When most photographers discuss excessive lenses, they’re eager about a quick 85mm f/1.4 or possibly an extra-wide 11mm rectilinear lens. But there’s an entire different universe of optical insanity the place lenses weigh lots of of kilos, price greater than homes, and push the boundaries of physics so arduous they make regular pictures look quaint.
Canon EF 1200mm f/5.6L USM: The Lens That Broke Auction Records
Picture this: a lens so huge it makes your digital camera appear like an adjunct connected to it moderately than the opposite means round. The Canon EF 1200mm f/5.6L USM stretches practically 3 ft in size, suggestions the scales at 36 lb, and represents what occurred when Canon’s engineers determined to construct essentially the most excessive autofocus telephoto lens bodily attainable.
This is not simply massive glass for the sake of being massive. The optical system consists of 13 components organized in 11 teams, with two of these components constructed from artificially grown fluorite crystals. The manufacturing course of reads like science fiction. Each lens required roughly 18 months to finish, with practically a yr of that point spent simply rising these fluorite crystals to the required dimension and optical high quality. We’re speaking about crystals that have to be completely good throughout their total diameters, which strategy dinner plate proportions.
Canon produced someplace between 20 and 30 of those monsters through the lens’s manufacturing run from the early Nineteen Nineties to round 2006. Each one was basically hand-built by grasp craftsmen, as a result of there isn’t any meeting line on this planet set as much as deal with optics of this magnitude. The authentic retail worth hovered round $90,000, which appeared astronomical on the time.
Today, that $90,000 appears to be like like pocket change. In 2021, one in all these lenses bought at public sale for $580,000, setting the world file for the costliest digital camera lens ever bought. The astronomical worth displays each the lens’ unbelievable rarity and its standing as a purposeful piece of optical artwork that represents absolutely the pinnacle of what was attainable in its period.
Using this lens requires planning that goes far past regular pictures, notably attributable to its weight. A spotlight preset perform permits you to return immediately to a predetermined distance, which turns into important once you’re working with magnifications so excessive that dropping your topic within the viewfinder means a number of minutes of searching to search out it once more. Nonetheless, the optical efficiency is genuinely spectacular, however atmospheric situations change into your largest limitation moderately than lens high quality. Heat distortion, haze, and atmospheric turbulence have an effect on 1200mm pictures way over any optical imperfections within the lens design. Professional photographers who used these lenses discovered to work round environmental elements by selecting optimum taking pictures situations and occasions of day.
Zeiss Apo Sonnar T* 1700mm f/4: When Money Is No Object
If you thought the Canon 1200mm was excessive, the Zeiss Apo Sonnar T* 1700mm f/4 exists in a completely completely different universe of optical extra. This one-off creation weighs 564 lbs (sure, over a quarter-ton), stretches to telescope-like proportions, and required Zeiss to develop completely new manufacturing and meeting strategies simply to construct it.
Commissioned by a rich buyer in Qatar with very particular necessities for long-distance wildlife pictures, this lens pushed each facet of optical engineering to unprecedented extremes. The 15 components organized in 13 teams embody some items of glass that individually weigh greater than most full digital camera techniques. The sheer mass of the optical components made conventional focusing mechanisms not possible.
Zeiss solved the focusing problem by growing a servo-controlled system just like these utilized in astronomical observatories. Manual focusing would have been bodily not possible given the load of the weather that want to maneuver throughout focus changes. The total lens requires a yoke mounting system with assist factors on reverse sides of the barrel, identical to a big telescope.
The engineering challenges prolonged past simply making massive glass. Creating optical components of this dimension required growing new strategies for casting, grinding, and sharpening glass blanks that pushed the boundaries of what was attainable in optical manufacturing. Individual lens blanks price greater than luxurious vehicles earlier than any optical work even begins.
This lens represents what occurs when engineering constraints are eliminated and price turns into irrelevant. The buyer needed the last word instrument for photographing wildlife at distances that will require binoculars simply to see the themes with the bare eye. The 1700mm focal size mixed with the f/4 most aperture creates a instrument that is extra telescope than digital camera lens.
