What is the significance of the small (~4mm diameter) black or red dots that are found on SOME Nikkor AIS lens boxes? They are located on the bottom right corners of 7 out of 8 panels. Thanks for your input.

-- Eric James (eajames@u.washington.edu), November 11, 1999

Answers

Sometimes the dots indicate later versions. Sometimes the dots indicate some sort of improvement. Sometimes not. I've heard lots of apocryphal stories and some reliable first-hand accounts (concerning "black dot" F5s), but can only point to one example from personal experience: my F3 E screen box has a red dot, and the screen is slightly but visibly brighter than an older F3 E screen that lacked the dot.

-- John Kuraoka (kuraoka@home.com), November 12, 1999.

I thought that the dots were there so that salesman at Cambridge and CCI could tell the "Polycarbon", Nikkors, made in Thailand,, China,Swaziland (or wherever) from the "real" Nikkors, made in Japan

-- Charlie Robbins (robbnsc@hotmail.com), December 15, 1999.