When most photographers talk about extreme lenses, they're thinking about a fast 85mm f/1.4 or maybe an extra-wide 11mm rectilinear lens. But there's a whole other universe of optical madness where lenses weigh hundreds of pounds, cost more than houses, and push the boundaries of physics so hard they make normal photography look quaint.
Canon EF 1200mm f/5.6L USM: The Lens That Broke Auction Records
This isn't just big glass for the sake of being big. The optical formula consists of 13 elements arranged in 11 groups, with two of those elements made from artificially grown fluorite crystals. The manufacturing process reads like science fiction. Each lens required approximately 18 months to complete, with nearly a year of that time spent just growing those fluorite crystals to the required size and optical quality. We're talking about crystals that need to be absolutely perfect across their entire diameters, which approach dinner plate proportions.
Canon produced somewhere between 20 and 30 of these monsters during the lens's production run from the early 1990s to around 2006. Each one was essentially hand-built by master craftsmen, because there's no assembly line in the world set up to handle optics of this magnitude. The original retail price hovered around $90,000, which seemed astronomical at the time.
Today, that $90,000 looks like pocket change. In 2021, one of these lenses sold at auction for $580,000, setting the world record for the most expensive camera lens ever sold. The astronomical price reflects both the lens' incredible rarity and its status as a functional piece of optical art that represents the absolute pinnacle of what was possible in its era.
Using this lens requires planning that goes far beyond normal photography, particularly due to its weight. A focus preset function lets you return instantly to a predetermined distance, which becomes essential when you're working with magnifications so extreme that losing your subject in the viewfinder means several minutes of hunting to find it again. Nonetheless, the optical performance is genuinely impressive, but atmospheric conditions become your biggest limitation rather than lens quality. Heat distortion, haze, and atmospheric turbulence affect 1200mm shots far more than any optical imperfections in the lens design. Professional photographers who used these lenses learned to work around environmental factors by choosing optimal shooting conditions and times of day.
Zeiss Apo Sonnar T* 1700mm f/4: When Money Is No Object
If you thought the Canon 1200mm was extreme, the Zeiss Apo Sonnar T* 1700mm f/4 exists in an entirely different universe of optical excess. This one-off creation weighs 564 lbs (yes, over a quarter-ton), stretches to telescope-like proportions, and required Zeiss to develop entirely new manufacturing and assembly techniques just to build it.
Commissioned by a wealthy customer in Qatar with very specific requirements for long-distance wildlife photography, this lens pushed every aspect of optical engineering to unprecedented extremes. The 15 elements arranged in 13 groups include some pieces of glass that individually weigh more than most complete camera systems. The sheer mass of the optical elements made traditional focusing mechanisms impossible.
Zeiss solved the focusing challenge by developing a servo-controlled system similar to those used in astronomical observatories. Manual focusing would have been physically impossible given the weight of the elements that need to move during focus adjustments. The entire lens requires a yoke mounting system with support points on opposite sides of the barrel, just like a large telescope.
The engineering challenges extended beyond just making big glass. Creating optical elements of this size required developing new techniques for casting, grinding, and polishing glass blanks that pushed the boundaries of what was possible in optical manufacturing. Individual lens blanks cost more than luxury automobiles before any optical work even begins.
This lens represents what happens when engineering constraints are removed and cost becomes irrelevant. The customer wanted the ultimate tool for photographing wildlife at distances that would require binoculars just to see the subjects with the naked eye. The 1700mm focal length combined with the f/4 maximum aperture creates a tool that's more telescope than camera lens.
No sample images from this lens have ever been made public, adding to its mystique. The lens exists primarily as a technological showcase demonstrating what becomes possible when budgets are unlimited and engineering teams 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 extreme lenses push boundaries through sheer size or speed, but the Laowa 24mm f/14 2X Macro Probe revolutionizes what a camera lens can actually be. Stretching 40 cm long but only 2 cm in diameter at the front, this lens looks more like a surgical instrument than photographic equipment.
The breakthrough comes from rethinking macro photography's fundamental limitations. Traditional macro lenses force you to get uncomfortably close to subjects, often disturbing insects or casting shadows that ruin the shot. The probe design places the actual optical elements at the tip of an extended barrel, letting you maintain comfortable working distance while still achieving extreme close-up magnifications.
The optical formula packs a whopping 27 elements into 19 groups within that slender barrel, including specialized low-dispersion and high-refractive-index elements to control aberrations across the extreme close focusing range. The front section is completely waterproof, meaning you can literally stick this lens into water, mud, or other environments that would destroy conventional equipment.
