| Author: | | Forum Member Registered: November, 2017 Location: Illinois Posts: 65 | | Review Date: December 16, 2020 | Recommended | Price: $50.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Nice lens for the price | | Cons: | learning curve, a little bit unforgiving | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 8
Value: 9
Camera Used: k70
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This lens is built like a tank, I had to clean mine up due to haze and fungus. I like the looks but it comes with a learning curve that will require patience from the user. Catch in focus did not work with this lens and at least with my m42 adapter infinity focus does not work. But I love it anyway it forces you to slow down and think.
 | | | | | | | Senior Member Registered: June, 2011 Location: Gotland Posts: 169 | | Review Date: March 17, 2020 | Recommended | Price: $20.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Top product for the era. Still OK | | Cons: | See below | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 8
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 7
Value: 9
Camera Used: K-1
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I found this lens at a charity store. It is an early zebra version. It lacked the mount, and eventually I bought a defective 135 mm version with the M42 mount. It fits perfectly.
I did a minor cleanup, no total disassembly, and tried the lens on my K 3 II. I was deeply disappinted. So I left it alone for quite a while. Then I found this thread in another forum:
Preventing M42 adapter light leaks and dust ingress - an easy solution! - Page 3 - PentaxForums.com
The problem is related to the fact that the Orestegor M42 mount is too narrow to mate up properly against a K mount camera body. I found my own solution: I added an epoxy fillet to the mount. The fillet has a diameter large enough so that the mount mates up to the camera body. Then I bought a lens hood.
Now the lens works fine, especially with the K-1.
This lens needs careful focusing (manual of course) and then shows very good sharpness even at f/4. The pictures seem to have less contrast than the best modern lenses. So i use mnus 1,0 or minus 1.3 exposure comensation instead of my usual minus 0,7. To me this is a valuable item to try out more carefully for Slow Photography.
| | | | | New Member Registered: December, 2015 Location: Piła Posts: 6
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: February 15, 2020 | Recommended | Price: $50.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | sharpness | | Cons: | none | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 10
Value: 10
Camera Used: Pentax K5II
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For sure it's the best 200mm M42 I've ever used. Sharp even wide open f/4. 15 aperture blades make this lens king of bokeh[ and it trully is  Very good build guality - DDR product with awesome hard leather box. Very nice!
| | | | | New Member Registered: February, 2019 Posts: 15 | | Review Date: July 23, 2019 | Recommended | Price: $40.00
| Rating: 8 |
| Pros: | Very good at middle distance, great close up | | Cons: | Weaker at longer distances and not sharp at infinity | | Sharpness: 7
Aberrations: 7
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 8
Value: 10
Camera Used: Film and Sony Full Frame
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I have a "Zebra" Gorlitz that is in close to mint condition and a Pentacon version in slightly more used condition. Glass is fine in both lenses. There is no real difference between the two in terms of performance.
Good close-distance shooting and a very good middle-distance lens between F5.6 and f11. As with most telephoto lenses f8 is the sweet spot, for sure. Good - not very good - outside of that range, except for some nice bokeh. F4 is pretty poor and soft and tending to suffer from chromatic aberration purple/green fringing.
Sadly, these are not very good at infinity, or distances beyond about 20-30 yards. But both are sharper than the Meyer-Optik 135mm version at infinity. Defo not a wildlife lens unless you are shooting digital and your sensor and processor can assist in better longer-distance image processing, or if you rely upon software processing rather than genuine lens performance to make your photos look sharper.
I use mine mainly on film cameras. Very difficult to hold steady unless shooting at 1/500th or higher. You may need to go higher or use a tripod with a small sensor cropped digital camera as the magnification will increase with the edges being cut off. Big, heavy and bulky and I do find mine rather OTT to lug around.
