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German lens manufacturer Meyer-Optik-Gorlitz has announced it is to produce a new premium 24mm lens that will come in mounts for all mirrorless camera systems. The Primagon 24 will feature a maximum aperture of F2.8 and will use seven elements including one aspheric. The company says that although the lens uses the Primagon name, it isn’t a recreation of a vintage model, but is a completely new design.
Meyer goes to some length to emphasize that the lens will be made in Germany from German-constructed parts and glass. It is said to be the first in a new series aimed at compact system users that will incorporate popular focal lengths and which aims at ‘best in class’ optical performance.
The information released by the company makes no mention of autofocus, so we should assume this will be another manual lens like the brand’s other optics. Meyer says it will allow 30 photographers the chance to buy the lens at half price before general production begins so they can give feedback to the lens designers so it can be improved or altered before it goes on general sale. We’d guess that those 30 will also receive a full-production model once they become available. To qualify for this opportunity, you need to already be a backer of the company’s Kickstarter campaign for the Trioplan 35+ lens, announced earlier.
The Primagon 24 is expected to be ready at the beginning of 2018, and will retail for approximately €4.999/$ 5,499 . For more information visit the Meyer-Optik-Gorlitz website.
Press release
Meyer-Optik Takes Quantum Leap with New High-End Primagon 24mm
Lens Maker Seeking Photographers to ‘Test’ Lens
With its latest Kickstarter campaign for the historic Trioplan 35+ successfully underway, Meyer-Optik is moving boldly into the world of high-end, high-performance photography with the newest addition to its lineup of hand-crafted lenses. Today, Meyer-Optik announced the new Primagon 24 mm f 2.8, which will have 7 individual lenses, including one aspheric lens. It will have an 84 degree angle of view and will impress with its image quality, compact size and weight of less than 9 ounces (about 250g). It will be available for practically all mirrorless cameras.
Even though the Primagon takes its name from a famous line of historic Meyer-Optik lenses, the new Primagon 24 is a totally new development. With this lens, the young Meyer-Optik brand strives for the highest image quality achievable, sticking to its guiding principles and guarantees that practically all mechanical and optical parts are made in Germany and the lenses will also be hand assembled as individual pieces of craftsmanship in Germany. With the help of world famous development engineers, the Meyer-Optik team has been working on the Primagon 24 for more than a year. The team is also working on several more lenses for this new series to cover the full range of the most needed and popular focal lengths. These lenses are all developed under the premise that they will provide the best in class high-performance tools for the ambitious photographer.
Even though photographers will have to wait until early 2018 to get a look at this lens, as one of the rewards for backing its Kickstarter for the Trioplan 35+, Meyer-Optik is allowing 30 photographers to receive the Primagon 24 for about half of its expected retail cost. The photographers will get a chance to use the lens months before it heads into serial production, allowing them to give Meyer-Optik feedback that the company could use to make final refinements. The “testing” promotion is a unique way to reward a select group of Kickstarter backers, while giving the company a chance to receive some feedback on how the lens performs in the “real world.”
“Even though the new lenses are already high performers, we want to listen and learn from the feedback of our users,” said Dr. Stefan Immes, founder of the revived Meyer-Optik brand.
“The opinion of the Kickstarter community and the direct feedback is very important to us. We are striving for technical perfection with this lens – but we will not make any compromises when it comes to the creative part of photography. Personality and character are the most important features of all our lenses. This starts right at the beginning of the development process and we are proud that some of the best engineers nationally and internationally are supporting our team in Goerlitz,” Immes said.
The new lens will be available at the beginning of 2018. It will be available for all mirrorless mounts. The suggested retail price will be 4.999,–€/5,499 US $ .
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)