[net.rec.photo] Nikon E series vs Nikkor

sen@sbcs.UUCP (Soumitra Sengupta) (04/15/85)

All ye Nikon fans, RESPOND.

Being a graduate student, I am perennially short of green bills! So why 
shouldn't I invest in Series E lenses? The company claims the same lens
material, the same process and everything else is same, except for weight
and price, for comparable zoom lenses of Series E and Nikkor.

Why does a camera equipment seller calls Series E to be a piece of garbage
because it is made up of plastic material? Is it? So what? I aint gonna 
play basketball with the stuff. What difference does a metal lens body make,
anyway?

I am trying to buy 70-210/f4 Series E. Any advice regarding above will be
most welcome.

Soumitra (sen) Sengupta

..!allegra!sbcs!sen, sen@sbcs.csnet

ark@alice.UUCP (Andrew Koenig) (04/19/85)

I have heard that it is considerably more expensive to repair
a Series E lens if something goes wrong with it than to
repair a "standard" Nikkor lens.  Treat this as the
unconfirmed rumor it is.

darrelj@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Darrel VanBuer) (04/22/85)

Optically, Nikkors and series E are very similar in design and quality.
Differences: E series are machine finished, Nikkors are hand fininshed
glass (so probably slightly better finished unless the person has a bad day).

Mechanical:  Nikkors are mostly metal (aluminum and brass) and everything
secured with screws, series E uses many fiberglass reinforced plastic
moldings, many of the little levers and tabs secured by deforming the
plastic rivets to which attached.  The mount is still brass, and one half of
the focusing tube is metal (so plastic on aluminum vs brass on aluminum).

The big difference is in durability (and if you have some really old Nikon
cameras, the lack of the prong on E series); the Nikkors will stand daily
motor drive use for a decade or more and considerable abuse, 
the series E lenses are more suited to
the kind of use given by a weekend snapshotter.

-- 
Darrel J. Van Buer, PhD
System Development Corp.
2500 Colorado Ave
Santa Monica, CA 90406
(213)820-4111 x5449
...{allegra,burdvax,cbosgd,hplabs,ihnp4,orstcs,sdcsvax,ucla-cs,akgua}
                                                            !sdcrdcf!darrelj
VANBUER@USC-ECL.ARPA