The need for speed: Zoomatar 75mm, 180mm and 250mm….all f/1.3 !!!
While searching for some news about the new Voigtländer 25mm f/0.95 Micro Four Thirds lens I found those awesome fast and tele manual focus lenses on eBay (Click here). The Zoomatar 250mm f/1.3 pictured above is the fastest tele lens I have ever seen (Did you ever find a faster lenes at 250mm?). The lens uses a Hassellbad mount! 
The lens above is the Zoomatar 180mm f/1.3. It uses the Nikon F-mount. I found only a few image samples on a taiwanese blog (blog.xuite.net) and some info at Cameraquest.
There is also a Zoomatar 75mm f/1.3 (mount is unknown to me) and I found one image of the lens used on the Panasonic G1.
Currently only the Zoomatar 180mm f/1.3 is for sale on eBay ($10.000!!!).
I didn’t find any image samples of that lens used on a Micro Four Thirds camera! Would love to see that 250mm f/1.3 on my tiny Olympus E-P1 
Can you find some more details about those lenses? Thanks!
Jeremiah
3 years ago |That’s crazy fast for those lengths! ZOOOOOOOM
Duarte Bruno
3 years ago |This isn’t crazy. It’s borderline insane.
Marek
3 years ago |Carl Zeiss made 400/1.4 iirc…not faster yet still impressive
Jimson
3 years ago |The 250mm f/1.3 is $35K USD! No thanks, I’d buy a new car instead!
“Opulence; I don’t has it!”
alienchow
3 years ago |“Opulence; I don’t has it!” – Fantastic! Great commercial. Too bad, I don’t has it also.
Luke
3 years ago |@ $35K I’d buy a new car and a Leica M9,too!
Jim
2 years ago |buy a new car and drive those 200mm, then use a normal priced 50mm F1.4!
Seika
3 years ago |That’s like… 20 cm of solid glass in front ?
Jimson
3 years ago |Haha! That was a great commercial. Not enough to get me to sign up for DirecTV, but still very funny!
Jimson
3 years ago |Makes $5.5K for the 300 f/2.8 seem like pocket change eh?
Chris
3 years ago |Talk about shallow depth of field.
Epusch
3 years ago |The Arri Master Primes include a 150mm at T1.3, which would correspond to roughly f/1.0 or f/1.1.
Even crazier, they’re a set of 15 matched primes (all with the same look) from 12mm to 150mm.
Was used by Kubrick in Eyes Wide Shut…
Talk about dream lenses. You could handily buy a ferrari for the whole set.
Details: http://www.arri.de/camera/lenses/35_format_lenses/master_primes.html
Jeremiah
3 years ago |That’s effin’ AMAZING!
Jeremiah
3 years ago |That’s effin’ AMAZING!
jeff
3 years ago |i have never seen a bolt action lense before
Mistral75
3 years ago |250mm f/1.3 on 6X6 Hasselblad = superb portrait lens (250mm on 6×6 is roughly equivalent to 135mm on 24×36).
Let’s talk about shallow depth of field: at 3m, it is equal to 1cm…
Nathan
3 years ago |It’s a one man zapruder film. No longer do you need one man operating the bolt and one man shooting film, you can do both with this lens.
Shoot a frame, cycle the breech, shoot another frame. That would be fantastic. Intimidating to models, but fantastic.
Models? Who cares about ‘em. Only their eyes would be in focus, anyway, and only if they’re facing right at you. If they turn to one side, only one eye can be in focus, and then they’ll have a blurry ear.
Jimson
3 years ago |Might be fun for birding & wildlife in low light (with a sturdy tripod and gimbal mount).
Bluecold
3 years ago |De Oude Delft made some x-ray machine lenses called Rayxar.
There are references on the internets about a 250mm f/0.75
1 2/3 stop faster than the picture f/1.3
http://www.luciolepri.it/lc2/marcocavina/articoli_fotografici/De_Oude-Delft_f_0,75_1972/00_pag.htm