Kino-Plasmat 7.5cm f/1.5

Hugo Meyer · LTM + Contax RF · 1933

Also known as: Kino-Plasmat 7.5cm f/1.5 · Kino Plasmat 7.5cm f/1.5 · Kino-Plasmat 75mm f/1.5 · Kino Plasmat 75mm f1.5 · Kino Plasmat 1.5/7.5cm · Kino Plasmat 1.5/7,5cm · Kino Plasmat f:1.5 F=7,5cm · Kinoplasmat 75mm f1.5 · Kinoplasmat 7.5cm f/1.5 · Kino Plasmat 3 inch f/1.5 · Kino Plasmat f:1.5 foc. 3 inch · Kino Plasmat 1.5/3 inch · Hugo Meyer Kino Plasmat 75mm f/1.5 · Hugo Meyer Kino-Plasmat 7.5cm f1.5 · Meyer Görlitz Kino Plasmat 1.5/7.5cm · Meyer Gorlitz Kino Plasmat 75mm f1.5 · キノプラズマート 7.5cm F1.5 · キノプラズマート 75mm F1.5

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
Leica thread, metre scale (F=7,5cm)	LTM	1933	580159 (Leitz Auction 42, lot 276) 580829 (Leitz Auction 34, lot 211; Auction 39, lot 261) 580831 (Leitz Auction 35, lot 241) 581765 (Leitz Auction 44, lot 244) 581950 (Leitz Auction 40, lot 282) 582141 (Leitz Auction 49, lot 316) 582646 (Leitz Auction 10, lot 218) 582691 (Leitz Auction 36, lot 221) 582817 (Leitz Auction 47, lot 352; Auction 49, lot 317)	—
Leica thread, feet scale, black (foc. 3 inch, Görlitz & New York)	LTM	—	580971 (Leitz Auction 14, lot 385) 582653 (Leitz Auction 10, lot 219)	—
Leica thread, feet scale, chrome	LTM	—	581621 (Leitz Auction 25, lot 267)	—
Contax rangefinder	Contax RF	1933	582821 (Leitz Auction 41, lot 421; Auction 45, lot 327)	—

Dates. Leitz dates the lenses 1933 or c.1934; Flashback Camera says 1932/33; oldlens.com gives 'circa 1931'. The year on this page is the earliest of Leitz's dates for a lens in hand. No source gives a launch date or a catalogue listing for the 7.5cm in a camera mount.
Weight and close focus. oldlens.com gives 679 g without the hood and 816 g with it, a 1 m minimum distance, and a 58 mm filter with a question mark; the filter size is not confirmed and is left out. The distance scale on no. 582141 is marked to 1.2 m in the Leitz photographs, the Contax lens's reads at least to 1.1 m, and the feet lenses' stops at 3½ feet (about 1.07 m), so no single figure is given.
Coupling. Leitz describes every Leica-thread example as rangefinder-coupled, and Flashback Camera says its example coupled very well. Espen Susort, writing about adapting a cine 2-inch, guesses in his coverage table that the 75mm probably cannot be coupled to a Leica because the cam would obstruct the image circle. The examples sold show that it was, and no uncoupled 7.5cm in Leica thread has been found.
Coating. Leitz describes nos. 582141 and 581621 as coated, six other Leica-thread lenses as uncoated, and says nothing about coating for the rest. The lenses date from 1933–34, and the lot texts do not say when or by whom the coated ones were coated.

How to tell them apart (expand)

Engraved 'Kino Plasmat' with 'Dr. Rudolph' on the name ring; the 7.5cm is the longest Kino-Plasmat found in a Leica or Contax mount
The Kino-Plasmat 5cm f/1.5 for Leica and Contax, and the cine Kino-Plasmats from 12.5mm to 3½ inches, are other lenses
Not the Primoplan 7.5cm f/1.9 or any other Meyer Primoplan, and not the modern Voigtländer Nokton 75mm f/1.5

Leica thread, metre scale (F=7,5cm):

Knurled name ring engraved 'Kino Plasmat', the number and 'D.R.P. Dr. Rudolph Hugo Meyer & Co Görlitz' (lot 316 photographs of no. 582141; most Leitz lot texts quote it so, the Auction 34, 35 and 36 texts without 'D.R.P.')
'Made in Germany' on the chrome front ring (lot 316 photographs)
Aperture scale 1.5, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16 engraved on the black barrel, with a knurled ring below carrying the index (lot 316 photographs)
Distance scale in metres, ∞, 30, 15, 10, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2.5, 2.2, 2, 1.8, 1.6, 1.5, 1.4, 1.3, 1.2 on no. 582141 (lot 316 photographs)
Black-paint barrel; Leitz describes the focusing ring as nickel on some examples and chrome on others

