fbpx

DIY Photography

Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time

Search

 

Submit A Story

This vintage “bazooka lens” takes the word “shooting” almost literally

by 16 Comments

From time to time, Mathieu Stern presents us with a cool, unusual lens. This time, he found Novoflex 600mm f/8, or as he calls it: a “bazooka lens.” It’s not an ordinary telephoto lens, at least not when it comes to its design. It’s made to look like a rifle, and it’s definitely not something you’d want to shoot with in a crowded place. At least if you don’t want to scare people off or have a talk with the police.

Novoflex 600mm features the f/8 aperture, with 22 blades. It was introduced in 1955 and made in Germany, and the concept was to control the focus with the pistol grip. Since it’s a long lens, it was mainly used for wildlife and sports.

Mathieu found this lens disassembled in a box at a yard sale near Paris. Lucky as he is, he managed to get it for $15, while its usual price is around $500-$600 on eBay. When he assembled the lens, he ended up with a piece that almost takes the word “shooting” to its original meaning. So, as you can imagine – it would cause him trouble to use it in Paris, especially after the terrorist attacks the city went through.

So, not wanting to risk, Mathieu traveled to a peaceful city of Angers to try out his new toy. He shot people and wildlife to demonstrate the reach of the lens and its quality. He even got spotted a couple of times, and I sure hope nobody called the police. It would definitely cause an awkward situation.

[THIS WEIRD BAZOOKA LENS Will Make you Look like a Terrorist | Mathieu Stern]

Related posts:

These cheap Soviet lenses are as out of this world as their “Jupiter” name would imply Shooting amazing portraits using vintage lenses This cheap lens makes square bokeh thanks to its aperture Photographer finds a treasure in a dirty old box: Tamron 90mm f/2.5 in great condition

  • Glenn C Fallang

  • Harmless until you go to the wrong place. I recall lifting my camera to take a photo in a place where photos were allowed in from of Chile’s presidential palace. Guard had immediate eyes on. Had I lifted something like this there or most anywhere…….

    • I had a very unpleasant experience like that, and I wasn’t even using a DSLR, but my cellphone. With the lens like this, I would probably still trying to explain the guard it’s not a gun. :)

  • yeah,…try using that in London !
    :o

  • Never heard about it.
    And i got 3 versions of tair 300 4.5

  • Bartosz patrz 😉

  • You’re dead in Cleveland OH using something like this. The president gave a pass to kill citizens. This is a weapon to them. You are a fool to use this.

  • The Novoflex was a great rig in years when autofocus was unheard of. A friend of mine was not happy with the quality of the original optical system back then and had it replaced with Leiz Telyt.

  • Let’s play the “good idea/bad idea” game..
    good idea- taking photos.
    bad idea – taking photos with gear that will get you shot by homeland security.

  • “Hoooold still”… 😂

  • The same as this one

  • But when you have two :D

  • KGB / CIA surplus ;-)

  • This is the 280mm from Novoflex.

  • when i was a kid, i could swear i had a plastic camera toy similar to this. it was definitely in the shape of a rifle/bazooka. i feel like it was maybe blue or yellow. you would take the film (the kind that was in a cartridge) and snap it on the back.

    sound familiar to anyone or am i totally trippin???

  • Watch “collateral murder” it will show you how harmless a lens looking like that can be. And with the current paranoia running through America at the moment it could get your head blown off. No thanks.

Recent Posts