Nikkor-P 200mm f/4 (Bronica)
Nippon Kogaku · Bronica S · 1961
Also known as: Nikkor-P 200mm f/4 Bronica · Nikkor-P 200mm F4 for Bronica S2 · Nikon Nikkor-P 200mm f4 Bronica S2A · Nikkor P.C 200mm f4 Bronica · Nikkor-P·C 200mm f/4 · Nippon Kogaku Nikkor-P 1:4 f=200mm · Bronica Nikkor 200mm F4 · Bronica 200mm f4 Nikkor-P lens · ゼンザブロニカ ニッコール P 200mm F4 · ブロニカ ニッコール 200mm F4 · Bニッコール 200mm F4 · NIKKOR-P 200mm F4 ブロニカ S2用
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nikkor-P 200mm f/4, early type (built-in hood, click-locked) | Bronica S | 1961 | 37248 (a Nippon Kogaku-marked lens photographed on Monaghan's Bronica pages) | — |
| Nikkor-P 200mm f/4, late type (redesigned optics, lighter barrel) | Bronica S | — | — | — |
| Nikkor-P·C 200mm f/4 (multicoated) | Bronica S | — | — | — |
- Construction, 21° angle of view, 2.8 m minimum focus, 67 mm filter and 750 g are from the Bronica specification list reproduced on Monaghan's page, which Seiden's listing repeats (5 elements, 5 groups, 67 mm, built-in hood, close-up lens). Japanese Wikipedia gives 5群5枚 and φ67 for the late type only and says the early type's optics differ; nothing published gives the early construction, so the figures stand for the late type.
- Minimum aperture: f/32 in the Bronica specification list on Monaghan's page; the English Wikipedia table gives f/4–22. The maker's list is the stronger source, and the Nikon F lens of the same name also stops to f/32.
- Minimum focus depends on the body: 2.8 m on the Z/D and S, whose rack-and-pinion focusing tube is built into the body, and 3.3 m on the C and later, whose removable helicoid has a shorter throw (shiura.com). The dedicated close-up lens supplied with the early type gives 1.7–3 m (Seiden).
- Dates: Monaghan's history lists the 200 mm among the Nikkors of 1961–65, and shiura.com confirms it was not available at launch. No source dates the change to the late type or the arrival of the P·C, and no end date is published.
How to tell them apart
- The longest lens on the small (inner) Bronica bayonet, so it fits every focal-plane Bronica from the Z/D to the EC-TL II and focuses through the body's own helicoid; a 200 mm Nikkor on the large bayonet does not exist (shiura.com; Japanese Wikipedia)
- Nikkor-P 1:4 f=200mm on the name ring with the Nippon Kogaku or Nikon name, built-in sliding hood, 67 mm filter thread shared with the 75 and 135 (Bronica filter brochure on Monaghan's page)
- Not the Nikkor-Q Auto 200mm f/4 for the Nikon F, which has a focusing ring and an aperture ring with a meter prong; the Bronica lens has neither, and its rear end is a bare bayonet. Nor the Zenzanon MC 200mm f/4 or the Komura 200mm f/3.5 and f/4 for the same bodies, which carry their own names
Nikkor-P 200mm f/4, early type (built-in hood, click-locked):
- Marked Nippon Kogaku; shiura.com has not seen an early type marked Nikon
- Larger front and rear glass than the late type, the rear element 'as large as it can be', and a longer barrel (shiura.com)
- Thick, heavy filter ring and built-in sliding hood with a click lock in the stowed position; the very first examples have no built-in hood at all (shiura.com)
Nikkor-P 200mm f/4, late type (redesigned optics, lighter barrel):
- Smaller front and rear elements and a slightly shorter barrel than the early type; thinner walls, more light alloy, noticeably lighter in the hand (shiura.com)
- Built-in hood without the early type's click lock; some examples carry a knurled band on the thicker part of the hood (shiura.com)
- Found marked both Nippon Kogaku and Nikon (shiura.com)
Nikkor-P·C 200mm f/4 (multicoated):
- The late-type barrel with ·C after the P on the name ring, Nikon's mark for multicoating (Japanese Wikipedia; shiura.com)
- Nikkor-P 200mm f/4, early type (built-in hood, click-locked): The first of the two optical designs, not in the 1959 launch range: Monaghan's history puts the 200 mm among the Nikkors added in 1961–65. Supplied with a dedicated close-up lens that brings the focusing range to 1.7–3 m (Seiden's specification list). Seiden records 'several esthetic and functional mount changes' across the lens's life, which is where shiura.com's sub-variants of the early barrel belong.
