Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Reflex-Nikkor 1000mm f/11

Nippon Kogaku · Nikon F · 1966 · Catadioptric

our own finding

Also known as: Reflex-Nikkor 1000mm f/11 · Reflex-Nikkor·C 1000mm f/11 · Reflex-Nikkor C 1000mm f/11 · Nikkor-Reflex 1000mm f/11 · Nikon 1000mm f/11 Reflex · リフレックスニッコール 1000mm F11

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Reflex-Nikkor 1000mm f/11 — Nippon Kogaku Nikon F (pre-Ai; no diaphragm, no meter prong) 1966–1972 111001 – 112169 (1,169) 1,169 (Vink)¹
Reflex-Nikkor 1000mm f/11 — Nikon Nikon F (pre-Ai; no diaphragm, no meter prong) 1972–1974 130001 – 130886 (886) 886 (Vink)¹
Reflex-Nikkor·C 1000mm f/11 — multicoated Nikon F (pre-Ai; no diaphragm, no meter prong) 1974–1976 140001 – 141526 (1,526) 1,526 (Vink) — twenty-three months, the shortest run of the family¹
Reflex-Nikkor 1000mm f/11 (K) Nikon F (pre-Ai) 1976–1977 142361 – 143000 (640) 640 (Vink) — the smallest block in the family²
Reflex-Nikkor 1000mm f/11 (Ai) Nikon F (Ai-compatible; no diaphragm, so nothing to index) 1977–2005 143001 – 154263 (11,263) — from 1977, continuing the K series
200001 – 201276 (1,276) — a restarted series, to December 2005 		12,539 across two serial series (11,263 + 1,276 — arithmetic, not a published total)¹
  1. Vink's quantity column is, in his own words, "Number of lenses made based on serial numbers collected" — spans of numbers, not factory totals. Nikon has published no production figure for any version of this lens.
  2. Family production, adding every block: 1,169 + 886 + 1,526 + 640 + 11,263 + 1,276 = 16,760 lenses across thirty-nine years. That sum is arithmetic performed here.
  3. Vink's specification table separates the pre-Ai versions from the K and Ai with a thin line, his notation for a minor optical update rather than a new design; both rows read five elements in five groups, 2°30' picture angle, 8m closest focus and 1.9kg. What changes is the filter arrangement, the barrel diameter (117mm to 119mm) and the focus throw (200° to 190°).
  4. Nikon's Sales Manual sheet of March 1972 gives the lens as 5 elements in 5 groups, 2°30', 108mm (P=0.75) attachment size, built-in L39, Y48, O56 and R60 filters, 117mm diameter by 238mm, 1.9kg, distance scale to 8m and 25ft, code number 108-04-104, with a 115mm slip-on leather front cap, a 108mm slip-on hood and a leather case.
  5. This lens replaced rather than continued the Reflex-Nikkor 1000mm f/6.3 of 1959. That was 3 elements in 2 groups, 232mm across, 485mm long and 9.9kg, focusing no closer than 30m. Vink records 56 F-mount examples and 52 in the grey rangefinder block, and gives no figure at all for the black rangefinder version. Both are mirror lenses; they have nothing else in common but the focal length.
  6. No designer has been credited for this lens in any source consulted. Nikon's own history of the Reflex-Nikkors names Tsunashima Teruyoshi for the 1984 500mm f/8 and mentions the 1000mm f/11 only in a list of dates.
  7. No list price for any version has been found in the sources consulted, in yen or in dollars.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • No diaphragm. f/11 is the only aperture, and exposure is set with shutter speed or with a neutral-density filter.
  • 117mm across and 234mm long for a 1000mm lens — under a quarter of its own focal length, at 1.9kg. The Reflex-Nikkor 1000mm f/6.3 it replaced was also a mirror lens, and was 485mm long and weighed 9.9kg.
  • Pre-1976 or after, settled by the filters: a rotating wheel of four built into the rear of the barrel is 1966–76; a 108mm filter at the front with a 39mm at the rear is 1976–2005.
  • Closest focus 8m on every version. Nikon's own sales manual calls that an outstanding feature of the lens, which says something about what 1000mm lenses managed in 1972.

Reflex-Nikkor 1000mm f/11 — Nippon Kogaku:

  • Front ring engraved NIPPON KOGAKU JAPAN
  • A rotating filter wheel built into the rear of the barrel carrying L39, Y48, O56 and R60
  • Serial numbers engraved with a trailing dot from about 111795 (Vink)
  • Zero mount screws in Vink's column; 117mm across, 234mm from the mount, 1.9kg

Reflex-Nikkor 1000mm f/11 — Nikon:

  • Front ring engraved NIKON, and no dot after the serial number
  • A fresh 13xxxx serial series, not a continuation of the 11xxxx one

Reflex-Nikkor·C 1000mm f/11 — multicoated:

  • ·C after the name: multicoated. Same optics, same barrel, same built-in filter wheel

