Meyer-Optik is bringing back the Emil Busch Glauker 3.1 lens.
It has been over 100 years since Emil Busch introduced his Glauker 3.1, which would turn out to be one of the most advanced and important lenses of its era. A huge trend in the global photography lens market these days, thanks to mirrorless mounts making older lens designs easily adaptable to modern cameras, has been updating classic lenses for modern use.
Myer-Optik has done it to great success with several of classic lenses, and that winning formula has been mimicked by others. Now, German photographers Benedikt Ernst and Firat Bagdu have teamed up to launch a modern updated version of this classic 100+ yr old lens, making it available for use on modern cameras of many mounts.
The interesting thing about adapting such an old lens to modern standards is that the size of the imaging plane is much different now than it was then. So after modifying the old design to work for modern sensors, the new Glauker 3.1 is a 97mm lens equivalent to the original 210mm 3.1 design. It will also feature 15 handcrafted aperture blades for a really gorgeous look.
The project is now looking for backers on IndieGoGo with a simple goal of just $5,000. So far the team is up to $2300 as of this writing. The lens itself is expected to retail for $1999, but backers can get their hands on one for as little as $749 and the team expects to begin shipping the lenses in August of this year – so about an 8 month lead time.
The Glauker will also be available in its classic bronze look, or for those wanting a lens that doesn’t stick out quite so much on their modern black camera, they can get the lens in black or white as well. Those interested can back the project over on IndieGoGo, here.
A few sample images provided by the IndieGoGo campaign below show some promising results from the lens.
