Nikkor-P 1200mm f/11 (lens head + Bronica focusing unit)
Nippon Kogaku · Bronica S · 1964
Also known as: Nikkor-P 1200mm f/11 Bronica · Nikkor-P 1200mm F11 Bronica focusing unit · Nikon Nikkor-P 1200mm f11 for Bronica S2 · Tele-Nikkor 1200mm f11 Bronica · Bronica Nikkor 1200mm F11 · Bronica 1200mm f11 Nikkor-P lens head · ゼンザブロニカ ニッコール P 1200mm F11 · ブロニカ ニッコール 1200mm F11 · Bニッコール 1200mm F11 · ブロニカ フォーカシングユニット 1200mm
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nikkor-P 1200mm f/11 head on the Bronica focusing unit | Bronica S | 1964 | — | — |
- Figures: 43 m, 122 mm and 5,000 g are from the English Wikipedia table, which also gives f/11–64 and the large bayonet with 'focusing mount'. The Bronica specification list reproduced on Monaghan's page names the '1200 mm Tele-Nikkor with focusing mount' without figures; Seiden gives 5 elements in 4 groups, 122 mm filter and a built-in hood. No angle of view is published and whether the weight includes the unit is not stated.
- Groups: Seiden and the English table give 5 elements in 4 groups, Japanese Wikipedia 5群5枚. The field is left empty.
- Diaphragm: Nikon's history is explicit that the 1200 had its own aperture because the unit's 'regrettably caused vignetting in all four corners of the frame', so automatic aperture could not be used; Japanese Wikipedia and the EC-TL sheet say the same for the Bronica, and shiura.com describes leaving the unit's ring open.
- Date: Nikon released the head in 1964 for the Tokyo Olympics. Monaghan's history dates the Bronica 400 and 600 to 1961–65 and does not mention the 1200; no Bronica-side date, price or end date has been found. Nikon replaced the head with an ED version in 1975, which Bronica never sold although it fits the older Bronica unit (Seiden).
How to tell them apart
- Two pieces, head and focusing unit; the Nikkor-P 1:11 f=1200mm head is the Nikon F product and the Bronica unit makes it a Bronica lens (Nikon; Seiden)
- The only one of the four heads without Auto on the ring, and the only one whose aperture scale reaches f/64 (Nikon; English table)
- Not the Nikkor ED 1200mm f/11 of 1975, which Bronica never sold, and not the Reflex-Nikkor 1000mm f/6.3, a Nikon rangefinder reflex-housing lens listed in early Bronica literature with adapters but, in Seiden's view, probably never made in Bronica mount
Nikkor-P 1200mm f/11 head on the Bronica focusing unit:
- A bare head screwed into the Bronica focusing unit on the new large bayonet (Seiden; camera-wiki); the same head as Nikon's own (Japanese Wikipedia)
- Its own diaphragm in the head, worked by hand: Nikon fitted one because the focusing unit's iris vignetted all four corners even on 35 mm, so this head was never an Auto lens on any camera (Nikon; Japanese Wikipedia)
- Nikkor-P 1:11 f=1200mm on the ring, with no Auto in the name; built-in hood and 122 mm filter thread (Seiden)
- Nikkor-P 1200mm f/11 head on the Bronica focusing unit: The longest lens offered for any Bronica. The unit's aperture stays wide open and the head's is used (shiura.com); the EC-TL data sheet excludes it, with the 800, from automatic diaphragm.
Specifications
- Formula
- Five-element telephoto head; the group count is disputed (four groups in Seiden's listing and the English table, five in Japanese Wikipedia)
- Designed by
- Shimizu Yoshiyuki — optical design of the 400, 600, 800 and 1200 mm heads (Nikon, The Thousand and One Nights No. 50)
- Construction
- 5 elements
- Aperture range
- f/11–f/64
- Min. focus
- 43 m
- Weight
- 5000 g
- Filter
- 122 mm
- Years manufactured
- 1964
- Country
- Japan
What reviewers say
No reviews aggregated yet — this family is still in the research queue. Written one? We'd love to index it.
History
The 1200mm f/11 is the longest lens ever listed for a Bronica and the last of the four Nikon F lens heads of 1964 that Bronica sold on its own focusing unit. Nikon released the 400, 600, 800 and 1200 together for the Tokyo Olympics, all to Yoshiyuki Shimizu’s designs, as bare optical blocks that screw into a focusing unit holding the helicoid and, for the shorter three, the automatic diaphragm. The 1200 was the exception from the start: Nikon’s history records that the unit’s iris vignetted all four corners of the frame behind this head, so it was given a diaphragm of its own and could never be an Auto lens; Nikon and Seiden both list it as the Nikkor-P 1:11 f=1200mm, with no Auto in the name. On a Bronica the same applies with more force, and the EC-TL data sheet lists fully automatic diaphragm on every lens except the 800 and 1200; shiura.com’s instruction is to leave the unit’s ring wide open and stop down on the head.
The figures are the English Wikipedia table’s: f/11 to f/64, 43 m minimum focus, a 122 mm filter thread and 5 kg, with the built-in hood and the 122 mm thread confirmed by Seiden, who gives five elements in four groups where Japanese Wikipedia has five in five. The Bronica unit mounts on the new large bayonet of the C and later bodies once the standard helicoid is removed; two were made, the first for the D and S cameras and later supplied with an adapter for the C and later, the second for the C and later only, and either takes any of the four heads provided the distance scale is changed to match. Bronica’s own specification list, as reproduced on Monaghan’s page, names the “1200 mm Tele-Nikkor with focusing mount” without figures, and no Bronica document dates it; Monaghan’s history dates the 400 and 600 to 1961–65 and is silent on the two longest heads. Nikon moved the 1200 to ED glass in 1975, a head Bronica never sold but which fits the older Bronica unit.
No review, price or production figure has been found, and a 1200 offered with a Bronica unit is a rare thing. Early Bronica literature also listed, with adapters, the Nikon rangefinder reflex-housing lenses up to the Reflex-Nikkor 1000mm f/6.3, which Seiden doubts was ever made in Bronica mount; a 1000 mm mirror lens is not this lens. A buyer wants the head with its own aperture ring working, a unit with the right scale, and a tripod and head equal to five kilograms at 1200 mm.
This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.
Example photos
Sample photo wanted — shot with a Nikkor-P 1200mm f/11 (lens head + Bronica focusing unit)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
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