The Nikon S-mount is a type of interchangeable

lens mount A lens mount is an interface – mechanical and often also electrical – between a photographic camera body and a lens. It is a feature of camera systems where the body allows interchangeable lenses, most usually the rangefinder camera, singl ...

used by a series of

Nikon (, ; ), also known just as Nikon, is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optics and imaging products. The companies held by Nikon form the Nikon Group. Nikon's products include cameras, camera ...

35mm 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film * 35 mm movie film, a type of motion picture film stock * 35MM 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format ...

rangefinder camera A rangefinder camera is a camera fitted with a rangefinder, typically a split-image rangefinder: a range-finding focusing mechanism allowing the photographer to measure the subject distance and take photographs that are in sharp focus. Most var ...

s ( Nikon I, Nikon M, Nikon S, Nikon S2,

Nikon SP The Nikon SP is a professional level, interchangeable lens, 35 mm film, rangefinder camera introduced in 1957. It is the culmination of Nikon's rangefinder development which started in 1948 with the Nikon I, and was "arguably the most advanced ...

Nikon S3 The Nikon S3 is a professional level, interchangeable lens, 35 mm film, rangefinder camera introduced in 1958. It was manufactured by the Japanese optics company Nippon Kogaku K. K. (Nikon Corporation since 1988). The S3 is mechanically similar ...

Nikon S4 The Nikon S4 is a rangefinder camera produced by Nikon that was very similar to the Nikon S3 but had a slightly lower price. This was because it used a cloth shutter curtain (rather than titanium foil curtains) and it lacked the self-timer and moto ...

). The lenses were sold under the name

Nikkor Nikkor is the brand of lenses produced by Nikon Corporation, including camera lenses for the Nikon F-mount. Nikko parent company brand, from which the Nikkor brand evolved. The ''Nikkor'' brand was introduced in 1932, a Westernised rendering of a ...

. The mount was a copy of the

Zeiss Ikon Carl Zeiss AG (), branded as ZEISS, is a German manufacturer of optical systems and optoelectronics, founded in Jena, Germany in 1846 by optician Carl Zeiss. Together with Ernst Abbe (joined 1866) and Otto Schott (joined 1884) he laid the ...

Contax Contax (stylised as CONTAX in the Kyocera era) began as a German camera model in the Zeiss Ikon line in 1932, and later became a brand name. The early cameras were among the finest in the world, typically featuring high quality Zeiss intercha ...

rangefinder mount, however, small differences between the two mean that although Zeiss wide-angle lenses can be used on the Nikon cameras and vice versa, the longer lenses (50 mm and above), if used, will not be able to focus at both close range and infinity. Nikon made a small number of longer focal length lenses specifically designed to focus properly when mounted on a Contax. These were the 85mm, 105mm, and 135mm lenses. Each was marked with a "C" on the side of the lens barrel. This is not to be confused with a "C" mark used as a suffix to the serial number. Some early Nikkors used this mark to denote that the lenses were

coated A coating is a covering that is applied to the surface of an object, usually referred to as the substrate. The purpose of applying the coating may be decorative, functional, or both. Coatings may be applied as liquids, gases or solids e.g. Powder ...

. The mount itself has two bayonets, one inside the camera and another outside. Lenses that use the bayonet inside the camera need have no focusing helicoid built into the lens barrel. As a consequence, the 5 cm f/1.4 lens that was normally sold with the body is extremely small (about the size of a golf ball) since the lens contains the optics only. Focusing of such lenses could be done by rotating the toothed wheel on the top front of the camera body or by rotating the lens barrel itself (the distance scale is on the camera body). The external bayonet is used to mount longer and heavier lenses where the built-in helicoid would not be strong enough to rotate the lens barrel. Such lenses are focused using a focusing ring and distance scale on the lens just like typical SLR lenses (the distance scale on the camera body will be covered by the lens flange and thus not visible). Nikon produced a very large range of

lenses for these cameras with focal lengths from 21mm to 1000mm. Several other manufacturers including Fuji (now

Fujifilm , trading as Fujifilm, or simply Fuji, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, operating in the realms of photography, optics, office and medical electronics, biotechnology, and chemicals. The offerings from th ...

), Komura and Zunow made S-mount lenses at the time of which the Zunow 5 cm f/1.1 lens is a keenly sought after collectors item. In 2002,

Cosina Voigtländer Cosina Voigtländer refers to photographic products manufactured by Cosina under the Voigtländer name since 1999. Cosina leases rights to the Voigtländer name from RINGFOTO GmbH & Co. ALFO Marketing KG in Germany. Cosina Voigtländer products have ...

manufactured a camera (the Bessa R2S) as well as several lenses for the Nikon S-mount.

References

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External links

W-NIKKOR 3.5cm f/1.8
"NIKKOR Club Quarterly" article about the design of about what was at the time the fastest wide-angle lens in the world.

Brief descriptions of Nikon S-mount cameras and Nikkor / Voigtlander lenses in S-mount. Lens mounts 135 film cameras S S

Further reading

References

External links