Looking Through Lenses Of History: Nikon Camera

Films and media have been around for nearly 100 years now but what nobody talks about is the tools that were being used to produce them. Looking at the quality of the media produced back then and now, obviously there has been a huge improvement. However, let’s take a look at some of the some of the old tools that were first used to create beauties. After going through the museum of dead media, the object that I have chosen is Nikon F 35mm SLR & Nikkor 85-250mm zoom, Ca. 1964. The camera is black with with the Nikon symbol on it and as well as large F letter on it too as well.

The camera is a standard camera with the flash attached to it. It has a standard front lens attached to it in order to zoom in closer. The name of the camera is titled Nikon F 35mm SLR and I believe Nikkor 85-250mm zoom is the lens attached to it. Just by looking at the camera and judging by the year it was created, I came to the hypothesis that it was only being used to take photos and not for recording. The front lens of the camera was another clue that I used to help me come to that conclusion. In addition, it does not look like it can be used to record sounds because it only has the button to snap a photo. In order to use it, one would need to operate it by focusing the camera and pressing the snap button. It also comes with a camera flashlight just in case the setting is dark so the light can brighten the picture. I found an online page that explains the history of the camera, its components, and as well as their purposes. According to the page, it states, “ Like many camera manufacturers, Nikon was busy producing 35mm rangefinder film cameras in the decades leading up to the launch of the Nikon F. According to Nikon, the first 35mm SLR camera was the Kine-Exakta, built by Ihagee Kamerawerk, Steenbergen & Co. , in Germany, in 1936. Light enters the camera lens and then reflects on the SLR camera’s reflection, or reflex, mirror and to a viewfinder—often through a prism at the top of the camera”(Vorenkamp). Comparing this camera to the present, of course the camera from the present will be better but at the time when this first came out, it was considered a really good camera.

Now, let’s take a deeper look into the camera’s components such as the camera lens and what type of media did it make. According to the website, it states, “ Based on Michael Liu's earlier remarks on Nikon's first zoom lense, he stated the 8. 5~25. 0cm f/4~4. 5-16 Zoom-Nikkor Auto that was introduced in 1960 carries with the following basic technical specifications: 15 elements in 8 groups; 28-1/2 to 10 degrees angle of view; focusses to 4m; and has a Series IX accessory size”. Through reading the history of this media object, this is the proof that confirms my hypothesis that the Nikon F 35mm SLR & Nikkor 85250mm zoom, Ca. 1964 was being used to capture images. The lens were made to improve the quality of the images. Furthermore, it gave the options of zooming in to get a closer look at the object if one is far away from the object. The techs and efforts that went into making the lens served the purpose of capturing images.

Now that my hypothesis is confirmed, let’s go into depths about the quality of the images produced by this camera. Based on the history page, “ The lotus leaves in the foreground on which the focus was set are very sharp, while those in the distance maintain their outlines even while being a little blurred. The smoothness of the blurring in the distance is a beneficial effect of incomplete correction of coma, so as you can see, not all aberration is detrimental. The distortion is however a little disconcerting. Both barrel distortion at the wide angle end, and pincushion distortion at the telephoto end of the focal length range is present, and fairly noticeable particularly with straight-lined photographic subjects. In fact, my intention in zooming in a little to 50mm in Photo 1 was to render this distortion less conspicuous” (https://imaging. nikon. com/history/story/0004/index. htm). The products are meant to impress and capture the audience with its outstanding quality.

Other than that, I did not find any media relating music or videos. I believe that the camera’s only function was to simply take pictures. But, from an eye of someone that is living in the 21st century, the picture that this camera produced was really solid for its time. The colors were nice even though this camera was invented in 1964 when the majority of pictures were black and white. This shows that it was ahead of its time in term of strictly capturing photographs. This was one of the best cameras in the 1960’s. After the Zoom-NIKKOR Auto 43-86mm f/3. 5 lens for the Nikon F 35mm SLR & Nikkor 85-250mm zoom, Ca. 1964, as normal, an improved version came into the market. Other than inventing a new camera, a new model of the lens was created. Referring from the history page, “

In 1974, eleven years after first appearing, the multi-coated version was produced, and then 1976, when it was reborn with a new 8-group, 11-element optical configuration to improve peripheral performance and reduce vignetting, it gained even more adherents. In 1977 it underwent a model change to become the AI Nikkor, and continued to be produced right up until the Nikon F3 and Nikon EM appeared. This lens, with its trademark array of colored, engraved lines indicating depth of field over the zoom range decorating the lens barrel, is definitely one of the great lens to bear the Nikkor name. ” The advantage of the improved version is the colors. It created better lighting as well as color balance. The disadvantage of it is the pricing and the size. When I was observing and comparing the lenses, I noticed the new lens is a little bit bigger than the old lens since it can do more. For the old version, according to the page, the advantage is the, “This rare first version of the 85-250 was only made until April 1961, when the dual controls rings for zooming and focus were replaced by a single control ring. Construction is very robust. The close focus distance is a non macro like 7 1/2 feet. Closer focusing was accomplished with a special close-up lens. The lens had a built in tripod socket for both horizontal and vertical shots, a special shade, and an automatic diaphragm. Exact production of the first version is unknown, but around 2,000 is a reasonable guess. The single zoom ring is relatively common, with a production of about 16,000 made in two optical versions”.

As for disadvantage, it is the the lighting and quality of the pictures since it was made during the 1960’s. For evidence, “ it was created in the days before multi-coating, and so very blatant ghost images and flares often appear in slightly back-lit situations, making the use of a lens hood almost essential” . For the camera, the Nikon F35mm SLR had the advantage of, “ the new Nikon F featured an automatic mirror return, auto diaphragm to open the attached lens’s aperture and provide the brightest possible viewfinder image, a depth-of-field preview button to stop the lens down, and a mirror lockup feature to reduce vibrations” (Vorenkamp). It tried its best to help the user with taking the best pictures as possible as well as reduce mistakes while doing so. For the cons, I would say it’s the size of the camera because cameras now are slim and the F35mm is quite big.

After the F35mm SLR, the Nikon EM came into place. I found another article about the Nikon EM, for the pros, it states, “ The first clue you get that this camera is indeed made of sterner stuff is when you cock the shutter. The unusual winding lever has a kind of knee joint that flips sweetly out when you use it and clicks back out of the way when you're done - a charming feature. You can also wind in several multiple strokes, and film transports smoothly’ . The film improved and as well as the quality of the pictures given this camera was invented in 1979. For the cons, I would also say its size and its compatibility with the computer. Nowaday, one could upload photos into the computer but back in 1979, that wasn’t the case.

In conclusion, I originally took the photo of the the camera thinking it was only about the camera but I learned that the camera came with different lenses. A camera is only a source to store images but it is the lenses that capture the quality of the images. It is very similar to the people that wear glasses because the frame is similar to the camera but it is the lenses that enable people to see. I learned about the history of camera lenses as well as their purposes. On top of that, I learned about the origin of the Nikon Camera and its impacts on photographers and society. Life itself is a memorable event and these cameras are here to help us capture and remember it.