No pattern photographs from this lens have ever been made public, including to its mystique. The lens exists primarily as a technological showcase demonstrating what turns into attainable when budgets are limitless and engineering groups are given free rein to push optical design to its absolute theoretical limits.
Laowa 24mm f/14 Probe: The Lens That Looks Like Medical Equipment
Most excessive lenses push boundaries by way of sheer dimension or velocity, however the Laowa 24mm f/14 2X Macro Probe revolutionizes what a digital camera lens can really be. Stretching 40 cm lengthy however solely 2 cm in diameter on the entrance, this lens appears to be like extra like a surgical instrument than photographic gear.
The breakthrough comes from rethinking macro pictures’s basic limitations. Traditional macro lenses drive you to get uncomfortably near topics, usually disturbing bugs or casting shadows that wreck the shot. The probe design locations the precise optical components on the tip of an prolonged barrel, letting you preserve snug working distance whereas nonetheless reaching excessive close-up magnifications.
The optical system packs a whopping 27 components into 19 teams inside that slender barrel, together with specialised low-dispersion and high-refractive-index components to regulate aberrations throughout the intense shut focusing vary. The entrance part is totally waterproof, that means you may actually stick this lens into water, mud, or different environments that will destroy standard gear.
What makes this lens genuinely revolutionary is its 2:1 magnification ratio mixed with a 24mm huge angle discipline of view. Most macro lenses isolate topics in opposition to blurred backgrounds, however the probe lens maintains environmental context whereas revealing microscopic particulars. The huge angle design offers a lot higher depth of discipline than telephoto macros, preserving extra of the scene acceptably sharp.
The lens incorporates an LED ring mild on the very tip, powered by way of a USB connection on the barrel. Since you are usually taking pictures in cramped or darkish areas, having mild precisely the place you want it turns into important. The waterproof design means you should utilize this lighting system even in moist situations.
Originally funded by way of a extremely profitable Kickstarter marketing campaign, the lens discovered functions far past its meant macro pictures position. Documentary filmmakers found it may seize distinctive views in impossibly tight areas. Commercial photographers use it for product pictures that will be bodily not possible with standard lenses.
At round $1,500, the probe lens makes excessive close-up pictures accessible to photographers who beforehand may solely dream of such specialised capabilities. It spawned a whole class of probe-style lenses from different producers, although the unique Laowa stays essentially the most versatile and extensively obtainable choice.
Sigma 200-500mm f/2.8 APO EX DG: The Lens They Called Sigmasaurus
Photography boards nicknamed it “The Bigma,” “Sigmasaurus,” and fewer printable variations, however the official identify tells the entire story: Sigma 200-500mm f/2.8 APO EX DG. This lens holds the excellence of being the one manufacturing zoom lens ever manufactured that maintains a relentless f/2.8 most aperture throughout a 200mm to 500mm focal size vary.
The achievement required revolutionary engineering options that pushed zoom lens design far past standard limits. The lens weighs 34 lbs and measures accordingly, completed in Sigma’s unmistakable shiny inexperienced paint scheme that made it not possible to make use of discreetly. The sheer mass of glass required to keep up f/2.8 at 500mm created a lens that challenges photographers’ bodily endurance as a lot as their technical abilities.
Traditional zoom mechanisms could not deal with the large optical components required for this design, so Sigma developed an inside battery system to energy each zoom and autofocus operations. The lens options an LCD panel displaying present focal size and focusing distance, treating photographers to technical readouts that rival scientific devices.
The optical design incorporates a number of particular low-dispersion glass sorts to regulate chromatic aberrations throughout the zoom vary, which turns into notably difficult on the lengthy finish with such a big most aperture. A custom-designed teleconverter successfully creates a 400-1000mm f/5.6 zoom when engaged, offering much more excessive attain when wanted. Professional sports activities and wildlife photographers who used this lens describe the expertise as each exhilarating and exhausting, because the bodily calls for restricted its sensible functions.
