Canon's 5200mm Mirror Lens

Canon made this 5200mm lens several years ago, capable of taking photographs of objects "18 to 32 miles away." That little knob on the right? That's the camera. It even came with its own sighting scope!

Brochure [CanonFD.com via Kottke]

[#1 posted by getjustin, February 6, 2008 9:41 AM]

What are the practical applications for something like this?? 18-32 miles? Wouldn't the curvature of the earth become a factor if you were shooting from ground level?

[#2 posted by mdhatter, February 6, 2008 10:08 AM]

How big is the flash?!?

[#3 posted by Goose22, February 6, 2008 10:27 AM]

WANT! My Canon AE-1 would fit that nicely...

[#4 posted by jordawesome, February 6, 2008 10:34 AM]

#1, I was thinking the same thing. I could see it being used for photographing things leaving or coming back to earth perhaps.

I just did some math, (which may in fact be totally wrong,) but with the 36 minute field of view, a 1.3m (diagonal) object at 120 m would fill the 35 mm frame.

And if it's mounting is anything like the 2000 mm lens on the previous page, it would be _so_ easy to hide on a rooftop and spy on people. Not conspicuous at all.

[#5 posted by dculberson, February 6, 2008 10:39 AM]

It's a reflector telescope with a camera mount on the eyepiece!

[#6 posted by Jai, February 6, 2008 10:50 AM]

#5 seriously! I was thinking the same thing.

[#7 posted by adam, February 6, 2008 11:23 AM]

@3; Yea!

WANT WANT WANT for Nikon mount!

[#8 posted by Matthew Walton, February 6, 2008 11:40 AM]

Astronomy is the obvious use. Bet you could take some nice pictures of the moon with that.

[#9 posted by Anonymous, February 6, 2008 11:51 AM]

@ #2:

The flash is here: https://www.llnl.gov/str/October02/Dane.html

[#10 posted by Songe, February 6, 2008 12:35 PM]

That's nothing. A mirror lens is basically a telescope, and out of focus points of light turn into donuts. This might have been on BB before:

The Zeiss Apo Sonnar T* 4/1700 - f4, 1700mm lens. Designed for 6x6. Observe the size of the Hasselblad on the end:

http://www.zeiss.com/c12567a8003b58b9/Contents-Frame/8baac109cb80bddfc12571e100393a1b

Made for a wealthy middle eastern client. Conventional lens. Huge glass elements. Very heavy. Very NASA.

[#11 posted by bardfinn, February 6, 2008 12:37 PM]

#9: But does it make popcorn?

[#12 posted by mralistair, February 6, 2008 1:26 PM]

isn't it easier to just move a bit closer?

[#13 posted by Songe, February 6, 2008 3:16 PM]

I think the length of the lens prevents you from moving closer.

[#14 posted by padrevic, February 7, 2008 7:37 AM]

#10 I like the guy PS'd in on the left side of that photo.

[#15 posted by winkybb, February 7, 2008 4:25 PM]

Any camera/lens can take photos of objects 18 to 32 miles away. I don't get what they're trying to say there.

[#16 posted by cha0tic, February 7, 2008 7:04 PM]

The Canon is 'only' 100kg. The Zeiss 256. I'll take the Canon please.

[#17 posted by Anonymous, May 19, 2008 1:32 PM]

The curvature of the earth does come into play with this. You would have to be at least 3 stories up to see 32 miles with this because at ground level the horizon is approx 3 miles away.

[#18 posted by Anonymous, September 5, 2008 10:27 AM]

"No, just a little step back... no, just one more..."

[#19 posted by Anonymous, April 23, 2009 6:26 PM]

DO WANT!