Leica thread, feet scale, black (foc. 3 inch, Görlitz & New York):

Name ring engraved 'Kino Plasmat f:1.5 foc. 3 inch Pat. Dr. Rudolph Hugo Meyer & Co Görlitz & New York' and the number (Leitz lot 385 photographs, no. 580971)
Distance scale in feet, ∞, 90, 45, 30, 20, 15, 12, 10 and down to '3½ Feet', with 'Made in Germany' on the focusing ring (lot 385 photographs)
Black barrel with the aperture scale 1.5 to 16 on it, as on the metre lens; no. 580971 has '#939' scratched inside the front of the barrel (lot 385 photographs)

Leica thread, feet scale, chrome:

Chrome barrel with a black name ring engraved 'Kino Plasmat f:1.5 foc. 3 inch Pat. Dr. Rudolph Hugo Meyer & Co Görlitz & New York Nr. 581621' (Leitz lot 267 photographs)
Feet scale from ∞ to '3½ Feet', 'Made in Germany' on the focusing ring (lot 267 photographs)

Contax rangefinder:

Black name ring engraved 'Kino Plasmat f:1.5 F=7,5cm D.R.P. Dr. Rudolph Hugo Meyer & Co Görlitz Nr. 582821' (Leitz lot photographs)
Black barrel with chrome focusing section; metre scale from ∞ reading at least down to 1.1, the end of the scale not shown clearly (Auction 41 lot photographs)
Mounts on the Contax's inner and outer bayonet at the same time (Leitz lot text)

Leica thread, metre scale (F=7,5cm): The form most often offered, and the one Leitz describes in each lot as rangefinder-coupled. Lot 316 of Leitz Auction 49 (sale 28 November 2026) is no. 582141, dated 1933, condition B-, with hood and rear cap. Leitz calls it in fine cosmetic condition, but in the lot photographs the black paint is worn through to the brass over much of the barrel. Leitz describes its optics as coated, with minimal cleaning marks, and does not say when the coating was applied; it calls nos. 580159, 580829, 580831, 581765, 581950 and 582691 uncoated and says nothing about coating for nos. 582646 and 582817. Estimate €20,000–24,000, starting price €10,000: an asking range on 9 November 2026, not a result. Earlier results, all Leitz hammer prices including buyer's premium: no. 580831 €38,400 against €30,000–35,000 (Auction 35); no. 581950 €36,000 against €24,000–26,000 (Auction 40); no. 582691 €31,200 against €28,000–32,000 (Auction 36); no. 581765 €28,800 against €32,000–36,000 (Auction 44); no. 580829 €24,000 against €20,000–24,000 (Auction 39), after going unsold at €30,000–35,000 in Auction 34; no. 582646 €5,280 against €5,000–6,000 (Auction 10). Unsold: no. 580159 at €30,000–34,000 (Auction 42) and no. 582817 at €32,000–36,000 (Auction 47). No. 582817 is offered again in the same Auction 49 as lot 317 (graded B/A, black paint with a chrome focusing ring, light haze and a minimal edge separation in the front element, with hood and rear cap) at €30,000–34,000, starting price €15,000, no bids on 9 November 2026. The Japanese dealer Flashback Camera sold another, its number not given, after a service in October 2021, and says it couples well with the rangefinder.
Leica thread, feet scale, black (foc. 3 inch, Görlitz & New York): Leitz calls no. 580971 the export version in inches, and describes both lenses as in original coupled M39 mount. No. 582653 came with an original 3-inch finder and a Meyer leather case and sold for €5,280 including premium against €6,000–7,000 (Auction 10). In its single small photograph the aperture scale appears on a chrome ring rather than on the black barrel, which the photograph is too small to confirm. No. 580971, with hood and rear cap, sold for €5,040 against €4,000–5,000 (Auction 14). Leitz dates both c.1934.
Leica thread, feet scale, chrome: Leitz calls no. 581621 an 'extremely rare chrome version' of the export lens, in original coupled Leica mount, with coated lenses showing cleaning marks. It sold for €33,600 including premium against an estimate of €20,000–25,000 (Auction 25). It is the only chrome example found.
Contax rangefinder: Leitz says the lens was designed to engage both Contax bayonets at once: the outer one holds the weight, the inner one drives the rangefinder coupling. It calls it extremely rare, with only a few examples known. No. 582821, dated 1933, with hood and both caps, went unsold at €60,000–70,000 (starting price €30,000) in Auction 41 and again at €30,000–34,000 (starting price €16,000) in Auction 45. oldlens.com also mentions a very small number in Contax mount.

