Nikon’s large format 1x APO macro lens, the Nikkor-AM ED 120mm f/5.6 (AMED) is in the same class as the Rodenstock Apo-Macro-Sironar 120mm f/5.6 and the excellent Schneider Makro-Symmar 120mm f/5.6. All three use 8 element 4 group designs with extra-low dispersion glass.
Is AMED lens sharp enough to work well with a modern small pixel sensor? Also how well does this lens work as a tube lens or in stacked configuration? I’ll test it against the Makro-Symmar to find out.
The AMED lens tested was provided as a loan by a friend. All the other equipment used in this test, were purchased using my own personal funds, without any sponsors, advertising, site membership fees, or featured product fees. I do not receive any income from affiliate links or selling you any products. All the information I post on this site is to share with friends, colleagues, and fellow macro photographers. Almost all photography sites today are run for a profit by using advertising and affiliate links to generate commission.
Key Features of The Nikkor-AM ED 120
Optimized for 1x
Apochromatic correction
8 element 4 group design including 2 ED glass elements
210mm image circle at 1x and f/5.6
Small and compact for a large format lens
Pros and Cons
What I really like:
M52 P= 0.75mm front accessory threads!
No. 0 Copal shutter mount
APO performance
Easy to find on the used market
What I didn’t like:
Corner sharpness in a stacked lens configuration
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Nikkor-AM ED 120mm 1:5.6 Ⓢ
Type: large format macro lens
Maximum aperture: f/5.6
Minimum Aperture: f/45
Coverage at f/5.6 and 1x: Ø 210mm
Coverage at f/22 and 1x: Ø 250mm
Shutter: No.0 (Copal)
Front slip-on cap size: 54mm
Accessory threads: 52mm x 0.75mm
Lens mount: 32.5mm x 0.5mm
Rear slip-on cap size: 42mm
Weight: 295g
Source: Japan
Design includes cover glass: no
Street price in the 1990s: $1079.
Note: Nikon sold two AM ED lenses, the 120mm and the 210mm, both were discontinued in 2006. The remaining AMED stock was sold for $299 new in-the-box at that time.
AMED Notes:
The AMED was sold mounted in a No. 0 shutter and the cells will easily thread into any #0 iris mount but be there are front cell clearance issues when using the standard Schneider B-0 iris housing (the Makro-Symmar tested here uses a B-0 mount).
Nikon designed the AMED to be completely free of chromatic aberration at all settings, and from images made for this test, the claim seems to be accurate. Not many lenses are 100% free of LaCAs and LoCAs at 1x.
The two inner-most elements of the AMED are ED glass and these are softer and less scratch resistant so they are much easier to damage than the normal optical glass. The two inner elements are exposed when the lens cells are removed so be careful.
Interestingly I’ve been told that the Nikkor-AM ED and the APO EL-Nikkor use a similar lens designs and similar glass types. I have not tested the APO-EL Nikkors but the Nikkor-AM ED chromatic aberration correction is at an extremely high level so the APO-EL Nikkor > Nikkor-AM ED connection does make some sense.
In testing the AMED was sensitive to stray light and needed a very deep hood to cure issues with glare.
Nikkor-AM ED vs Schneider Makro-Symmar HM
The Nikkor-AM ED (AMED) and the Schneider Makro-Symmar HM are both symmetrical 8 element, 4 group designs optimized for 1x and I just happened to have a copy on hand to test.
100% View Center Crop at 1x: Nikkor-AM ED vs Schneider Makro-Symmar HM
The sharpness level from both lenses was high enough but the Nikkor-AM ED lens shows an advantage over the Makro-Symmar. Nice to see both lenses are 100% CA free in the center.
100% View Edge Crop at 1x: Nikkor-AM ED vs Schneider Makro-Symmar HM
The Nikkor-AM ED lens has an advantage over the Makro-Symmar at the edge. Both show consistent sharpness and no trace of CAs at the edge.
100% View Corner Crop at 1x: Nikkor-AM ED vs Schneider Makro-Symmar HM
The Nikkor-AM ED lens also has an advantage over the Makro-Symmar in the far corners. Both are CA free.
Results
The sharpness out of the Nikkor-AM ED was a big surprise. Honestly I did not think a lens with a 210mm image circle could resolve details like this on a sensor with a 3.73 µm pixel pitch! On top of the sharpness, in testing this lens I have to say the chromatic aberration is pretty incredible, I did not see any trace of lateral or axial CAs.
Nikkor-AM ED vs Schneider APO-Digitar 5.6/120 M
The Nikkor-AM ED (AMED) and the Schneider APO-Digitar M (APOD) are symmetrical 8 element, 4 group designs optimized for 1x and very similar to the Makro-Symmar HM 5.6/120. The main difference is the APO-Digitar being designed for a smaller sensor, coverage, 250mm vs 70mm at 1x.
100% View Center Crop at 1x: Nikkor-AM ED vs Schneider APO-Digitar M
The sharpness out of both of these lenses is excellent, even with the 3.73 µm pixel pitch of the A7RIV sensor!
100% View Edge Crop at 1x: Nikkor-AM ED vs Schneider APO-Digitar M
Both show no drop off in image quality at the edge and zero trace of CAs.
