UV76
Established
1. Hermes – 7.5cm f4.5 variant
I have come across a very interesting variant of Nippon Kogaku enlarger lens Hermes 5.5cm f3.5, Nr. 55282
Its barrel is shortened, and the front element is swapped to “Nikkor” 7.5cm f4.5 No. 789.
(The grids in the pictures are in centimeters).
Hermes - 7.5cm f4.5 front element
Barrel shortened from regular Hermes
Front element
My first impression was “Who would have dared to cut the venerable Hermes barrel and swapped the front element!?”.
However, I gradually found out that this lens was sold alongside many prototype lenses such as 50cm (No.5001), 18cm f4.5 barrel lens (Nr. 1), Hansa Canon 50mm f4.5 lenses and lots of anaglyphic drafting machine projector lenses (3.7/4.35/4.4/4.5cm f18) used with aerial photos, all from the early 1930s and some components from military theodolite, suggesting the sale was from either former military lab inventory or an estate sale of Nippon Kogaku engineer.
Now it made more sense. During the late-1930s, a variant of Hermes must have been tested with 7.5cm lens.
Technically, this lens can be applied to close-up photography, so I have tried mounting on my RF bellows system using permacel tape and seemed to work fine, showing clear images on the reflex housing.
2. Nikkor 7.5cm f4.5
What is this mysterious “Nikkor” 7.5cm f4.5 lens? It has been a phantom until now.
German engineer Heinrich Acht was invited during the 1920s to Nippon Kogaku as the director of mathematics section of the design department to oversee Anytar lens design based off Tessar design, and the Japanese designers made further design improvements after Acht's return to Germany. Anytar lenses are known to have designed with focal lengths of 7.5cm/10.5cm/10.7cm/12cn/15cm/18cm/36cm (as per Nikon corporate website), and only 12.5cm f4.5 was commercialized. Anytar prototype 10.7cm f4.5 (Compur No.423675) is on display at Nikon Museum.
Long story short, I was lucky enough to obtain the full Nikkor 7.5cm f4.5 lens with a shutter on a separate sale.
I have in my possession Nikkor 7.5cm f4.5 No. 760 which has an early Anytar characteristics with engravings on the rim. I am assuming the production year of after 1932 to late 1930s (on or about the Hermes lens production of around 1936) as it has “Nikkor” name. The lens is mounted to Compur shutter (early ones with German patent number (D.R.P. No. 258646 D.R.G.M)) No. 549xxx built around 1922-25, and it also came with dozens of same Compur shutters with similar serial number range (548-549xxx), probably used for testing purposes.
Lastly, I also have the front element of Nikkor 7.5cm f4.5 Nr. 755 (the 5[SUP]th[/SUP] production lens??) with more commonly seen engravings on the peripheral of the lens of the lens. These were known to have been mounted on Seica (4.5x6) and Mamiya Six III cameras.
Please let me know if you have any further information about the 7.5cm f4.5 lens or the Hermes variant.
I have come across a very interesting variant of Nippon Kogaku enlarger lens Hermes 5.5cm f3.5, Nr. 55282
Its barrel is shortened, and the front element is swapped to “Nikkor” 7.5cm f4.5 No. 789.
(The grids in the pictures are in centimeters).
Hermes - 7.5cm f4.5 front element
Barrel shortened from regular Hermes
Front element
My first impression was “Who would have dared to cut the venerable Hermes barrel and swapped the front element!?”.
However, I gradually found out that this lens was sold alongside many prototype lenses such as 50cm (No.5001), 18cm f4.5 barrel lens (Nr. 1), Hansa Canon 50mm f4.5 lenses and lots of anaglyphic drafting machine projector lenses (3.7/4.35/4.4/4.5cm f18) used with aerial photos, all from the early 1930s and some components from military theodolite, suggesting the sale was from either former military lab inventory or an estate sale of Nippon Kogaku engineer.
Now it made more sense. During the late-1930s, a variant of Hermes must have been tested with 7.5cm lens.
Technically, this lens can be applied to close-up photography, so I have tried mounting on my RF bellows system using permacel tape and seemed to work fine, showing clear images on the reflex housing.
2. Nikkor 7.5cm f4.5
What is this mysterious “Nikkor” 7.5cm f4.5 lens? It has been a phantom until now.
German engineer Heinrich Acht was invited during the 1920s to Nippon Kogaku as the director of mathematics section of the design department to oversee Anytar lens design based off Tessar design, and the Japanese designers made further design improvements after Acht's return to Germany. Anytar lenses are known to have designed with focal lengths of 7.5cm/10.5cm/10.7cm/12cn/15cm/18cm/36cm (as per Nikon corporate website), and only 12.5cm f4.5 was commercialized. Anytar prototype 10.7cm f4.5 (Compur No.423675) is on display at Nikon Museum.
Long story short, I was lucky enough to obtain the full Nikkor 7.5cm f4.5 lens with a shutter on a separate sale.
I have in my possession Nikkor 7.5cm f4.5 No. 760 which has an early Anytar characteristics with engravings on the rim. I am assuming the production year of after 1932 to late 1930s (on or about the Hermes lens production of around 1936) as it has “Nikkor” name. The lens is mounted to Compur shutter (early ones with German patent number (D.R.P. No. 258646 D.R.G.M)) No. 549xxx built around 1922-25, and it also came with dozens of same Compur shutters with similar serial number range (548-549xxx), probably used for testing purposes.
Lastly, I also have the front element of Nikkor 7.5cm f4.5 Nr. 755 (the 5[SUP]th[/SUP] production lens??) with more commonly seen engravings on the peripheral of the lens of the lens. These were known to have been mounted on Seica (4.5x6) and Mamiya Six III cameras.
Please let me know if you have any further information about the 7.5cm f4.5 lens or the Hermes variant.
