Meyer Optik Görlitz Orestegor 300mm f/4

[woodrim]

Thank you to all who recommended this lens. Although it is very large and heavy, I very much like using it and the results seem just fine. Relatively little CA and sharp at f/4. I think the images have a very nice color and bokeh. I actually have two of these, so just listed one in the Marketplace.

[blende8]

I once had one for a short while, but I found the bad color correction problematic. For b/w ok.

100% crop:


Is it this one?

[woodrim]

Looks a little different. I only applied CA correction to one of the fence pictures. The statues received no correction and were shot at f/4. I adjusted contrast minimally, but color looks fine to me. Here's the one:

[indianadinos]

Hi,

[Ivo]

I have a 4.5/300 in M42. Tried it this weekend outdoors in the sun, it dose have some issues when shooting at a sharp angle to the sun. Colour rendition improves greatly if you're shooting at more than 90 degrees from the sun.

[Nordentro]

I have the Pentacon branded version of this lens, but I have never tried properly. It's to massive to just bring for a walk

Thx for posting your results!

[blende8]

Yes, it's 2 kg!

Here's the aperture of my lens (19 blades):





Nice round CoC:

[woodrim]

Honestly, I know very little of the Meyer brand and its series of lenses. This is the first Meyer I have purchased. I would suspect the f/4.5 version is an entirely different lens, and they seemed to be priced less on ebay. I do understand that Meyer became Pentacon at some point, but wonder if that in any way affected production. So far I am only experiencing good things from this lens, including the extra exercise by carrying it around, although my left arm started to give out after a while.

I have found that I react very quickly to lenses. Some just feel right from the beginning and others don't. My experiences are sometimes different than others'. For instance, I never liked using my Takumar 28mm while others praised it. The MIR 1B didn't impress me while the Helios 44-2 does. This Orestegor feels good and I like what I see through the lens. It seems to focus easily and the results are very pleasing to my eye. It performs well fully open, but to be fair, a starting point of f/4 isn't as challenging to a lens as are the faster ones. I do realize that a tripod will be a necessity, so it does lack convenience.

[woodrim]

[Big Dawg]

[blende8]

My copy above is the latest version ever built by Meyer Optik Görlitz.
It was made in 1990, shortly before the liquidation of the company. Prize new was ca. 300 DM.

The lens illuminates the 6x6 format. Thus its size.
You can attach various adapters, e.g. M42, Praktica, Nikon, Pentax PK, T2.
If you remove the adapter, you have the K6 mount (Exakta 66 / Pentacon Six):

[Orio]

I don't have this lens, but Alessandro speaks very well of it. He reports little or no CA.
I think there is the ever seen problem with GDR lenses: copy variation. Especially in the last period the GDR lenses from both Zeiss and Meyer seem to suffer from big variancy in quality, and alongside with great copies you can find some dog ones. Older makes, such as the zebras or even before, the aluminiums, have weaker coating than the MC version, but seem much more reliable copy-variation wise.

[Ivo]

[blende8]

[Ivo]

[woodrim]

I have mostly been shooting this lens at f/4, and while it is very much acceptable in sharpness, it certainly isn't as sharp as others of my lenses. However, this may be the first lens I've had where I can appreciate overall image quality as something that trumps sharpness.

[Nelson]

I have a copy of this lens. http://forum.mflenses.com/meyer-optik-orestegor-300-f4-t7560.html

I enjoy using it, but i think it is not as sharp as my Tair 3S.

The Orestegor is also very heavy, but i used it at Le Mans Classic 2008 and succeed some fine shoots.

http://309gti.xu9ja.free.fr/Voitures/2008/2008_07_12_LeMansClassic/LMC2008_pp2010.htm

(do not take care about 50mm f2 )

[Ivo]

Nelson, did you manage to pan with this enormous lens? I had some issues with it, only after taking an 'easy shot' at the Namur cyclocross I was convinced that this lens can be good.

Shooting riders at a tight angle to the sun and at higher speed was not so succesful:


While turning away from the sun a lot more (probably 100-120 degrees from the sun) and a slower subject changed the colours tremendously (and the sharpness):

[Nelson]

[Pancolart]

[woodrim]

Any idea what approximate year mine would be?

[spleenone]

[woodrim]

From the weekend shoot at Shem Creek...
This one into the sun:

[woodrim]

This is a beast of a lens to carry around, but I love using it. For whatever rason, I seem to like using long lenses for portraits. My son visited for the holidays and posed for me during a walk on the beach. I thought I would share these pictures from this wonderful lens.

[ricardovaste]

Very interesting lens. I had a 35mm lens once, seemed to have incredible build quality, but never actually shot with it, as it was damaged & I was using it for spares.

Some great samples here too. The bokeh looks almost glassy at time, I really like the character.