Kickstarter new lens named Lydith from meyer optics.

[Tri-x]

I just discovered this on kickstarter
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/meyeroptik/enchant-your-photography-unleash-the-magic-lydith

Any thoughts on this one?
Looks interesting

[David H. Hartman]

It might be a great lens or not. The copy at the link doesn't tell me any reason why this is going to be better than say, my 35/2.0 AI or 28/2.8 AIS. All it says is fund me, I'm wonderful.

It looks like it's a fully manual lens: manual aperture, manual focus with no Auto Aperture or full aperture viewing. It isn't even preset. I could be wrong. I didn't see that the copy said it was an auto aperture lens.

Looks like it has cat's eye and slightly swirly bokeh at what I assume is f/3.5. I'll recommend a 35/2.0 AI instead or a 28/2.0 AI or a 28/2.8 AIS.

Dave Hartman

I own a 35/2.0 AI and a 28/2.0 AIS. I've never owned the 28/2.8 AIS so I'm going on reputation for that one.

[John Geerts]

Looks interesting but hard to tell how it performs from these 'marketing'  stuff.   The close focus distance of 0,16m is  tempting.   I wasn't able to find something about a price?

[David H. Hartman]

Looks interesting but hard to tell how it performs from these 'marketing'  stuff.   The close focus distance of 0,16m is  tempting.   I wasn't able to find something about a price?

I gather the price is in the boxes to the right with the various kits. Looks like $699.00 and up. I was wondering about the price but then noticed the kits and pledge prices.

[the solitaire]

One thing I found out when looking into the Meter Optik lenses more closely is that you can buy them from the Russian or Chinese manufacturers for 1/3rd of the Meyer price.

Mitakon makes their 35mm f2, 85mm f2 and some other lenses, and the faster Somnium 85mm f1,5 is a rebranded Helios 40-2. With that track record, I'm not going to pay a lot of attention to anything new they market at a zero risk policy using crowdfunding. This business model reminds me a lot of the slow decline of one of the companies I used to work for 10 years ago, just with modern means

The company in question did not survive

[Tri-x]

Thanks for the tip. Mitakon, I didn't know of their existence. This 1.2 85 is very tempting. But also the more affordable 2.8 135mm had my attention.
How are these lenses quality wise?

[the solitaire]

I handled a few of the Mitakon lenses in a store recently, and they feel very well manufactured when I took them out of the box. I'm not sure how they will be in 20 or 30 years. I know my Nikkors are good now, were good 30 years ago and will continue to be good for a few years to come.

In time I might try one of the more affordable Mitakon lenses to see how they hold up in every day use.

I'm not averse to 3rd party lenses though. I used a Tokina lens for quite a while and that ne was manufactured as good as, if not better then some of the Nikkor lenses

[Dr Klaus Schmitt]

I have the original, never inmpressed me that much ;-)

[Danulon]

One thing I found out when looking into the Meter Optik lenses more closely is that you can buy them from the Russian or Chinese manufacturers for 1/3rd of the Meyer price.

Mitakon makes their 35mm f2, 85mm f2 and some other lenses, and the faster Somnium 85mm f1,5 is a rebranded Helios 40-2. With that track record, I'm not going to pay a lot of attention to anything new they market at a zero risk policy using crowdfunding. This business model reminds me a lot of the slow decline of one of the companies I used to work for 10 years ago, just with modern means

The company in question did not survive

AFAIK Meyer claims that their lenses are refurbished russian lenses - i.e. the glass is supposed to be high quality Schott glass fit manually into the lens body.


I own the 100 mm 2.8. It doesn't provide aperture information to the camera (unlike e.g. Zeiss ZF.2 lenses, Voigtländer SL II lenses, or Nikkor AI-P lenses). Flare resistance is poor, bokeh blur very special, and of course it provides the swirls many people are keen on. I don't know to which extent these observations translate to this new kickstarter lens.


I agree with the comment above that many of the characteristics of the above mentioned lens can be obtained with some of the Nikkor classics.