Acht returned to China, he was taken over by Japanese engineer Kakuya Shunshan. According to the data of Acht, he completed Nikon's first 120mm f/4.5 lens in 1929, but it was not put into mass production, and there are more ingredients to prove its strength. At 1932, the photographic lens produced by K.K. of Japan Elementary School was launched with the trademark Nikkor (Nikkor actually inherited the brand of microscope). 1937, Nikon has completed the optical design of 50mm/f4.5, 3.5 and 2.0 nikkor lens, but at that time, Nikon did not have its own fuselage.
1933, Mr. mitarai, a photographer and gynecologist, founded the predecessor of Canon, Seiki Optical Research Institute. 1933 is also an eventful year. In this year, when the Great Depression was the worst in the United States (economic crisis 1929- 1933), an arson case occurred in Germany, and Hitler was granted full power through the authorization law. Even Marx, the father of communism, has been dead for 50 years. In contrast, Roppongi quietly died in Tokyo. Canon's technicians worked hard after listing, and finally made a small thing-Kwanon at 1934, which is the first 35mm camera in Canon and even Japan to imitate Leica's side-view focal plane shutter. I was very excited to report it in the newspaper at that time. However, Guanyin only has a fuselage and no lens. Just now, we seem to have talked about a company that only has a lens but no body, right? The two families hooked up as soon as they met. Japanese elementary school K K offered nikkor lens and Seiki's imitation Leica paraxial camera body for sale, becoming a dew couple.
1935 is an unforgettable year for both CN companies. In this year, Seiki Institute of Optics introduced the 35mm focal plane shutter camera "Hansa Canon" (Guanyin was just a trial production before, and there was no mass production, so it was completely copied from Lycra, and it would be a lawsuit when it was produced), which facilitated the registration of Canon's trademark. On the other hand, Nippon Kogaku K.K introduced Nikon's 50mm f/3.5 Nikkor knife insertion lens to match it. The sturdy and easy-to-use fuselage and excellent quality nikkor lens have attracted the attention of the whole world (mainly Japanese and some western journalists in Japan). Canon and Nikon's honeymoon began.
With the expansion of the Japanese army, the Japanese government's military orders for Nikon have also increased a lot. Nikon's production focus has basically been on military optical equipment, so when Nikon opposed the gun, Canon had second thoughts. 1937, Seiki Optics Research was renamed Seiki Optics Co., Ltd., and in 1939, when Nikon completed the production of most Japanese optical sighting equipment, from aerial reconnaissance cameras to submarine periscope, Canon developed the first lens in this year and named it "Sienar", which sounded quite like the car produced by Nanjing Automobile Fiat.
From 1938 to 1945, with the full-scale outbreak of the war of aggression against China and the beginning of the Pacific War, the Japanese elementary school K.K. opened a series of large-scale factories to meet the needs of the government in producing military optical instruments and military telescopes, which are pediatrics. Let's give some high-tech examples. During World War II, the Japanese army had the largest displacement (46,000 tons). The optical rangefinders used on Yamato and Musashi battleships have the largest caliber (460mm) and are made by Nikon. Distance measurement baseline length15.8m (what is a distance measurement baseline? Click this link), and its performance is excellent. Although it is an imitation of similar products made by Zeiss for the German army, according to the post-war data, its technology and performance are almost the same as those of the prototype.
The outbreak of World War II gave Nikon an opportunity to develop by leaps and bounds, and a large number of military orders stimulated Nikon to expand rapidly. By the middle of World War II, Nikon had 0/9 factories with 23,000 employees, and its optical instruments included telescopes, periscopes, aerial reconnaissance lenses and optical bombing sights. But in the history of Nikon, this paragraph has never been mentioned.
But just because you don't mention it doesn't mean you can get by. For example, the aerial reconnaissance lens exhibited in PE2008 and Simlar-F180 mm/F1.5, which weighs 4.5KG, produced by Showa in 17, are all telling history in silence. 1945, Japan surrendered after two atomic bombs, and Nikon was almost dissolved by the US military. However, the clever Nikon changed some production lines from military products to civilian products shortly before the end of the war, and it was still 1 factory, with about 1400 employees. This was also the most difficult year for Nikon. Due to Japan's defeat and social depression, in a year's time, the original vibrant Japanese Academy K.K. only left the original old factory and another small factory. Of course, Nikon should be glad that the factory is located in the center of Tokyo. However, Canon doesn't seem to be too involved in the war. After the war 1946, Canon, then Seiki Optical Factory, introduced CAONSII, a 35mm screw paraxial focal plane camera with replaceable lens, which is a self-developed Serenar series screw lens. The Japanese elementary school was abandoned and immediately stopped cooperating with Seiki Glasses Factory. Although it lost its military orders and partners, Nikon still stands firm with its rich experience and outstanding talent in optical design. ) and immediately started his own paraxial camera research and development work. Since then, Nikon has made rapid progress. 1946 introduced the first paraxial body Nikon 1 (the name is really concise), 1948 went on the market. This is also the first camera named after "Nikon", but the market performance is flat, because Nikon 1 itself is not particularly outstanding, but there are many similar products on the market.