Reflex-Nikkor 1000mm f/11 (K):

  • The built-in filter wheel is gone: a 108mm filter mounts at the front and a 39mm at the rear, and the hood is now built into the barrel
  • Five cross-head mount screws where the earlier versions have none
  • 119mm across, 233.5mm long, and a 190° focus throw where the earlier lenses turn 200°

Reflex-Nikkor 1000mm f/11 (Ai):

  • MADE IN JAPAN uncoloured, where the K is engraved LENS MADE IN JAPAN
  • Five cross-head mount screws; the barrel is otherwise the K's

Serial-range notes

111795 onward
Vink records the serial number engraved with a trailing dot from about this point in the first block. The NIKON-engraved version that follows at 130001 drops it again.
142361 – 143000
The whole K run: 640 lenses in about a year. It is the transition barrel — the built-in filter wheel has gone and the Ai mount has not yet arrived — and the only version Vink records as incompatible with the F5 and F6.
200001 – 201276
The Ai version restarts its numbering at 200001 for its last 1,276 lenses, ending in December 2005. Vink gives no date for the restart itself.

Specifications

Formula
Catadioptric
Construction
5 elements / 5 groups
Aperture range
f/11–f/11
Min. focus
8 m
Dimensions
117 × 234 mm
Weight
1900 g
Filter
108 mm (0.75 mm pitch)
Years manufactured
1966–2005
Country
Japan
Coating
Single-coated to 1974; multicoated from the ·C of August 1974 onward

What reviewers say

Optical Ratings

Aggregated from the reviews above — follow the links for the full picture.

Chromatic aberration
virtually absent
Optical formula — Catadioptric

Two reasons, either sufficient. Nikon publishes no cross-section of this lens that could be found: its own history of the Reflex-Nikkor line illustrates the 500mm and gives the 1000mm a single clause in a sentence. And it is a catadioptric of the same family as the 500mm — an annular primary mirror, a secondary on the back of the front element, a refracting group behind, and the light folded twice — which the house drawing language has no vocabulary for. Inferring the shapes from the element count would be the invention this catalog exists to avoid.

History

Nippon Kogaku’s first 1000mm lens was already a mirror lens. The Reflex-Nikkor 1000mm f/6.3 of 1959 put three elements in two groups behind 232mm of barrel, ran 485mm long, weighed 9.9 kilograms and focused no closer than 30 metres; Vink’s database counts 56 F-mount examples and 52 in the grey rangefinder block, with no figure at all for the black one. Seven years later the company replaced it with something that weighs 1.9kg, measures 234mm from the mount and focuses to 8, for the price of about a stop and two thirds. Those are the numbers a photographer would use to describe a good 200mm lens.

The construction is the reason. A catadioptric design reflects the light twice on its way to the film, once off an annular primary mirror and once off a convex secondary on the back of the front element, so the barrel is a fraction of the focal length. Two consequences follow that no amount of engineering removes. There is no useful place for a diaphragm, so the lens has one aperture and exposure is set on the shutter; and because the secondary mirror blocks the middle of the entrance pupil, every out-of-focus point images as a ring rather than a disc. Nikon’s 1972 sales copy claims the rings are small enough not to matter at 1000mm, which is a fair reading of the depth of field but not of what the pictures look like.

Vink’s serial table records five versions and no optical change across any of them. The engraving goes from NIPPON KOGAKU JAPAN to NIKON in 1972; multicoating arrives in August 1974; the K of 1976 replaces the rotating wheel of four built-in filters with a 108mm filter at the front and drops the focus throw from 200° to 190°; the Ai version of 1977 carries on to December 2005. Thirty-nine years, 16,760 lenses by arithmetic on his counts, and five elements in five groups the entire time.

Bjørn Rørslett, who rates it between 3.5 and 4.5 depending on the camera, says it is optically better than the 500mm mirror and much harder to use — an f/11 finder image is dark, and a light barrel on a long lever is a vibration problem before it is anything else. What the design gives back is the absence of colour fringing, which no refracting lens of this reach achieves, and which is why Nikon’s manual tells the user there is no infrared index on the barrel and none is needed.

What is missing is the person. Nikon’s history of the Reflex-Nikkors names the designer of the 1984 500mm f/8 and walks through his reasoning in detail; the 1000mm f/11 appears in that same account as a year in a list. No source consulted credits anyone with computing the five elements that stayed unchanged from 1966 to 2005, and none gives a price for any version of the lens.

Expand Collapse

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 Reflex-Nikkor 1000mm f/11? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $460 across 33 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $360–$650). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 2 days: up 2% from $450.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$460$360–$65033
2026-09-06$450$350–$63032

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

Show 39 more listings

eBay links are affiliate links. If you buy through one, Glass Bodies earns a small commission from eBay at no cost to you. It does not change which listings appear, their prices or their order — those come from the search and the sort described above.

Listings updated 2026-09-11. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Reflex-Nikkor 500mm f/8

Sources (4)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this lens, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.