Fujinon 1200mm F24 Lens Found!!!

[Nortega]

Long lenses, Cadillac prices, Ferrari prices... reminds me of a photo magazine article in the late '80s that announced a new Leica super-telephoto, 800mm or 1200mm? The article stated that if you ordered this lens, Leica would include as a bonus a new VW Fox automobile, then costing around $8k. Price for the lens/car package was not mentioned. Wonder if they ever sold one?

Anyone have a link that corroborates this? I kinda believe it but at the same time... that just seems totally random... and frankly hilarious. Here's my new lens in it's Ecnobox... er, EconoFox wrapper!

[Mark Sampson]

I could have been dreaming. I remember reading about that lens deal in the late '80s in, probably, "American Photographer" (which was a better magazine then). At the time I was car-shopping but any new car, even a VW Fox wagon, was out of reach. Perhaps it was the same type of lens that used to be pointed out the window of the old Ken Hansen's in NYC, mounted on a huge cine tripod, with a Leica R attached to it.

[Tracy Storer]

When Polaroid originally built the 20x24s in the late '70s they bought a couple of these, The New York Studio has one.

[anton orlov]

Reviving a thread 8 years after last post.

Question - what would one do if one found this lens in mint condition?

[Daniel Unkefer]

Reviving a thread 8 years after last post.

Question - what would one do if one found this lens in mint condition?

I would configure my 8x10" Norma with two tripods and Sinar Shutter. Like what Reinhart Wolf was doing decades ago, his work inspires me. 800mm Rodenstock Apo Ronar is my longest. And also the 790mm Apo Ronar. Wolfe used 1000mm Zeiss if I remember correctly :/

Guess I will have to keep my eyes open when I go to MPX next week!

[Bernice Loui]

Do not understand the obsession-admiration for a 1200mm f24 Fujinon as there were many other 1200mm focal length lenses made-produced over the decades.

What is SO special about this 1200mm Fujinon other than rarity?



Bernice

[ic-racer]

To bad the pictures from the original post are gone. I forgot what what it looks like.

[Bruce Watson]

Question - what would one do if one found this lens in mint condition?

As Dionne Warwick once sang: "Walk on By".

[anton orlov]

As Dionne Warwick once sang: "Walk on By".

Haha - well, I mean I did, but it kinda decided to follow...


Bernice - 1200mm were made in Tele design usually, those would cover say 11x14 nicely, maybe 16x20 at infinity. This thing has an 1120mm circle of coverage at infinity (44in), so at infinity is can cover a plate 16x40in or like 32x32 square. Also, it's an A, which stands for Apochromatic, highest sharpness correction.

IC-Racer - sorry for doing this, but since I couldn't find a single image of it online, I figured that if I sell it to someone with enough clout, they may not want naked pics of their baby out there, hence the watermark.



Oh, though a friend of mine I spoke to Tracy Storer (who was last to comment in 2010), he operated Polaroids 20x24 in NYC for 30 years form what I understand, and recalls working with this lens. According to his estimate there's 5 or less of them that were ever made, so yeah, until I make an appropriate camera for it I'll keep it in the bank deposit box...

The estate this came from belonged to a guy who SEEMS to have planned on using it for macro (which is what A-series lenses supposedly are amazing at, though of course they'll shoot sharper than others at infinity too). At 1:1 though it would cover a 6ft square plate :O However, the guy bought a Toyo 810GII and NEVER shot an image with it. With the camera came 8 extra 250mm rails and enough bellows and standards to make it into a 7ft long camera (plus there's a back extension accessory there too, so I think it would be 8ft total). He never opened the packages though - set up the camera on two of the rails as display and died.... I'm about to list that whole setup right now actually - for myself I'll make a 16x40in collapsible camera that I can do wet plate with, just so I can shoot this baby once or twice, and yes - I'll use gloves!

[anton orlov]

Oh, I see a actually already listed the Toyo setup - there was so much stuff there that even with all my previous selling experience I'm having a hard time keeping track...