Additional Information on Nikkor 13mm Ultra-Wideangle Lens

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Ai Nikkor 13mm f/5.6 Ultra-Wideangle Lens

This was essentially an Ai-upgrade based on the original lens introduced in 1976. This lens was introduced along with another exotic lens, the longest zoom lens in 35mm photography - the Zoom Nikkor 360mm-1200 f/11 ED. With its uncharacteristic sweeping 118° picture angle, the 13mm Nikkor offers the widest coverage in 35mm SLR photography without the image distortion common to fisheye lenses.

This image shown below is an exacting Ai upgraded version introduced during 1977 and has great similarity with subsequent Ai-S version - except for the way how filter is mounted and the design of the rubberised focusing grip. The dimension for the later version is marginally smaller at 115mm x 101mm versus 115mm x 99mm in the Ai-S lens introduced later which apparently went through a facelift during the late seventies which made it slightly different in appearance with this version.

Tecnical highlights of this lens is its exceptional image sharpness which extends even at its closest focusing rannge while it can foucs down to 0.3m (1ft)- much due to use of Nikon 'Floating Elements system in its optical design. Further, superior Nikon lens technology perhaps has offset and minimized light falloff and distortion in frame corners typically shown in ultra-wideangle lenses of this type. This lens is a truly unique ultra-wideangle for use in many applications such as special effect, artistry, commercial or creative assignments. This 13mm ultrawide comes with an integral lens hood and rapid mount bayonet type filters (yellow, orange, red, plain glass)*.

The complexity of the retrofocus design was one of the reason why the lens never seem to evolve over the years despite there are new optical innovations such as aspherical elements which may help greatly to design newer, faster and even better optic ultrawides. However, during its era, this lens has still remained more as a status lens for Nikon rather than as a practical optic - primarily due to its price and its weak area in lens handling. I would assume other alternatives such as Nikkor 15mm f/3.5 or the Nikkor 18mm lens should be more pratical and logical than this make to order lens from Nikon. Whatever it is, this is an exceptional optic which anyone would like to own and use, if possible.

Download a PDF file (45k) NOTE: Except for filter set, specification of this lens is identical to the Ai-S version which remained until discontinuation. * (Skylight (L1BC), orange (O56), light amber (A2) and light blue (B2) was supplied with later version.

NOTE: Serial Number was believed to have been started with 175055 for this 13mm f/5.6 AI spec lens and 175021 for Non-Ai version.

Pre-Aii 13mm f/5.6 | AiNikkor 13mm f/5.6 | Ai-S 13mm f/5.6

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Recommended links to understand more technical details related to the Nikkor F-mount and production Serial Number:
http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/index-153.html by: my friend, Rick Oleson
http://www.zi.ku.dk/personal/lhhansen/photo/fmount.htm by: Hansen, Lars Holst
http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/nikonfmount/lens2.htm
http://www.photosynthesis.co.nz/nikon/serialno.html

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Co-developed with my web buddy, Rick Oleson® & Denmark, Creator of the Nikon Repair Group Mailing-List; A contributing effort to Michael Liu's Classic Nikon SLRs and Nikkor optic site.

Credit: MCLau®, who has helped to rewrite some of the content appeared this site. Chuck Hester® who has been helping me all along with the development of all these Nikon websites; Lars Holst Hansen, 'Hawkeye' who shares the same passion I have; Ms Rissa, Sales manager from Nikon Corporation Malaysia for granting permission to use some of the official content; Ted Wengelaar, Holland who has helped to provide many useful input relating to older Nikkor lenses; Some of the references on production serial numbers used in this site were extracted from Roland Vink's website; Hiura Shinsaku from Nikomat Club Japan. Lastly, to all the good people who has contributed their own expeience, resources or kind enough granted permission to use their images of their respective optic in this site. It is also a site to remember a long lost friend on the Net. Note:certain content and images appeared in this site were either scanned from official marketing leaflets & brochures published by Nikon and/or contribution from surfers who claimed originality of their work for educational purposes. The creator of the site will not be responsible for may discrepancies arise from such dispute except rectifying them after verification. "Nikon", "Nikkormat", "Nippon Kokagu KK" & "Nikkor" are registered tradename of Nikon Corporation Inc., Japan. Site made with an Apple IMac.