Sunday, January 11, 2026

A VERY SPECIAL CAMERA CASE



By Heinz Richter

One of the remnants of my former Leica collection is a rather unassuming camera case.  But it is rather special, to me anyway, because it was made by my dad.  I don’t know its exact age, but it is close to my own.

Before becoming a photographer, my dad was trained as a cobbler, following the footsteps of his father.  That gave him the skills to work with leather.  But soon after he decided on a change of direction, to become a professional photographer. After finishing his education to become a master photographer in 1949 and after buying additional camera equipment the need of a camera case arose.

Down the street in our neighborhood was an old blacksmith’s shop which later operated a gas station.  Up in the attic they found a whole bunch of unused saddle bags.  Nobody needed saddle bags in those days, so shortly after the war, but a lot of people needed shoes.  My dad, together with my grandfather volunteered to use the leather of those saddle bags to fashion shoes for many of the people in the neighborhood.

When I learned about this, I realized why so many people in our neighborhood wore shoes of the same color and style, something I had often wondered about.

Part of the agreement was that my dad could use some of the leather for his own use.  Besides shoes he decided to make himself a camera case to carry some of his Leica equipment.


The top of a Leica plastic case was used in between the two lens compartments to carry a fifth lens.

For a brief time I considered to resurrect that case for my own use, especially since it works perfectly with today’s Leica M cameras and many of the lenses, but after years of just sitting on a shelf, the leather has deteriorated and I decided to keep it in retirement.

I like the design.  It can hold a camera, with attached lens and at least three additional lenses with individual compartments for all.  For two of the lens compartments leather inserts were designed to accommodate lenses of different diameters  and by attaching one of the old Leica plastic lens cases which allowed the lens to be screwed into it, a wide angle lens could also be carried.  Part of the front of the case could be folded down for easier access to the equipment inside.  For extra protection the entire case was lined with a soft material.

Years ago I had noticed that this camera case as well as many of the shoes had some odd stich marks.  My dad explained that those were from the saddle bags.  In order not to waste any of the leather, they were simply considered unavoidable.

Unfortunately I no longer have the correct compliment of lenses for which the case was designed.  I had to use some substitutes.  But my Leica III with its 50mm f/2 Summar is definitely part of the original equipment as is the 135mm f/4.5 Steinheil Culminar.  This camera, the lenses and the custom case are my direct connection to my dad as a photographer.  A great keepsake indeed.


     

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Thursday, January 8, 2026

THE MOST POWERFUL TELEPHOTO LENSES IN THE WORL


By Heinz Richter

A while ago I got into a discussion about the longest telephoto lenses ever made, by Leica but also in general.  Most Leica enthusiast are aware of the awesome 800mm f/6.3 TelyR, the longest lens after the560mm f/6.8 Telyt-R.  But not many are aware that Leica made a lens twice as long, a 1600mm f/5.6 Apo-Telyt-R.  It was delivered in 2006 on special order to Sheikh Saud Bin Mohammed Al-Thani of Qatar, at a price of 16 million Hong Kong Dollars - the equivalent of 2,064,500 US dollars. The lens is the only one ever sold, but a another one was on display at the Leica factory showroom in Solms, Germany, before they moved to Leitz Park in Wetzlar.

 
Leica 560mm f/6.8 Telyt-R on Leica M5, Visoflex 3, Bellows2

 
Leica 800mm f/6.3 Apo-Telyt-S

 
Leica 1600mm f/5.6 Apo-Telyt-R

Unfortunately, little is known about the technical specifications of the lens. It has a bayonet mount for Leica's R-series cameras, is approximately 1.2m long (1.55m with lens hood attached), has a maximum lens barrel diameter of about 42cm, and weighs no less than 60kg.  With a focal length of 1600mm, it covers a diagonal angle of view of merely 1.5 degrees. The lens should be compatible with Leica's 1.4x and 2x APO-teleconverters, increasing the focal length to 1:8/2240mm and 1:11/3200mm respectively.  With the Leica R adapter, it could also be used on the current, digital Leica M models as well as the Leica T and the Leica SL sries cameras.

 
   
Leica M8 camera sitting inside the lens hood

Getting sharp images from such a behemoth of a lens is a major challenge and requires a very solid tripod. The Danish Leica expert Thorsten Overgaard reported that Sheikh Al-Thani commissioned a specially-equipped Mercedes four wheel drive to carry his expensive lens and move it around.

