Meyer Orestegon 29mm f/2.8 M42 Lens Review
One of the forgotten master pieces, Meyer-Optik produced high quality lenses, but these days people don’t know about anything that. I have almost all Meyer and Carl Zeiss Jena lenses and I tell you guys, Meyer products same high quality lenses than Zeiss.
Lens
Fact Sheet
Vendor name
Meyer-Optik
Meyer-Optik
Type
Orestegon
Orestegon
Product year
1970
1970
Focal min (mm)
29
29
Focal max (mm)
29
29
Focus min(cm)
25
25
Aperture max
2.8
2.8
Aperture min
22
22
Body Mount
M42|Exakta
M42|Exakta
Elements
7 elents in 6 groups
7 elents in 6 groups
Barrel length(mm)
52
52
Weight (g)
240
240
Filter size (mm)
55
55
Angular field
23
23
DIAPHRAGM action
auto
auto
I own two copies of this lens. The build quality is solid. As for most DDR lenses there is almost 100% chance that the helicoil grease has gone bad and needs replacement. This is not a problem since DDR lenses are extremely easy to service. The reasons are the super simple m42 aperture coupling and the oversized mechanics forced by their less exact manufacturing methods. If you are mechanically inclined you should give it a go.
The optical performance of this lens is passable, but not stellar. It is on par with Japanese OEM manufacturers of the time (Tokina, Sigma, Tamron), but not as good as e.g. Pentax Takumar or Canon FD lenses.
this is a great lens for me. i owned czj flektogon 35/2.8, A.Takumar 35/3.5, Mir-10 37/2.8, czj P 28/2.8, Rolleinar 35/2.8; this is my 1st choice.