Hugo Meyer 200mm F-9 Lens Question

[Craig Maxwell]

I have recently purchased a Hugo Meyer 200mm F-9 Weitwinkel-Aristostigmat lens a nd was told this was a wide angle lens that will cover 8x10. Can anyone tell me anything about this lens, it's age, performance opinions ?. Any info on the Hugo Meyer Co. which frankly I have never heard of before. Thanks

[Samuel Tang]

Craig,

Sorry for coming in late. Hugo Meyer of Gorlitz, Germany, was established in the late 19th century and produced a wide range of lenses, one of the most famous was Paul Rudolph's Double Plasmat, which was the basis for all the "normal" LF lenses used today. In the 1960s it was bought out by the Pentacon Group and now I believe it is owned by Schneider.

The WA Aristostigmat was made over a very long period up to the late 1930s, and is a classic WA design with four air-spaced elements in symmetrical arrangement, and will cover 8"X10" easily. However, the full aperture was designed for focussing and composing only and you have to shoot at f/22 to get the quality. The most important thing about the WAA (and similar lenses) is that the eight air-glass surfaces need to be really squeaky clean or the photograph will lose quite a bit of contrast. I use my 4"/6.3 version on 4"X5" and the negatives can stand up to enlargement quite well.

[dahlen59]

I have it and use it on 24x30. Some movements also stopped down. Very nice lens and sharp stopped down with nice glow in highlight areas! Perfect wide angle for 8x10 compared to big heavy glass like super angulon.

[Dan Fromm]

https://www.cameraeccentric.com/static/img/pdfs/meyer_3.pdf

[Robert Opheim]

I have an old 160mm f/9 Hugo Meyer WA Weitwinkel-Aristostigmat that came mounted in a shutter. It would almost barely covered 8x10. The 200mm should have good coverage. You will need to look up the serial number of the lens and the shutter to determine age. I believe it is a double Gauss lens.