Meyer

Meyer lenses: Primagon, Domiplan, Lydith and Trioplan image by Uwe Kulick (Image rights)

Plasmat image by rebollo_fr (Image rights)

Meyer was a German optical company, founded by Hugo Meyer (born 21.05.1863, died 01.03.1905) in Görlitz.

In 1918 Dr. Paul Rudolph, the inventor of Zeiss' Tessar and Protar, developed Meyer's Double Plasmat which was derived from Meyer's symmetrical Euryplan lens. In the 1920s he developed fast variants, the Kino-Plasmat f/2 and the World's fastest lens of its time, the Kino-Plasmat f/1.5 .

After WWII Meyer was the second East German lens supplier after Carl Zeiss Jena. It became a part of VEB Pentacon and after some point, all the Meyer lenses were renamed Pentacon.

In mid 1960s Meyer introduced lenses with interchangeable adapters for different camera types. The first such a lens was Orestegor 4/200, which could be mounted on Exakta Varex, Exa II, Pentacon, Praktina and Praktica 35 mm cameras with applicable adapters. Orestegor 5.6/500 could be mounted on Exakta Varex, Exa II, Pentacon, Praktina, Praktica as well as Praktisix medium format SLR.

After German reunification the last original company's lenses were made until it's bankruptcy n 1991.

In 2014 the brand management company Globell revived the brand on the Photokina. Later the new technology company net SE announced the production of the new Meyer lenses in cooperation with original Meyer optics engineers from Görlitz.

In 2018 OPC Optics, a maker of special lens elements based in Bad Kreuznach, bought the brand from the bankrupt net SE.

Some trademarks used for Meyer lenses

For lens serial numbers see THIS page.

Double Plasmat 1932 Advertisement scanned by Dirk HR Spennemann  (Image rights)

Aristostigmat f7.7 and Meyer Megor camera with Trioplan 1:4.5 F=5cm image by Uwe Kulick (Image rights)

Porträt Trioplan 1932 Advertisement scanned by Dirk HR Spennemann  (Image rights)

• Aristoplan
• Aristogmat
• Aristostigmat
• Diaplan (projection lens)
• Double Plasmat
• Domiplan
• Doppelanastigmat
• Doppelplasmat / Double-Plasmat
• Epidon
• Euryplan
• Euryplan-Satz
• Helioplan
• Kinon Superior (projection lens)
• Kino-Plasmat and Kinoplasmat
• Lydith
• Makroplasmat
• Megon
• Omin (projection lens)
• Orestegon
• Orestegor
• Oreston
• Orestor
• Plasmat
• Plasmat-Satz
• Porträt Trioplan
• Primagon
• Primoplan
• Primotar
• Repro-Plasmat
• Satz Plasmat and Satzplasmat
• Telefogar
• Tele-Megor and Telemegor
• Trioplan
• Triotar
• Veraplan

The production of the lenses marked Domiplan, Oreston, Orestegon, Orestor, Orestegor, Lydith was continued when Meyer was incorporated into Pentacon. The lenses except the Domiplan lost their trademark names when they became Pentacon lenses.

"new products" of net SE

• Figmentum (basic line of quite fast sharp lenses, rebadged and repriced Zhongyi lenses)
• Nocturnus (very fast normal lenses, rebadged and repriced Zhongyi lenses)
• Somnium (fast special-bokeh portrait lens, rebadged and repriced Helios lenses)
• Trioplan (classic portrait lens)

Cameras

• Lunar
• Megor
• Silar

See also

Exakta SLR with Telemegor image by John Kratz (Image rights)

The links go directly to the Meyer section:

• 39mm screw lenses
• 42mm screw lenses
• Contax rangefinder lenses
• Exakta lenses
• Praktina lenses

Cameras with a fixed Meyer lens

• Baldi
• Balda Baldaxette
• Balda Beltica
• Balda Super Baldina (folding)
• Balda Super Pontura
• Beirette
• Certo Dollina I
• Certo Dolly
• Certo Super Dollina
• Certo Durata II
• Certo Super Sport Dolly
• Meyer Megor (Korelle 3x4 variant sold by Meyer)
• Pentacon electra and Pentacon electra 2
• Penti
• Pentona
• Welta Welti 1

Sources

• Fincke H.E.: Das Objektiv deiner Kamera; Fotokinoverlag Halle, Halle, 1959.
• Naumann H.: Das Auge meiner Kamera; Verlag von Wilhelm Knapp, Halle (Saale), 1951.
• Puskov V.V.: Poradnik fotograficzny; PWT, Warsaw, 1956.

Links

image by Uwe Kulick (Image rights)

• history on company homepage
• A web page about Meyer
• Hugo Meyer prewar catalogues at Camera Eccentric:
  • 1930 Cine lenses: Kino-Plasmat, Trioplan, Tele-Megor and Makro-Plasmat
  • 1936 Catalogue of photo lenses giving Roth of London as sole British agent.
  • 1936 US price list
  • 1938 Photo and cine lenses; eight-page advertising spread in the British Journal Almanac
  • 1952 Large-format lenses (in German)
• Meyer Gallery at www.mflenses.com
• Hugo Meyer cine lenses company history and list of cine lenses
• Hugo Meyer in Stadtwiki Görlitz (in German)
• Meyer lenses for the original Exa and Exakta cameras on Photobutmore.de (in German)
• about net SE's newest "Germanifications"
• note to the press: OPC takes over the camera lens brand Meyer Görlitz