C.A. Steinheil & Söhne is the oldest of Munich’s optical companies, founded in 1854. It was established by Carl August von Steinheil (1801-1870), who was a physicist, astronomer, mathematician, and engineer. The company manufactured telescopes, spectroscopes and photometers. Over time this was supplemented by the production of optical glass.

During one period there was a great indignation against adulteration of Munich beer by greedy brewers. In the early 1840’s Steinheil designed a “beer lens”, a triplet that consisted of two glass lenses, in the middle of which was a fluid lens, a tiny quantity of the beer. The gadget showed impurities by means of spectral comparison. This was known as the optico-areometric beer test, and was based on the connection between the light refracting power of the beer, and its constituents.

By the end of the 1930s the company had been renamed Optische Werke C. A. Steinheil Söhne GmbH. In 1954 the name Steinheil was trademarked in the USA. In 1962 the company was sold to the Elgeet company in Rochester (NY), followed shortly after in 1964 to the aviation conglomerate Lear Siegler in Santa Monica. This resulted in a decline in the manufacture of commercial lenses in favour of aerospace/military applications.

From the 1940s through to the 1970s, the company produced a myriad of lenses for Exakta, M42, and Leica mounts. Many of the early lenses had the classic chrome finish of the period. By the mid-1960’s Steinheil dumped the chrome finish in favour of black enamel finishes typically with a striped focus ring. Examples include Quinaron, Quinon, Quinar, Tele-Quinar, Culminar, Cassar, Cassaron, Culmigon, Cassarit, Macro -Quinaron, Macro-Quinone, Macro-Quinar, Macro-Cassarite, Exagon, Tele-Exaktar. Some examples include:

• Auto Quinaron 35mm f/2.8 – extreme close focus to 11cm.
• Auto Tele-Quinar 135mm f/2.8 – exceptional mid-range lens, aperture down to f/32, and a minimum focus distance of 12.5cm.
• Tele-Quinar 200mm f/4.5 – excellent preset telephoto, aperture down to f/32, chrome body, 14-blade aperture.