Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Spiegelobjektiv 1000mm f/5.6

Carl Zeiss Jena · Pentacon Six + M42 + Exakta + Other · 1960

Known as “Stasi-Kanone”

Also known as: Spiegelobjektiv 5,6/1000 · Spiegelobjektiv 5.6/1000 · Spiegelobjektiv 1:5,6/1000 · Spiegelobjektiv 5,6/1000mm · Spiegelobjektiv 1000mm · Spiegelobjektiv 1000mm f5.6 · Spiegelobjektiv 1000 · Carl Zeiss Jena Spiegelobjektiv 1000 · Carl Zeiss Jena 1000mm f5.6 · Carl Zeiss Jena 1000mm f/5.6 · Carl Zeiss Jena 5.6/1000 · Carl Zeiss Jena 5,6/1000 · Zeiss Jena 1000mm f5.6 · Zeiss Jena 1000mm · Zeiss Jena 5,6/1000 · Zeiss Jena 1000mm mirror · Zeiss Jena Spiegel 1000mm · CZJ 1000mm f5.6 · CZJ 1000mm · CZJ 5.6/1000 · Spiegel 5,6/1000 · Prakticar 5,6/1000 · Prakticar 5.6/1000 · Prakticar 1000mm · Pentacon Six 1000mm f5.6 · Pentacon Six 1000mm mirror · Цейс 1000мм

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Light grey (off-white) finish Praktisix / Pentacon Six (adapter rings for 35mm SLRs supplied with the lens) — — —
Black 'Prakticar' (late) Pentacon Six, or Praktica B (adapter rings) — 1112 —
On the M42 (Pentacon / Praktica) adapter ring M42 (factory adapter ring) — — —
On the Exakta adapter ring Exakta (factory adapter ring) — — —
On the Praktina adapter ring Praktina (factory adapter ring) — — —
On the Praktica B adapter ring Praktica B (adapter ring) — — —
  1. Dates: the Zeiss brochure Druckschriften-Nr. 54-317-1 carries the printing code Ag 91/0243/60, a 1960 print. A Bundesarchiv picture from the Leipzig Spring Fair of 10 March 1961 is captioned as taken with 'the new Zeiss Spiegelobjektiv 5,6-1000 mm', and TRA reproduces a 1975 Pentacon catalogue cover showing it. The end date is unknown: allphotolenses.com's database gives 1981 as the last year, and the black lens with a Praktica B adapter shows that the lens, or at least its adapter set, was still being supplied in 1979 or later.
  2. Length: the 1960 brochure gives 465 mm overall on a 60×60 camera with the lens hood, and 494–496 mm with the 35mm adapters; TRA's data table on pentaconsix.com gives 512 mm. The brochure's figure is used here. Both give about 14 kg, 5° on 6×6 and 16 m close focus; the brochure adds 240 mm diameter without the foot and a back focus of 80.48 mm.
  3. Filters: the 1960 brochure lists clear plane glass, N1-0.5 neutral grey (25 % absorption, factor 1.5), G2 dark yellow (about 2), O1 orange (about 2.5), R1 light red (about 10) and GR1 yellow-green (about 2.5). TRA's lens has UV, ND (factor 1.5), dark yellow, orange, light red and dark red (factor 16), in that order, each 57 mm across and 5.23 mm thick. So the set seems to have changed over the run, with the yellow-green replaced by a dark red and the clear glass by a UV filter; no source dates the change.
  4. Not listed as a version: TRA says some lenses are finished in an extremely light green, only just off-white. No numbered example is recorded. A forum post by C. K. Shene calls the light green lens a military version and the black one the photographic version, which does not match TRA's account of black as the late finish.
  5. The 1960 brochure photograph shows a dark, hammer-finished barrel, but the brochure states that its pictures are not binding in every detail.
  6. Kiev-88CM not linked: TRA (pentaconsix.com, 'Pentacon Six: 1000mm lenses') reports that the lens cannot be mounted on the Kiev-88CM, because the round plate just forward of the lens's camera mount is fouled by the front of the body, whose Pentacon Six mount Arsenal had to recess about 8 mm into a Kiev-88 built for an 82.1 mm register. He suggests the 10 mm Pentacon extension tube might get round it but could not check whether infinity focus survives. The Kiev-60 and Kiev-6S, with the mount on the front of the body as on the Pentacon Six, are linked; no source reports a problem on them.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • A mirror lens of about 14 kg with a box-shaped housing at the rear: a large knob on each side (left the filter turret, right the focusing), a clamping lever (Klemmhebel) low on the left that locks the focus, and a sighting mark (Grobvisier) on top. It is used from its own tripod foot, so the camera hangs from the lens
  • No aperture ring and no diaphragm; the light is controlled by the shutter and the built-in filters
  • Supplied in a wooden case, over 20 kg in all (TRA)
  • Not the Carl Zeiss (Oberkochen) Mirotar 1000mm f/5.6 (for Hasselblad, then Rollei and Contax SLRs, per TRA), nor the Zeiss Jena Spiegelobjektiv 4/500, nor any Soviet MTO or Rubinar mirror lens

