Last Sunday an Indonesian Dragon festival took place
in Denver. It was a perfect gathering around a small lake featuring South East
Asian music, traditional dances, boat races, and ethnic food. For me, it was a
time for photography, hoping that beside the obvious shots of ethnic dances, I
would find a moment to take my Nikon F “for a walk” and bring back a few photos
on B&W film.
While I have travelled the globe for decades with,
among other cameras a Nikon F, the most common lens I used is the 1960s Nikkor –
S Auto f1.4. It is fast, very versatile for various environments and light
conditions, and balances perfectly on the Nikon F.
But this time I wanted a lighter lens, one of equal
historical meaning to “purist” photographers who see the vintage look and feel
of B&W photography the ultimate way to tell a story. Not to get photos of
dimples on teenage fleas. Not to attract the viewer’s eye by creating colours
through AI manipulations. Just to tell a story about everyday human behavior
that would let the viewer dream a little, hope a little, and wish they had
taken time to notice some daily behavior.
… The Nikkor-H is an unpretentious lens – it is not
as fast as the Nikkor-S, the built is very solid but not an engineering
masterpiece, and it does not have a flat-field optical correction design like
the most celebrated Leica Summicron 50mm f2. Instead, it is light to carry, has
above average contrast compared to lenses of that era, the front lens is
recessed enough and does not need a hood, and the focusing is much faster than
the Nikkor-S or the Leica Summicron. In short, a true photojournalist lens for
quick shots and ease of carry.
Here is my Nikon F with the Nikkor-H, both from the 1960s:
Note original leather case embossed "Nippon Kogaku, Tokyo, Made in Japan". Also see eyepiece correction lens I “designed” on the view
finder. It is a Nikon F3 +1.00 diopter magnifier that does not fit the older
Nikon F. So, I came up with my own method of attaching it to the F making my
focusing faster and with enough extension from the camera body so my spectacles
would not be scratched:
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So, I walked around the crowd and the lake looking
for that moment that would be best brought home on B&W film taken by a no-frills
vintage camera and lens.
The dancers were wearing traditional Indonesian
dance attire, the music was pleasant, there were hundreds of visitors either carrying
young children or being pulled by their dogs through the walking crowd. The
race boats were too far for a 50 mm lens, and the lines in front of the food
kiosks too long.
Then I saw a group of young women waiting to go on
stage to perform their dances. They were from a dance studio, advanced
beginners I was told, but eager to perform. Somehow, as I looked at them, I saw
the moment in B&W, perhaps because it was an overcast day; or perhaps
because of their attire.
Of course everyone was moving and getting ready to
get on stage. I had to find my focusing spot/person, be ready for that split
second when the dancers would create choreography for me, and use the Sunny 16
rule to quickly adjust the f-stop on the lens when the sun would suddenly peak
out of the clouds mid-my photo taking.
I took 4 photos before they go on stage.
The photo at the outset of this post is of the waiting time the young dancers eagerly experienced while looking at the group dancing before them. I waited to see some unscripted choreography and guessed that the two dancers on the outside of the group may raise their elbows up in unison framing the shot. I focused on the lady at the forefront, as she was the only one I could see with a painted design on her cheeks and nose. I thought the sharpness of the Nikkor-H could be tested by how clearly that painting would be captured on film. Overall, the attired of the dancers and their uncovered shoulders seemed to naturally make it a moment in B&W.
Here is the extreme zooming and cropping from the
scanned photo to show the face painting. A zoom from the actual negative would
be more sharp, but my vintage Hansa Pro enlarger cannot zoom that close. However, not bad for a 60 year old lens that
was the workhorse for Nikon F in the 1960s!
The next photo is my favorite. I had a split of a
second to capture the posture of the two dancers, so the focusing is a bit off.
But the story is there, and that is what counts for me.
As I printed the photos, I was wondering if a Leica
Summicron would have done better than the Nikkor-H which was called by
photojournalists the “Japanese Summicron”. I am not sure. I have used the collapsible Summicron on my 1954 Leica IIIF, and while it is a marvel of German engineering
(albeit expectedly over-engineered), I ended up favoring my 1948 Canon Serenar
f1.9 for more frequent use. Clearly, if I were a photographer of landscapes or
architectural structures, the flat-field capability of the Summicron would be a
must. But for street photography, the Nikkor-H is perfect given ease of use,
weight, size and price which is a fraction of what the Summicron used to and
continues to cost.
At the end of the day, under the red light of a
darkroom, what counts is what a photographer was able to do with his ability to
anticipate a street moment and capture it.
September 1, 2026
© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2026
