A Monster Mirror Lens

I was doing a quick web search today when I stumbled upon the 1000mm Carl Zeiss Mirror f/5.6 lens, a pure monster. It fits the Pentacon Six, a medium format camera sold until the early '90s by Pentacon GmbH. The company currently makes digital point and shoots under the brand Praktika.

Anyway, I would have loved to include an image or two here, but the site is pretty clear about copyright issues. So let me paint you a picture instead: 31 lbs (14 kg), a lens cap the size of a dinnerplate, switchable filters actually sealed inside the lens, and amazing images. If you want to waste a little time, click on over and check it out:

• Overview page with some sample images.
• Later comparative review consisting of pages: [1] [2] [3] [4]
• If you look at one page, look at the second -- it includes some great shots (including a full camera sitting inside of the lenscap).

Obviously, this isn't a practical lens since most tripods can't even support it, but it was really cool to see a really good quality 1000mm reflex lens. And, at 1000mm, the f/5.6 aperture is quite amazing.