Photography as a hobby is fun, exciting, sporting and adventurous, however it can get pretty expensive and difficult to sustain with your dream for expensive and best glasses. It’s this one factor which most newcomers without analyzing their primary needs and not knowing what to buy, die out on their passion rather too quick. Before you browse further and jump to conclusions, please remember lenses or for that matter additional camera gears are important and awesome update to your photography journey, but it’s a still a small part of the equation in taking good picture – ultimately its you as a photographer’s skill which adds to the most important factor. Don’t let the lust for expensive gears (the list are exhaustive both from native and third party manufacturers) get the best of you, unless you are ready to sell your organ or blow your fortune.
Try to become one of the best photographer and work in one of those company who would pay you huge salary as well as lent out those expensive gears on field.
Below are the Top 10 World’s most expensive lenses –
1. Leica 1600mm f/5.6 Telephoto Lens
It doesn’t come as much of a surprise that the world’s priciest lens is a Leica with their impressive red dot logo on it. Leica made this APO-Telyt-R 1600mm/f 5.6 custom lens for Sheikh Saud Bin Mohammed Al-Thani of Qatar at a price just topping US $2 million. This lens has never been sent out for review, nor has any picture published taken this lens. With a weight of 60 kg (132 pounds), it’s no wonder the owner also bought a custom Mercedes for lugging it around.
The 1600mm f/5.6 Leica is certainly the most expensive lens that we know of officially, but there is also the Zeiss Apo Sonnar T* 1700mm, f/4 Telephoto lens which was announced at the Photokina back in 2006. The lens has a wider maximum aperture, longer focal length, weighs 256 kg (564 pounds) which uses a use a special focusing method because of the sheer weight of each glass element and connects to a Hasselblad 6×6 medium format camera. Unfortunately, there is no documentation available what that Zeiss lens went for, or even who commissioned it — just that it was emblazoned with the state logo of Qatar. Who knows, Sheikh Al-Thani may have that one, too.
This is the biggest non-military telephoto lens in existence, which begs the question: What does the biggest military zoom look like!?
2. Nikkor 6mm f/2.8 Fisheye Lens
Nikon first unveiled this rare lens at Photokina in 1970. This prime lens was designed for special scientific and industrial applications and sold only as individual special orders. The massive glass dome on the front of the lens is a quarter of a meter wide, sticks out 6 inches, and weighs 5.2 kg. The lens was used for an expedition to Antarctica, and was pointed straight up to capture a photo of the entire sky. It packs 12 elements in 9 groups, measures 236mm x 171mm longand captures a picture angle of 220 degrees, which means it can actually see behind itself. It includes a built-in skylight filter, as well as medium yellow, deep yellow, orange and red filters.
The lens went on sale at London Nikon specialist Grays of Westminster, which is selling the near-mint condition and ultra-rare lens for US $160,000. Check out the video.
3. Canon EF 1200mm f/5.6 L USM Telephoto Lens
Canon launched it for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games and only produced five to start with. After the Games concluded, Canon recalled them and upgraded the FD mount to EF mount. Canon later produced several more, but very limited in number. The company never provided the actual number of this type of lens put on the market. As rumors placed the figure at less than 100, sources claimed the actual number was in fact just close to 20.
Sports Illustrated, National Geographic Society and a few billionaires are among those who possess it. In 2011, the U.S. digital vendor B&H sold one such lens for a whopping US$1.2 million.
4. Nikkor 1200-1700mm f/5.6-8P IF-ED
Introduced in 1990, this behemoth of a lens was first used at Koshien Stadium, where Japan holds its annual huge high school baseball tournament. The lens was developed especially to shoot from the photographers seats, andstill capture all the action. Even with a relatively slow maximum aperture, apparently it still took incredibly sharp images — assuming there was enough light around. The real magic is in just how long that zoom was, check out the below image shot at 500mm, 1200mm and 1700mm.
The lens is around 900mm long and weighs around 16 kg. When it was released in 1990, it had an asking price of around $60,000-$75,000.
