Testing the 1000mm F6.3 Super Telephoto
Portraits of the Landscape - Episode 7
In this 7th episode of my Portraits of the Landscape Series, I introduce you to my midlife crisis lens. When some guys reach middle age, they spoil themselves with a rather exorbitant purchase... usuaully it's a ridiculously overpriced and impractical sports car. For me, it was a ridiculously impractical, but unbelieveably rare vintage lens: A Nikon 1000mm F6.3. This lens was built in 1964 for the Tokyo Olympics. About 48 lenses were made for the Nikon rangefinder camera, and around 60 made for the iconic Nikon F mount, which all Nikon SLR cameras have used since 1959 to present day. Most of these lenses were ordered for the military and likely disappeared. Very few have surfaced in the public market, so when I saw one, I grabbed it.
This behemoth of a lens tips the scales at almost 10 kilograms (nearly 22 lbs) and was the fastest commercially available 1000mm lens Nikon has ever built. This video tests this vintage lens on modern digital gear so you can see how it performs.
To watch the video CLICK HERE
