A remarkably rare Leica prototype lens has sold for an astonishing $20,001 at a Goodwill charity auction in the United States, having started with a bidding price of just $35. The Leica / Hughes Leitz 17mm f/2 fisheye lens, which was discovered at Goodwill of the Great Plains, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is believed to be one of only a handful of examples ever produced, making it an incredibly unusual find.
While we’re used to seeing rare Leica cameras and lenses fetching extraordinary prices at specialist auctions, finding something of this significance at Goodwill is certainly not something you see every day.
However, this is no ordinary Leica lens, and it certainly isn’t something you’ll be attaching to your Leica M anytime soon. Manufactured in Canada by Hughes Leitz Optical Technologies, the enormous 17mm f/2 fisheye was reportedly developed specifically for Electrosonic, a company specializing in audiovisual technology and installations. The Hughes Leitz name dates back to 1990, when Hughes Aircraft acquired Ernst Leitz Canada, before the business was subsequently sold to Raytheon in 1997. This places the production of the lens somewhere within those seven years, making it a fascinating piece of Leica’s lesser-known optical history.
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What makes this lens particularly interesting, aside from its rarity, is its sheer size and unusual optical design. Weighing approximately 26 pounds (12kg), the 17mm fisheye offers an enormous 163-degree field of view, while its f/2 optical design features fixed focus and no adjustable aperture diaphragm. Unlike the photographic lenses we’re familiar with today, this particular optic was designed for specialist industrial or projection applications, where capturing or projecting an exceptionally wide field of view was essential. It is an extraordinary example of just how far Leica’s optical expertise extended beyond the world of conventional photography.
Interestingly, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen one of these enormous lenses appear for sale. Back in 2021, Leica Store Lisse in the Netherlands offered what was believed to be a one-of-a-kind example for approximately $47,200, while another listing had previously appeared on eBay in 2018 for around $24,500. The Goodwill example appears almost identical to the one previously documented, although its C530-0004 identification differs from the earlier C530-0007 example. This suggests that at least two examples were manufactured, although exactly how many were produced, or how many survive today, remains unknown.
For me, what makes this story so fascinating is that such an extraordinary piece of Leica history has managed to find its way into a charity auction rather than the hands of a specialist camera dealer or collector. Despite its $20,001 selling price, the lens was offered in “as is” condition, meaning its actual optical performance and working condition remain uncertain. Nevertheless, considering the rarity of the lens and the considerably higher asking prices associated with previous examples, the winning bidder may have secured something rather special. It just goes to show that even in today’s world of online auctions and specialist collectors, there are still some remarkable photographic treasures waiting to be discovered in the most unexpected places.
