Orestor 100/2.8 Meyer-Optik Görlitz

In the 1960s, the following view of GDR consumer goods production resulted from ten thousand metres above sea level: mopeds came from Suhl, cars from Zwickau, sausages from Eberswalde, marmalade from Mühlhausen and Spreewald gherkins from there.

 

Cameras came from Dresden and the lenses from Jena and Görlitz. The cameras were mostly called "Praktica". Zeiss Jena quarrelled with the Westableger about who was allowed to use which names. And Meyer-Optik in Görlitz? They were simply lucky. While others were renamed after great models, e.g. Wilhelm-Piek-Stadt, Karl-Marx-Stadt or Ernst-Thälmann-Mütze, the new authorities simply gave the company away to the people. So the Meyers were rid of all their worries and the company was called "Volkseigener Betrieb Feinoptisches Werk Görlitz" for a while.

 

And the view of the rest of the landscape? A great clean-up after the war, compensation for damages and forced collectivization. The population went to the barricades but nothing changed. People were sent on their way and whoever was able left. A wall was the salvation. In the difficult, uncomfortable times the remaining labourers did a lot. They also had to. Because the assembly line was introduced in Dresden near Pentacon. Result: one Praktica every 45 seconds. Without lens. Jena and Görlitz were responsible for this. To make the plan work, both had to deliver a normal lens every 45 seconds.

 

Sounds simple, but it wasn't.

 

Insufficient production capacities, outdated production facilities, great uncertainty among the population, mass exodus of young families from the republic. No good framework conditions for smooth production. And not at all for innovation and development.

 

But a good time for distraction, e.g. by stirring up an old riot from pre-war days.

 

The first excitement came at the Leipzig Spring Fair in 1957. Meyer-Optik presented the Primotar E 3.5 50mm and thus increased Carl Zeiss Jena's sales. An unpleasant attack on the Tessar. The points for technology, comfort and price (109Mark instead of 123Mark) went to Görlitz.

 

However, the peak of the escalation was not reached until spring 1959. At the Leipzig Fair Meyer showed a normal lens with preselection aperture, the Primotar 2.8 50mm. Perfect for the inexpensive and popular EXA cameras. Until then, only the expensive Tessar from Jena was available for these cameras.

 

But it got even worse. With the Domiron 2.0 50mm for the EXAKTA Varex Meyer showed that not only a good price-performance ratio was mastered. The Domiron was a top product for the world market. The target group were professional photographers and affluent amateurs all over the world.

 

The Thuringians dropped their jaws. But they caught each other and reacted confidently. The supply of special glasses from Jena to the working people of Upper Lusatia was stopped.

 

One might think, "ok, you won, it's enough". But it wasn't enough.

 

In the following patent specifications it is pointed out - unusual for such documents - that the new Meyer lenses are "composed of simple, inexpensive glasses".

 

alexHeimatland

 

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