Nikon 1000mm Mirror Lens
edited by David Barth, November 24, 2008
Nikon introduced the 1000mm f11 Reflex lens in 1965. The lens uses mirrors instead of glass elements. These lenses
are known as "mirror" or "catadioptric" lenses. Nikon calls them "Reflex" lenses. There are three versions.
The first version, pictured below, has four built-in filters that are located around a wheel at the rear of the
lens.
The filters are:
- L37: Ultraviolet (UV) light inhibiting filter.
- O56: Orange filter.
- R60: Red filter.
- Y48: Yellow filter.
A filter can be selected by rotating the wheel.
Although very handy in that all of the filters are immediately available without removing the lens from the camera,
the negative aspects of this design are that the wheel makes the lens bulky, and only four filters can be
selected.
The first version was built from 1965 until
1976. The second version was introduced in 1974. It is less bulky than the first version because filters are separate and
are screwed onto the rear of the lens, much the same as they are for the Nikkor 500mm lenses, which requires the lens
to be removed from the camera in order to change filters. A benefit of using external filters is that any type of filters
can be used.
A third version was brought out in 1976, and it retained the screw-in filter design.
The minimum focusing distance (MFD) for the 1000mm f11 lens is 8 meters (25 feet).
This view shows the lens with the hood installed in the storage position where it is turned backwards and slipped
over the end of the lens. The chrome knob tightens to hold the hood securely to the lens.
This picture shows the lens with the hood removed.
This is a view of the front of the lens.
This is the rear of the lens. The square, chrome button releases a catch that allows the lens to rotate inside the
tripod collar to allow the camera to change from landscape to portrait (horizontal to vertical)
image.
This view is looking through the rear of the lens.
This photo looks through the front of the lens. Viewing the front of the lens is a way to check for fungus
on the mirrors.
This is an oblique view of the front of the lens. The reflections in the mirror are from items behind the
camera.
This is a view of the filter wheel indicator showing that the L37 UV filter has been selected.
The view from the rear of the lens shows the filter wheel assembly to the left. Later versions of the lens did not
use a filter wheel.
This is the ring around the barrel of the lens, showing the identification data.
This is a second view of the ring around the barrel of the lens, showing the identification data.
This view shows that the Nikon F with early versions of the Photomic finder, the type one (flag type) or type two (button
type), that have the meter window on the front of the finder, will not be able to meter correctly due to the large
diameter of the lens. Later Photomic finders that meter through-the-lens, will work fine. These finders
are:
- Nikon Photomic T
- Nikon Photomic Tn
- Nikon Photomic FTn
Note how the large diameter lens would block a non-through-the-lens finder, as noted above.
This shows the distance scale set at infinity.
This is the distance scale set at the minimum focusing distance (MFD) of 8 meters (25 feet).
This is a view of a mailbox with a Nikon 50mm Lens mounted on a digital Nikon D100. This photo can be compared to
the following photo using the 1000mm lens mounted on the same D100 camera. The 50mm lens is an old, non-automatic
indexing lens from the 1960's era. Both this 50mm and the 1000mm work beautifully on the Nikon
D100.
This is a view of the same mailbox with a Nikon 1000mm Lens mounted on the same digital Nikon D100. Compare
this photo to the previous one made with a 50mm lens.