Meyer optics

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Hugo Meyer company sign

Meyer-Optik or Meyer-Optik-Görlitz is a brand name of a former optical company from Görlitz in Germany. Before the Second World War, as well as later as VEB Feinoptisches Werk Görlitz and as part of the VEB Pentacon Dresden combine, Meyer-Optik was an important manufacturer of camera lenses . In 1991 the company had to stop production.

In 2014, net SE resumed the sale of lenses as the new owner of the brand. net SE had to file for bankruptcy in 2018 and in the same year sold both the trademark rights and the construction plans to the Bad Kreuznach company OPC Optical Precision Components Europe GmbH .

history

Youth picture by Hugo Meyer
Site plan of the Görlitz main plant (year of construction in brackets)
Fichtestrasse assembly building from the 1920s

Founding years (1896–1919)

The optician Hugo Meyer (* May 21, 1863; † March 1, 1905) founded the opto-mechanical industrial establishment Hugo Meyer & Co. on April 1, 1896 together with the businessman Heinrich Schätze (company register of the royal district court of Görlitz number 477 ). They set up their workshop at Löbauer Str. 7 - a building in which several Görlitz camera manufacturers were based.

An early success was the Aristostigmat lens patented by Meyer in 1900 or the set lenses based on it. In 1901 they had to move into larger rooms. In 1904 a "Atelier Fast Worker" was brought onto the market. Meyer managed the company until his death in 1905. His widow Elise Meyer and his sons continued to run the company. This was followed by a six- lens cemented anastigmat (1908), and in 1911 the wide-angle aristostigmat. In the same year, the Schulze and Billerbeck optical institute was acquired, which manufactured the Euryplan lenses and lens sets known at the time . Projection lenses were also manufactured from 1918 onwards.

Path to becoming a supplier of system lenses (1920–1945)

From the beginning of the 1950s, Meyer-Optik was again able to offer a comprehensive range of lenses

An important business decision was made in 1920 when the company decided to work with Paul Rudolph . Rudolph contributed to the development of some of the most important Zeiss lenses ( Protar , Planar , Tessar ) in the late 19th and early 20th centuries . Rudolph provided Meyer with his patent for the Plasmat lenses, which were then the fastest lens in the world. A Plasmat set lens was also offered.

Polish guest workers assemble Meyer lenses (1975)

In the economically difficult year of 1923, a new factory was moved into. Meyer increasingly established itself as an original equipment manufacturer for important camera companies, including for the Ihagee Exakta . Meyer offered a very extensive range of high-quality interchangeable lenses in the 1930s . In comparison with the corresponding Zeiss lenses, these lenses were usually offered a little cheaper. The assortment ranged from the 40 mm wide-angle lens ( double anastigmat ) to the bright Primoplan lenses (58–75 mm) to the 250 mm Telemegor .

In 1936 the name of the company was changed to "Optische und Feinmechanische Werke Hugo Meyer & Co.". At that time around 100,000 camera lenses were produced each year. In 1942 Meyer-Optik stopped civil production due to the war. The focus of arms production was on optical components for telescopic sights . In the last years of the war, production was outsourced to Grünhainichen in the Ore Mountains . Production was postponed in 1945. At first, however, products such as magnifying glasses or door fittings were manufactured to meet immediate needs.

VEB Optisch-Feinmechanische Werke Görlitz (1946–1968)

By the referendum in Saxony on June 30, 1946 , the company was expropriated as part of the Saxon armaments industry. From July 1, 1946, it was under the industrial administration of state-owned companies in Saxony and carried the name VEB Optisch-Feinmechanische Werke Görlitz under fiduciary management . The operating facilities were completely dismantled . In spite of this, sales of 225,000 Reichsmarks were achieved in 1946 .

As a first step towards the introduction of the centrally planned economy , the company was assigned to VVB Feinmechanik und Optik . In 1948, the highest Soviet military administration in Germany confirmed the expropriation, which became legally binding. On October 1, 1948, the company was renamed VEB Feinoptisches Werk Görlitz . In 1951 the primary camera factory (previously Curt Bentzin ) and in 1954 VEB Schiethering , which was under municipal administration, were incorporated.

