I'm sure you are all excited to see the latest and greatest lenses to arrive from your best mirrorless camera brand, but what if I told you Leica beat them all in focal length in 2006!
That's right – forget your 28-400mm super zooms or your 800mm primes. This fixed telephoto lens is a massive 1600mm and what's even more impressive is that it has a fixed aperture of f/5.6! All well and good, but I think you will have to save up some pennies if you want to buy one as it's reported to be worth over $2 million (£1.6m or AU$3m).
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So why are we talking about this? Well, as you can imagine with stats like that this lens blew up the internet, racking in a total of 4.4 million views on Instagram Reels and gaining 38,000 likes and counting.
This lens was brought out by the folks at the Leica Classic Store in Wetzlar for one of the Analog Experience Days shooting a model – just for fun, because why not when you have a 1600mm focal length lens that is worth a cool $2M just lying there, right?
The lens in question is the Leica APO-Telyt-R 1600mm f/5.6 and it literally took two men to lift it off the ground and set it up on a platform to shoot from. The Leica APO-Telyt-R lens series is renowned in the world of Leica SLR users for delivering some of the best optical quality, clarity, and precision in film photography.
In 2006, Leica introduced the Apo-Telyt-R 1600 mm f/5.6 lens, a groundbreaking marvel of engineering at the time, and still to this day frankly. This extraordinary lens, weighs a hefty 60kg / 132 pounds (more than Taylor Swift, apparently), and measures 1.2 meters / 4ft in length (expanding to 1.55 meters with the lens hood attached) with a barrel diameter of 42 cm. It is pushing the boundaries of telephoto capabilities.
The origins of this colossal telephoto lens can be traced back to a unique request from Sheikh Saud Bin Mohammed Al-Thani, the former Minister of Culture of Qatar. His ambitious vision for an exceptionally large and heavy lens challenged traditional optics, resulting in a piece that stands out not only for its technical prowess but also for its sheer size and weight. While its practicality may seem daunting, its creation is a testament to Leica's commitment to innovation and the pursuit of excellence in optical design.
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If that wasn't impressive enough, only three units of the 1600mm lenses were ever produced. Remarkably, Leica possesses two of three of these rare lenses ever made, and before you ask, no, they are not available for purchase, highlighting their exceptional status in the realm of photographic equipment.
But this wasn't the only focal length that Leica made under the Apo-Telyt-R name, these two lenses or should I say 4, I'll explain, have a cool party trick – they are modular so you can have up to three focusing units and two heads to 'make' 4 focal lengths which include 280mm, 400mm, 560mm, and 800mm, you can see the old module combinations below:
Whether you love Leica or think they are overpriced for what they offer, you can't deny that the German powerhouse really does, and did, pull out all the stops and go full send on special projects and the Apo-Telyt-R 1600 mm f/5.6 is no different, showing what true craftsmanship can achieve - when money is no object!
If this has been interesting, I highly recommend looking at our reviews of the Leica M11, Leica M-A, or the Leica M11 Monochrom. If you're already the proud owner of a Leica M camera, then why not take a look at our best Leica-M lenses guide to help you pick your next lens to add to your camera bag.