Very basic and simple and easy to use. So simply put together that it's easy to open up and clean out a dirty-glass version. Try not to get ripped off with trade-pushing sellers who want more than $40-$60. Many traders push up the Meyer version and the Pentacon copy. You will find the black Pentacon front aperture preset version more cheaply as it doesn't have the twinkly "zebra" bling but it is the same lens. The later Pentacon version with the rear-end aperture ring is a different lens in many ways.
| | | | | | | Senior Member Registered: September, 2016 Location: North Yorkshire Posts: 231
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: February 12, 2019 | Recommended | Price: $40.00
| Rating: 9 |
| Pros: | Sharp lens, smooth bokeh | | Cons: | Some fringing wide open in bright light. long focus throw | |
I have the Meyer-Optik zebra version of his lens.
It is a delightful lens to use. Solidly built with a pleasing weight. 15 blades makes for smooth bokeh. The lens is sharp at all apertures. f22 will show up all the dust on the camera sensor. I find that, like many of the manual lenses that I have, it fools the exposure meter into overexposure, so I have to dial in -2EV to get it right.
It portrays colours well. There is some fringing wide open in bright light, but this is easy to remove in post processing.
The long throw makes focussing precise, although it can take a long time to get from way out to way in. If you get a chance at this lens for a reasonable price I would recommend giving it a go.
Sample photos here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/zubzubadoodle/albums/72157676181270287/with/46934882272/ | | | | | New Member Registered: November, 2013 Posts: 14 | | Review Date: December 8, 2018 | Recommended | Price: $75.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | extremely sharp tele lens, nice bokeh | | Cons: | scarecely CA's | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 9
Handling: 9
Value: 10
Camera Used: fuji x-t100 + x-e1, Pentax K-5, K-S1, Samsung Nx 1000 and 11
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The optical design is 5 lenses in 3 groups. Pay attention !
Mines is with EXA-mount of GDR - without any dust or fungus.
++ wonderfull lens with very high sharpness 
++/+ scareceley visible CA's - stopped down to f 8 no more CAs visible.
++ high contrast and very nice neutral color rendition
highly recommended like ZEISS Jena Tessar 2.8/50 and Jena Sonnar 4/135 with very similar own test results.
with 24 APS-C-Fuji sensor 85 LP/mm - This is a professional value !
with Samsung 20 MP '' 75 "
with Pentax 20 MP only 65 LP/mm
with Pentax 16 MP only 55 LP/mm
with Pentax 12 MP only 45LP/mm
Meier Görlitz Lydith 3.5/30 has the same high quality, but a few lower resolution, but scarecely CAs, too.
| | | | | New Member Registered: May, 2013 Location: Jakarta Posts: 2 | | Review Date: July 28, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $100.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | sharp, bokeh, build, price | | Cons: | long throw focusing, medio heavy | | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 8
Value: 9
Camera Used: K5, A7
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i have three models gen of Meyer-Optik Görlitz Orestegor 200mm F4:
1. Meyer-Optik Görlitz Orestegor 200mm F4 (zebra)
2. Pentacon 200mm F4 (zebra)
3. Pentacon 200mm F4 (non-zebra)
both are has 15 blades, both are identical, have same characters, like most of meyer families these lenses has interesting bokeh
here they are the samples photos taken with these lenses:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/roe_groho/sets/72157646075426921/with/19816407515/ | | | | | New Member Registered: February, 2013 Posts: 8
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: February 26, 2013 | Recommended | Price: $104.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | This is a sharp lens that you dont have to worry about funny shapes of bokeh if you need to stop it down. aperture ring very smooth | | Cons: | CA in bright light and high contrast wide open, long focus throw can be a blessing or a disadvantage | | Sharpness: 9
Aberrations: 9
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 9
Value: 10
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This was a huge surprise. It is a very easy lens to use, except if you have focused far and need to go near fast. But the long focus throw makes it very easy to focus (I do use a precision matte focusing screen). It renders images beautifully. There can be CA on whites in bright light wide open, but on the other hand this is the type of lens that keeps round circles in the bokeh if you stop it down, so no worries there. My camera cannot make video, but it is the type of lens that you can use for that, because the aperture ring is continuous, ie. no clicks, and keeping the aperture round gives that hollywood feeling (yeah , after obsessing about lenses, I notice the bokeh shapes in movies now haha).
This image shows the bokeh at F5.6-6.0:
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