Meyer-Optik Gortilz Telemegor 180mm f5.5

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Meyer-Optik Gortilz is one of those old manufacturers that are commonly associated with a few iconic lenses or designs, like the Domiplan and Trioplan, and that eventually couldn’t keep up with the market anymore and had to shut down.

What most of us don’t realize is that in 2018 it has been brought back to life and since then it has been producing those iconic lenses again.

I’ll leave a link in the description to their website, so you can check it yourselves.

Today we’re checking out one of their lenses, the Telemegor 180mm,

The lens has a metal body, it weights 300g, it is 109 to 130mm long and it has an external diameter of 57mm, with a 49mm front thread.

The iris had 15 blades, the aperture is click-less and it goes from f5.5 to f22, with a preset feature accessible by pulling and turning the ring.

The focusing ring has the zebra pattern and it turns 320 degrees. Minimum focusing distance is 2 meters and the front turns when focusing.

It comes with an m42 mount, with a flange distance of 45,46mm.

While not feather-light, this lens is far from heavy so it doesn’t really mess up the balance of you camera, especially on older cameras like my Praktica.

The focusing ring is a bit odd as it is wide, but the grip itself is too narrow to be comfortable and I find myself gripping the whole thing to focus.

Sharpness wide open is better than I was expecting… in the corners, but in general is quite soft. Around f8 is starts to get more defined.

Chromatic aberration is present and can be quite distracting even past f8.

Colors tend to be washed out, with low contrast and saturation.

Specular highlights have the distinctive Meyer look with very hard edges, creating that bubble boke effect.

While flares have never appeared in my testing, ghosting is very much a problem as soon as you turn in the general direction of the sun.

I would be lying if I were to say that I like this lens and, in fact, I don’t, but I see why some people might.

The soft, washed out look can be used in some creative ways or to convey a specific feeling and, in my opinion, it lends itself much more to video than to photography.



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