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Nikon Medical-Nikkor.C Auto 200mm f/5.6

Nixer

Member
I've been wanting to buy one of these lens for a few years now but never had any extra money. It was always a curiosity since not a lot of people own them. Anyways went ahead and bought it and I'm hoping to educate more people on this wonderful lens! It's serial number indicates it was from June 1974 and this is the 2nd version of the 200mm. You can read an in-depth description & history about these lenses here.

Anyways onto the pictures! Sorry if there is too many!

In order to use this lens you have to rotate rings on the lens itself. First you select an ISO which then limits what reproduction ratio you can choose and depending on that combo it automatically selects what aperture to use. This is the only way it can properly expose for the built-in ring flash since this was made before TTL metering.

So for the most part my settings were:
3x = Nikon D3 : 1/250th : f/45: 100 ISO : M Mode : 0 Exp Comp
1x = Nikon D3 : 1/250th : f/25: 100 ISO : M Mode : 0 Exp Comp

I did 1/250th because that is my D3's max flash sync-speed. So if it were a D70, it would be 1/500th.

The first few shots I took shortly after opening the box so I had not dusted the lenses at all. My sensor also needed a cleaning!

Also I was only able to find this on eBay as complete set with the AC Unit instead of the DC Unit (8 "D" batteries) which is needed to power the built-in ring flash, so I am limited on what I can shoot based on the availability of a power outlet and the reach of the power cord which is why all my subjects were things I could find around my house.

#1 - Ignore the 25, the lens can imprint the reproduction ratio or what shot number you're at (1-38, remember this was meant for film), as I said I started playing with it as soon as I got it so I had not set it to imprint the correct thing!


#2


#3 - Unplugged the ring flash and took this without it since my phone emits it's own light.


#4


#5 - 1x = 1:1 life-size reproduction ratio where most macro lenses top out ie. 105mm VR, Tamron 90mm, Tokina 100mm etc.


Cleaned the lenses but still needed to clean the sensor:

#6


#7 - Tested out lighting with my SB-600 & SB-700 as master. Man do I miss having a pop-up flash! Not as good as the built-in ring flash.


#8


Found I still had some VisibleDust swabs, so I cleaned my sensor and things are MUCH clearer!

#9


#10


#11


#12 - Stacked all the auxiliary lenses, not quite sure what reproduction ratio this is but it's over 3:1 aka 3x


#13


#14


#15
 

Jan Brittenson

Senior Subscriber Member
Wow, neat. Thanks for posting so many examples... The imprinting of magnification is pretty cool and I suppose nice when you don't want to put a ruler or other reference in the image. Like when you're trying to photograph something in a mouth or throat, or have someone's head open...

I wonder how it would compare to the AF-D 200/4 Micro and a ring flash, and maybe a tube or bellows?
 

Nixer

Member
Didn't want to make a new thread, found some spare time to use the lens and the LD-1 DC Unit which allows me to use it without it tethered to a power outlet, although at the mercy of 8 D batteries, but with AA to D adapters I can use my Eneloops just fine!

Yes, my sensor got dirty again, it's a D3.

Anyways tried to capture some ants at work. Very hard to do since there is no focus ring what so ever but I just did focus trapping and waited for them to come in focus.

All shots are on my D3, 1/250, ISO 100, f/45 and using the built in ring flash @ 3:1 life size reproduction ratio (3x)


#1


#2


#3 - Put a DIME next to them so you can get an idea of how small these ants were


#4 - Accidentally nudged the ratio ring so it imprinted 3x onto the image


#5 - No clue what this TINY bug was, if I had put a dime near it I might have killed it, it was way smaller than a dime, maybe a pin head.
 

D&A

Well-known member
Wow, is right! The detail is extremely impressive and I can imagine one can do a lot of cool things with this lens. That last shot proves theres a whole other wold out there of tiny little creatures :)

Dave (D&A)
 

Nixer

Member
Wow, is right! The detail is extremely impressive and I can imagine one can do a lot of cool things with this lens. That last shot proves theres a whole other wold out there of tiny little creatures :)

Dave (D&A)
Yeah. I think what was more amazing to me is I didn't really have to move around. I basically sat in one spot and really looked around and found all these things I would have normally ignored.
 
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