Light grey (off-white) finish:

  • Barrel painted a light grey that TRA describes as just off-white; the most often seen finish
  • Leitz notes the engraving 'aus JENA' on two of its lots (473 and 484)
  • Seven-digit Zeiss Jena serial: Leitz has sold 7131955 and 7332750 (dated c.1968) and 7363494 and 7365830 (c.1970); 7365830 is described as grey painted

Black 'Prakticar' (late):

  • Black barrel, sold by Leitz as 'Carl Zeiss Jena f. Pentacon Six Prakticar 5.6/1000mm'
  • Four-digit serial (1112 is the one recorded) instead of the seven-digit Zeiss numbers of the grey lenses
  • Comes with an adapter for the Praktica B bayonet as well as the M42 and Exakta ones

On the M42 (Pentacon / Praktica) adapter ring:

  • The same lens with the M42 screw ring fitted to its rear bayonet in place of the Pentacon Six mount

On the Exakta adapter ring:

  • The same lens with the Exakta bayonet ring fitted

On the Praktina adapter ring:

  • The same lens with the Praktina breech-lock ring fitted

On the Praktica B adapter ring:

  • A Praktica B bayonet ring; recorded only with the black Prakticar lens

Serial-range notes

7131955–7365830
The seven-digit Zeiss Jena numbers on the four grey or unspecified lenses Leitz has sold; Leitz dates them c.1968 (7131955, 7332750) and c.1970 (7363494, 7365830).
1112
The black Prakticar lens. A four-digit number does not fit the seven-digit sequence of the grey lenses; Leitz's '1960s' sits badly with its Praktica B adapter.

Specifications

Formula
Catadioptric mirror lens: two front corrector lenses, two mirrors and a field lens of two cemented lenses, with no diaphragm (VEB Carl Zeiss Jena brochure, 1960); optical length 406 mm, which the brochure gives as 42 % of the focal length
Aperture range
f/5.6
Min. focus
16 m
Dimensions
240 × 465 mm
Weight
14000 g
Filter
Built-in turret: clear glass and five filters
Years manufactured
1960
Country
East Germany (Jena)
Original price
IAP 5,980.09 M (1974), 'universell' mount: the Industrieabgabepreis at which Zeiss supplied the trade, not the shop price (Kröger's transcription of the DDR price lists)

What reviewers say

Optical formula — Catadioptric mirror lens: two front corrector lenses, two mirrors and a field lens of two cemented lenses, with no diaphragm (VEB Carl Zeiss Jena brochure, 1960); optical length 406 mm, which the brochure gives as 42 % of the focal length