Serial-range notes

580159–582821: Every numbered 7.5cm lens found falls between 580159 and 582821, the Leica and Contax lenses mixed together: the Contax no. 582821 sits next to the Leica-thread no. 582817, and the feet-scale lenses (580971, 581621, 582653) are among the metre ones. Leitz dates some of these lenses 1933 and others c.1934, with no order by number (no. 582141 is '1933', no. 581765 'c.1934'), and gives no basis for either date. Susort's survey of 146 Kino-Plasmats of all focal lengths found production clustered in 1926 and in 1931–32, with a smaller run in 1936 and a very small one in 1941, but does not give the number ranges behind it.

Specifications

Formula: Kino-Plasmat: six elements in four groups (oldlens.com, for this lens). Susort, who noted the elements while cleaning a 2-inch f/1.5, gives the order as a cemented biconvex and plano-concave pair, two single negative menisci, and a cemented plano-concave and biconvex pair, against the f/2 patent DRP 401630, whose cemented pairs use negative menisci
Designed by: Rudolph Paul — engraved on the barrel ('D.R.P. Dr. Rudolph' or 'Pat. Dr. Rudolph'); credited with the design by Flashback Camera and oldlens.com
Construction: 6 elements / 4 groups
Aperture range: f/1.5–f/16
Weight: 679 g
Country: Germany
Material: Black-painted brass barrel with nickel or chrome rings; one feet-scale example in chrome (Leitz lot descriptions and photographs)

What reviewers say

oldlens.com (blog) — Pictures from 2005 to 2017, some taken on a Leica M8: soft, with a large three-dimensional out-of-focus rendering and less swirl than the 50mm wide open, and contrasty, sharp pictures stopped to about f/8; heavy and hard to focus.

History

The Kino-Plasmat was Paul Rudolph’s fast lens for Hugo Meyer of Görlitz, which he joined after leaving Zeiss. He developed a Kino-Plasmat f/2 for cine cameras in the early 1920s and an f/1.5 by 1926, which Susort calls the fastest cine lens in the world at the time. Espen Susort, working from period advertisements, says the f/1.5 series ran from 20mm to 3½ inches and was mounted for American cine cameras such as the Filmo, Victor, DeVry and Eyemo. The f/1.5 lenses share the Kino-Plasmat construction of six elements in four groups, with a cemented pair at each end and two single menisci between. The cine lenses, and the 5cm f/1.5 that Meyer also mounted for the Leica and the Contax, are other focal lengths in their own barrels and are not this lens.

In the early 1930s Meyer put a few Kino-Plasmats into rangefinder-coupled Leica mounts, along with Makro-Plasmats and Trioplans, and the 7.5cm f/1.5 is the longest of them known. It is a heavy lens: oldlens.com weighs his at 679 g, or 816 g with the hood. The barrel is black-painted brass with nickel or chrome rings and a knurled name ring. The usual lenses read ‘F=7,5cm’ and ‘D.R.P. Dr. Rudolph Hugo Meyer & Co Görlitz’ and have a metre scale. Export lenses read ‘foc. 3 inch’, add ’& New York’ to the maker’s name and focus to 3½ feet. One export lens, no. 581621, is chrome all over. The same 7.5cm was also made in a Contax mount that engages both Contax bayonets, the outer one to carry the weight and the inner one to drive the rangefinder. The only numbered Contax example found at auction is no. 582821.

Every numbered example found lies between 580159 and 582821, and Leitz dates them 1933 or c.1934. The lens is a regular at Leitz’s sales. Results there have run from €24,000 to €38,400 with premium in recent years, though several lenses have gone unsold at estimates in the low €30,000s. Lot 316 in Auction 49 is no. 582141. Leitz grades it B- and calls it in fine cosmetic condition, but its photographs show much of the black paint worn through to the brass. Leitz describes its optics as coated, which no source explains for a lens it dates 1933, and it is estimated at €20,000–24,000 with a starting price of €10,000. oldlens.com, who has photographed with one since 2005, some of the time on a Leica M8, finds it soft wide open, with large out-of-focus areas, a strong sense of depth and less swirl than the 50mm, and sharp and contrasty at f/8.

Expand Collapse

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

More sample photos elsewhere

These photographers keep all rights to their work — enjoy it at the source.

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Kino-Plasmat 7.5cm f/1.5? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

The listings collector hasn't run for this family yet — check back soon, or search the marketplaces directly meanwhile.