What makes this lens genuinely revolutionary is its 2:1 magnification ratio combined with a 24mm wide angle field of view. Most macro lenses isolate subjects against blurred backgrounds, but the probe lens maintains environmental context while revealing microscopic details. The wide angle design provides much greater depth of field than telephoto macros, keeping more of the scene acceptably sharp.
The lens incorporates an LED ring light at the very tip, powered through a USB connection on the barrel. Since you're often shooting in cramped or dark spaces, having light exactly where you need it becomes essential. The waterproof design means you can use this lighting system even in wet conditions.
Originally funded through a highly successful Kickstarter campaign, the lens found applications far beyond its intended macro photography role. Documentary filmmakers discovered it could capture unique perspectives in impossibly tight spaces. Commercial photographers use it for product shots that would be physically impossible with conventional lenses.
At around $1,500, the probe lens makes extreme close-up photography accessible to photographers who previously could only dream of such specialized capabilities. It spawned an entire category of probe-style lenses from other manufacturers, though the original Laowa remains the most versatile and widely available option.
Sigma 200-500mm f/2.8 APO EX DG: The Lens They Called Sigmasaurus
Photography forums nicknamed it "The Bigma," "Sigmasaurus," and less printable variations, but the official name tells the whole story: Sigma 200-500mm f/2.8 APO EX DG. This lens holds the distinction of being the only production zoom lens ever manufactured that maintains a constant f/2.8 maximum aperture across a 200mm to 500mm focal length range.
The achievement required revolutionary engineering solutions that pushed zoom lens design far beyond conventional limits. The lens weighs 34 lbs and measures accordingly, finished in Sigma's unmistakable bright green paint scheme that made it impossible to use discreetly. The sheer mass of glass required to maintain f/2.8 at 500mm created a lens that challenges photographers' physical endurance as much as their technical skills.
Traditional zoom mechanisms couldn't handle the massive optical elements required for this design, so Sigma developed an internal battery system to power both zoom and autofocus operations. The lens features an LCD panel displaying current focal length and focusing distance, treating photographers to technical readouts that rival scientific instruments.
The optical design incorporates multiple special low-dispersion glass types to control chromatic aberrations across the zoom range, which becomes particularly challenging at the long end with such a large maximum aperture. A custom-designed teleconverter effectively creates a 400-1000mm f/5.6 zoom when engaged, providing even more extreme reach when needed. Professional sports and wildlife photographers who used this lens describe the experience as both exhilarating and exhausting, as the physical demands limited its practical applications.
The lens was discontinued after several years of limited production, with used examples now commanding prices between $20,000 and $30,000. Its legacy lives on in redesigned equipment cases, numerous back injuries, and the knowledge that zoom lenses really could achieve constant f/2.8 apertures at extreme focal lengths if you were willing to accept the physical consequences.
Nikon Nikkor 6mm f/2.8 Fisheye: The Lens That Sees Behind Itself
The Nikon Fisheye-Nikkor 6mm f/2.8 represents perhaps the most radical approach to wide angle photography ever attempted in a production lens. Its massive front element measures 20 cm in diameter, creating a convex surface that captures a 220-degree field of view. This lens can literally see behind itself. The front element's dimensions are genuinely staggering: 7 mm thick at the center, expanding to 60 mm at the edge. This creates a optical system so extreme that conventional photographic concepts like "field of view" and "wide angle" become inadequate to describe what this lens actually does. When you look through the viewfinder, you can see your own arms extended to the sides.
Introduced in 1972 and available only through special order, fewer than 200 examples were manufactured across all variants during its production life. The lens incorporates five built-in filters accessible through an external dial, since conventional filters obviously can't be attached to that protruding front element. The focusing system uses a lever mechanism rather than a traditional ring, and close focusing reaches down to just 10 inches from the front element.
The lens weighs 5 kg and creates a circular image approximately 23 mm in diameter on the film frame, leaving the corners of the frame black. This circular format became part of the lens's distinctive aesthetic, creating images that look more like looking through a porthole than traditional photography. When stopped down to f/22, depth of field extends from 17 cm to infinity.
Professional applications were primarily scientific and industrial, though some architectural photographers used it for interior documentation where even the widest conventional lenses couldn't capture enough environmental context. The extreme distortion and circular format made it unsuitable for most commercial applications, but perfect for specialized documentation needs.
