Astro Berlin Identoskop

[Pecole]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

The Identoskop having been quoted in the discussions about my UR-PLOOT, I think it interesting to publish here some photos of this Astro Berlin product in my Fontenelle collection.Its serial number was 19401, and it came with an Astro-Portrait lens.

I have read somewhere that the name "Identoskop" was given as a consequence of the fact that the design had been ordered by the Reich's police services.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[lars_bergquist]

Am I right in my belief that the Identoskop had an upside-down finder image? Astro ads do not mention any such thing -- but neither would I, if I had been the Astro-Gesellschaft ...

 

The old man from the Age of the Kine-Exakta

[Pecole]

Am I right in my belief that the Identoskop had an upside-down finder image? Astro ads do not mention any such thing -- but neither would I, if I had been the Astro-Gesellschaft ...

 

The old man from the Age of the Kine-Exakta

 

Yes, old man, you are right : the Identoskop finder image was not (right).

The other old man from the age of the Leica III (1934)

[luigi bertolotti]

Yup, Pecole, you do have a treasure in pics... what a nice item ! And the 150 f 2,5 (!) is a lot tasty. My compatriot Marco Cavina, in his superinteresting pages on historical lenses, suggests a sort of relationship (AFTER WWII,notice) between Astro Berlin (East) and Zoomar of Munchen, on the basis of certain similarities in long, superluminous lenses... the most impressive he shows is a Zoomar 240 f 1,2 which covers Medium Format ! (shown onto a Pentax 6 x 7)

[zeitz]

There are actually three Identoskop finders. The short finder, I believe to be the most common, has the highest magnification and is reversed right/left, up/down. The long finder has lower magnification and is correct right/left, up/down. I have seen a photo with a 45 degree finder. I don't know anything further about it.

[zeitz]

On the subject of Astro Berlin and Zoomar, there is absolutely no relationship between the two.

 

Zoomar came into existence in the late 1940's on Long Island, NY, under the ownership / control of the optical genius Dr Frank Back. He invented the optically compensating zoom lens. He released the first TV zoom lens, then the first 35mm zoom lens, and then the first medium format zoom lens. Many of his designs where probably produced by Kilfitt in Munich. The Voigtlander zoom was definitely produced by Kilfitt. In the 1960's Dr Back bought Kilfitt and continued with the even more radical lens designs, such as the one mentioned in a prior post.

 

By the way the 170 to 320 f4 Zoomar with WEKI or WEVI adapter is the only production zoom lens that will fit Visoflex II/III. (Nikon showed a version of its 85 to 250 on a Visoflex; Enna announced a version of it 85 to 240 for Visoflex, but I have never seen one.) I'm remembering the focal lengths from memory. I could be wrong on a number or two.