Nikkor-C 35 f/1.8 M Mount or LTM/S only?

[Laharrier]

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Hi all, I’m interested in the history of this lens and was wondering if it was ever produced for the M mount or only in S and LTM? I know it was uncommon in LTM, and would imagine an M mount version if it ever existed would be even more uncommon. 

[zeitz]

Robert Rotoloni's book "The Complete Nikon Rangefinder System" covers all the Nikkors including the 35mm f1.8.  The serial number range is about 8300 lenses, but Nikon says only 6901 lenses were made "in Nikon mount".  Oddly Robert does not say anything about an LTM version of this lens.  Nor does he say about the missing 1400 serial numbers other than speculating gaps in production.  For the 35mm f2.5 lens he says there were 6866 LTM lenses.

http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/serialno.html#RF_Wide  says 1560 LTM lenses were made.

Neither Canon nor Nikon ever made a lens in M mount.  The mount was patented by Leitz to prevent other lenses from making M lenses.  The first third party M lenses appeared when Leitz' legal protection expired.

[dpitt]

Actually, I think the LTM is more universal. I do not mind using the small LTM - M adapter on my M. And using the modern LTM lenses on a Barnack can be fun. We can even buy 6-bit prepared adapters now and code the lens ourselves, which is cheaper than having a vintage M-lens coded.

[James24]

As mentioned by Zeitz, Nikon didn't make an M mount version, but did make around 1500 in Leica thread mount. If you want to use one of these lenses on a Leica, then an LTM one with M adapter is the way to go. They are neither easy to find nor cheap, but they do come up for sale.

A couple of conversions of S mount lenses to M mount have been performed by Miyazaki in Japan. You can read more about this on the first page of this thread:

https://www.rangefinderforum.com/threads/w-nikkor-35mm-f-1-8-ltm.157240/

[zeitz]

50 minutes ago, James24 said:

A couple of conversions of S mount lenses to M mount have been performed by Miyazaki in Japan.

According to Bellamy Hunt (the Japan Camera Hunter):

Unfortunately Miyazaki San has now ceased his lens conversion service. But all is not lost, JCH has teamed up with Skyllaney Opto-Mechanics to produce high quality lens conversions for specific lenses. New lenses are being added to the range all the time, so if you are not sure please get in contact and we can advise.

[Laharrier]

Very good info gentleman. Thank you!