Behold the Eye of Sauron. This is a very rare lens, less than 10,000 ever made, and has not been manufactured for more than 20 years.

This lens is coveted by many for its bokeh and absolute thin depth the field at maximum aperture of F/1.8.

This one’s has seen a lot. I purchased this lens in 1997. Since then it is photographed President Jimmy Carter building Habitat for Humanity houses, Senator John Glenn returning to space on the space shuttle, President George Bush shortly after 9/11 and several other times throughout his presidency, President Clinton, President Obama, Trump and Biden. It is captured images of narcotics raids, tear jerking funerals, literally hundreds of rock concerts including The Who, Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Britney Spears, U2, etc as well as joyous occasions such as baptisms, weddings and engagements.

The lens was sharp as a tack and, especially for the last 10 years, knowing that it is essentially irreplaceable and irreparable if anything would happen to it, I babied it.

Last year it was dropped. It was only about 6 inches onto concrete and had a 2X extender attached to it at the time. The extender took most of the impact. But this once tack sharp lens has now gone soft. I believe it’s just one of the lens elements that has been knocked out of place and could be easily restored, if someone knew how to do it.

There are two photographs of a brick chimney in the description. One of the photos is from this lens (with 2x extender (not the one involved in the drop) that exaggerates the softness, but shows you the full extent of it.).

There is a second image taken through an identical lens, (plus same 2x extender) as a comparison to what this lens should be (and was before the drop).

The lens does regain some of its sharpness if stopped down to F5.6 or more.

All of the functions of this lens work. The auto focus is fine, speedy, and accurate. The lens fully communicates with all of my camera bodies (R5’s, 5D MkIV, etc.). All of the switches work as expected.

The only issue prior to the drop was that the tripod mount collar does not have its 90° indents as it once did 20 some years ago but this did not impact the functionality of the lens at all.

There is a small amount of dust in between the elements, pretty much what could be expected for a lens of this age and condition, but prior to the drop did not impact the image quality at all.

Front glass is blemish free as is the rear element and the insertable filter.

There is no mold on the interior of the lens, the white frost inside the focusing distance indicator is actually from superglue about 12 years ago and not mold.

This lens would be great for parts, and if you have the ability to repair it yourself (I have searched and searched, and cannot find anyone in the United States, who is able to realign the elements to bring it back into sharpness) it is a steal of a bargain, considering the price of other comparable lenses.

There are some videos on how to disassemble it and potentially fix it, but that technical expertise is beyond me.

Lens is sold asis. And only includes a rear lens cap. There is no lens hood, case, or anything else included in this sale.

North American bidders only.

I will not ship overseas, and you must have an eBay score of 50 or above, or prove you are yourself in some other way to appropriately purchase this item.

Lens will be shipped, well packaged via USPS with delivery confirmation.