For Sale: 158kg Soviet Spy Satellite Camera Lens, A Bargain At $24,000

So, you thought Canon had some ridiculously large lenses. The truth is, it ain’t got nothing on the former Soviet Union, which came up with this fearsome beast — a 158kg, 1.3m lens for its spy satellites. Oh yeah, it’s also for sale.

Pictures, of course, don’t do this bad boy justice. As Michael Zhang over at PetaPixel points out, the 470mm-diameter lens is wide enough that you could “fit two basketballs side by side”.

The lens is for sale on SS.ua, a Russian classifieds website for the princely sum of 460,000 Ukrainian hryvnia, or about $24,229 Australian.

According to one Vladislav Kern on USSRPhoto, the lens is from the Amber-4K2 satellite, which is equipped with a Pearl-18 camera system.

I guess it’d look good on your mantelpiece, but it’d be hard convincing guests you’re not just compensating for your, uh, 18-55mm.

[SS.ua, via PetaPixel]


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