Kinon Superior I F=5cm Hugo Meyer & Co Gorlitz Projector Lens Test and Bokeh Review

Mohsen Jalali
5 days ago
2 min read

Updated: 2 days ago

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The next projector lens that we decided to test and review for bokeh quality and character is yet another lens from the same line. This time, it's a Kinon Superior mark I F=5cm Hugo Meyer & Co Gorlitz, produced sometime in the 1920s and 1930s for 16mm motion picture projection. This lens, too, comes with its own marks of fungus and dust inside, which are natural for a nearly 100-year-old projector lens. The Kinon Superior series lenses were top-tier, fast ones compared to those without this marking, and, like other projector lenses, lack aperture blades, so we take photos and videos with the widest f-stop available.

As always, the color and black-and-white photos and videos are taken on a Nikon Z7 set on vivid colors, and infrared images are taken with another 830nm modified infrared Nikon Z7 camera. The results are minimally edited to preserve the effect of the lenses.

Color Still Shots and Bokeh

The image this lens creates covers the whole area of the 35mm sensor of a full-frame mirrorless camera, but still, vignetting is considerable, and the background is swirly. The bubble bokeh becomes oval towards the edges of the image, while the shift of focus is smooth, the depth of field is considerably, but not overly, shallow, and the background is beautifully separated from the foreground. Like the previous similar lenses, the center of the image is sharp, and the swirliness of the bokeh adds to the character of this lens.

Black and White

Although some believe that the contrast that these projector lenses offer doesn't suit black-and-white photography, you can see in the shots below that, after very minimal editing, the black-and-white photos are sharp and high-contrast, while the beautiful bokeh makes the result unique.

Infrared

The infrared, or as some like to call it, deep black-and-white photos, provide an elevated contrast compared to the normal black and white, and preserves the same characteristics of bokeh.

Flare

Color Shots

Whether it's because of the elements, coating, or the dust and fungus of this lens, the flares are spectacular. Sun rays leave an interesting effect on the still shots, and I can say that by far this one offers the best flare character among the ones we have tested so far.

B&W

Although in black-and-white photography, the rays are not colorful, the flare remains eye-catching and characteristic.

Infrared

The same holds true for infrared flare. However, as you can see in the only video below, changing the angle of sunlight magnifies the impact of dust and minor fungus on the lens. The photos remain characteristic.