5. Sigma 200-500mm f/2.8 APO EX DG
Sigma Corporation introduced the military green Sigma’s APO 200-500mm F2.8/400-1000mm F5.6 EX DG at the PMA 2008 imaging Expo. It’s the first large-aperture ultra telephoto lens to have an F2.8 aperture at 500mm. With its specially designed 2x teleconverter attachment mounted it becomes a 400-1000mm F5.6 ultra telephoto lens capable of auto-focus shooting. It has ELD (Extraordinary Low Dispersion) and SLD (Special Low Dispersion) glass for maximum correction of aberrations.
The lens is undoubtedly most suitable for wildlife and sports imaging and would even befit astronomical photography. Lithium batteries in the lens power its zoom and auto-focus. An LCD screen on the barrel shows the data such as focal length and object distance. The lens is available for Sigma, Nikon and Canon mount and is sold around US $25,000
6. Nikkor 800mm f/5.6E FL ED VR
Nikkor Corporation announced this lens at the Photokina 2012 exhibition held in Germany. Labeled “Conquer the distance like never before,” this lens is a condensation of Nikon’s best technology yet within a dust- and water-resistant magnesium-alloy body. With Nikon’s exclusive Silent Wave Motor (SWM) providing ultra-fast, ultra-quiet autofocusing, lightweight fluorite lens elements improving optical performance and handling, Vibration Reduction enabling faster handheld shooting and an electromagnetic diaphragm for consistent exposures during high-speed bursts, the AF-S NIKKOR 800mm f/5.6E FL ED VR sets a new standard for super-telephoto lenses. And with the included AF-S Teleconverter TC800-1.25E ED, you can increase overall focal length to a whopping 1000mm (1500mm equivalent on DX-format cameras).
The lens is targeted towards sports, news and wildlife photographers looking for ultimate reach and performance and weighs around 4.59 kg . It costs around US $18,000
7. Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS USM
Canon unveiled this L Series lens in June 2008. The magnesium lens barrel contains several fluorite lenses and an extra-low dispersion (ED) lens, driven by the USM-propelled internal focusing system. This lens is compatible with Canon EF extenders.
This is also the most expensive lens in the current Canon catalog, though still much cheaper than Nikon’s NIKKOR 800mm f/5.6. This lens is for professional sports and wildlife photographers looking out for lots and lots of action. It’s around 162mm x 461mm long and weighs around 4.5 kg. It costs nearly US $14,000
8. Nikkor 600mm f/4G ED VR
A high-speed, high-performance prime lens for dedicated wildlife and sports photographers features Nikon’s VR image stabilization and Nano Crystal Coat. This is the more advanced super performance lens than the earlier Nikkor 600mm f/4 AF-S II.
The lens is 166mm x 445mm long, effectively resist dust and moisture, weighs around 5.0 kg. It costs nearly US $10,000
9. Canon 400mm f/2.8L IS USM II
Canon 400mm, f/2.8L IS USM II adopts a new optical design featuring 16 elements in 12 groups, including several fluorite optics that deliver sharper images with less chromatic aberration. The sub-wavelength coating on the lens can effectively reduce flares.The lens measures 34.3 cm and weighs 3.85 kg. The image stabilization (IS) system within the lens applies a low-friction optics barrel structure and can compensate for any sudden movements by four shutter stops, the EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II USM allows for easy panning and is ideally positioned for professional action photography.With a new security slot for wire-type security locks, buttons and switches are redesigned for intuitive, deliberate operation, and dust and water sealing keeps the lens functioning flawlessly in even the most challenging environments.
The lens is 163mm x 343mm long and weighs around 3.85 kg. It costs nearly US $11,500
10. Sigma 800mm f/4 EX APO DG HSM
The Sigma 800mm F5.6 EX APO DG HSM is a ultra telephoto zoom designed for Full Frame Sensors but may also be used with smaller APS-C size sensors with a corresponding effective increase in focal length to about 1200 with most cameras. A Hyper Sonic Motor (HSM) ensures quiet, high speed and accurate auto focusing while Super Multi-Layer Coating reduces flare and ghosting. The improved DG lens design corrects for various aberrations. This lens is specially coated to get the best color balance whilst cutting down on ghosting caused by reflections from the digital image sensor.
The lens is 156.5mm x 521mm long and weighs around 5.0 kg. It costs nearly US $7,000
