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Not sure, but the 21 case for RF has padding with no cut-out (as found in the 105 f4) and no strap. My case fits pretty tight, with about 1/8 inch all around the lens as it slips in. I have had four all the same.

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Both lenses came out in 1959!!! The finder part is different
Does that answer your question??

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Actually not that simple!

When released, both lenses used exactly the same finder, the flat shoe type, which was supplied with the RF version. Nikon supplied the plastic gray flash shoe adapter so the RF finder could be mounted on the F. The adapter did not come with the lens, much to the surprise of early buyers who could not mount their new finder on their F!


The flat shoe finders have serial numbers on the bottom, and are numbered in sequence from the RF finders, however Stephen Gandy notes on his site another serial number set was also used on the flat shoe. I have only seen the ones starting 600xxx, and have purchased a half dozen with 21 F lenses that start with 600.

Quoting Robert Rotoloni (from Pac Rim article) "The numbers used on the [flat shoe] finders appear to begin at either #600001 or #600101 and have been recorded as high as #601656. The point is, however, that reflex 21mm Nikkors were shipped with finders that were originally meant for the RF series, and that it was a random process."

When the supply of flat shoe finders ran out, Nikon supplied two other direct mount finders, one with a cheesy plastic shoe and one with a metal shoe.

Stephen Gandy writes on his site about a forth type with a field line, but I have never seen it, Stephen says, "Type 4 has a thin brightline, if my dim memory is correct." Stephen mentions that the flat shoe was supplied for the Nikkormat, but seems very doubtful to me, since the finder was not an option, where you could pick flat or not-flat.