UV-Nikkor lenses

During the 1960's Nikon introduced - to meet the demand of special clients - some very special lenses for forensic and medical research. Also NASA ordered some of these lenses for its space programs. Special elements render ultra-violet light from 220 nm. and higher. All lenses are highly corrected and are therefore free of common lens aberrations. Exposure meters may not work correctly as they are made to react on light with other wavelengths.

Most of the lenses listed below were/are not listed on the regular importer's price lists. New they were/are very expensive (6 times the price of a regular Micro-Nikkor), due to the low numbers of production. Second hand lenses aren't cheap as well.

UV-Nikkor 2/55 mm.

This lens was specially developed for NASA. It has relatively large grips for the use with gloves. There is no aperture coupling mechanism and focusing is not possible, as it is fixed at infinity. Extremely rare!

UV-Nikkor 4.5/50 mm.

Introduced in 1998 this optical design is based on that of the Micro-Nikkors of the same focal length. To be able to correct nearly all aberrations this lens has 6 elements of very special glass in 6 groups. It renders colors (or wave lengths) of 220-900 nm. The viewing angle is 46° and the lens focuses down to 24 cm. gaining a ratio of 1:10 to 1:2. With an AI-aperture ring it will fit nearly all film and digital SLR cameras. The lens weights in at 250 gram

UV-Nikkor 4/55 mm.

Based on the Micro-Nikkors with equal focal length, too, this lens has three elements of special glass, rendering light with a wavelength of 300-400 nm. This light lens (230 gram) was introduced in the late 1980's.

UV-Micro-Nikkor 4.5/105 mm.

This lens, introduced in the early 1980's, has an optical design of 6 lenses in 5 groups. It is less rare than the other lenses in this chapter. The lens has an AIS-aperture ring and has a built-in hood. No need to state that this lens has no aberrations whatsoever and can be used for special macro-photography, down to 48 cm. in a ratio of 2:1. The weight of the lens is 525 gram.