Current market prices for examples in good condition range from $30,000 to over $100,000, with one exceptional example selling for $160,000. The wide price variation reflects differences in condition, included accessories, and the pure rarity of finding any example available for purchase. Modern digital cameras can't use this lens due to incompatible metering systems, making it exclusively a tool for film photography.
Carl Zeiss Planar 50mm f/0.7: From NASA to Kubrick
The Carl Zeiss Planar 50mm f/0.7 carries more mystique than perhaps any other lens in photographic history. Only ten examples were ever manufactured, with six going to NASA, one retained by Zeiss, and three purchased by director Stanley Kubrick for filming the candlelit scenes in Barry Lyndon.
The f/0.7 maximum aperture represents one of the fastest relative apertures ever achieved in a photographic lens, gathering four times more light than an f/1.4 lens. This extreme speed came with equally extreme limitations in depth of field and focusing precision. At typical working distances, depth of field measured in fractions of inches.
Kubrick's use of these lenses required extensive modifications by cinema equipment specialists. The rear element came within just 4 mm of the film plane, necessitating significant alterations to his Mitchell BNC cameras. The focusing mechanisms were completely re-engineered, with focus rings requiring two full rotations to travel from infinity to close focus, providing the precision necessary for such shallow depth of field work.
The optical design builds on a double-Gauss foundation optimized for maximum light transmission while maintaining acceptable sharpness across the frame. Creating elements large enough and precise enough for f/0.7 performance pushed Carl Zeiss's manufacturing capabilities to their absolute limits. The precision required in grinding and polishing these elements represented the pinnacle of 1960s optical manufacturing.
While originally designed for scientific applications requiring extreme low-light performance, the lenses achieved their greatest fame through Kubrick's use in Barry Lyndon. The ability to shoot interior scenes lit only by candlelight created some of the most visually striking cinematography in film history, achieving natural-light aesthetics that had never been possible before.
The connection to NASA's lunar missions has become somewhat legendary, though recent research suggests this may be more myth than documented fact. Regardless of their original intended purpose, these lenses represent the extreme end of what was possible in fast lens design during their era.
Two of Kubrick's lenses remain available for occasional rental through specialized cinema equipment companies, giving a fortunate few the opportunity to experience firsthand the unique characteristics and challenges of f/0.7 photography.
Canon PE 300mm f/1.8: The Racing Secret
Hidden in the footnotes of Canon's lens history lies perhaps their rarest creation: the PE 300mm f/1.8. Only four examples are believed to exist, making this lens potentially rarer than even the famous 1200mm f/5.6. Designed specifically for photo-finish photography at horse racing venues, this lens represents Canon's most extreme combination of long focal length with maximum aperture.
The application required specialized "strip photography" techniques that capture moving subjects by recording them as they pass through a narrow vertical slit. This system can record thousands of individual strips per second, creating the precise timing documentation required for official race results. The massive f/1.8 aperture at 300mm focal length provides the light-gathering ability necessary for these high-speed capture rates.
The front element dimensions required to achieve f/1.8 at 300mm create a lens that dwarfs conventional telephoto designs. Unlike consumer lenses that might weigh a few pounds, this specialized tool requires dedicated mounting systems and careful handling procedures. Despite its extreme specifications, the lens features full autofocus capability with focus limiters optimized for the predictable movement patterns of racing horses.
Information about this lens remains remarkably scarce, with Canon never publicly documenting its specifications or production numbers. The lens doesn't appear in Canon's official museum or technical literature, existing primarily in the specialized world of racing photography equipment. The few photographers who have worked with these lenses describe image quality that surpasses conventional telephoto designs while providing the extreme speed necessary for critical timing applications.
The PE designation likely refers to specialized photo equipment classifications, distinguishing these industrial applications from Canon's consumer and professional photography markets. For racing photographers, these lenses represented the pinnacle of optical technology applied to highly specific technical challenges, creating tools that exist nowhere else in the photographic ecosystem.
Nikkor 300mm f/2 IF-ED: The Surveillance Legend
Long before digital sensors made high-ISO photography routine, the Nikkor 300mm f/2 IF-ED represented the ultimate solution for long-distance photography in challenging light conditions. Weighing 16.6 lbs and featuring one of the largest maximum apertures ever achieved in a 300mm focal length, this rare lens was designed primarily for specialized photojournalism and surveillance applications.
The f/2 maximum aperture at 300mm required optical engineering that pushed the boundaries of what was possible with 1970s materials and manufacturing techniques. The lens incorporates internal focusing and extra-low dispersion glass elements to control the chromatic aberrations that would otherwise plague such an extreme optical design. The internal focusing system maintains constant overall length while minimizing the movement of heavy glass elements during focus adjustments.
