May 19, 2008

A lens

Holy crap - check out Canon's 5,200mm ultra-Telephoto lens:
canon5200_lens.jpg
I have a 500mm lens and consider it to be a fairly high power Telephoto. So high, as a matter of fact, that it hasn't been out of its case for several years. This puppy boggles the imagination. It is 20" by 24" by 75" long. That little boxy thing on the right side is a full-size camera body. It weighs 220 pounds so the four handles at the bottom are for the four people to lift it and set it on its stand. The closest focusing distance is 120 Meters and its designed use is for objects 18 to 32 miles away. Hat tip to Gizmodo for the link. Wonder if Nikon has a competing unit... UPDATE: Nikon's offerings only go to 2,000mm - still, a veritible optical powerhouse:
nikon_2000mm.jpg
And of course, if you want to take things to the extreme, you can always get one of these:
celestron_CGE1400XLT.jpg
3,910mm focal length, built in computerised drive and it's only $6,700. The optical tube only weighs 45 pounds. Plus, it's also a really cool telescope! Posted by DaveH at May 19, 2008 10:48 PM