This stunning moon footage was shot with “the world’s sharpest super-telephoto lens”

Seeing the Moon up close through my crappy telescope was one of the moments that left a huge impression on me. And I’m sure that seeing it through a super-sharp super-telephoto lens would have been even more impressive. Well, Markus Stark did it and he created a stunning video of the moon using a Leica 400mm f/2.8 lens. He wonders if it could be the world’s sharpest super-telephoto lens, so let’s see – is it?

The “full name” of the lens is Leica Telephoto 400mm f/2.8 APO Telyt R. It’s a manual focus lens that you can find used for $15,000. With that price tag, I’m sure it must be pretty darn sharp. Marcus used it on a Panasonic GH4 and added a 1.4x + 2x + 2x Leica Apo Extenders. So technically, that’s around 4,480mm full/frame equivalent focal length.

Marcus filmed the video clips in August 2015 at only 290m above sea level at a camping site in Germany. The video was published a year later, but it gained attention again in 2021. The idea was to make the viewer feel like observing the moon from a spacecraft. So, Marcus added some zooming in and out and spinning in post-production with Magix VDL 2016.

I honestly don’t know if this is the sharpest super-telephoto lens ever. It might be. But I know for sure that Marcus sure put it to good use and created a stunning and inspiring video with it.

[via Leica Rumors]