The lens was discontinued after a number of years of restricted manufacturing, with used examples now commanding costs between $20,000 and $30,000. Its legacy lives on in redesigned gear instances, quite a few again accidents, and the information that zoom lenses actually may obtain fixed f/2.8 apertures at excessive focal lengths should you had been prepared to just accept the bodily penalties.
Nikon Nikkor 6mm f/2.8 Fisheye: The Lens That Sees Behind Itself
The Nikon Fisheye-Nikkor 6mm f/2.8 represents maybe essentially the most radical strategy to huge angle pictures ever tried in a manufacturing lens. Its huge entrance aspect measures 20 cm in diameter, making a convex floor that captures a 220-degree discipline of view. This lens can actually see behind itself. The entrance aspect’s dimensions are genuinely staggering: 7 mm thick on the middle, increasing to 60 mm on the edge. This creates a optical system so excessive that standard photographic ideas like “field of view” and “wide angle” change into insufficient to explain what this lens really does. When you look by way of the viewfinder, you may see your individual arms prolonged to the edges.
Introduced in 1972 and obtainable solely by way of particular order, fewer than 200 examples had been manufactured throughout all variants throughout its manufacturing life. The lens incorporates 5 built-in filters accessible by way of an exterior dial, since standard filters clearly cannot be connected to that protruding entrance aspect. The focusing system makes use of a lever mechanism moderately than a conventional ring, and shut focusing reaches down to simply 10 inches from the entrance aspect.
The lens weighs 5 kg and creates a round picture roughly 23 mm in diameter on the movie body, leaving the corners of the body black. This round format turned a part of the lens’s distinctive aesthetic, creating photographs that look extra like wanting by way of a porthole than conventional pictures. When stopped right down to f/22, depth of discipline extends from 17 cm to infinity.
Professional functions had been primarily scientific and industrial, although some architectural photographers used it for inside documentation the place even the widest standard lenses could not seize sufficient environmental context. The excessive distortion and round format made it unsuitable for many industrial functions, however good for specialised documentation wants.
Current market costs for examples in good situation vary from $30,000 to over $100,000, with one distinctive instance promoting for $160,000. The huge worth variation displays variations in situation, included equipment, and the pure rarity of discovering any instance obtainable for buy. Modern digital cameras cannot use this lens attributable to incompatible metering techniques, making it solely a instrument for movie pictures.
Carl Zeiss Planar 50mm f/0.7: From NASA to Kubrick
The Carl Zeiss Planar 50mm f/0.7 carries extra mystique than maybe every other lens in photographic historical past. Only ten examples had been ever manufactured, with six going to NASA, one retained by Zeiss, and three bought by director Stanley Kubrick for filming the candlelit scenes in Barry Lyndon.
The f/0.7 most aperture represents one of many quickest relative apertures ever achieved in a photographic lens, gathering 4 occasions extra mild than an f/1.4 lens. This excessive velocity got here with equally excessive limitations in depth of discipline and focusing precision. At typical working distances, depth of discipline measured in fractions of inches.
Kubrick’s use of those lenses required intensive modifications by cinema gear specialists. The rear aspect got here inside simply 4 mm of the movie aircraft, necessitating vital alterations to his Mitchell BNC cameras. The focusing mechanisms had been fully re-engineered, with focus rings requiring two full rotations to journey from infinity to shut focus, offering the precision crucial for such shallow depth of discipline work.
The optical design builds on a double-Gauss basis optimized for max mild transmission whereas sustaining acceptable sharpness throughout the body. Creating components giant sufficient and exact sufficient for f/0.7 efficiency pushed Carl Zeiss’s manufacturing capabilities to their absolute limits. The precision required in grinding and sharpening these components represented the head of Sixties optical manufacturing.
While initially designed for scientific functions requiring excessive low-light efficiency, the lenses achieved their best fame by way of Kubrick’s use in Barry Lyndon. The capacity to shoot inside scenes lit solely by candlelight created a few of the most visually hanging cinematography in movie historical past, reaching natural-light aesthetics that had by no means been attainable earlier than.
