Meyer Lenses - Telemegor 250mm & Primotar 180mm

[woodrim]

I've always got my eyes out for interesting lenses and wonder about these two. If anyone has experience, do either of these lenses have much to offer? I don't want any average lenses, so must offer something unique. Thanks much.

[RioRico]

I can't speak to those precisely, but I have a Meyer Telemegor 180/5.5 and I rather like it. Sharp wide open (which isn't that wide), good saturation and detail, nice bokeh, almost in the same league as my TeleTakumar 200/5.6 (but my Meyer focuses a bit more stiffly, needs a repack). My Meyer cost a whole US$27 on the bay, including shipping. Meyer has a good reputation -- if they are inexpensive, get them!

[luisalegria]

Never had the Primotar 180, but I had a Telemegor 250. I found it rather average as optical qualities go. .

Its a very cool-looking lens and very slim and light for its focal length. I have several f/4.5 250mm Japanese lenses and they are all much heavier/thicker and even longer.

I also had the Telemegor 5.5/180. Its also OK, but not great either. It is also extremely light and compact for what it is though.

[woodrim]

The primotar 180mm is f/3.5. I wonder if that's the only difference. Not small at all. Has a tripod ring and looks like it can serve duty as a battering ram. I've put a low bid in and if I get it, which I doubt, it will be less than $40.

[luisalegria]

If I recall correctly the Primotar 180 is different optical design from the Telemegors, different arrangement of groups.

The Primotar 180 was also designed as a medium-format lens (like the Telemegor 300 and 400 it has an interchangable mount for Pentacon 6, Exakta and M42)), hence its much larger than strictly necessary for a 35mm camera. The Telemegor 180 and 250 seem to have been intended for 35mm only.

[woodrim]

[Boomer Depp]

I agree the Telemegor 250 is just an average lens especially wide open,stopping down sharpens up a bit though...also the minimum focus distance is 3.3 meters.

Took the 250 out for a little exercise yesterday...

[Seele]

Both the Telemegor and Primotar lenses are designed in the old idiom: each covering a certain angle, but made in a series of different focal lengths. Then they're put into focussing mounts for use with reflex cameras.

The Telemegor is a true telephoto design of the earlier form, with two doublets separated by a large air space in between. I use the 180/5.5 and quite happy with it, although I notice a trace of curvilinear distortion at the edges. This distortion was finally eliminated by TTH, by the way.

The Primotar is similar to Tessar and covers a normal angle, so it means when used as a long-focus lens on a smaller image size, you are just using the middle bit of the image field. In the case of the 180mm, it's designed to cover 5"X7" format, so you are taking a 24mm X 36mm slice out of it. This also means the lens is physically long and heavy too.

[woodrim]

But since the required M42 adapter provides the correct registration distance, the percentage of the image circle being used is no different than with a 180mm meant for 35mm FF.