The pre-war double anastigmat was developed into the Helioplan 1: 4.5 / 40 in 1949 . The company opened a company kindergarten in 1952 . In the same year the anti-reflective coating with magnesium fluoride was introduced. Produced mainly simple Trioplan - Triplets , mostly for rangefinder cameras of Dresdner camera manufacturers Velta , Balda , Beier and Altissa . There was also an increasing demand for Exakta Varex, Contax and Praktica cameras with M42 lens threads . The range of interchangeable lenses for these cameras consisted of the Trioplan 1: 2.8 / 100, the Primoplan 1: 1.9 / 58 and 1: 1.9 / 75 (Ernostar type) and the long focal length Telemegor in variants 1: 5.5 / 180 and 1: 5.5 / 400. Many Meyer-Optik lenses have regularly been awarded the highest quality rating for GDR products. In 1960/61 there was a change in the previous model series, which was triggered by problems under trademark law and the development of several new products.

To a certain extent, Meyer-Optik remained technologically innovative. In 1956, a German patent was successfully submitted for a quick aperture setting for photographic lenses (number 1089258), in 1961 for a five-lens telephoto lens (number 1251971) and in 1964 for a satisfactorily corrected lens made of four plastic lenses (number 12524843).

Part of the VEB Pentacon and VEB Carl Zeiss combines

Optics building Arndtstr. 1968/70 with an extension from the 1980s

The VEB Feinoptisches Werk Görlitz was founded together with the Pentacon parent company in Dresden and the Ihagee Kamerawerk AG i. V. incorporated into the VEB Pentacon Dresden combine in 1968 . Until 1971, the lenses were labeled “Meyer-Optik”. In 1985, the VEB Carl Zeiss Jena combine also took over the former Meyer operations with Pentacon. An industrial core from Meyer existed in this construction until 1990.

In the course of economic centralization, Meyer gradually lost parts of its technological competence. High-quality, but increasingly little innovative standard lenses were still being produced. In particular, products were discontinued that were in direct competition with alternatives from Carl Zeiss. For the production of zoom lenses required precision machine tools were up in 1989 either from CMEA related -Staaten be procured in the West.

New beginning and end of Meyer-Optik (1990–1991)

In April 1990, it was decided to separate the Görlitz plant from the Jena Zeiss combine and convert it into a GmbH . The conversion took place on July 1, 1990. The newly created Feinoptisches Werk Görlitz GmbH again delivered lenses labeled with MEYER-OPTIK and Made in Germany . An example is the Meyer-Optik 135 mm f / 2.8 lens with M42 or Praktica B connection.

Overall, however, it was not possible to set up competitive production in the short time allowed for the company. On October 3, 1990, and thus immediately before the Photokina , the Treuhandanstalt announced the end of the newly acquired Meyer-Optik on June 30, 1991.

Attempts to revive the brand since 2014

net SE (2014-2018)

Globell Germany, which belonged to the German net SE from Koblenz, had been selling lenses under the Meyer-Optik-Görlitz brand again since 2014. Net SE later took over sales itself, but filed for bankruptcy in July 2018. Two new portrait lenses were presented at Photokina 2014. The series models were available since December 2014 as Meyer-Optik-Görlitz Somnium f1.5 / 85 mm and Meyer-Optik-Görlitz Figmentum f2 / 85 mm. In addition, there were two extremely fast “Nocturnus” lenses f0.95 / 35 and 50 mm in mid-2015. In each case, it was not a matter of in-house developments, but rather, according to the company, partially assembled and adjusted lenses originally made in China and Russia ( rebranding ).

In February 2015 net SE announced that it would rebuild the Trioplan f2.8 / 100 mm as one of the best-known lenses from Meyer-Optik based on the original plans from the beginning of the 20th century and adapted to today's modern cameras. The prototypes of the new lens were completely manufactured in Görlitz in cooperation with Wolf-Dieter Prenzel, former chief engineer at Meyer-Optik until 1991, according to the original construction plans of the Trioplan f2.8 / 100 mm. The first prototype was presented in May 2015. The Trioplan was produced with 15 aperture blades made of lamellar strip steel. This construction favors the “soap bubble bokeh ” that is characteristic of the Trioplan due to undercorrection of the lenses, even with a slight stop.

In the fall of 2015, a f2.6 / 95mm Trimagon was announced as a portrait lens.

OPC-Optics (since 2018)

In December 2018, the Bad Kreuznach company OPC Optical Precision Components Europe GmbH acquired both the Meyer Optik Görlitz trademark rights and the construction plans for the historical lenses and, according to its own information, plans to restart the brand in spring 2019.

In February 2019 it became known that OPC had also acquired the inventory of the net SE warehouse and had been selling lenses from this inventory for around half of the previous list price since February 2019. There were no offers for the previously empty Kickstarter buyers. It remains unclear who is behind the EUR 2 million share capital of OPC Optical Precision Components Europe GmbH, which was founded in summer 2018 .