- Nikkor-P 200mm f/4, late type (redesigned optics, lighter barrel): A recomputed lens of the same focal length and speed: 5 elements in 5 groups by Japanese Wikipedia, citing a 1979 reference, with the optics 'changed' from the early type. No source dates the change.
- Nikkor-P·C 200mm f/4 (multicoated): The final version: the late-type optics with multicoating. shiura.com finds the single-coated late type more common than the P·C.
Serial-range notes
- 37248
- The only number on record here, read from the name ring of an early-type lens marked Nippon Kogaku Japan in a photograph on Monaghan's Bronica pages. No serial table has been published for the Bronica Nikkors.
Specifications
- Formula
- Five-element telephoto; the late type is 5 elements in 5 groups (Japanese Wikipedia, Seiden). The early type's construction is not published, and Japanese Wikipedia says only that the optics were changed between the two
- Construction
- 5 elements / 5 groups
- Aperture range
- f/4–f/32
- Min. focus
- 2.8 m
- Weight
- 750 g
- Filter
- 67 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1961
- Country
- Japan
- Coating
- Single-coated on the early and late types; the final Nikkor-P·C is multicoated (Japanese Wikipedia; shiura.com)
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-P 200mm f/4 is the longest lens Nippon Kogaku made for the small bayonet of the focal-plane Bronicas, which means it is the longest lens that focuses through the body’s own helicoid and the longest that fits every body from the 1959 Z/D to the EC-TL II. It was not in the launch range: Monaghan’s history lists it among the Nikkors that arrived between 1961 and 1965, and shiura.com confirms it was unavailable at the start. The Bronica specification list gives five elements in five groups, a 21° angle of view, f/4 to f/32, 2.8 m minimum focus, a 67 mm filter thread shared with the 75 and 135, and 750 g; the English Wikipedia table repeats most of this but stops the aperture scale at f/22. Because the Z/D and S focus by a rack-and-pinion tube built into the body and the C and later bodies by a removable helicoid of shorter throw, the same lens reaches 2.8 m on the earlier bodies and only 3.3 m on the later ones. Bronica dealt with this by supplying a dedicated close-up lens, which brings the range to 1.7–3 m.
Two optical designs share the name. The early type, marked Nippon Kogaku, has larger front and rear glass, a longer and heavier brass barrel, a thick filter ring and a built-in sliding hood that clicks into its stowed position; shiura.com notes that the very first examples have no built-in hood. The late type is a recomputed lens of the same specification, the five-in-five construction Japanese Wikipedia gives for it, citing a 1979 reference, in a shorter, thinner-walled barrel with more light alloy, a hood without the click lock and, on some, a knurled band on the hood; it is found marked both Nippon Kogaku and Nikon. The last version adds Nikon’s multicoating and the ·C suffix, and shiura.com finds it scarcer than the single-coated late type. Seiden, who wrote the fullest account of the system, records several cosmetic and functional mount changes and possibly formula changes over the lens’s life without dating any of them, and no source gives the year of the redesign or the year production ended.
No published review of the lens exists. The one user’s verdict on record is Michel Porcher’s, in letters reproduced on Monaghan’s page: shooting Bronica Nikkors on an EC-TL, EC and S2 he found the 200 “just very good”, below the 50 and 75 he rated impressive and well above a 135 that disappointed him. He also found that a Cambron teleconverter could not reach infinity with it, the rear element touching the converter’s front glass, a consequence of the deep rear group that sits close to the mirror on a lens with no helicoid of its own. shiura.com’s handling note is that the early type is long and heavy enough to make the body helicoid feel stiff, without being extreme. Bronica listed a fitted case for the 200 among its accessories, and the interchangeable distance scales for the later focusing units include a set engraved for 75, 50, 135 and 200 mm.
Buying, the things to check are the hood, which should slide and on an early lens click home, and the rear element, which is large and exposed. Early and late types are told apart at a glance by the size of the glass and the length of the barrel; a ·C on the name ring is the multicoated last version. The Nikon F lens of the same name is a different product with a focusing ring, an aperture ring and a meter prong, none of which the Bronica lens has, and the Zenzanon and Komura 200s for the same bodies carry their own names.
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-P 200mm f/4 (Bronica)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
Live listings
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