Nikkor-H·C 75mm f/2.8 'DX' (Bronica)
Nippon Kogaku · Bronica S · 1972
Known as “DX”
Also known as: Nikkor-H.C 75mm f/2.8 Bronica · Nikkor-H.C 75mm F2.8 · Nikkor H C 75mm f2.8 Bronica · Nikkor-HC 75mm F2.8 Bronica EC · Nikon Nikkor-H.C 75mm f/2.8 for Zenza Bronica S2 EC · Nikkor 75mm F2.8 DX Bronica · Bronica Nikkor HC 75mm f2.8 · NIKKOR-H.C 75mm F2.8 ブロニカ · ニッコール H.C 75mm F2.8 · ニッコールHC 75mm F2.8 ゼンザブロニカ · ブロニカ ニッコール 75mm F2.8 DX
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nikkor-H·C 75mm f/2.8 | Bronica S | 1972 | — | — |
- Construction (4 groups, 6 elements) and the φ67 mm screw-in attachment: Japanese Wikipedia, citing カメラ・レンズ白書 1979年版 p.380, which also records the catalogue's DX mark and its absence from the lens. The English Wikipedia lens table gives 6e/4g, 0.60 m, 67 mm and 290 g; Monaghan's page 6e/4g.
- Year: Monaghan's page says the lens was introduced with the EC (April 1972, English Wikipedia body table); shiura.com and Japanese Wikipedia say only that it was sold beside the P·C as the higher-grade 75. No source gives an end date.
- Price: ¥53,500 and the 'Nikkor 75mm F2.8 DX' name are from the EC-TL catalogue as reproduced by shiura.com. The catalogue is undated; the EC-TL was introduced in June 1975, so the price is assigned to 1975.
- Asahi Camera tested the P on a Bronica EC and the H·C on an EC-TL (reported by shiura.com): the H·C was rated lower overall and the magazine questioned what the dearer lens was for, while its numbers showed less field curvature and more even corner illumination, with a spherical-aberration profile that favours contrast and uniformity over the P's resolution-test showing.
How to tell them apart
- Engraved Nikkor-H·C 1:2.8 f=75mm, with no DX marking; the only six-element 75 mm Nikkor for the mount
- 290 g against 230 g for the Nikkor-P (English Wikipedia); the same 67 mm filter thread and 0.6 m minimum focus
- Small (inner) bayonet, mounting through the common focusing unit on every focal-plane body from the D to the EC-TL II
- Not the Nikkor-H·C 50mm f/2 or 85mm f/1.8 for the Nikon F, which share the engraving style but not the mount; not the Nikkor-P or P·C 75mm, which read P
Nikkor-H·C 75mm f/2.8:
- Engraved Nikkor-H·C 1:2.8 f=75mm; the ·C is Nikon's multicoating and the H the six-element count
- The catalogue's 'DX' does not appear anywhere on the lens (Japanese Wikipedia, shiura.com)
- Nikkor-H·C 75mm f/2.8: The only version. Monaghan's page has it introduced with the EC, which went on sale in April 1972, and the Camera-Lens Hakusho of 1979 still lists it beside the Nikkor-P·C. Far fewer come to market than the P (shiura.com).
Specifications
- Formula
- Gauss-type standard lens, 6 elements in 4 groups; the H denotes six elements
- Construction
- 6 elements / 4 groups
- Aperture range
- f/2.8–f/22
- Min. focus
- 0.6 m
- Weight
- 290 g
- Filter
- 67 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1972
- Country
- Japan
- Coating
- Multicoated — the ·C suffix; no single-coated Nikkor-H 75mm was sold
- Original price
- ¥53,500 in the EC-TL catalogue of the mid-1970s, listed as 'Nikkor 75mm F2.8 DX', against ¥39,500 for the five-element Nikkor-P (shiura.com) (today ¥109,000)
What reviewers say
No reviews aggregated yet — this family is still in the research queue. Written one? We'd love to index it.
History
The Nikkor-H·C 75mm f/2.8 was the premium standard lens of the focal-plane Bronica, offered from the EC of 1972 beside the five-element Nikkor-P that had served since 1959, at the same focal length and speed but with six elements in four groups, multicoating from the start, and a price of ¥53,500 in the EC-TL catalogue against ¥39,500 for the P. The catalogue called it the “Nikkor 75mm F2.8 DX”; the lens itself reads Nikkor-H·C and carries no DX anywhere, as Japanese Wikipedia and shiura.com both note. It weighs 290 g to the P’s 230 g, takes the same 67 mm filters, focuses to 0.6 m on the common helicoid, and mounts on the small bayonet like every lens from 40 to 200 mm, so it fits every body from the D to the EC-TL II. Far fewer of them come to market than Ps.
What it was for is the interesting question, and the contemporary press did not think the answer obvious. Asahi Camera tested the P on an EC and the H·C on an EC-TL, rated the dearer lens lower overall, and asked what justified the price gap; its own figures, as shiura.com reads them, show the H·C with less field curvature and more even illumination into the corners, and a spherical-aberration profile that favours contrast and uniformity, in the manner of many Zeiss lenses, where the P’s profile suits a resolution chart. shiura.com’s conclusion is that the H·C was developed to improve the bokeh: the P is very sharp but draws double lines in out-of-focus backgrounds and its wide-open blur is harsh at the edges because of vignetting, where the H·C gives softer, smoother blur with less halo, which he finds helps at night. His advice is the H·C for portraits, still life and dim scenes wide open, and the P stopped down a stop or two for crisp monochrome landscapes.
No English-language review of the lens has been found, and the Japanese material is shiura.com’s comparison and the magazine test he reports. The end of production has not been found either; the Camera-Lens Hakusho of 1979 still lists it beside the P·C.
This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.
Example photos
Sample photo wanted — shot with a Nikkor-H·C 75mm f/2.8 'DX' (Bronica)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
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