Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/03/02
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]PopPhoto March 1951 page 47 : "Curiously, except for a Summaron wide angle, he did not use Leitz lenses. For most of his work he used a 50-mm f/1.5 Japanese Nikkor lens, but carried with him and used also 85-mm f/2 and 135-mm f/3.5 Nikkor lenses.....The Nikkor lenses are made for the Nikon camera, Nipponese version of the German Zeiss Contax incorporating Leica type shutter, and are manufactured by the Japan Optical Co., Ltd..." Article by "Bruce Downs" who was soon to become the PopPhoto editor and turn it from a photo mag to an equipment mag. The PopPhoto article February 1951 page 28 says that Horace Bristol learned about the Nikkor lenses and he and DDD began acquiring them before the North Korean invasion. So. According to these articles, everybody who has argued this issue on LUG is correct in part. Good luck, Erwin! Erwin Puts wrote: > > The Nikon-Leica controversy as triggered by the Duncan story. > Avoiding the political and sensitive issues, the basic question is: > were the Nikon lenses then better (please define"better") than > contemporary lenses from Leica or Zeiss. Much discussion followed, > none conclusive. The simple act of testing these lenses would have > solved the issue. So that is what I am going to do. Next week there > is a major Nikon gathering in Rotterdam (Tom A will be there too) and > I will ask some collectors to lend me the DDD lenses. I will then > test them according to my normal procedure and that at least would > give me any reliable info. >