Did Nikon invent the golden ring first or Canon invent the red ring first?

Because I am not engaged in research on the history of photography, I cannot draw an absolute conclusion, and there may be no absolutely correct answer to this question. However, judging from the information at hand and a more superficial time perspective, Nikon should be the first " Invented the "Golden Circle Lens".

Please continue to listen to me:

According to kenrockwell, the website says that the Nikon 300mm f/2.8 ED-IF lens was introduced in 1977.

Original text:

Introduction

The Nikon 300mm f/2.8 ED-IF was the world's first practical super-speed super telephoto.

The Nikon 300mm f/2.8 ED-IF was a landmark when it was introduced in November 1977, along with Nikon's first automatic-indexing lenses (AI). These new AI lenses, which today still work perfectly on most film and digital Nikons like the newest D300, D3, F100 and F6, were the first to allow mounting on a camera without having to fiddle with the aperture ring to index it to the the meter. (More at AI Lenses.)

The 300mm f/2.8 ED-IF is what put "ED" into photography's lexicon. This ED, or super-low dispersion glass, is what allowed Nikon to create what previously was impossible, which was a fast super telephoto without sharpness-robbing chromatic aberration . Previously, secondary chromatic aberration (green/magenta color fringes on the sides and and halos in the center) would have been too much of a problem with traditional lenses. (More at ED Glass.)

IF, or internal focusing, means that you may focus simply by flicking the focus ring back and forth. The entire lens doesn't have to rack in and out. in fact, nothing moves externally. (More at Internal Focusing.)

Nikon was the first in recent times to use a colored ring to say that a lens was special. The ED lenses of this era used solid gold metal rings (not just foil) to say "look at me, I'm the King of Lenses!" Considering the prices of these lenses, the cost of the solid gold didn't add much to the price. ED actually means the special glass that's used. Contrast this to Canon's lame red paint for Canon's L lenses.

According to Nikon China's introduction titled "Nikkor Lenses - "Stories of One Thousand and One Nights" - Eleventh Night, the original text:

The first is "Nikkor-H 300mm f/2.8". This lens was released to the news reporting industry in January 1972. The term "low dispersion (ED)" did not exist at that time. Since then, the lens has been improved with multi-layer coating and the company's own ED glass has been used.

This lens has never been sold to general users, nor has it been included in the product brochure. The total number of products produced is only a few dozen.

After that, the company developed a unique IF (internal focusing) system and released the "AI ED Nikkor 300mm f/2.8 (IF)" in 1978. This lens uses automatic aperture and AI (automatic maximum aperture delivery) system. The "328" shot has since become famous. After that, the "AI ED NIKKOR 300mm f/2.8S (IF)" was released (a protective glass filter was added in front of the front lens, and it was made AI-S).

As time goes by, the era of autofocus SLRs begins. Nikon launched the "AI AF ED NIKKOR 300mm f/2.8S (IF)" with autofocus function in October 1986, and launched it in September 1992 with a fundamentally redesigned optical system and a built-in motor. "AI AF-I ED Nikkor 300mm f/2.8D (IF)". In November 1996, Nikon launched the "AI AF-S ED Nikkor 300mm f/2.8D (IF)" which further improved the optical system and was equipped with Nikon's Silent Wave Motor (SWM).

So, based on the above, I wonder if it was released in 1977 and officially released in 1978? Or is it something else? Because the earliest date kenrockwell mentioned about the Nikon 300mm f/2.8 ED-IF was 1977, and the Nikon China history introduction mentioned the date about this lens as 1978. This date is quite important. It involves the question of who "invented" (appeared) earlier, because what I am going to say next is that Canon's first red circle appeared in 1978. But I can’t eat hot tofu in a hurry, so let’s take a look at the photos of Nikon 300mm f/2.8 ED-IFAI first.

Next, some descriptions about Canon are as follows:

In 1978, Canon made a historic decision to replace the FD 300mm f/4 and the FD the following year. The three lenses, 500mm f/4.5 and FD 800mm f/5.6, are circled in red. Since then, Canon has been out of control and developed ten fixed-focus L lenses and six zoom L-lenses in the new FD series lenses. These lenses themselves are not an epoch-making breakthrough, but the product of Canon's long-term research and accumulation of optical technology. However, since then, Canon lenses have been directly divided into two categories: L lenses and non-L lenses; for camera users, the quality of the lenses can be determined by one Simple red circle to judge.

Canon FD 300mm f/4 jade photo:

So, basically you understand that the Nikon gold circle and the Canon red circle appeared almost at the same time (1978, um~ That’s how I understand it).

Why do Japanese optical companies, especially Nikon and Canon, still have such a "tacit understanding" in competition to this day? Because this is tradition, they usually use the misplaced competition + carve-up-monopoly model to maximize the market. Of course, if I want to further analyze what misplaced competition and carve-up and monopoly are, it may be enough to write another article. Please forgive my laziness. But what does misplaced competition + carve-up - monopoly rely on? The main thing is technical reserves. For example, a high-end coating technology can often be easily used for more than ten years, or even twenty or thirty years. Therefore, what you publish does not mean that I do not have it. I may have reserves, but I will not publish them.

So it is difficult to delve into your original question, because if everyone launched the gold circle and the red circle in 1978, then there would still be months. If the months are the same, then there would still be days. In order to avoid the onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder, I will not continue to explore such things.

If someone asked me your question in daily life, I would only say: "Basically invented at the same time" (of course, it is not actually called invention, it is just published).