The basic design of Nikon 1 is based on the mixture of Leica and Contek, the two most popular cameras before the war. Nikon strives for perfection and successfully combines the advantages of these two cameras to develop a more powerful camera. Nikon One adopts Contax camera angular shape, detachable back, top shutter control dial, front focus ring and lens mount. Leica camera paraxial viewfinder and focal plane shutter are also used. After the trial production of the prototype, everyone was very satisfied, but the name made everyone want to break their heads. At that time, the release of the new camera considered many names, some of which even sound familiar today. According to textual research, several names considered at that time included: BENTAX, PENTAX, PANNET, NICCA, NIKKA, NIKORET and NIKKORETTE. At the critical moment, the name NIKKORETTE was going to win, but at the last moment, Nikon was chosen. It seems that there is also a saying in Japan that it is good to take a cheap name to feed. It would be interesting to choose a name like dog remnant.
1949, Nikon introduced Nikon m (why not call it Nikon 2? ), 1950 Nikon introduced Nikon S, which is similar to M, and added a flash synchronization port. We also introduced five interchangeable lenses: Nikkor-W 3.5cm f/3.5, Nikkor-O 5cm f/3.5, Nikkor-H 5.0 cm f/2.0, Nikkor-P 8.5cm f/2.0 and Nikkor-Q 13.5cm f/4.0. The letters in the lens model are used to indicate the structure of the lens. U (UNS) is 1, B (Bini) is 2, T (Tres) is 3, Q (Quatour) is 4, P (Pente) is 5, H (Hex) is 6, and S (Seth) is 7. Also, Nikon lenses are often engraved with "Auto auto" (indicating that the aperture blade will automatically shrink), focal length (displayed in mm) and serial number.
Nikon M is a very good camera, very lucky. Nikon used to be famous for it, which was known all over the world. There is also an old gossip. 1950 The New York Times published a feature article, which reported and introduced the high-quality performance of Nikon cameras and nikkor lens. The author was Jacob Deqin, a famous photojournalist who was famous for covering the Korean War. At that time, the new york Times Asia correspondent station was located in Japan, and all journalists going to North Korea would report in Tokyo first, and then go to the front. Jacob Deqin came across Nikon M while wandering around Tokyo. At that time, Leica M was very popular among journalists. Although Nikon M and Leica M are very similar, they have different designs and are easier to use. Jacob Deqin bought two sets and took them back to the battlefield. After he used it, he found that nikkor lens was clear and sharp, and Nikon M was light and strong, with excellent performance. When he came back, he blew it (this behavior is now called poisoning), and Nikon became famous and became the darling of journalists. Japanese Academy K.K. regards this as a great honor. Of course, Canon, who broke up happily, was not idle. 1947 changed another brand, from "Seiki Lamp Factory" to "Canon Camera Co., Ltd.". 1949, Canon made Canon IIB after it was listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange. Unfortunately, Canon IIB won the first place in the national camera exhibition in San Francisco in the year of its release, but its popularity and market performance are mediocre, which fully shows that it is better to find a good gunman. Inferring from my pessimistic psychology, Canon decided to lend famous photographers and journalists equipment for free for 50 years. Nikon established the Nicole Club in the United States on 1952. The main function of this NGO is to contact users and improve their influence. This practice was later followed by many companies. For example, Huaqi Information has a Patriot Club (those who are not familiar with the situation may think it is a political group), but then again, because the products are so popular, Nikon's body and lens have been banned from importing in some European countries for a long time (which countries? ), oh yes, Nikon was born this year. In the same year, Canon launched the world's first 35mm camera, Canon IVSb, with flash synchronization function. This achievement is quite amazing and of epoch-making significance. Because you can use the shutter of1125 seconds to synchronize the flash, the application of the camera in news is greatly expanded. Nikon has made great achievements in paraxial system. 1954 introduced an improved version of Nikon S, Nikon S2, with built-in 100% paraxial viewfinder, but this is only the beginning. 1957, Nikon introduced the successor model of S2, Nikon SP, which can be matched with 28 mm to135 mm. Six fixed-focus lenses with different focal lengths use a linked viewfinder, and the parallax can be automatically adjusted. Its function is far more powerful than Leica M3, which was known as the king of paraxial machines at that time, but Leica didn't have similar performance until 1980 introduced M4-P.