100% View Corner Crop at 1x: Nikkor-AM ED vs Schneider APO-Digitar M
Excellent corner performance, really fantastic sharpness and zero CAs.
Nikkor-AM ED vs Schneider Makro-Symmar HM Results
The APO-Digitar is able to deliver a level sharpness closer to the Nikkor-AM ED. Frankly the sharpness out of both of these lenses is nothing short of amazing.
Nikkor-AM ED vs Printing Nikkor 105 A
Just for fun I decided to compare the AMED to the sharpest lens I own at 1x, the Printing Nikkor A. The results really arent comparable since they were shot with slightly different lighting and processed separately at different times and even the wafer pattern is at a different section of the disk. But it is still interesting to see the difference in details.
The Printing Nikkor 105 image is awesome of course, but I expected that, the level of sharpness and detail out of a large format lens made 20 years ago is the real surprise! The Printing Nikkor was shot at f/2.8, the AMED best was at f/5.6.
Nikkor-AM ED vs Schneider Makro-Symmar HM 5.6/120 M stacked at 3.4x
One of the biggest strengths of the Makro-Symmar line of lenses is the performance as a tube lens, some of the very best I’ve ever tested. The Nikkor-AM ED turned in a strong performance at 1x so I’m really interested to see what this lens will do as a tube lens or as a rear lens in a stacked lens setup.
Front lens: Schneider Kreuznach Componon 2.8/35 Makro-iris
Tube lens: Nikkor-AM ED 5.6/120
Nominal aperture: f/3.5
Effective aperture: f/12
Magnification: 3.4x
Front lens: Schneider Kreuznach Componon 2.8/35 Makro-iris
Tube lens: Schneider Kreuznach Makro-Iris HM 5.6/120
Nominal aperture: f/3.5
Effective aperture: f/12
Magnification: 3.4x
Camera: Sony α7R IV, model ILCE-7RM4, also known as: A7R4
Sensor size: 35.7 x 23.8 mm. 42.91 mm diagonal. 3.73 µm micron sensor pitch, 35 mm full frame 9504 x 6336, 60 MP), APS-C, 6240 x 4160, 26 MP
Flash: Godox TT350s wireless flash x 2 with one Godox X1s 2.4G wireless flash transmitter
Vertical stand: Nikon MM-11 with a Nikon focus block
Test images were taken in a stack in 4 µm steps. The sharpest frame was then chosen using Photoshop at 100% actual pixel view. Separate images were selected for center, edge, and corner if needed. Each image was processed in PS CC with identical settings and all noise reduction and lens correction turned off, all settings were zeroed out (true zero) and the same settings were used for all of the images.
Center crops at 3.4x
Nikkor-AM ED 5.6/120
Schneider Makro-Symmar HM 5.6/120
The level of sharpness is very impressive, an excellent job from both lenses. The lack of pink or purple highlights is another accomplishment, the high contrast of this wafer makes it very difficult for most lenses to suppress lateral CAs. Here both center crops are totally CA free! Note: CA correction is disabled in camera and in the Raw converter app.
Edge crops at 3.4x
Nikkor-AM ED 5.6/120
Schneider Makro-Symmar HM 5.6/120
At the edge, the Nikkor-AM ED is sharp but the Makro-Symmar is a bit more crisp. Looks like this is just a hint of what is going to be found at the extreme corners. Makro-Symmar is sharper at the edge, but the good news is that both are CA free.
Corner crops at 3.4x
Nikkor-AM ED 5.6/120
Schneider Makro-Symmar HM 5.6/120
Both lenses required multiple images to obtain sharp corners, but the AMED sharpness rolls off so its not correctable with a deeper stack of images. The Makro-Symmar results are sharp to the far right edge but I chose this image so the frames match with the AMED lens.
The Nikkor-AM ED lens worked very differently in normally mount and reverse. The images shown here are with the lens used in reverse. Forward mount showed much worse corner shading and softness issues. Also in reverse the lens used only about 40-50mm of extension to focus at infinity while using around 100mm forward mounted. Nikon specs say the AMED is symmetrical.
The Nikkor-AM ED has issues with corner shading and softness in the far corners. The Makro-Symmar is sharp to the extreme corners, the AMED is not.
Nikkor-AM ED 5.6/120 Final Results
The AMED lens offers excellent performance at 1x with extremely good chromatic aberration correction. The lens is highly recommended and you can expect excellent results at 1x even on a current camera like the Sony A7RIV.
When used as a tube lens/stacked configuration corner performance was poor on a full frame camera but you can get decent results on a cropped sensor camera when used in reverse (I know the lens is symmetrical). If you will be using the lens as much as I do in stacked setups the Makro-Symmar would be a smarter buy due to the lower prices ($350 for a clean makro iris version if you are patent). The AMED seems to have the Nikon collector tax premium (inflated prices) in most of the units I’ve seen for sale.
LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Excellent EL-NIKKOR, APO-EL-NIKKOR, PRINTING-NIKKOR information on Marco Cavina website.
This site is in Italian (language) so you will need a browser translation plug-in, I use Brave with a Google translator extension.
http://www.marcocavina.com/articoli_fotografici/Nikon_EL-Nikkor_lenses/00_pag.htm
If you are not familiar with Marco Cavina’s work, follow the link, his work is some of the very best anywhere.