Primoplan 5cm f/1.9

Hugo Meyer · LTM + Contax RF + Exakta · 1934

our own finding

Also known as: Primoplan 5cm f/1.9 · Primoplan 50mm f/1.9 · Primoplan 1.9/5cm · Primoplan 1:1.9 F=5cm · Primoplan f:1.9 F=5cm · Meyer Primoplan 5cm f/1.9 · Meyer Primoplan 50mm f/1.9 · Hugo Meyer Primoplan 5cm f/1.9 · Hugo Meyer Primoplan 50mm f1.9 · Meyer Görlitz Primoplan 1.9/5cm · Meyer Gorlitz Primoplan 50mm f/1.9 · プリモプラン 5cm F1.9

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
Leica thread, pre-series ('V1')	LTM	1934	624880 (Leitz Auction 48, lot 256)	—
Leica thread, rangefinder-coupled, collapsible	LTM	1934	643677 (Leitz Auction 39, lot 259) 673275 (oldlens.com) 673285 (Leitz Auction 43, lot 281; Leitz Auction 49, lot 314)	—
Contax rangefinder	Contax RF	1934	641656 (Leitz Auction 36, lot 283) 641658 (Leitz Auction 45, lot 328) 691000 (Leitz Auction 28, lot 359; Auction 40, lot 333) 691002 (Leitz Auction 49, lot 404)	—
Kine Exakta prototype	Kine Exakta bayonet (prototype; not made in series)	1936	718904 (Leitz Auction 42, lot 327); 718903 pictured in the first Kine Exakta brochure (Leitz lot text)	—

Dates. Leitz Auction dates every LTM and Contax example 1934 (no. 673285 'c.1934'), and oldlens.com gives 1934–35. Kröger writes that a 'Primolux 1:1,9' of undisclosed construction was shown at the Leipzig spring fair of 1934, possibly the same lens, and that the Primoplan was officially launched at the spring fair of 1935. The page's 1934 is the earliest dated example, not a confirmed launch. No end date is published; oldlens.com and Kröger have the 5.8cm taking over for the Exakta in 1937.
Design. Kröger traces the layout to C. P. Goerz's Reichspatent 428,825 of 13 February 1925, most probably computed there by Robert Richter, and says Schäfter computed the Meyer lens and raised its speed without inventing the form. oldlens.com names Stephan Roeschlein and Schäfter and gives patent 'DE 1387583, 1936'; Kröger gives a utility model, D.R.G.M. 1,387,593 of June 1936, under which Schäfter raised the speed of the layout to 1:1.5. The two numbers differ by one digit and have not been reconciled. oldlens.com's data table names Roeschlein (spelled 'Roschlein') and Schäfter together, while its text names Roeschlein alone.
Specifications. Five elements: Kröger, oldlens.com and Flashback Camera agree; four groups from oldlens.com and Flashback. Aperture blades: oldlens.com and Flashback give 12, the 2021 Cameratique listing 10. Weight 244 g (oldlens.com); Flashback gives about 240 g. Minimum focus 1 m and f/16 from the engraved scales on no. 673285 and oldlens.com.
Price. Flashback Camera gives the price as 135 RM in 1934. No period catalogue or price list confirming it has been found, so the page carries no list price.

How to tell them apart (expand)

Focal length engraved 'F=5cm'. The far commoner Primoplan 1.9/5.8cm (58mm) is a different lens, made from 1937 for the Exakta and later in M42; it also exists in a non-coupled Leica-thread mount engraved 'Ohne Kupplung' (Leitz Auction 38, lot 254, no. 966576), which is not this lens
The 7.5cm f/1.9, the 8cm f/1.9 of the Night Exakta and the 1.5 Primoplans are other designs

Leica thread, pre-series ('V1'):

'V1' hand-engraved on the underside of the mount ring, V for Versuch (Leitz lot text)
No aperture adjustment pins on the front ring, which reads clean and uninterrupted (Leitz lot text)

Leica thread, rangefinder-coupled, collapsible:

Front ring engraved 'Meyer Görlitz Nr.' with the number, '1:1.9 F=5cm' and 'Primoplan', with the aperture scale 1.9, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16 on the same knurled ring and two brass pins to turn it (Leitz lot 314 photographs, no. 673285)
Distance scale in metres, infinity to 1, and 'Allemagne' engraved on the focusing mount (Leitz lot 314 photographs and text)
Collapsible: mounted on a Leica it protrudes only 23 mm when pushed in (Leitz lot text)
Narrow front section on a wider barrel; one of the three Meyer Leica-thread 'mushroom' lenses with the Makro-Plasmat 5cm and 3.5cm f/2.7. oldlens.com and Flashback Camera have only seen it in chrome