Nikon Nikon has not given up the RF model. 1959 In March, Nikon updated S4 in an attempt to continue the lifeline of S series. The rise of SLR cameras is bound to be accompanied by the decline of paraxial cameras. Nikon stopped the research and development and production of S-series near-axis range cameras after the last range linkage camera S3M was released on 1960. Sp is the pinnacle of Nikon's 35mm paraxial camera. In 2005, Nikon produced a limited number of SP replica editions, which were booked out almost before production began.
At the time of 1959, Nikon and Canon, once dew couples, discovered the great potential of 135 single-lens reflex camera and began to develop related products.
Canon obviously made some mistakes in market judgment. Canonflex, the first developed 35mm SLR camera, did not attract much attention. On the contrary, Canon 7, a paraxial camera developed in the same period, is very popular in the market. Although it is weak on the fuselage, it is healthy on the lens. 196 1 The paraxial lens developed is 50/0.95. 1962 introduced R58/ 1.2 for SLR, 1963 introduced the first zoom lens R55- 135/3.5, 1964 introduced the ultra-wide-angle SLR lens FL/kloc-0 with the largest aperture at that time.
1959, Nikon launched its first 35mm single-lens reflex camera Nikon F. By this year, it has been 22 years since the invention of the world's first SLR, but it is only 9 years since the design and invention of prism eye-level framing. The distance is 1955 by Asahiflex (remember who developed it? Click here to review) It's only four years since I first used the fuselage with instant rebound mirror structure. Therefore, Nikon F launched by 1959 was basically at the forefront of the technology trend, with top performance at that time.
Nikon F adopts modular design. Around the fuselage, Nikon provides a large number of different accessories to meet different needs, such as viewfinder, focusing screen and motor, which can be replaced. Nikon F, on the first day of listing, has become a model of professional SLR design. This modular design idea has continued to F2 in the 1970s, F3 in the 1980s and F4 in the 1990s. Every generation of Nikon's top fuselage has spawned a large number of models to meet the needs of different photographers. It can be said that Nikon was a high-end professional in the 135 SLR before the release of Canon EOS 1.
From the launch of 1959 to 1972 F2, Nikon F has been continuously producing 13 years. No matter in terms of output or life cycle, it is rare to meet its opponents. Nikon F has also undergone several minor changes and introduced derivative models, such as Nikon F Photomic (commonly known as Big Head F) introduced by 1962. For the first time, external Cds (cadmium sulfide) is used to measure light, which is a round white eye next to the forehead F, and the measurement range is EV2 ~17; 1965 Nikon F Photomic T, adopts TTL Cds metering module, with metering display as pointer and metering mode as average metering; 1967 Nikon F Photomic TN is a modified version of T, which changes the original average metering to central dimming metering. 1968 Nikon F Photomic FTN is the last model of F series, which realizes the maximum aperture indication and can see the shutter speed in the viewfinder. In the blink of an eye 197 1 year. It has been 12 years since Canon developed the first camera Canon Flex( 1959). After being pressed by Nikon for 10 years, Canon finally produced a professional-grade 135 SLR F65438. And several supporting FD lenses (I didn't mention how many I have at hand ...) This advanced professional camera, which is famous for its durability, can be used at -30℃ and 60℃, and the shutter of this camera has withstood the trouble-free test of100000 times and adopted the advanced ultra-thin titanium horizontal curtain shutter. As soon as this well-designed professional camera went on the market, it caused a sensation in the whole photography industry. The picture below shows Canon F 1, equipped with Canon's first mass-produced aspherical lens FD 50/ 1.2 al SSC, where AL stands for aspherical lens and SSC stands for multilayer coating. Similar to the design idea of Nikon F, F 1 also uses a replaceable viewfinder, which proved to be unnecessary on 135 SLR camera. Canon F 1 is one of the components of FD system, and another important part is FD lens. Canon has a high enthusiasm for the research and development of new materials and new processes, and the results are also outstanding. For example, in 1969, the telephoto lenses FL-F300/5.6 and FL-F500/5.6 using fluorite lenses to correct chromatic aberration were introduced. Since then, the iron law of "telephoto Canon" has been established (Canon EF 200/ 1.8L is the world's top level in mass-produced civil telephoto lenses, and its performance index is unparalleled, and this conclusion is drawn by Hasselblad Laboratory). Nikon's weapon against Canon F- 1 is F-2 (how it looks like two brothers ...), which was also launched at 197 1. Nikon's F2 is not much different from the previous generation's F. For the convenience of journalists, the maximum shutter speed is increased to 1/2000s. Nikon mainly pushes F2. Different from the basic model, F2 photomic has a metering system (F and F2 don't, so an external exposure meter is needed) and is equipped with a DP- 1 metering viewfinder. The metering mode is central weighted average, and the shutter speed and aperture can be displayed in the viewfinder window. The measuring range is EV 1~ 17. However, F2 was really unlucky. After the F2, which was mainly aimed at the 72 Munich Olympic Games, was launched, it suffered the Munich tragedy. 