Historical products

The Hugo Meyer company and its successor companies were known for their lenses. Lenses for photo and film cameras as well as for slide and film projectors were produced. The focus was on lenses for photo cameras.

Lenses for cameras

A well-known early lens was the aristostigmat . After the American Alvan Graham Clark patented the four-lens Gaussian double lens for the United States in 1888, Meyer developed his own greatly improved, very successful version. In contrast to the Gauss lens from Clark, Meyer succeeded in correcting the spherical and chromatic aberration as well as the astigmatism by using modern types of glass ( German patent 125560 of June 10, 1900). The Planar , which Paul Rudolph had developed for Zeiss shortly before, required six lenses to correct the astigmatism (with low field curvature).

A far-reaching technological advance was achieved in the years after the First World War through the new developments by Paul Rudolph. He contributed his preliminary work on the Plasmat lens to Meyer-Optik . The Plasmat is an interchangeable lens completely corrected for color errors with the then sensational light intensity of 1: 4. Inspired by the requirements of the growing film industry , Rudolph developed the so-called Kino Plasmat with a light intensity of 1: 2 as early as 1924 . A variant of the Kino Plasmat followed in 1926 with a light intensity of 1: 1.5. At the time, this was the “fastest” photographic lens in the world. Leading film cameras such as B. the Bolex brand were equipped with Meyer lenses in the interwar period. Meyer-Optik later made Tevo attachment lenses for the Zeiss-Ikon AK8 narrow film camera.

Meyer-Optik manufactured the following lenses, among others:

  • Domiplan
  • Domiron
  • Helioplan
  • Lydith
  • Orestegon
  • Orestegor
  • Oreston
  • Orestor
  • Primagon
  • Primoplan
  • Primotary
  • Telefogar
  • Telemegor
  • Trioplan
  • Veraplan

Primotar is the name of an important range of lenses from Meyer. The prewar Primotar lenses were essentially slightly modified copies of the Zeiss Tessar . Due to their high quality at slightly lower prices, they were very popular. A primotary under the name “Ihagee Anast. Exaktar ”for the original equipment of the Exakta. Initially, however, no suitable Primotar normal lenses were produced under the state's own management . This changed in 1956 with a notable further development, the Primotar E 50 f / 3.5 with automatic pressure screen . With different versions, the Primotar covered the focal length range 50-80-135-180 mm with a light intensity of 1: 3.5 until the 1960s . In 1960 a Primotar 50 f / 2.8 was produced for a short time in direct competition with the Zeiss Tessar. The successor in this focal length range was partly the Orestor with a light intensity of 1: 2.8 and focal lengths of 100 and 135 mm.

The Orestegor 1: 4 200mm

Long focal length lenses were initially also known as Trioplan , i.e. H. offered as simple Cooke triplets . The first telephoto lenses of the four-lens Telemegor series , developed by Stephan Roeschlein, came onto the market even before the war . At the end of the 1960s, the Telemegor series was replaced by the mostly five-lens Orestegor series. For the focal lengths of 200 and 300 mm, the maximum light intensity was 1: 4. The 500 mm Orestegor had a maximum aperture of 1: 5.6. The 300 mm and 500 mm Orestegor were also offered for medium format cameras - especially the Praktisix , later the Pentacon Six .

In the field of wide-angle lenses, Meyer offered the largely symmetrical, four-lens wide-angle double anastigmat before the Second World War. With a low light intensity of 1: 4.5 with a focal length of 40 mm, it was a lens construction that has been known since the turn of the century. The lens was manufactured until 1952 - after the war as Helioplan . The four-lens Primagon (35 mm f / 4.5) was built as a modern wide-angle lens in retrofocus design in the 1950s and early 1960s . From 1964 the wide-angle range was covered by the more powerful, five-lens Lydith , a lens with a preselection aperture (1: 3.5 / 30). After the Meyer-Optik brand name was abandoned, the Lydith continued to be built as a Pentacon 30 mm f / 3.5. At the end of the 1960s, the Orestegon 29 mm f / 2.8 was also offered in the wide-angle range . In contrast to the Lydith, it had an automatic pressure aperture.

