Looking to take pictures of lions? Or perhaps neighbors half a mile away? Well, this 1200mm f/5.6L Canon prime should sort you out. And it’s only $100 per millimeter!

For telephoto enthusiasts — nature and sports photographers, birdwatchers, stalkers — this is the Canon holy grail. Unfortunately, like most holy grails of photography, it costs a mint due to being an extremely limited edition. “More than twelve, less than twenty” is the official count, as they were only made to order starting back in ’93. For an idea of what 1200mm is, here is a good example from the B&H newsletter.

[Photos by Henry Posner]

That’s an uncropped (resized, obviously) photo of stuff probably almost 2 miles away. The lens is sharp, too (as it better be for a hundred grand); you can see more pictures in the newsletter. Bonus: if you have a cropped-FOV camera like a Rebel XSi, it becomes nearly 2000mm due to the 1.6x focal length modifier.

Anyhow, I doubt anybody reading this is going to lay out three years’ rent for a single lens, but it’s nice to know it’s out there.

[via OhGizmo]