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Hugo Meyer & Co Gorlitz Kinon Superior I F=3.5cm Projector Lens Test and Bokeh

Writer: Mohsen Jalali
Mohsen Jalali
Apr 23
3 min read


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The fourth lens that we have tested and are going to share the results is another one of the Meyer Gorlitz family, this time a Hugo Meyer & Co Gorlitz Kinon Superior I F=3.5cm Projector Lens. The production year of this one is also close to that of the others of the same series, from the 1930s to the early 1940s. The build quality seems slightly more advanced, especially compared to Meyer Gorlitz Kinon Superior I 1:1.8 f=5cm. As you can see in the photos above, the lens does not have any fungus or scratches on the elements, and besides minor dust particles inside and very superficial scratches on the body, it is in a very pristine condition.

Meanwhile, as the rear elements are relatively small, the image it passes on to the sensor is smaller than a full-frame sensor, and that's why vignetting is maximal. Also, the size of the image versus vignetting differs on some photos and videos due to the necessity of moving the lens back and forth in the innovative mount in the absence of a focusing ring, which is natural during the use of some vintage projector lenses.




Color Stills

As always, we took a number of stills to see the image quality, bokeh, and other characteristics a vintage lens can stand out with. As you can see from the photos below, the image is very sharp in the focused area, especially in the middle, and the bokeh is eye-catchingly swirly and separated from the foreground. Out-of-focus sunlight reflecting surfaces are coin-shaped in the middle and curved more towards the edges of the image, similar to the previous lenses of this series.






Black and White Photography

Black and white photography with the Hugo Meyer & Co Gorlitz Kinon Superior I F=3.5cm Projector Lens is fun and interesting. Contrast is good and can be further enhanced with very minor editing in post-production. As always, we share these photos and videos after minimal editing, trying to preserve the results we capture on a Nikon Z7 camera set on vivid colors when shooting in color. Black and white photos are taken on the same camera set on monochrome.

You can also have a glimpse of the sun's flare on this lens in black and white in the last two photos of this set of shots.




Videos

Videos that we took during Hugo Meyer & Co Gorlitz Kinon Superior I F=3.5cm Projector Lens review showed more or less the same quality that Meyer Gorlitz Kinon Superior f=3.5cm Projector Lens gave us; a circle in the middle of vignetting that somehow can be used to depict someone's dream in a short movie. The background is filled with swirly bokeh, and the movement of the camera creates an artistic touch to the video.




Infrared

I personally like the first infrared photos in the box below. The dandelion is focused on, but the shallow depth of field causes the stem of the flower to be blurry, and the bokeh has even more character. Somehow, the photos resemble the POV of someone looking through a monocular.

As always, the infrared camera we used was a Nikon Z7 830nm modified mirrorless camera.


Flare

This lens probably gives the best flare effect compared to the previous three lenses that we tested. The deep black and white photos below are even more interesting, so I decided to share more of the similar photos taken with different angles of the sun shining through the lens.


 
 
 

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