  • Trioplan 1: 3.5 / 45 on a Beirette (1959)

  • Oreston 1,8 / 50 on Exakta RTL 100

  • Orestegon at a Praktica PLC3

  • The Meyer-Görlitz standard lens Domiplan; it consists of three separate lenses (6 reflexes!) like the Cooke triplet

The cheapest lenses in the focal length range around 50 mm are variants of the Cooke triplet from almost all classic optics companies . The Trioplan (1: 2.9 / 50) took over this task at Meyer-Optik until 1963 . Then it was replaced by the also very widespread and well-made Domiplan normal lens (50 f / 2.8). A lens made solely for Altix cameras is the Telefogar (approx. 1: 3.5 / 90 mm). At the end of the 1960s, the Oreston 50 f / 1.8 was offered as a more powerful alternative. A corresponding Pentacon lens was produced on a large scale from 1971.

Projection lenses

Meyer also made projection lenses. Variants of the Trioplan triplet are occasionally found on older projectors. A film star II is also known on pre-war models ("Hugo Meyer & Co., Görlitz").

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, large-scale production of various versions of the Diaplan lens began. The Diaplan is a projection lens for slide projectors like a Cooke triplet. Before the introduction of lanthanum glass , the diaplan lenses typically had a light intensity of 1: 3.5. Later the more modern versions with a light intensity of 1: 3 and 1: 2.8 came on the market.

For episcopes and epidiascopes , the similarly structured but much larger projection objective Epidon (e.g. Epidon 1: 3.6 / 420) was produced. For example, it was used in the popular Pentacon “Pentascop” devices .

The Kinon -Superior was manufactured in versions I and II. It is a previously known lens for projecting 8mm and 16mm films. Typical focal lengths were 35, 50 or 100 mm.

  • A Filmostar II 75 mm; the Filmostars III & IV were labeled " Filmosto "

  • The 150 mm f / 2.8 slide was a projection lens suitable for medium format slides

  • Here is another, less bright, 140 mm f / 3.5 slide .

Cameras and other accessories

  • A Primarflex from Curt Bentzin, which was later taken over by VEB Feinoptisches Werk Görlitz

  • A Primarflex II from the production of VEB Feinoptisches Werk Görlitz

Meyer manufactured a reflex viewfinder for the Leica under the brand name Megoflex . Cameras were also manufactured by the company. An example is a Megor Type 1, a 3 × 4 cm small picture camera , which was equipped with a 1: 3.5 / 50 Primotar.

Primarflex II cameras were delivered from the production of the primary camera factory (formerly Curt Bentzin) incorporated in 1951 . These were 6x6 cm medium format cameras.

literature

  • Meyer Optik 60 years, Meyer 1896–1956, 60 years Meyer-Optik, commemorative publication of the VEB Feinoptisches Werk Görlitz.
  • Meyer Optik 70 years, Meyer 1896–1966, constructed and photographed, seven decades of lens construction, seven decades for photography.
  • Anna Neusüß: About the beginnings of photography. In: The founding fathers of photography in Görlitz. Society for the Museum of Photography in Görlitz (no year).
  • Gottfried Kindler: History of MEYER-OPTIK as a company Feinoptisches Werk Görlitz after World War II. With addendum: Chronicle of the company Lederwaren Görlitz. 2nd Edition. Society for the Museum of Photography in Görlitz eV (no year).