Professional photojournalists who used this lens describe it as revolutionary for covering nighttime events where flash photography was prohibited or impractical. The combination of 300mm reach with f/2 speed allowed images of distant subjects in available light conditions that would challenge even modern digital cameras. Indoor sports photographers particularly valued the lens for marginal lighting situations where telephoto reach remained essential.
The lens incorporated Nikon's early ED glass technology, representing a significant advance in controlling secondary chromatic aberrations. The optical formula required careful balancing of spherical aberration correction with coma and astigmatism control across the full aperture range, resulting in a lens that maintained excellent center sharpness even wide open.
Production numbers were more substantial than initially believed, with serial records suggesting around 450 examples were manufactured during the lens's production life. Current prices for examples in good condition typically exceed $30,000, reflecting both their rarity and continuing relevance for specialized applications. Modern autofocus versions of 300mm f/2.8 lenses are more common, but none achieve the extreme f/2 speed of this manual-focus predecessor.
Nikon 1200-1700mm f/5.6-8P IF-ED: The Zoom That Shouldn't Exist
The variable aperture design opens at f/5.6 at 1200mm and closes to f/8 at maximum 1700mm focal length. This compromise allowed Nikon's engineers to create a zoom mechanism capable of handling enormous optical elements while maintaining acceptable image quality throughout the range. The internal focusing system minimizes physical length changes during focus adjustments, though the lens still measures over 3 ft long and weighs 36 lbs.
Professional photographers who used this lens describe the experience as both technically impressive and practically challenging. The zoom mechanism required considerable force to operate, and weight distribution made handheld operation impossible even momentarily. However, the ability to adjust focal length from 1200mm to 1700mm without changing lenses provided unprecedented flexibility for wildlife and sports photographers working at extreme distances.
The optical design incorporates internal focusing and extra-low dispersion elements to maintain acceptable sharpness across the zoom range. Creating zoom optics for such extreme focal lengths required entirely new approaches to mechanical precision and optical compensation. The lens barrel incorporates multiple focusing groups moving in precisely calculated relationships to maintain focus throughout the zoom range.
Like other extreme telephotos, atmospheric conditions become more limiting than optical performance. Heat distortion, haze, and atmospheric turbulence affect 1700mm images far more than lens aberrations or mechanical precision. Professional users learned to work around environmental limitations by choosing optimal shooting conditions and times.
Leica APO-Telyt-R 1600mm f/5.6: A Crazy Custom Creation
Perhaps no lens better represents the intersection of unlimited budgets with extreme 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 most expensive SLR lens ever manufactured, with cost estimates exceeding $2 million.
The lens represents Leica's ultimate expression of telephoto technology, incorporating the company's most advanced apochromatic color correction systems. The apochromatic design brings three wavelengths of light to identical focus points, virtually eliminating chromatic aberrations that would otherwise plague such extreme focal lengths. This level of color correction requires exotic glass elements and manufacturing tolerances that push even Leica's considerable expertise to absolute limits.
Unlike other extreme telephotos that were at least theoretically available through special order, the Leica 1600mm exists as a true one-off creation. The lens was reportedly designed for wildlife photography from the Prince's private estate, where extreme focal length could photograph animals at distances that wouldn't disturb natural behavior. The lens requires dedicated mounting systems and support structures due to extreme weight and size. Professional camera supports designed for conventional lenses prove inadequate for managing physical stresses imposed by such massive optical systems. The Prince reportedly acquired a custom Mercedes vehicle specifically modified to transport the lens and associated support equipment.
The Legacy of Pushing Limits
The technologies developed for these extreme lenses influenced camera development far beyond their immediate applications. Fluorite crystal growing techniques developed for the Canon 1200mm found applications in numerous other lenses. Servo focusing systems created for the massive Zeiss telephoto influenced telescope and scientific instrument design. Even the probe lens concept spawned entire categories of specialized macro equipment.
Today's photographers work with lenses routinely achieving image quality surpassing many of these extreme examples while weighing fractions as much. Modern autofocus systems, image stabilization, and digital sensors have eliminated many compromises these lenses required. Yet they remain fascinating as monuments to ingenuity and craftsmanship required for pushing optical design to absolute theoretical limits.
