Zeiss has created the world's largest telephoto lens

At 1700 mm focal length (which means the front element is 13 inches across!) and a speed of f/4 this lens put requirements on optical glass, lens assembly and quality assurance methods, never before encountered in photo lens manufacture.
BTW, this would be about the equivalent of putting a 960mm f/4 lens on a 35mm camera!
This 256 kg (that's 564 pounds folks! you nearly need a construction crane to lift it up!) behemoth also required Carl Zeiss to develop totally new ways of operating a telephoto lens, including servo controlled aiming and focusing.
Never before has the world of photography seen such a lens. This supertelephoto lens provides 21x magnification.

Based on the company's press release, it sounds like it was custom-built for a client who wanted to shoot wildlife at a distance. In search of the highest imaginable image quality the client decided for 6x6 medium format and the Hasselblad 203 FE as the best camera he is aware of. It was on display at the Photokina 2006 convention in Cologne, Germany.

Hardly portable, you think? Forget a tripod, you need a special kind of steel frame to hold that sucker in place! I'm guessing the client is shooting wildlife at a distance of 50 miles!
Check out these images:
(note the digital display near the camera),
(notice the Arabic lettering on the side).
It looks like the fuselage from an Airbus A380!
Look very carefully at how the camera is dwarfed by the lens! The lens is 5.5 ft long!
With this lens you go to the head of the class! (and I thought my 600mm f8 mirror lens was pretty impressive, especially when I double it to 1200mm...)
I wouldn't mind having one of these under my Xmas tree! [grin]