Web links

Commons : Meyer-Optik  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Anna Neusüß: About the beginnings of photography. In: The founding fathers of photography in Görlitz. Society for the Museum of Photography in Görlitz (no year), p. 31.
  2. ↑ Anna Neusüß: About the beginnings of photography. In: The founding fathers of photography in Görlitz. Society for the Museum of Photography in Görlitz (no year), p. 32 f.
  3. ↑ Anna Neusüß: About the beginnings of photography. In: The founding fathers of photography in Görlitz. Society for the Museum of Photography in Görlitz (no year), p. 33.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f Archived copy ( memento of the original from September 1, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot /genaua.photobutmore.de
  5. ↑ a b Anna Neusüß: About the beginnings of photography. In: The founding fathers of photography in Görlitz. Society for the Museum of Photography in Görlitz (no year), p. 34.
  6. ↑ Gottfried Kindler: History of the MEYER-OPTIK company as a precision optical factory in Görlitz after the 2nd World War. With addendum: Chronicle of the company Lederwaren Görlitz. 2nd Edition. Society for the Museum of Photography in Görlitz eV (no year), p. 9.
  7. ↑ Gottfried Kindler: History of the MEYER-OPTIK company as a precision optical factory in Görlitz after the 2nd World War. With addendum: Chronicle of the company Lederwaren Görlitz. 2nd Edition. Society for the Museum of Photography in Görlitz eV (no year), p. 9 f.
  8. ↑ Gottfried Kindler: History of the MEYER-OPTIK company as a precision optical factory in Görlitz after the 2nd World War. With addendum: Chronicle of the company Lederwaren Görlitz. 2nd Edition. Society for the Museum of Photography in Görlitz eV (no year), p. 11.
  9. ↑ Gottfried Kindler: History of the MEYER-OPTIK company as a precision optical factory in Görlitz after the 2nd World War. With addendum: Chronicle of the company Lederwaren Görlitz. 2nd Edition. Society for the Museum of Photography in Görlitz eV (no year), p. 13 f.
  10. ↑ a b Gottfried Kindler: History of the MEYER-OPTIK company as a precision optical factory in Görlitz after the Second World War. With addendum: Chronicle of the company Lederwaren Görlitz. 2nd Edition. Society for the Museum of Photography in Görlitz eV (no year), p. 13.
  11. ↑ Gottfried Kindler: History of the MEYER-OPTIK company as a precision optical factory in Görlitz after the 2nd World War. With addendum: Chronicle of the company Lederwaren Görlitz. 2nd Edition. Society for the Museum of Photography in Görlitz eV (no year), p. 18 f.
  12. ↑ a b http://depatisnet.dpma.de/DepatisNet/depatisnet?window=1&space=menu&content=treffer&action=pdf&docid=DE000001252434B&Cl=2&Bi=1&Ab=&De=1&Dr=3&Pts=&Pa=&We=&A&C&C&We=&Sr=2 = & so = asc & sf = vn & firstdoc = 1 & NrFaxPages = 3 & pdfpage = 1
  13. ↑ http://www.archiv.sachsen.de/archive/dresden/4458_3131353931.htm  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.archiv.sachsen.de  
  14. ↑ Gottfried Kindler: History of the MEYER-OPTIK company as a precision optical factory in Görlitz after the 2nd World War. With addendum: Chronicle of the company Lederwaren Görlitz. 2nd Edition. Society for the Museum of Photography in Görlitz eV (no year), pp. 56–59.
  15. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from July 11, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.alles-lausitz.de
  16. ↑ http://www.di-branche.de/DIGITAL-IMAGING/news/default.asp?rb=news&nws_item=33122&i_item=33122&nws_step=2&nws_start=1
  17. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from July 11, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.prophoto-online.de
  18. ↑ Net SE is in insolvency proceedings. Retrieved October 19, 2018 .
  19. ↑ http://www.pixelsophie.de/2014/09/photokina-optik-meyer-goerlitz-prototyp/
  20. ↑ http://www.badische-zeitung.de/computer-medien-1/anna-loges-wir-sind-wieder-wer--91004216.html
  21. ↑ https://www.heise.de/foto/meldung/Meyer-Optik-Goerlitz-Comeback-der-DDR-Kult-Objektiv-2412588.html
  22. ↑ photoscala.de: Bright normal lenses: Nocturnus 0.95 / 35 mm and 0.95 / 50 mm (updated) | photoscala , accessed September 13, 2015
  23. ↑ nikonclassics-michalke.de: Meyer-Optik Görlitz: Made in China? | Nikonclassics Infoblog , accessed September 13, 2015
  24. ↑ http://www.docma.info/technik/trioplan-details-und-erste-bilder/
  25. ↑ More than 12,000 visitors. In: sueddeutsche.de. May 17, 2015, accessed June 30, 2018 .
  26. ↑ http://www.docma.info/technik/trioplan-details-und-erste-bilder/
  27. ↑ http://www.fotomagazin.de/technik/meyer-optik-goerlitz-kickstarter-fuer-trioplan-f28100-mm
  28. ↑ heise.de: Meyer-Optik-Görlitz: New portrait lens announced | heise photo , accessed November 14, 2015
  29. ↑ Press release OPC-Optics from 12.12.2018. Retrieved December 21, 2018 .
  30. ^ Opinion by OPC-Optics in a forum. Retrieved December 21, 2018 .
  31. ↑ Photoscala - Article dated 02/27/2019 with press release from OPC-Optics dated 02/27/2019. Retrieved March 10, 2019 .
  32. ^ Kingslake, Rudolf (1889) The History of the Photographic Lens. Academic Publishers Inc. p. 117 f.
  33. ↑ http://depatisnet.dpma.de/DepatisNet/depatisnet?action=pdf&docid=DE000000125560A
  34. ↑ http://home.arcor.de/cpqrst3/lenses.html
  35. ^ Kingslake, Rudolf (1889) The History of the Photographic Lens. Academic Publishers Inc. p. 89.