Contax rangefinder:

Black front ring engraved 'Primoplan f:1.9 F=5cm Meyer Görlitz Nr' with the number (Leitz lot 328 photographs, no. 641658)
Rigid chrome barrel with the aperture scale on a knurled ring behind the front ring and a black rear section, unlike the collapsible Leica-thread lens (Leitz lot 328 photograph); Leitz says the Contax lens 'is different to the Leica version'

Kine Exakta prototype:

5cm Primoplan in Kine Exakta mount; the series Exakta Primoplan is the 5.8cm

Leica thread, pre-series ('V1'): Leitz Auction calls no. 624880 an extremely early pre-series example and the earliest it has seen, and dates it 1934. It is the lowest number recorded for the lens. It is otherwise the rangefinder-coupled Leica-thread lens below; besides the 'V1' marking, the difference Leitz names is the missing pair of aperture adjustment pins. Offered in Leitz Auction 48 at an estimate of €28,000–32,000, starting price €14,000; unsold.
Leica thread, rangefinder-coupled, collapsible: The production form, coupled to the Leica rangefinder. Leitz Auction has offered two numbered examples of it, besides the pre-series lens above, and calls it one of the rarest lenses made for Leica. No. 673285, engraved 'Allemagne' for the French market, is lot 314 in Leitz Auction 49 (sale 28 November 2026), with its rear cap and a short metal hood, at an estimate of €16,000–18,000 and a starting price of €8,000. That is an asking range, not a result. The same lens, then without the hood, was lot 281 in Auction 43 at €24,000–26,000, starting price €12,000, and went unsold. No. 643677 sold in Auction 39 for €33,600 including buyer's premium, against an estimate of €20,000–24,000. A further example, its number not given, was offered by Cameratique in 2021, described as uncoated and collapsible; Flashback Camera in Tokyo lists another, overhauled in April 2025, with accurate rangefinder coupling.
Contax rangefinder: Leitz Auction has offered four numbered examples, all dated 1934. No. 691000 sold in Auction 28 for €8,400 including premium with a Contax II body, no. G6262, and was unsold in Auction 40 at €6,000–7,000. No. 641656 was unsold in Auction 36 at €12,000–14,000. No. 641658, with a green filter and hood, sold in Auction 45 for €7,800 including premium. Leitz cites Hartmuth Thiele's Kleines Fabrikationsbuch Meyer-Optik as listing 691000 as the only Primoplan for Contax and called it possibly unique, perhaps a prototype; Leitz's own later lots offered two more, and its Auction 36 text calls no. 641656 'the second known'. In Auction 49 (sale 28 November 2026) Leitz offers no. 691002 as lot 404, graded A/B, at €6,000–7,000, starting price €3,000, no bids on 9 November 2026: an asking range, not a result. Its text calls it 'recently discovered, one of probably no more than three (prototype ?)' Primoplans in original Contax mount, and recalls no. 691000 from 2022. oldlens.com says the Contax version followed the Leica one and was made in small numbers.
Kine Exakta prototype: Kröger writes that the 5cm Primoplan was shown on the earliest Kine Exakta brochures as its fast standard lens, but that the rear element of this rangefinder design protruded too far from the rear of the mount to suit a reflex, and that on a prototype of 1936 the rear surface of the last element was the mechanical end of the lens. It could not go into series production in this form, and Meyer lengthened the focal length to 5.8cm for the Exakta lens shown at the Leipzig spring fair of 1937. Leitz sold no. 718904, dated 1936, as a prototype, with the first Kine Exakta brochure, which shows no. 718903; hammer price €3,840 including premium against an estimate of €3,000–3,400. The lot is titled 'Primoplan f. Exakta 1.9/5cm prototype', but its text calls it a prototype of the Primoplan 1.9/5.8cm; the title and Kröger's account both make it the 5cm lens, and the text's 5.8cm is left unreconciled.

Serial-range notes

624880–718904: Numbered examples recorded: 624880 (LTM pre-series, 1934); 641656 and 641658 (Contax); 643677 (LTM); 673275 and 673285 (LTM); 691000 and 691002 (Contax); 718903 and 718904 (Kine Exakta prototype, 1936). The numbers are not reserved to this lens: the 8cm f/1.9 Primoplan on a Night Exakta sold by Leitz (Auction 42, lot 302) is no. 679900, inside the same span. The gaps therefore say nothing about how many were made, and no production figure is published. Leitz dates the LTM and Contax lenses 1934 and the Exakta prototype 1936.
673285: Leitz Auction 49, lot 314 (sale 28 November 2026): estimate €16,000–18,000, starting price €8,000, condition B/A, dated c.1934, 'some flakes on the front element', with rear cap and a short metal hood. Previously Leitz Auction 43, lot 281: estimate €24,000–26,000, starting price €12,000, unsold. Auction records, not sale prices.

