Lenses

The lenses on this site are part of my collection, they are on dispplay in Knysna, some of them are being used on our Micro Four Thirds cameras.

STEINHEIL Munchen Cassarit f2.8 50mm

C. A. Steinheil Söhne Optical and Astronomical Works was a German optical company based in Munich (München), Bavaria. It made optical equipment and camera lenses from the 19th century until at least the 1970s.

Steinheil lenses have a split reputation. Some say they are cheap rubbish, others think that they are great. I belong to the latter group.

Meyer Optik Gorlitz Trioplan f2.8 100mm

The interstingness of the Meyer Optik Trioplan is the unusually large aperture (f/2.8) which is remarkable because triplets are usually moderate speed lenses for good resons.
This relatively high maximum aperture comes with a prise as the lens shows a wide range of abberations when used at this setting. On the other hand this makes the lens somewhat uniqe with an interestic footprint some might use for artistic purposes.
The out of foucus areas (bokeh) looks very interesting at f2.8, especially when highlights are involved in the background. The light circles (for examples traffic lights) are sorrounded by light circles which makes the bokeh really special and as many says psyhedelic. In addition there is a heavy glow around the objects in the in focus areas, most notably around highlights. This effect can be very dramatic or almost not notable depending on the conditions of the shoot. Last but mot least the produced image is rather soft all around the frame in most cases wide open.

Enna Werk Munchen Ultra - Lithagon f3.5 28mm

Enna or Enna Werk was a small German optics manufacturer, based in München, active from the 1940s to the 1980s. Enna made lenses for a number of German camera manufacturers and retailers, most notably Alpa, Balda and Porst. The company still exists, but has stopped producing camera lenses.

Meyer Optik Gorlitz Telemegor f4.5 300mm

The Meyer-Optik Gorlitz - one of Germany's most renowned lens manufacturer - was always in a special competition to Zeiss in Jena, the Jena mostly undeserved shadow. Only once did the Gorlitzer a major coup when they were lured away in 1920, Dr. Paul Rudolph (the Tessar design engineer) from Jena. Dr. Rudolph Meyer calculated for the superior optical performance for its world-famous Plasmat.

Oplenon 135mm f2.8

Made in Japan

Mount Olympus OM

No info

Carl Zeis f4 135mm Contax Mount

Carl Zeiss of Germany is among the most renowned of the lens manufacturers. It's part of the Carl Zeiss Foundation, which also owned the Zeiss Ikon camera maker from its foundation in 1926 until it disappeared in 1972. In its long history it equipped many camera makers.

The company was founded in Jena in 1856 and called Carl Zeiss Jena. It produced microscopes and the refractometer, an optical instrument to measure the index of refraction of optical glass, developed by Carl Zeiss' partner Ernst Abbe. After Carl Zeiss' death in 1888. Abbe founded the Zeiss Foundation and built up its photographic optics branch and reduced daily working time of the company's employees to 8 hours.

Enna Munchen Tele - Ennalyt f4.5 240 mm

Very light and compact lens with Olympus OM mount. Min. focus distance of 2,7 meters. Aperture from f4,5 to f22. No lens coating mentioned anywhere on the lens.

"Old and German" doesn't mean high quality and sharp. That badge of honor belongs to Zeiss. However, not everyone could afford a Zeiss lens and so many turned to Enna whom sold cheap lenses for the consumer market, and was regarded as the Tamron or Sigma of it's day.

OlympusF-Zuiko AUTO-T 600mm f/6.5 1978

Introduced among the many original Zuiko lenses with the OM system. With an angle of view of only 4°, this 600mm super telephoto produces images 12 times the size of those produced by a standard 50mm lense.