Reviews |Meyer Optik relaunches, confirms discontinued Somnium, Nocturnus lenses were modified Russian, Chinese optics

Meyer Optik relaunches, confirms discontinued Somnium, Nocturnus lenses were modified Russian, Chinese optics

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Meyer Optik, the embattled lens brand that went into administration last year and was taken over by OPC Optics, has relaunched with a streamlined range.

After reviewing Meyer Optik’s portfolio, OPC Optics says it decided to discontinue the Somnium and Nocturnus lens ranges; however, the company qualified this with a ‘for the time being.’

The company says that upon reviewing the lenses, current Meyer Optik staff determined that internally the Somnium was actually a modified Russian lens and the Nocturnus was a modified Chinese lens.

‘That is an absolute no go,’ OPC’s managing director Timo Heinze says in a statement to the press. ‘As a German manufacturer using the “Made in Germany” quality seal, this is a shameful indictment. These lenses may be perfectly good in their own right, but their production methods and marketing goes against all our principles.

‘With us, nothing of this nature will occur. At the same time, we are not ruling out launching lenses with similar characteristics in the future. But if we did decide to do so, they would, of course, be our own designs and produced by us in order to genuinely earn the “Made in Germany” label.’

OPC Optics says that Meyer Optik will be refining and optimising other existing products – some more than others – and investing in the development of new product ranges.

The company says it hopes the first new versions of these revamped existing lenses – such as the Trioplan 100 – will be released from summer 2019. A range of new products is expected in the second half of this year.

More information about Meyer Optik’s lens ranges can be found at its new website.