vintage lens makers

Vintage lens makers – Steinheil (München)

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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.

Vintage lens makers – Astro-Berlin (Germany)

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Astro-Optik is one of a number of German optical companies that flew under the radar, due to its speciality lenses. It was founded in 1922 as Astro-Gesellschaft Bielicke & Co and based in Neukölln, Berlin (which would become part of West-Berlin). The founders were William (Willy) F. Bielicke, Hugh Ivan Gramatzki and Otto (?). Gramatzki (1882-1957) was a successful amateur astronomer and astrophotographer who published in the journal Astronomische Nachrichten, and headed the local branch of “Berliner Astronomische Vereinigung” for a number of years. Gramatzki invented the Transfokator in 1928. Bielicke (1881-1945) a German-American optical designer was involved in the technical development of the lenses and was responsible for the “Tachar” and “Tachon” lenses.

The 1000mm lens

So it is then not surprising that Astro-Berlin’s product range included lenses suitable for astrophotography and astronomical photometry. After the war the company focused on its film technology (Astro-Kino, Astro-Kino Color) developing lenses that had long and extremely long focal lengths, sometimes called “optical heavy artillery”. The company ceased operations in 1991.

The company produced a multitude of lenses, many under the brand Astro-Berlin. Astro-Berlin is likely most famous for its long lenses for cinematography and photography. These lenses were very simple consisting of one (f/5, f/6.3) or two (f/2.3) achromatic doublets. The f/5 lenses for 35mm came in 300mm, 400mm, 500mm, and 640mm lengths. The 800mm f/5 lens was designed for medium 60×60mm format, and the 1000mm f/6.6 for 60×90mm format.

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f/2.32.31.83.53.5554.55556.310
Focal lengths (mm), and apertures of Astro lenses for 35mm/6×6 reflex mounts

In addition they produced quite fast lenses. In 1933 they introduced the Tachor f/0.95 which was available in various focal lengths. The 75mm version was suitable for an 18×24mm format (half-frame) but it was a large lens at 110mm in length with a frontal diameter of 81mm. The longest lens produced was possibly the 2000mm f/10 Astro Telastan. At times Astro also cooperated with the other Berlin optics manufacturers Piesker and Tewe.

Ads from Das Atelier des Photographen (1936)

These days, Astro-Berlin lenses are expensive on the secondhand market. For example the Astro Berlin Pan Tachar 100mm f/1.8 can sell for up to C$6000 depending on condition. However it is possible to find a 500mm f/5 lens for between C$900-1200.

Further reading:

Vintage lens makers – Komura (Japan)

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There are some lenses that few people have ever heard about, usually because they provided third-party lenses for many differing camera mounts. One such lens brand is Komura, manufactured by Japanese optical company Sankyō Kōki K.K. (Sankyo Kohki), known in English as Sankyo Koki Co. Ltd. In 1962 the company, registered the US trademark Komura, indicating that it was firat used as a trademark in 1953. Before that it is believed the company use the brand name Chibanon or Chibanone. By the 1970s, the company had changed its name to Komura Lens Manufacturing Ltd.

The Komura literature touted their lenses as being “superbly sharp”. They seem to have produced at least 40 different lenses from 28mm to 800mm, for SLR, rangefinder, and C-mount cameras. Their 28-200mm lenses were made with direct individual mounts, mostly in the Leica thread mount and Nikon rangefinder, but also M42, Exakta, Nikon F, Minolta, Miranda, Konica, Canon, Pentax and Petri. Those from 200-800mm had a generic 47mm screw mount which required a specific adapter, called a ‘Unidapter’ to convert them to other camera mounts (apparently to reduce inventory requirements).

Today Komura lenses are little known, but can still be found, especially for Japan (eBay). A 105mm f/2 is usually advertised for between C$300-500, while 85mm f/1.4 lenses seem to go as high ac C$1200. Actually quite high prices for a brand that doesn’t have a lot of presence. To put this into perspective, the Komura 800mm f/8.0 sold for US$695 in 1965 (plus $8.50 for an appropriate adapter). Conversely the 500mm f/7.0 sold for US$175 (+ $4.95 adapter). The 85mm f/1.4 sold for US$162.