The connection to NASA’s lunar missions has change into considerably legendary, although current analysis suggests this can be extra fable than documented reality. Regardless of their authentic meant goal, these lenses signify the intense finish of what was attainable in quick lens design throughout their period.
Two of Kubrick’s lenses stay obtainable for infrequent rental by way of specialised cinema gear corporations, giving a lucky few the chance to expertise firsthand the distinctive traits and challenges of f/0.7 pictures.
Canon PE 300mm f/1.8: The Racing Secret
Hidden within the footnotes of Canon’s lens historical past lies maybe their rarest creation: the PE 300mm f/1.8. Only 4 examples are believed to exist, making this lens doubtlessly rarer than even the well-known 1200mm f/5.6. Designed particularly for photo-finish pictures at horse racing venues, this lens represents Canon’s most excessive mixture of lengthy focal size with most aperture.
The utility required specialised “strip photography” strategies that seize transferring topics by recording them as they cross by way of a slender vertical slit. This system can file hundreds of particular person strips per second, creating the exact timing documentation required for official race outcomes. The huge f/1.8 aperture at 300mm focal size offers the light-gathering capacity crucial for these high-speed seize charges.
The entrance aspect dimensions required to realize f/1.8 at 300mm create a lens that dwarfs standard telephoto designs. Unlike shopper lenses which may weigh a number of kilos, this specialised instrument requires devoted mounting techniques and cautious dealing with procedures. Despite its excessive specs, the lens options full autofocus functionality with focus limiters optimized for the predictable motion patterns of racing horses.
Information about this lens stays remarkably scarce, with Canon by no means publicly documenting its specs or manufacturing numbers. The lens would not seem in Canon’s official museum or technical literature, current primarily within the specialised world of racing pictures gear. The few photographers who’ve labored with these lenses describe picture high quality that surpasses standard telephoto designs whereas offering the intense velocity crucial for vital timing functions.
The PE designation possible refers to specialised photograph gear classifications, distinguishing these industrial functions from Canon’s shopper {and professional} pictures markets. For racing photographers, these lenses represented the head of optical expertise utilized to extremely particular technical challenges, creating instruments that exist nowhere else within the photographic ecosystem.
Nikkor 300mm f/2 IF-ED: The Surveillance Legend
Long earlier than digital sensors made high-ISO pictures routine, the Nikkor 300mm f/2 IF-ED represented the last word resolution for long-distance pictures in difficult mild situations. Weighing 16.6 lbs and that includes one of many largest most apertures ever achieved in a 300mm focal size, this uncommon lens was designed primarily for specialised photojournalism and surveillance functions.
The f/2 most aperture at 300mm required optical engineering that pushed the boundaries of what was attainable with Seventies supplies and manufacturing strategies. The lens incorporates inside focusing and extra-low dispersion glass components to regulate the chromatic aberrations that will in any other case plague such an excessive optical design. The inside focusing system maintains fixed total size whereas minimizing the motion of heavy glass components throughout focus changes.
Professional photojournalists who used this lens describe it as revolutionary for masking nighttime occasions the place flash pictures was prohibited or impractical. The mixture of 300mm attain with f/2 velocity allowed photographs of distant topics in obtainable mild situations that will problem even fashionable digital cameras. Indoor sports activities photographers notably valued the lens for marginal lighting conditions the place telephoto attain remained important.
The lens included Nikon’s early ED glass expertise, representing a big advance in controlling secondary chromatic aberrations. The optical system required cautious balancing of spherical aberration correction with coma and astigmatism management throughout the total aperture vary, leading to a lens that maintained glorious middle sharpness even huge open.
Production numbers had been extra substantial than initially believed, with serial data suggesting round 450 examples had been manufactured through the lens’s manufacturing life. Current costs for examples in good situation usually exceed $30,000, reflecting each their rarity and persevering with relevance for specialised functions. Modern autofocus variations of 300mm f/2.8 lenses are extra widespread, however none obtain the intense f/2 velocity of this manual-focus predecessor.
