Not a Canon L (awwww shucks! haha). Not one of those old "faster than f/1.0" rangefinder lenses or specialty lenses (ie: Rodenstock 50mm f/0.75). Made specifically for B&W films with Contax RTS film bodies: The Contax/Zeiss N-Mirotar 210mm f/0.03.
Yes.. equivalent f/0.03 aperture. It uses a multi-stage "image intensifier"setup to amplify light that's then picked up by the rear of the lens which is basically a macro lens and then passed on to the film. That's 11 stops faster than f/1.4 (!!!!!!) or, in other words, 2500X brighter than f/1.4. That means what would be a 1-second exposure with an f/1.4 lens is... what... 1/2000th with this lens? A 30-second exposure at f/1.4 would now be 1/60th of a second with this lens. I imagine it's marketed as "for B&W film only" because of the night-vision type monochrome photo it probably produces. Something tells me this thing costed a fortune. Anyone have a Contax RTS to Canon EOS mount adapter?
It won't effect DOF since the lens doesn't actually open up to f/0.03. It just uses a "night vision" type amplifier to feed an amplified light signal through the rear of the lens. I don't know what aperture the actual lens is.
"The 210mm N-Mirotar was probably designed for law enforcement application for night-time use. I suppose a government budget would also be required to pay for it. Its minimum focusing distance is 70ft. and requires to 2 AA batteries to operate its image intensifier. It came with a shoulder stock and Zeiss claimed that shutter speeds of 1/500th sec. were possible with ASA400 film on moonlit nights. "
Very nice lens indeed.
"The 1000f5.6 Mirotar was still offered until just recently in the Contax catalogue. Apparently they stopped listing it because no one had ordered one in years. It's an old design from the mid-60's with very low production numbers. It's reputed to be an amazing lens for what it is. Its price would probably be somewhere between $35,000.00 and $50,000.00."
Well, that will throw cold water for my daydreams of getting one.
There was one of these on eBay for sale. Found the page from cache. Was a German seller, Member Profile: kds315 (501).
Maybe it's not sold yet?
Starting bid US $3,750.00
Approximately C $4,904.63
Ended: 17-Apr-04 05:33:42 EDT
Start time: 10-Apr-04 14:00:00 EDT
History: 0 bids
Price: US $7,999.00
ApproximatelyC $10,461.90
This CONTAX ZEISS N - MIROTAR is a very rare lens, hardly anyone has ever heard of or even touched one. Only about 300 have ever been sold in US. It is in EX++ state and looks as if has never been used and comes with front and rear caps. Optics (catadioptric front lens system and auxiliary macro optic - 12 lenses!! ) are crystal clear and the one-finger focusing mechanism functions smoothly as silk. The intensifier tube has been replaced and is functioning good (list price about $3.000); optionally I will include a second new tube, since these have gotten extremely rare and hard to come by on buyers decision at extra cost (extra tube sold exclusively to buyers). I have been told by Zeiss staff that these types of tubes are good for about 2.000 operating hours MTBF (mean time between failure). Lens comes in original plastic protective box (which has a small damage on a corner) with foam inset and space for batteries, lock keys etc.
For Canon EOS users I could provide a professionally made Contax-to-EOS adapter or a direct link to the seller of that to allow using this special lens with Canon SLRs or digital SLRs like 10D, 1D, 1Ds etc. since canon does not have anything comparable within its lens program.
I found this in an old Contax brochure about the N-Mirotar: "The N-Mirotar has the capacity to transform subjects invisible to the naked eye in near pitch darkness into brightly illuminated daylight type scenes. Using only general purpose films, the image amplifier tube of the N-Mirotar intensifies residual light of the scene 80,000 times and passes it on to the macro lens which delivers illumination to the film plane at 2,500 times the intensity of a f1.4 lens. The effective lens speed is f 0.03. The N-Mirotar operates for up to 40 hours on two (standard) 1.5V AA batteries".
This lens had a new price of $22.000 years ago and was built by ZEISS on request only; delivery time was up to two years. It is now rated on the collectors market between $10...12.000. There is a reserve price, reflecting the excellent condition and extreme rarity of that gem of a lens.
Sorry that I have to mention that, but I will reserve the right to delete bidders with negative or zero feeback or known no-paying-bidders.
Item is sold as is: no explicit or implied warranty, except my description of the item. All sales final - no returns. Contact is expected within 3 days after closing the auction, payment after 10 days latest. I reserve the right to end the auction early or cancel bids from suspect bidders. By placing your bid, you accept all conditions. Should you have any questions, please ask before. I check emails at least daily. There will be a 5% handling fee for bidders using paypal due to currency conversion.
Camera on picture NOT included - for illustrational purposes only!!
Speaking with a background with alot of fast lenses (we all know what I'm talking about), I think that a mirror lens (or image intensifier) would be a different catagory in image quality. As far as my favorite lenses for speed, I would go with the following:
Well the lens isn't designed for artsy photographs with good bokeh, though.
It's made for just getting critical night-time shots in the dark. There's only one thing that confuses and bothers me about it: 70ft minimum focusing distance? They must be kidding! I know you aren't usually very close for "spying" but come on.
These aren't real lenses... They are toys... I would love to see tests of the quality of these "things".
Given the size and weight of my 200mm f1.8 anything that approaches f1.0 or beyond has to be multplies of that weight and size to maintain image quality.
You guys aren't understanding this.... Please read:
This does not have an actual aperture of f/0.03. It's basically a standard macro lens (60mm, I believe) with a night-vision amplifier setup in front of it. The actual maximum aperture of it is probably really f/2.8 or smaller. It's the night vision amplifier that feeds it's bright final image output into the macro lens at the back that focuses it onto the film plane. It's an EFFECTIVE f/0.03 because of how much the light is amplified but the actual operating aperture is much smaller. DOF is not going to be just millimeters because of that. It's not going to have lens elements the size of dinner plates. It's basically a night vision scope with a macro lens at the back that focuses the night vision image and provides a mount to put it on an SLR camera.
Like I said, you're missing the point. It's not for artsy, high quality work. It's not for pleasing bokeh. Not made for high-res shots of birds.
It's made for night-time surveillance work... probably targeted 100% toward private investigators and law enforcement agencies, not bokeh-peeping measurebators with lens resolution charts. Please just accept it for what it is instead of speculating on theoretical 'quality' issues. It's an exotic, clever, special purpose lens.
It would be completely useless for astronomy as well.
? They must be kidding! I know you aren't usually very close for "spying" but come on.