The 500mm f5 Nikkor-T lens for Nikon's reflex housing first became available in early 1955. Based on an earlier design for an aerial lens, the longer focal length and maximum aperture gave Nippon Kogaku temporary bragging rights in its increasingly-successful struggle to take market share away from Leitz and Zeiss. Having such a focal length on a price list to "complete its lens lineup" was probably more important than the number of customers actually willing to spend the $550.00 (US) that this lens cost in hard-earned 1950's currency. Nippon Kogaku only built three hundred of these lenses. Almost all were sold to the few professional film organizations and photographers who had to have a lens of this focal length for their work. Weighing more than twenty pounds (8500 grams), it is barely transportable and certainly not handholdable.

Still, it focuses beautifully and the view through the finder on a reflex housing is clear. This particular lens belonged to Luis deCasenave, a photojournalist working for El Mundo, the then-premier newspaper in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Restored, it still yields decent pictures. Alas, the original wood case, mostly consumed by termities, is no longer usable.

Our family's Main Barn