*** SOLD ***
Nikkorex s/n 80734
Nikkor-Q 50mm2.5
The Nikon Nikkorex 35 was a 35mm leaf shutter SLR released in 1960. After the Contaflex (SLR), launched in 1953, there was a trend of leaf shutter SLR's for the medium price range. At the beginning of the 1960s, many Japanese makers made their own leaf shutter SLR, but none of them was very reliable, the Nikkorex 35 being no exception.
The Nikkorex 35 had a Citizen MVL shutter from 1s to 1/500 and a fixed Nikkor-Q 50/2.5 lens. The reflex finder used mirrors (porro configuration) instead of a pentaprism. The viewfinder eyepiece was offset to the left of the body, and the finder screen was equipped with a split image device. The Nikkorex 35 did not have an instant return mirror, and was subject to finder blackout after each exposure. The special finder configuration resulted in a squarish looking body, with a big selenium meter in front of the mirror housing. The meter was coupled, and the exposure reading was displayed in the viewfinder and on the top plate under a window. The ISO setting was around the lens. There was a lever advance, a rewind crank, strap lugs, a flash sync socket and a fixed accessory shoe.
The Nikkorex 35|2 was essentially the same camera with the Citizen shutter replaced by a Seikosha-SLV, a slight redesign of the body's external shape, and a Nikkorex marking on the meter's window. It replaced the Nikkorex 35 in 1962. It is said it was developed because the original model was not reliabe enough. It is often called Nikkorex 35 II, but the box and user manual read "Nikkorex 35|2" (see pictures here).
Two optical complements were made for the Nikkorex 35 and 35|2, a wide angle 35mm (or 38mm?) f/5.6 and a tele f/5.6 (equivalent 90mm). They were screwed in front of the lens.
At Nikon's corporate site, an article mentions a prototype with a dual finder, switchable from reflex to direct vision by moving a mirror.