But this is very little compared to the truly longest and most powerful lenses ever made.  Actually, the word lens is somewhat misleading because I am talking about astronomical telescopes.  People have argued that a telescope is not really a lens, yet I argue it is.  Astronomical telescopes routinely are used to take photographs.  That, in principle, makes them lenses just like any other telephoto; they are just a lot longer and faster.

One of the main aspects of an astronomical telescope is its light gathering power, or speed as we refer to it in photography.  In this regard I have come up with some rather astonishing numbers.

Currently, the largest telescope in operation is the Gran Telescopio Canarias.  Its main mirror has a diameter of 10.4 meter (34.12 foot).  The actual focal length is 16.5 meter which corresponds to a 16,500mm f/1.6 lens.  Similar in size are the Keck 1 and Keck 2 telescopes on Mauna Kea in Hawaii.  They have a diameter of the main mirror of 10 meter (32.8 foot).  Their focal length is 17.5 meter, making them 17,500mm f/1.75 lenses.

 
Gran Telescopio Canarias

 
Keck 1 and 2

 
The segmented mirror of Keck 2

The Large Binocular Telescope at the Mount Graham International Observatory in Arizona consists of two parallel telescopes which can be combined for simultaneous viewing.  It has currently the largest light gathering power of any earthbound telescope with a focal length of 9.6 meter, making it a 9,600mm f/1.14 lens.

 
Large Binocular Telescope

By these figures we can definitely see that there is a correlation between focal length and actual speed.  This becomes especially obvious when considering the BTA-6 telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory in Karachai–Cherkessia, Russia.  It has a mirror with a diameter of 6 meter (19.69 foot).  Apparently it has the longest focal length of any telescope currently in use with 26 meter (85.3 foot), effectively making it a 26,000mm f/4 lens.

 
BTA-6
The large structure to the right is a special crane used to service the installation

 
The 6 meter, solid mirror of BTA-6

In fall of 2012 construction of the largest telescope in the world began after gaining the final approval by the governing council of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) earlier that year.

The E-ELT will be a 129-foot (39-meter) segmented-mirror telescope sited atop a mountain called Cerro Armazones in northern Chile, close to ESO’s Paranal Observatory. It will be many times more sensitive than any other instrument of its kind, researchers said.

 
An artist's rendering of the E-ELT.
Please note the size of the car and the person at the lower left for scale

The huge telescope will collect at least 12 times more light than today's largest optical telescopes, allowing astronomers to probe a variety of high-priority cosmic questions. Scientists will use it to help search for habitable alien planets, for example, and to study the nature and distribution of dark matter and dark energy, the mysterious stuff thought to make up most of our universe but which astronomers have yet to detect directly.

"The telescope is set to revolutionize optical and infrared astronomy," said Isobel Hook of the University of Oxford, the United Kingdom's E-ELT project scientist, in a statement. "Its unique combination of sharp imaging and huge light collecting area will allow us to observe some of the most exciting phenomena in the universe in much better detail."

Building the E-ELT is expected to cost 1.1 billion euros, or roughly $1.4 billion at current exchange rates. 

No data regarding the actual speed of the telescope has been published so far.  We do know that the telescope's main mirror has a diameter of 39 meters. With a focal length of 39 meters, that would yield a maximum aperture of f/1. Looking at some of the other large telescopes throughout the world, they all seem to have a focal length under 20 meters. Taking a 20 meter focal length would yield a maximum aperture of f/0.5. Consideration that this telescope is designed to gather at least 12 times more light than the largest optical telescopes currently in operation, this could translate to a potential aperture of f/0.3.  With other words, this telescope will be amazingly fast, especially if one considers that the fastest production lens for photography is the 50mm f/0.95 Leica Noctilux.

Very impressive instruments indeed.  But for the time being I will stay with my 200 and 400mm lenses.  They are a lot more portable, but also a lot slower.

More on the Leica 1600mm f/5.6 Apo-Telyt-R


     For other articles on this blog please click on Blog Archive in the column to the right

To comment or to read comments please scroll past the ads below.

All ads present items of interest to Leica owners.

_______________________________________________________________________

EDDYCAM - the first and only ergonomic elk-skin camera strap     
 www.eddycam.com        

      



Buy vintage Leica cameras from 
America's premier Leica specialist 
www.tamarkin.com

 http://www.tamarkin.com/leicagallery/upcoming-show


Click on image to enlarge
Please make payment via PayPal to GMP Photography

Click on image to enlarge
Please make payment via PayPal to GMP Photography

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