Is the Nikkorex F the ugliest SLR Nikon ever made? Well maybe ugly, but it’s definitely not a Nikon camera. The Nikkorex F was developed and manufactured by Mamiya, a typical SLR reflecting the common state of the art in the beginning of the 60ties. It has a focal-plane shutter, the Nikon F lens mount, no built-in exposure meter. Unbelievable: the Nikkorex F is bigger and heavier than the Nikon F, see the picture below.

Why Nikon did this? According to Nikon’s own history site the aim wasn’t to sell more cameras but more of the beautiful new lenses developed for the professional F! Right strategy, wrong camera – it didn’t worked til the Nikkormats were introduced later on in 1965.

The Nikkorex F was manufactured from June 1962 unti 1965, a second version omitted the film indicator and had some cosmetic changes. One more oddity: The Nikkorex F has a twin named Ricoh Singlex, Mamiya sold the concept to Ricoh as well. And now ladies and gents… shall we laying the cloak of silence over this product again?

I purchased the pictured camera from a private owner in Rockford/IL USA, October 2014.
According to the serial number it was built ca.1963.
Shown with a matching 5cm/2.0 lens.