Nikon 1200-1700mm f/5.6-8P IF-ED: The Zoom That Shouldn’t Exist
Nikon’s response to Canon’s 1200mm prime took the type of essentially the most bold zoom lens ever provided to the general public: the 1200-1700mm f/5.6-8P IF-ED. With roughly 20 examples made to order through the Nineteen Nineties, this lens pushed zoom expertise into territory that has by no means been tried once more.
The variable aperture design opens at f/5.6 at 1200mm and closes to f/8 at most 1700mm focal size. This compromise allowed Nikon’s engineers to create a zoom mechanism able to dealing with monumental optical components whereas sustaining acceptable picture high quality all through the vary. The inside focusing system minimizes bodily size adjustments throughout focus changes, although the lens nonetheless measures over 3 ft lengthy and weighs 36 lbs.
Professional photographers who used this lens describe the expertise as each technically spectacular and virtually difficult. The zoom mechanism required appreciable drive to function, and weight distribution made handheld operation not possible even momentarily. However, the flexibility to regulate focal size from 1200mm to 1700mm with out altering lenses offered unprecedented flexibility for wildlife and sports activities photographers working at excessive distances.
The optical design incorporates inside focusing and extra-low dispersion components to keep up acceptable sharpness throughout the zoom vary. Creating zoom optics for such excessive focal lengths required completely new approaches to mechanical precision and optical compensation. The lens barrel incorporates a number of focusing teams transferring in exactly calculated relationships to keep up focus all through the zoom vary.
Like different excessive telephotos, atmospheric situations change into extra limiting than optical efficiency. Heat distortion, haze, and atmospheric turbulence have an effect on 1700mm photographs way over lens aberrations or mechanical precision. Professional customers discovered to work round environmental limitations by selecting optimum taking pictures situations and occasions.
Leica APO-Telyt-R 1600mm f/5.6: A Crazy Custom Creation
Perhaps no lens higher represents the intersection of limitless budgets with excessive engineering than the Leica APO-Telyt-R 1600mm f/5.6. Commissioned by Prince Al-Thani of Qatar, this one-of-a-kind creation weighs over 132 lbs and is rumored to be the costliest SLR lens ever manufactured, with price estimates exceeding $2 million.
The lens represents Leica’s final expression of telephoto expertise, incorporating the corporate’s most superior apochromatic colour correction techniques. The apochromatic design brings three wavelengths of sunshine to an identical focus factors, nearly eliminating chromatic aberrations that will in any other case plague such excessive focal lengths. This degree of colour correction requires unique glass components and manufacturing tolerances that push even Leica’s appreciable experience to absolute limits.
Unlike different excessive telephotos that had been no less than theoretically obtainable by way of particular order, the Leica 1600mm exists as a real one-off creation. The lens was reportedly designed for wildlife pictures from the Prince’s personal property, the place excessive focal size may {photograph} animals at distances that would not disturb pure habits. The lens requires devoted mounting techniques and assist constructions attributable to excessive weight and dimension. Professional digital camera helps designed for standard lenses show insufficient for managing bodily stresses imposed by such huge optical techniques. The Prince reportedly acquired a {custom} Mercedes automobile particularly modified to move the lens and related assist gear.
The Legacy of Pushing Limits
The applied sciences developed for these excessive lenses influenced digital camera growth far past their quick functions. Fluorite crystal rising strategies developed for the Canon 1200mm discovered functions in quite a few different lenses. Servo focusing techniques created for the large Zeiss telephoto influenced telescope and scientific instrument design. Even the probe lens idea spawned total classes of specialised macro gear.
Today’s photographers work with lenses routinely reaching picture high quality surpassing many of those excessive examples whereas weighing fractions as a lot. Modern autofocus techniques, picture stabilization, and digital sensors have eradicated many compromises these lenses required. Yet they continue to be fascinating as monuments to ingenuity and craftsmanship required for pushing optical design to absolute theoretical limits.
These lenses remind us that pictures’s best improvements usually emerge from fixing seemingly not possible technical challenges. Whether capturing lunar surfaces, filming by candlelight, or documenting split-second racing finishes, every lens represents moments when photographers demanded greater than current expertise may present, inspiring engineers to redefine prospects.