History

The Spiegelobjektiv 5,6/1000 mm is the longest lens Carl Zeiss Jena made for the Praktisix and its successor the Pentacon Six. It is a mirror lens of about 14 kg, delivered in a wooden case that brings the load to over 20 kg. Zeiss’s brochure of 1960 says it followed the Spiegelobjektiv 4/500, which had been in production for some years, at the request of users who wanted a longer focal length. It describes the optics as two front corrector lenses, two mirrors and a field lens of two cemented elements, with an optical length of 406 mm, 42 % of the focal length. The lens was built for 6×6 single-lens reflexes and, with adapter rings supplied in the box, for the Exakta Varex, Praktina, Pentacon and Praktica. A Bundesarchiv picture from the Leipzig Spring Fair of March 1961 is captioned as taken with ‘the new Zeiss Spiegelobjektiv’, and in 1975 the lens was on the cover of a Pentacon catalogue. The 1974 price list gives 5,980.09 Mark. That is the Industrieabgabepreis, the price at which Zeiss supplied the trade, not the shop price.

As on all mirror lenses, there is no diaphragm. Zeiss argued that stopping down would not sharpen the image and would not change the depth of field with a ring-shaped entrance pupil. Exposure is set with the shutter and a turret of filters inside the housing, turned by the left-hand knob; the right-hand knob focuses from infinity to 16 m. The brochure lists clear glass, a neutral grey of factor 1.5, and dark yellow, orange, light red and yellow-green filters. TRA’s lens at pentaconsix.com has a UV filter, the same neutral grey, and dark yellow, orange, light red and dark red, so the set seems to have changed during production. TRA tested it on a Pentacon Six and found no colour fringing or distortion and excellent sharpness, with a small area of vignetting in the top corners. His main complaint is that the single half-stop ND filter is too weak: with 400 ISO film in bright light the lens gives too much exposure even at 1/1000 s, and he would want ND filters of one stop or more.

Most lenses are painted a light grey that is nearly white, and TRA reports some in a very pale green. Black lenses are late and much rarer. The one documented example, sold by Leitz as a ‘Prakticar’ and called the ‘Stasi-Kanone’ in the lot description, has the four-digit serial 1112 and an adapter for the Praktica B bayonet of 1979. That points to 1979 or later, although Leitz dated it to the 1960s. The grey lenses that Leitz has sold carry seven-digit Zeiss serials between 7,131,955 and 7,365,830, which the auction house dates around 1968–70. At auction they have made between €1,560 and €3,600 including premium, and the black lens €2,400.

The camera mount is a ring on the lens’s rear bayonet, so check which rings come with the lens: a Pentacon Six ring, and usually some of the M42, Exakta, Praktina or Praktica B rings. Check too that the filter turret clicks through all six positions, that the focusing knob runs smoothly, and that the wooden case and hood are present. The lens is held by its own large tripod foot, with the camera hanging off the back, and owners report that it needs a very heavy tripod head. TRA warns that it will not mount on an Exakta 66 with the TTL metering prism, which projects too far forward. He also reports that it is said not to fit the Kiev-88CM, whose front fouls the lens’s mounting plate. It does fit a Pentacon Six with its metering prism. The lens is not the Mirotar 1000mm f/5.6 from Carl Zeiss in Oberkochen, which TRA, citing Richard Nordin, says was briefly available to special order for the Hasselblad and later for Rollei and Contax SLRs, and is 2.5 kg heavier.

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This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Example photos

Sample photo taken with the Spiegelobjektiv 1000mm f/5.6
A Pentacon Six on the Carl Zeiss Jena 1000mm mirror lens, with a Flektogon standing in the lens hood (2014) — Exaktamike, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

More sample photos elsewhere

These photographers keep all rights to their work — enjoy it at the source.

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Spiegelobjektiv 1000mm f/5.6? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, EUR: a median of €2,500 across 3 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-10 (middle half €2,400–€2,500). First day tracked.

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

Listings updated 2026-11-10. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Sources (6)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this lens, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.