Nikkor-Q 105mm f/3.5 LS (leaf shutter, Bronica)
Nippon Kogaku · Bronica S · 1966
single source, unconfirmedAlso known as: Nikkor-Q 105mm f/3.5 LS Bronica · Nikkor-Q 105mm F3.5 LS · Nikkor-Q.LS 105mm F3.5 · Nikkor Q 105mm f3.5 leaf shutter Bronica · Nikon Nikkor-Q 105mm f/3.5 for Zenza Bronica S2 EC · Bronica Nikkor 105mm f3.5 LS · Zenza Bronica Nikkor-Q 105mm LS · NIKKOR-Q 105mm F3.5 LS ブロニカ · ニッコール Q 105mm F3.5 LS · ニッコールQ 105mm F3.5 レンズシャッター ゼンザブロニカ · ブロニカ ニッコール 105mm F3.5
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nikkor-Q 105mm f/3.5 LS | Bronica S (large bayonet, C and later bodies, focusing unit removed) | 1966 | — | — |
- Construction (Tessar, 3 groups, 4 elements) and the built-in Seiko #0 shutter: Japanese Wikipedia, which gives no attachment size or date for this lens; Monaghan and the English Wikipedia lens table give 4e/3g, 67 mm and 700 g. Minimum focus: 1.3 m on Monaghan's page, 1.32 m (4 ft 4 in) in the English Wikipedia table.
- Shutter speeds: the 1–1/500 s range and B are from Monaghan's page, in the Wayback capture of 2001, and the English Wikipedia table does not repeat them; shiura.com confirms sync to 1/500 s and the M, X and V settings. Whether a T setting exists is not settled.
- Year: no source gives a release date. The lens needs the removable helicoid and new large bayonet of the C (December 1964, English Wikipedia body table), and the Marshal Press whose fixed Nikkor-Q 105mm f/3.5 in Seikosha shutter it is said to re-use is dated to the mid-1960s by camera-wiki, which files it under 1966. 1966 is therefore an inference from those two facts, not a documented date, and is the reason for the single_source flag.
- The Marshal Press origin: Japanese Wikipedia reports the lens as repurposed from the Marshal Press camera, whose sales were poor, and shiura.com says the two lenses closely resemble each other; camera-wiki's Marshal Press page describes that camera's fixed Nikkor-Q 105mm f/3.5 in a Seikosha shutter that is not self-cocking, but does not mention the Bronica. Neither Nikon nor Bronica is on record about it.
- Minimum aperture f/32: English Wikipedia lens table (f/3.5–32); the other Nikkors of the system stop down to f/22.
How to tell them apart
- The only Nikkor for the mount with a shutter in it: a Seiko #0 leaf shutter with its own speed ring, cocking lever, M/X/V selector and stop-down lever, engraved Nikkor-Q 1:3.5 f=105mm
- Mounts on the large (outer) bayonet with the focusing unit removed, through its own helicoid; 700 g, the heaviest of the short Nikkors
- 67 mm filter thread, like the 75 and 135 mm Nikkors
- Not the Nikkor-Q 13.5cm/135mm f/3.5 for the same mount, a small-bayonet lens with no shutter; not the Nikkor-M 105mm f/3.5 large-format lens in Copal or the Marshal Press's fixed 105, which share the Tessar formula but not the mount
Nikkor-Q 105mm f/3.5 LS:
- Its own focusing helicoid and a shutter-speed ring, cocking lever, M/X/V selector and stop-down lever on the barrel, none of which any other Nikkor for the mount has
- A heavy solid-aluminium rear cap (shiura.com)
- Nikkor-Q 105mm f/3.5 LS: The only leaf-shutter lens made for the focal-plane Bronica and the only version of this lens. It bypasses the common focusing unit entirely: the helicoid comes off the body and the lens mounts on the large bayonet exposed beneath, so it cannot be fitted to the D or S, whose rack-and-pinion focusing tube does not come off, and it needs the new large bayonet introduced with the C in December 1964. Bronica declared it unusable on the EC-TL and EC-TL II, whose stop-down metering needs a longer lag; shiura.com's own lens works on his EC-TL and Seiden, on Monaghan's page, says it can be used there with care in manual.
Specifications
- Formula
- Tessar, 4 elements in 3 groups; reported by Japanese Wikipedia and shiura.com to be the Nikkor-Q 105mm f/3.5 of the Marshal Press 6×9 camera, re-mounted for the Bronica
- Construction
- 4 elements / 3 groups
- Aperture range
- f/3.5–f/32
- Shutter
- Seiko #0 leaf shutter, 1s–1/500, B, with M/X/V synchronisation and a self-timer in the V setting; cocked separately from the body
- Min. focus
- 1.3 m
- Weight
- 700 g
- Filter
- 67 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1966
- Country
- Japan
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-Q 105mm f/3.5 LS is the odd one out among the Nikkors for the focal-plane Bronica: the only lens with a shutter in it, built so that a camera whose cloth focal-plane shutter synchronises with flash only at slow speeds could be used with electronic flash at anything up to 1/500 s. It is a four-element Tessar in a Seiko #0 leaf shutter with M, X and V settings and a self-timer, and both Japanese Wikipedia and shiura.com report it to be the lens of the Marshal Press, a 6×9 press camera of the mid-1960s from Marshal Optical Works that sold poorly and carried a fixed Nikkor-Q 105mm f/3.5 in a Seikosha shutter; the resemblance is close, though neither Nikon nor Bronica said so. No source gives a release date. The lens needs the removable helicoid and new large bayonet that arrived with the C in December 1964, and the Marshal Press is filed under 1966, so 1966 here is an inference from those two facts and nothing firmer.
Using it is a procedure. The common focusing unit comes off the body and the lens, which carries its own helicoid, goes on the large bayonet underneath, which rules out the D and S, whose rack-and-pinion focusing tube is built in. Set the body to its slow flash-sync speed, set the time on the lens, and cock the lens shutter by hand, since it is not self-cocking: the leaf shutter stays closed after firing, so an uncocked lens leaves the finder dark. On release the body raises the mirror and pushes the stop-down lever in the mount, and a weight-and-spring escapement in the lens delays the leaf shutter until the focal-plane curtains are fully open, which shiura.com says gives the release a slight twist. A stop-down lever on the lens works only while held. In V with the body on B the self-timer can be used. The EC-TL and EC-TL II meter at the instant of stop-down and need a longer lag, so Bronica declared the lens unusable on them; shiura.com’s own lens works on his EC-TL, and Seiden, on Monaghan’s page, says it can be used there with care in manual. At 700 g it is the heaviest of the short Nikkors, and it comes with a solid aluminium rear cap to match; it stops down to f/32 where the other Nikkors stop at f/22, takes 67 mm filters, and focuses to about 1.3 m.
On film shiura.com finds strong, saturated colour, helped by the EC’s thorough internal baffling, and good resolution; Nemoto, whom he cites, found it stable wide open but possibly less appealing for studio portraits than a longer lens. No dedicated review has been found. The lens turns up rarely, and when it does the shutter is the thing to test: speeds, the self-timer (shiura.com’s no longer runs), and the escapement that times the leaf shutter against the body.
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-Q 105mm f/3.5 LS (leaf shutter, Bronica)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
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