Specifications

Formula: Five elements, glass sequence crown-flint-crown-flint-crown, after the layout of C. P. Goerz's patent 428,825 of 1925 (Kröger); classed as a modified Ernostar, four groups with the second a cemented doublet and the stop between the second and third groups (oldlens.com)
Designed by: Schäfter Paul — computed the Primoplan for Meyer, though he did not invent the layout (Kröger); oldlens.com credits him jointly with Roeschlein · Roeschlein Stephan — named as designer by oldlens.com; Kröger does not mention him
Construction: 5 elements / 4 groups
Aperture range: f/1.9–f/16
Min. focus: 1 m
Weight: 244 g
Years manufactured: 1934
Country: Germany
Coating: Uncoated (Cameratique, describing an LTM example offered in 2021)
Material: Chrome-finished brass; LTM barrel collapsible

What reviewers say

oldlens.com (blog) — Shot around Kamakura, Yokohama and Tokyo, much of it at middle apertures: sharp in the centre with swirling out-of-focus rendering from astigmatism at the edges; he prefers it to the Zunow 5cm f/1.1 for street snaps and the Zunow for portraits.

History

The Primoplan 5cm f/1.9 was Hugo Meyer’s fast standard lens for the Leica and the Contax in the mid-1930s. It has five elements, crown and flint alternating. Marco Kröger traces the layout to a 1925 Goerz patent and says Paul Schäfter computed the Meyer version. oldlens.com classes it as a modified Ernostar, with the second group cemented and the stop behind it. A Primolux f/1.9 of undisclosed construction was shown at the Leipzig spring fair of 1934, and the Primoplan was officially launched at the 1935 fair. The Leica and Contax examples offered at auction are all dated 1934.

The Leica-thread lens is the one collectors know. It couples to the rangefinder, focuses from 1 metre, and collapses so that only 23 mm stands proud of the body. A narrow front section sits on a wider barrel, and with the two Makro-Plasmats it makes up the three Meyer “mushroom” lenses for the Leica. The front ring carries the name, the number, ‘1:1.9 F=5cm’ and the aperture scale to f/16, turned by two small brass pins. A pre-series lens, no. 624880, lacks the pins and has ‘V1’ hand-engraved under the mount. No. 673285 is engraved ‘Allemagne’, Germany in French. Leitz Auction calls it one of the rarest lenses made for Leica. No. 643677 made €33,600 with premium in Auction 39, while no. 673285 went unsold at a €12,000 start in Auction 43. That lens is back as lot 314 of Auction 49, estimated at €16,000–18,000.

A Contax version was made in small numbers. It has a rigid barrel and a black front ring engraved ‘Primoplan f:1.9 F=5cm’. Leitz cites Thiele’s production book as listing just one, no. 691000, but has since offered three more, among them no. 691002 in its November 2026 sale. The lens was also meant for Ihagee’s new Kine Exakta and appears in its first brochure. Its short back focus and a rear element standing proud of the mount did not suit a reflex, though, and the 5cm Exakta lens went no further than prototypes such as no. 718904 of 1936. In 1937 Meyer gave the Exakta a Primoplan stretched to 5.8cm. That 58mm lens, made in large numbers before and after the war, is the Primoplan most sellers mean and a different lens from this one.

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 Primoplan 5cm f/1.9? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $36,900 across 5 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-09 (middle half $14,200–$39,000). First day tracked.

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

meyer gorlitz primoplan 1,9/50mm red v #1256756 exakta — €225.00 · eBay
Meyer Gorlitz Primoplan 1,9/50mm Red V #1101947 For Exakta — $350.00 · eBay
Meyer Gorlitz 1.9/5cm Primoplan original made for Contax II No. 691000 — €11,500.00 · Arsenal Photo · likely Contax
Meyer Gorlitz 1.9/5cm Primoplan originally made for Contax II No. 691000 — $14,151.56 · eBay · likely Contax NEW
1.9/5cm Primoplan Leica screw mount Meyer Gorlitz lens ca.1934 — $36,917.10 · eBay NEW
MEYER GÖRLITZ PRIMOPLAN 5CM F1.9 PRE-SERIES LEICA M39 11014 #5874 (LTM) — $39,000.00 · eBay
Hugo Meyer For Leitz Leica M39 1.9/5Cm Primoplan (LTM) — $51,581.12 · eBay NEW

Listings updated 2026-11-09. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.