Pages

▼

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

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


at 6 comments:

Wednesday, January 7, 2026

LEICA III - MY FIRST LEICA



By Heinz Richter

I think every Leica enthusiast remembers the Leica camera that ‘started it all’. I am one of the fortunate individuals that can truly say that I have used Leicas all my life, well, almost.

I grew up in the photography business of my father in Germany. This naturally exposed me to photography and cameras at an early age. It was always my father's hope for me to take over the business once he retired. That, however, does not mean that I was pushed in that direction, to the contrary, I was always encouraged by my parents to follow my own interests, of which there were many. My dad  always encouraged me to take pictures of my own. I must have had some noticeable interest, because on my fifth birthday he presented me with my Leica No. 1, a Leica III with 50mm f/2 Summar and a Steinheil Culminar 135mm f/4.5. That also included a Braun Viewfinder, adjustable from 35mm to 135mm and a Leitz VACU flash synchronization device.

 

 
Leica III with Summar 50mm f/2

 
Leica III back with Foto Richter Barntrup Nameplate

 
Leica III with Summar 50mm f/2 and FIKUS Lens Shade

I am convinced that starting out with this camera ultimately made me a better photographer for a variety of reasons. My dad did not give me a light meter, instead he taught me the sunny 16 rule and for flash, there was never any automation until much later in my life. I simply focused and then had to use the old guide number divided by distance formula to determine the aperture setting. Considering that I also had to deal with a collapsible lens, I had ample opportunity to make mistakes, and mistakes I made, many.

After wondering about some very blurry images, even though I knew I had focused my lens quite carefully, and after many explanations from my dad, I eventually remembered to pull out the collapsible lens before I started shooting. I also soon figured out that taping a little guide in back of the flash with the guide number/distance formula eventually lessened flash exposure mistakes, as did a note with the sunny 16 exposures on it.

 
Steinheil München Culminar 135mm f/4.5

 
My Laica III with 50mm Summar 50mm f/2,
FICUS Lens Hood, Braun Universal finder and VACU Flash Synch

This isn’t meant to give me a pad on the back. I truly believe that starting out totally manually made photography in the long run a lot easier for me. Even though I have since switched to digital Leica equipment with all their advanced automatic features, I still like to work like in the old film days, for no other reason than not to lose my touch. To this day I have no problem getting correct exposures without the help of a meter. As a matter of fact, once I did start using a light meter, it gave me cause to explore what these instruments are capable of beyond just plain camera settings.

Even now I like to rely on my light meters from time to time. In spite of these days of Photoshop, I still approach my photography as in the film days. That includes careful light readings and all else that I can do to get the shot right. That certainly makes post production a lot less time consuming because generally, I don’t have to correct for mistakes.

Having grown up with rangefinder cameras, which of course included the use of add-on viewfinders, never bothered me. I have owned several of the Leica R models, but inevitably I always gravitate back to the rangefinder Leicas. This is also because several of the current Leica M models accept an electronic viewfinder, the new Visoflex.  This makes them a true system camera. Without the electronic viewfinder the rangefinder allows the use of the typical M lenses from 28 to 135mm while the electronic finder will work with all lenses, including Leica R lenses and lenses from other manufacturers with the help of the Leica R adapter or adapters for other manufacturers lenses. In addition, the electronic Visoflex finder greatly enhances the versatility of the camera because it also allows for virtually unrestricted close up photography. This and the new Leica SL have to be considered the answer for all the Leica R lens owners who, for a long time, have waited for a digital camera to use their R lenses on.


Thus my good old Leica III from so many years ago has effectively been the starting point in a long succession of cameras which, with the exception of the R models I have owned, have been further developments of the Leica III which, in itself, is essentially nothing more than a further development of Oskar Barnack’s Ur-Leica prototype. No other camera anywhere can look upon such a long history and no other camera ever will.





     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

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


at No comments: