Kilfitt Makro-Kilar 90mm f/2.8 (1600F/1000F mount)
Heinz Kilfitt · Hasselblad 1600F · 1956
single source, unconfirmedAlso known as: Kilfitt Makro-Kilar 90mm f/2.8 · Makro-Kilar 2.8/90 · Kilfitt 90mm Hasselblad
Variants & identification
| Variant | Mount | Years | Serial ranges | Production |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hasselblad-1000 adapter mount | Hasselblad 1600F (Kilfitt basic mount with the Hasselblad-1000 screw adapter) | 1956 | — | — |
How to tell them apart
- A third-party lens, never part of Hasselblad's own catalogue
Hasselblad-1000 adapter mount:
- Preset diaphragm with sixteen blades
- Removable Series VI filter funnel, 41mm
- Kilfitt's basic mount with a Hasselblad-1000 adapter — the adapter, not the lens, is what makes it fit
- Hasselblad-1000 adapter mount: Kilfitt sold this lens in a basic mount with interchangeable adapters as well as in direct mounts for several cameras. An example with its original Hasselblad-1000 screw adapter has passed through Leitz Photographica, and 1000F outfits are sold with it, so the fitting is documented rather than merely plausible.
Specifications
- Construction
- 4 elements / 3 groups
- Aperture range
- f/2.8–f/32
- Diaphragm blades
- 16
- Weight
- 480 g
- Country
- Germany
What reviewers say
- praktinafan (DigicamClub), Praktisix mount on an EOS (blog) — "Es ist unglaublich, dass solche Linsen auch hierzulande gebaut wurden, in München" — remarkable that such a lens was built in Munich: nested helicoids to 1:1, everything still smooth. At f/2.8 distant subjects fall apart, and infinity wants f/5.6. via machine translation — corrections welcome
- TRA (pentaconsix.com) (blog) — The filter cone inside the permanent shade — "filter(s) within the lens body, protected by the permanent lens shade" — and resolution in crops beyond the grain of 400 ASA film. A preset aperture that automation made obsolete, and depth of field so thin up close that his handheld macro attempt failed.
Optical formula
No cross-section of the Makro-Kilar has surfaced in any mount. The four-elements-in-three-groups figure comes from a data sheet rather than from a drawing, and Kilfitt's later version is described as using a stepped element that a type-canon schematic would misrepresent, so nothing is drawn here.
History
Heinz Kilfitt’s Makro-Kilar was the first commercially made lens that focused continuously from infinity to life size, and it was sold for almost every camera of consequence in the 1950s. The Hasselblad fitting is one of many rather than a special edition: Kilfitt built the lens in a basic mount and supplied adapters, and also made direct mounts for the 1600F and 1000F, the Praktisix, the Primarflex and the Reflex-Korelle.
That makes it a third-party lens in the strict sense — it never appeared in Hasselblad’s own catalogue — but the fitting is documented rather than inferred. An example with its original Hasselblad-1000 screw adapter has passed through Leitz Photographica’s rooms, and 1000F outfits turn up sold with one.
On the Hasselblad mount, Kilfitt’s advertising claimed focusing from infinity to eight inches, which works out at about 1:1.7 rather than the full 1:1 the basic-mount version reached — the adapter’s extra flange distance costs some of the range. The diaphragm is preset with sixteen blades, unusually many, and the filter fitting is a removable funnel taking Series VI.
What is not documented is the optics. A published data sheet gives four elements in three groups; no cross-section of the lens has surfaced in any mount, and Kilfitt’s later version is described as using a stepped element, so the design cannot be assumed constant across the production run. Nothing is drawn here for that reason.
Production ran from 1956 into the late 1970s across all mounts. How many carried a Hasselblad fitting is not recorded anywhere consulted, and given that the adapter is removable, the question may not have a clean answer.
This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.
Example photos
Sample photo wanted — shot with a Kilfitt Makro-Kilar 90mm f/2.8 (1600F/1000F mount)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).
Live listings
- [Exc+5] Heinz Kilfitt Munchen Makro-Kilar 90mm f2.8 lens L39 from Japan
- Heinz Kilfitt Makro Kilar 2.8/90mm f/2.8 90mm mount ARRI Standard No.2191855
- [Exc+5] Heinz Kilfitt Munchen Makro-Kilar 90mm f2.8 lens L39 from Japan
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