These lenses remind us that photography's greatest innovations often emerge from solving seemingly impossible technical challenges. Whether capturing lunar surfaces, filming by candlelight, or documenting split-second racing finishes, each lens represents moments when photographers demanded more than existing technology could provide, inspiring engineers to redefine possibilities.
About that Sigma: one should read the Amazon reviews which you can do here: https://www.amazon.com/Sigma-200-500mm-Ultra-Telephoto-Canon-Cameras/dp/...
Great article, love reading about these lenses. I shoot the z800 PF with the 1.4 tc attached which makes it 1120mm @ f9.
Can get some truly wild and amazing stuff with that type of extreme focal length. For birds at midday there's nothing better.
I get irrationally frustrated every time I see someone refer to the Sigma 200-500/2.8 as the Bigma. The Bigma was NOT the 200-500, but rather the 50-500mm f/4.5-6.3. The Sigma 300-800 was the Sigmonster, and when the 200-500 came out it was christened “Sigzilla.”
You forgot this one from six years ago...
https://fstoppers.com/diy/lensrentals-shows-step-step-process-assembling...
It is aways a pleasure to see all the wild and expensive lenses. Back in the very early days say the the late 2000's Canon (what I had at the time) had the two monsters (my thoughts only) the 50-500mm and 60-600mm and in magazines (the age of paper) showing them to be the greatest travel lenses with images to boot.
I know all are great engineering wounders BUT us with shallow pockets must also thank the many lenses makers that plan and make the lenses we all use today, I am always even now in wounder of my old film lenses and how fast the glass is, mainly to enable hand held capture.
My first wounder lens was the Sony APS-C E 10-18mm (15-27mm in 35mm) f/4 OSS BUT can be used in full frame mode at 12- 18mm (18mm if you remove the rear light shield) and not till 2017 did Sony come out with a 12mm the FE 12-24mm f/4 G and even later the f/2.8 both very large and heavy and also required filter holders and large glass filters, the 10-18mm I still use for Astro Milky Way Panoramas because it is so small and it made a great panorama look at 12mm with the tops and bottoms in place vs cut off.
My telephoto lens that lives on my camera is the Sony FE 24-240mm f3.5-6.3 OSS in APS-C 36-360mm a great range to use on a fast find of a image to capture.
The first to give us a great telephoto was the Sigma 150- 600mm f/5-6.DG DN OS great for birding or the lens at a telephoto setting doing a pano, us Sony users had to use an adapter but it also came with a 1.4X and 2X teleconverter that got you all the way to1800mm in APS-C mode but a year later Sony gave us the FE 200–600 mm F5.6–6.3 G OSS Full-frame Telephoto Zoom G Lens with Optical SteadyShot with also a 1.4X and 2X teleconverters. The 1.4X really not needed for APS-C mode gives you 1.5X so a button press to get. yes both lenses are great for birding BUT ever wanted a full frame of the moon during during a lunar eclipse that is what the 1800mm (in camera zoom), my recommendation is to just stay at 600mm to get also the stars around the moon that will be the rest of the story not just a colorful moon.
The next most great thing is todays and tomorrows software, remember having to keep the sensor so clean of dust till the dust removal option and the then very noisy images the reason for low ISO use.
1. 2015 12mm using the E 10-18mm
2. 2017 using the FE 12-24mm at 12mm
3. using the FE 24-240mm in APS-C at 360mm when finding the rockery starting to fill up.
4. Eclipse captured from my front porch over my roof during a 8 hour period each cropped and put on a image of next nights eclipse night lit beach using the FE 200-600mm in APS-C mode, not using a tracker should have very hard to track by hand. Wiser to just stay at 600mm and crop. To tell a fake is the moon moves clock wise during the night a fake will have a one image colored in.
Edwin Genaux wrote:
"Back in the very early days say the the late 2000's Canon (what I had at the time) had the two monsters (my thoughts only) the 50-500mm and 60-600mm and in magazines (the age of paper) showing them to be the greatest travel lenses with images to boot."
Edwin, do you actually mean to say Sigma, and not Canon? I know that Sigma had a 50-500mm, and that they currently make a very popular 60-600mm ..... but I never hear of Canon making anything like that, or even similar to that.
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Wow, Alex ...... what a great article!
You have told us about several lenses that I never knew existed. I am very impressed with the research that you did to be able to give us all of this information.
I am interested in knowing what lenses you considered for the article, but ultimately decided to leave out.
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Many Nikkor 300mm f/2 lenses have been converted to Arri mount for cinema use. They often come up for sale below $10k. Probably one of the few realistically attainable uber lenses for most people.