Modern went on to test it in April 1960. Yet it was still very popular with the pros of the day for sports. After all, it was literally the ONLY 35mm telephoto zoom lens made at that point in time. From the start, Nikon used a color coded depth of field scheme on it's zooms. This rare first version of the 85-250 was only made until April 1961, when the dual controls rings for zooming and focus were replaced by a single control ring.
Construction is very robust.
Closer focusing was accomplished with a special closeup lens. The lens had a built in tripod socket for both horizontal and vertical shots, a special shade, and an automatic diaphragm. Exact production of the first version is unknown, but around 2,000 is a reasonable guess. The single zoom ring is relatively common, with a production of about 16,000 made in two optical versions. The relative abundance of the single ring 85-250 probably accounts for the confusion amongst many Nikon F collectors who are not aware of how very rare the earlier dual control zoom is.