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View Full Version : Info on Hugo Meyer Tele Megor 40cm 5.5



Hollis
26-Jun-2009, 22:27
I am interested to know if anyone has any experience with this lens and mainly, can anyone tell me what the bellows draw is on one of these at infinity (since it is a tele design)? Also, I am watching one on the 'bay here...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350210863704&_trksid=p2759.l1259

and was wondering if anyone could tell me what shutter that is it is mounted to, it looks like a compound shutter.

Thanks!

Arne Croell
27-Jun-2009, 00:52
The flange-focal-distance is 230mm. The shutter is a Compound III. Its a classical telephoto construction with 4 lenses in 2 groups, and Meyer specified it for formats up to 5x7. Be aware that they are very front-heavy as the bulk of the lens is in front of the shutter. The one in the auction is from before WWII with a serial number in the 700000's, uncoated, but it has only 4 glass-air surfaces and comes with its own dedicated hood. It is also a bit strange in that the ones that I know (with serial nos. in the high 900000 from the end of WWII or shortly thereafter) all have an aperture separate from the shutter one (the shutter aperture lever is usually blocked), it is located at the rim where the full front diameter starts to taper down towards the shutter opening diameter. On the other hand, a printed catalog from 1935 that I have does not show the extra aperture. Maybe they changed the design at some point. Btw, I think the "buy it now" price is on the high side at $430 including shipping, as it is often the case with this seller, but of course you can make another offer.

Hollis
27-Jun-2009, 20:31
yeah, I think it is a bit high myself. In fact, I am more interested (was) in the shutter but I need a compound #4. I think that I am going to get the tele xenar that is being offeres in the for sale section here. Know anything of that one?

Arne Croell
28-Jun-2009, 03:18
The Tele-Xenar is a similar construction (4/2) , again in a Compound III, but smaller and lighter than the Tele-Megor. Schneider also offered the Tele-Arton with the same data (5.5/360mm) which was better corrected with more lenses but bigger and heavier (filter size 95mm, the Tele-Xenar uses only 67mm). The image below shows the choice of older telephotos in that focal length, all in a Compound III: From right to left the 400mm f/5.5 Hugo Meyer Tele-Megor with dedicated hood next to it, the Schneider Tele-Arton 360mm f/5.5, the Schneider Tele-Xenar 360mm f/5.5, and the Voigtländer Telomar 360mm f/5.5. The Voigtländer was probably the best optically, used 67mm filters, but only covers 4x5.

Hollis
28-Jun-2009, 16:43
quite the collection. I am guessing the 360 tele will fill the frame nicely for portraits and not take all my bellows (only have about 250mm, damn wista)?

Arne Croell
29-Jun-2009, 10:42
quite the collection. I am guessing the 360 tele will fill the frame nicely for portraits and not take all my bellows (only have about 250mm, damn wista)?

The older Tele-Xenar and Tele-Arton 360mm lenses had flange-focal-distances of 214 and 209mm, respectively (newer versions around 1980 list 210 and 206mm). With both you should be fine. The Voigtländer Telomar is not too far off. One additional thing: the information that I gave for the filter diameter (67mm) is not correct. It has that diameter, but the thread is not made for filters. Voigtländer only used slip-on filters, 70mm in this case.