Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Nikkor-P(·C) 8.5cm f/2

Nippon Kogaku · Nikon S + LTM + Contax RF · 1948 · Sonnar

Also known as: Nikkor 8.5cm f/2 · Nikkor 85mm f/2 · Nikkor-P·C 8.5cm f/2 · Nikkor-P.C 8.5cm f/2 · Nikkor-PC 8.5cm f2 · Nikkor-P 8.5cm f/2 · Nikkor-P·C 85mm f/2 · Nikkor-P 85mm f/2 · Nippon Kogaku 8.5cm f/2 · Nikkor P.C 8.5cm F2.0 · 8.5cm f2

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Nikon S, chrome (1948 baseline) Nikon S 1948 801102–801295 (295, May 1949 — MIOJ, two-piece rim, 435g)¹
903025–903506 (1950 — MIOJ on the barrel, triangle index)
903547–904093 (1,093 — MIOJ on the focus cam, dot index)
286483–288436 (1951 — MIOJ, sometimes MIJ)
288616–289513 (aperture to f/16)
289505–296800 (10,318 — aperture to f/32)
396388–404576 (8,276 — 380g; black and chrome mixed from 4000xx) 		~21,500 family total across mounts and finishes (sum of five recorded serial-block quantities 295 + 1,093 + 10,318 + 8,276 + 1,512 — span-derived arithmetic; no published total exists)
Black paint over brass Nikon S — 396388–404576, black and chrome mixed from 4000xx — a black example below 4000xx is unusual but not impossible, and a chrome one above it is normal¹ —
Black anodized aluminum (final) Nikon S 1956 496xxx–497xxx <2,000 made
Leica screw mount LTM — — —
Contax RF Contax RF — — —
How to tell them apart (expand)

Nikon S, chrome (1948 baseline):

  • Chrome-over-brass barrel; early examples have no filter thread — the hood is friction-fit — and some early aperture rings are click-less
  • 10 rounded aperture blades keep the opening circular when stopped down

Black paint over brass:

  • Black paint over brass, same barrel as late chrome
  • Black and chrome OVERLAP in the 399–404k block — serial alone doesn't date the finish

Black anodized aluminum (final):

  • Black anodized aluminum barrel — the 1956 aluminum change; the family's final form

Serial-range notes

287050 · 289279
Chrome examples offered by Fotopia (Hong Kong), 2026 — 287050 sits in the 1951 MIOJ block, 289279 in the f/16 block.
399979
A chrome example inside 396388–404576, which is where Vink records black and chrome running together; a silver barrel at 399xxx is expected, not anomalous.
earliest blocks, May 1949 onward
First recorded serials date to May 1949, against the March 1948 launch date; the Nikon Chronicle groups the lens only 'by 1949'.
399510 · 401126
Two Contax-mount examples marked C, recorded from the owner's own observation (2026-09-04): 399510 on a silver barrel, 401126 on a black barrel. Both sit inside the 399–404k block where chrome and black overlap, which is the point — 1,600 serials apart, and the finish flipped.
399xxx–403xxx
Black paint over brass, on the same barrel as late chrome — but black and chrome overlap through the 399–404k block, so serial alone doesn't date the finish.
496xxx–497xxx
Final black anodized aluminum version, <2,000 made; the aluminum change came in 1956.

Specifications

Formula
Sonnar
Construction
5 elements / 3 groups
Aperture range
f/2
Diaphragm blades
10
Min. focus
1 m
Weight
425 g
Filter
48 mm
Years manufactured
1948
Country
Japan

What reviewers say

Optical Ratings

Aggregated from the reviews above — follow the links for the full picture.

Chromatic aberration
low
Spherical aberration
mild
Vignetting
noticeable wide open
Flare & ghosting
significant
Distortion
minimal
Optical formula — Sonnar
Schematic cross-section drawn for this site — topology from Nikon Thousand-and-One-Nights No.36 (existing link) describes the construction explicitly: a Sonnar-type 5e/3g with a single convex front element, a three-element cemented middle group (as in the 5cm f/2), and a single r; curvatures and spacing stylized.
Schematic cross-section drawn for this site — topology from Nikon Thousand-and-One-Nights No.36 (existing link) describes the construction explicitly: a Sonnar-type 5e/3g with a single convex front element, a three-element cemented middle group (as in the 5cm f/2), and a single r; curvatures and spacing stylized. — Drawn for this site, CC BY 4.0

History

Few lenses can claim to have changed a company’s fortunes as directly as the Nikkor-P·C 8.5cm f/2. Launched in March 1948 (per Japanese Wikipedia; Nikon’s own Chronicle groups it only “by 1949”), it was a five-element, three-group Sonnar derived from the Zeiss 85mm f/2, newly computed after the war by Saburo Murakami (村上三郎) — working, as Nikon’s house history relates, with log tables, hand-cranked calculators, and abacuses. In June 1950, photographer Jun Miki (三木淳) borrowed this lens and snapped LIFE’s David Douglas Duncan; the sharpness of the enlargement so impressed Duncan that he visited Nippon Kogaku’s Ohi plant, watched projection tests pit his own lenses against Nikkors, and left a convert. That visit — triggered by this lens — is what made Nikkor’s Western reputation.

The familiar lore does need one correction: Duncan did not take the 8.5cm f/2 to war. When he left to cover Korea, he carried Leicas fitted with the Nikkor 5cm f/1.5 and 13.5cm f/4 — the 8.5/2 was the trigger of the story, not his Korea lens. The episode seeded a second lineage too: Nikon modified this lens’s rangefinder coupling to fit LIFE photographer Carl Mydans’s Contax, and every Contax-mount Nikkor that followed traces back to that job. The optical design itself had legs — Richard Haw notes the same five-in-three Sonnar layout became the basis of the beloved Nikkor-P·C 10.5cm f/2.5 — and Nikon’s essay credits it with high contrast and little coma flare even wide open, which is much of why the Duncan enlargement looked the way it did.

Production is best estimated at ~21,500 — the sum of the five recorded serial-block quantities (295 + 1,093 + 10,318 + 8,276 + 1,512), span-derived arithmetic in the absence of any published total — with the first recorded serials appearing in May 1949, a year after the launch date. The lens itself is a dense 425g of chrome-over-brass and glass, with a 48mm filter, ten rounded aperture blades, and a 1.0m minimum focus. The barrel evolved over the run: chrome gave way to black paint over brass in the 399xxx–403xxx serials — though black and chrome overlap through the 399–404k block, so serial alone won’t date a finish — and finally, with the 1956 change to aluminum, to a black anodized version in the 496xxx–497xxx range, of which fewer than 2,000 were made.

Expand Collapse

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 taken with the Nikkor-P(·C) 8.5cm f/2
Lotus flower, Akita, Japan — Nikkor P.C 8.5cm f/2 on a Kiev 4a (Contax/S bayonet), Kodak Ektar 100 — Yasuhiro_S (CC BY 2.0)

More sample photos elsewhere

These photographers keep all rights to their work — enjoy it at the source.

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Nikkor-P(·C) 8.5cm f/2? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $460 across 34 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $300–$630). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 2 days: unchanged from $460.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$460$300–$63034
2026-09-06$460$300–$63034

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

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Listings updated 2026-09-11. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Komura 80mm f/1.8 · Nikkor 85mm f/1.8 · Nikkor-P·C 10.5cm f/2.5 · Nikkor-S(·C) 8.5cm f/1.5

Sources (5)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this lens, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.