1978, Nikon launched the F2H special edition to prepare for the competition in the sports press machine market of Moscow Olympic Games. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, and American countries unanimously boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Nikon had no choice but to sell F2H to the society. F2H is only 50 1 set. In addition to the all-titanium fuselage, it is also equipped with MD 100 motor and MD 100 battery pack, which is really the most collectible product in F2 series. 1973, Nikon introduced F2 photonics, equipped with an improved DP-2 photometric viewfinder, called F2S for short. Photometry is changed from the original pointer indication to LED display, and DS- 1 can be added for shutter priority automatic exposure. 1976 Nikon pushes F2 Photomic SB: it is equipped with a new DP-3 photometric viewfinder and uses SPD as a photometric element; 1977 Nikon F2 Photonica is equipped with another new DP-1/photometric viewfinder, but the photometric element is replaced with a lower-cost CD, mainly to match the Ai series lens just released at that time, which is the Ai version of F2 Photonic; In the same year, Nikon also had F2 Photonicas, equipped with DP- 12 metering viewfinder and SPD metering module. 1972, Nikon introduced the first automatic exposure Nikon camera-Nikkor Matel, which is a newly designed Nikon camera. Nicole Matel has aperture pre-exposure and 10/ 12 exposure compensation, exposure memory lock and flash hot shoes (the first Nikon camera with built-in flash hot shoes), except that it can't focus automatically. Other functions are not much different from today's automatic cameras-but it was born as early as 35 years ago. However, compared with the achievements of contemporary Canon, Nikon is somewhat bleak. 1976, Canon took the lead in bringing SLR cameras into a brand-new electronic world with AE- 1. By improving the production line, adopting new materials (engineering plastics) and introducing "value engineering", the cost has been well controlled. Canon A series SLR cameras are selling like never before because of their convenient functions and reasonable prices. The output of the whole series A exceeds 8 million units, ranging from 1976 to 1984. Canon SLR camera sales topped the list for eight consecutive years. Although Nikon still occupies an overwhelming position in the top SLR market, it has shown signs of fatigue. During this period, Canon's actions were rapid and efficient, while Nikon's coping strategies were very chaotic, giving people a feeling of being in a hurry and struggling. In order to meet the challenge of Canon's excellent A series, Nikon improved the F mount and turned it into an AI mount (automatic maximum aperture indexing, which can realize aperture priority exposure), and then released a series of airframes such as NIKKORMAT, FE and EL, but the market response was very bad. In the top 135 SLR field, Nikon F2As has little advantage over Canon F- 1. Stumbling to 1979, Nikon released a light and compact 135 SLR camera EM (economical), equipped with several E-series lenses (28mm f/2.8, 35mm f/2.5, 50mm f/ 1.8,1. 135mm f/2.8, 135mm f/2.8, a 70~ 150mm f/3.5) was criticized by the market because of the traditional solid material of EM and Nikon, and ended in failure (but later many people specially collected E series lenses with both hands, claiming that there was one kind. In 1980s, Nikon took the lead in releasing the third generation flagship machine F3 of F system. Designed by the famous Porsche family, this camera has very strong performance, and the number of derivative models and accessories is also very complicated. Now no one can surpass it. Only 15 models have center division, microprism, high magnification, highlight, grid and so on. The viewfinder can also be replaced, one of which is similar to 15. F3' s metering system is also exquisite. Its reflector is specially treated, and 65,438+08% of the light can pass through the main reflector to the auxiliary reflector, and then reflect to the photoresistor at the bottom of the reflector box, thus realizing photometry. Therefore, replacing the top of F3 does not affect the nominal service life of the titanium shutter of the metering system F3, which is1.5000 times, and the actual service life should be at least twice that. Bian Xiao once saw a F3T equipped with MD4 film winding motor, which looked terrible. The owner claims that it has been the main camera since 1988 bought it. In view of the nature of the owner's work (Ya is a reporter), a little calculation shows that the shutter may have already exceeded its nominal life. However, according to my personal use of reverse film shooting, the exposure is still very accurate, the shutter action is simply sharp, and the sound is slightly Nikon-style metal tail, which is really amazing.