German lens manufacturer Meyer-Optik Görlitz has announced a new version of the classic Biotar 75/1.5 lens, which was first revived back in 2017.
The new version of the lens – a much sought-after portrait lens first released by Carl Zeiss Jena in 1938 – will be made in Germany and offered in a variety of mounts.
The Biotar 75/1.5 was already an expensive lens when launched in 1938, but the advent of World War II cancelled production, making the lens exceedingly collectable. The Biotar was noted for its dramatic bokeh in out-of-focus areas.
The new version of the Biotar has 15 aperture blades, a 62mm filter size and a minimum focusing distance of 75cm (2.5ft).
The lens is already available for sale on the German brand’s website.
The listing says: “Capturing the historical imaging capabilities of the original Biotar 75 while optimising the lens using state-of-the-art technologies was the main goal in redesigning our Biotar 75 f1.5 II. Thus, after intensive analysis and development, as well as several prototype tests, the best optical glass, a special AR coating and high-precision manufactured mechanical components are used.
(Below are a selection of images shot on the new lens, all of which come from the Meyer-Optik Görlitz website.)
“A look at the optical construction reveals directly that it is still a double Gaussian lens with six lenses in four groups.”
The new version of the lens shares the classic out-of-focus blur and swirly bokeh of the original, Meyer-Optik Görlitz says.
“The sharpness in the centre of the image and the wonderfully drawn bokeh in the blur give the subject a slightly three-dimensional feel. At the same time, the overall image appears somewhat delicate, which can create a great contrast in available light situations with clear shadows and highlights in the background.”
The new lens is available in nine different lens mounts, which are as follows:
- Canon EF
- Canon RF
- Fuji X
- Leica L
- Micro Four Third
- Nikon F
- Nikon Z
- Pentax K
- Sony E
Meyer-Optik Görlitz says a Leica M-mount version will also be available soon.
The new Biotar lens costs €1,399 (£1,197/$1,505) and orders currently takes two weeks to be completed.
The previous version of the lens made in 2017 dates from a previous incarnation of the company which collapsed in 2018 following revelations the company had been rebranding lenses made in China as German-made lenses. Meyer-Optik Görlitz’s parent company Net SE filed for bankruptcy leaving many customers who had bought lenses via Kickstarter campaigns out of pocket.
The company was resurrected by German lens manufacturer OPC Optic in 2019, with all lenses being designed, constructed and assembled at a factory in the German city of Bad Kreuznach.
I'm a New Zealander who has been living in London since the mid-1990s, shooting film seriously since the year 2000. Kosmo Foto was launched in 2012 and has since become a film brand, with the release of my first films Kosmo Foto Mono 35mm (2017) and Kosmo Foto Mono 120 (2019).
I’m doing everything I can to promote film photography in the 21st Century, and help it survive and thrive. If you want to write something for Kosmo Foto, please drop me a line at foto.dowling@gmail.com.
- Pentax to release ‘two film compact cameras in Spring 2024’ - 01/10/2023
- Iura: The wood-and-paper Soviet Leica-like - 01/10/2023
- Rare wood-and-paper Soviet camera selling at October auction - 30/09/2023
