The Meyer Optik Gӧrlitz Trioplan 100 f/2.8 is a new lens with a long history. Dating back more than a hundred years, the Trioplan 100 is a triplet design which, as the name implies, only contains three lens elements. Why people would be interested in an optical dinosaur a century down the pike has to do with the quality of bokeh this lens produces.
Because of its three-element design and 15-blade iris, the Trioplan produces what Meyer Optik fanboys and fangirls refer to as “bubble bokeh,” in which out-of-focus specular highlights appear as large, translucent, perfectly circular spheres of luminescence, or as they call them, “bubbles.”
The Trioplan 100 offers a 24° AoV when used on a full-frame camera, and it has a 52mm filter thread. Minimum focus is a bit more than three feet (1m), which means if you want true close-ups, you’ll have to resort to extension tubes, close-up lenses, or a bellows. To capture the images that accompany this post, I used a set of Vello Deluxe Auto Focus Extension tubes, which includes 10mm and 16mm extension tubes that I used individually or stacked, depending on the image.
So why bother going through so much trouble when there are many excellent macro lenses available, in a choice of focal lengths, out there? Specifically, because all the other options do not capture close-ups the way the Trioplan does, especially if there are backlit, out-of-focus highlights in the foreground or background.
The Trioplan 100 renders non-specular background forms equally well. Colors and shapes take on lovely, swirling patterns, much like dye passing through clear fluid.
And then you have a thing called “sharpness.” Unlike macro lenses, which rank among the sharpest lenses you can buy, the resolving power of the Trioplan 100 varies from very dreamy when shooting wide open, to a gradual shift to sharp—but never insanely sharp—detail.
Though the Meyer Optik Gӧrlitz Trioplan 100 is available for DSLRs and mirrorless cameras, I prefer using lenses of this type on a mirrorless camera simply because you can preview changes to the depth-of-field as you open and close the diaphragm in real time. (When used on a DSLR, shoot in Live View mode.)
Speaking of lens diaphragms, the f/stop ring on the Trioplan 100 is click-less, which is an asset not only for videography, but it enables you to “tweak the dreaminess” of the image more precisely than traditional click-stop diaphragms.
The Meyer Optik Gӧrlitz Trioplan 100 is available in Black and a limited edition Titanium finish in lens mounts for Nikon F, Canon EF, Leica M, Fujifilm X, Micro Four Thirds, Sony E, M42, and Pentax K camera bodies.
Have you used any alt-macro lenses for macro close-ups? If you have, we’d love to hear about them.
