Question on Berthiot?

[john w]

I just got a BERTHIOT lens , it marked "Berthiot Opten Fant Paris ".I want to know it's structure and coverage. Thanks !:)

[Gene McCluney]

You have not given us enough information to deduce the information you want.

[Steven Tribe]

Need a bigger shot of the total barrel and lens description.
The abbreviations stand for Opticien Fabricant.
I would guess a wide angle as the rotary stop wheel is very near the flange. This lens may be quite large as the engraving seems tiny compared with my similar.
Many Berthiots have serial numbers and this would have been above the shown text and the wheel.

[MDR]

Does it have a name like perigraphe (great wide angle lens often with rotary stops), olor (Tessar type unlikely with rotary stops) or Eidoscope (Portrait lens)?

Dominik

[manet]

Hi John,

"Berthiot Opten Fant Paris" aka : "Claude Berthiot, opticien fabricant"

Here is a catalog of this manufacturer : http://www.collection-appareils.fr/accesnotices/html/lire_repertoire?repert=som_berthiot&marque=Som%20berthiot&modele=Catalogue&PHPSESSID=333965b3c0b5e4652c9d3802b532215d

Here other informations :
http://www.oldphotographiclenses.com/berthiot.html
http://www.dioptrique.info/

I hope this help you.

jp

[Steven Tribe]

The suggested catalogue is very good with later perigraphes, but not much use for the hand engraved pre-perigraph types!

[kapro]

I have hand engraved Berthiot Fabricant Opticien Paris No.4. Aperture ring has a scale with numbers 31, 22, 16, 11, 8, 5, 2 1/2, 1, where 31 is wide open. I can't find much information about this lens as well...

[OldCrow]

Anyone else see a trend of new posters posting up asking for info and then their mystery lenses show up on the big fee pay site with the same info they got here? HMMM weird.

[kapro]

Anyone else see a trend of new posters posting up asking for info and then their mystery lenses show up on the big fee pay site with the same info they got here? HMMM weird.

I see the post of the well full of knowledge and useful information given to those of us without knowledge.

FYI: I never sell anything of my gear. I bought this lens for quite a nice price on "big fee pay site". I tested the same lens owned by my friend half a year ago and decided to buy it on the base of what I saw on the darkroom print. Although I'd like to know something about the history of the lens I bought it for shooting. I'm primarily photographer, not collector.

I have couple of other lenses on the wish list I've already tried/tested in the past which aren't in the Hall of Fame (better to say Hall of Ridiculous Price) and there is not much information about them on the net. The only lens I bought following the Apug/largeformat recommendation was Verito. Even the Eidoscope #2 I bought after testing.

Have a nice day full of sunshine.

[Ole Tjugen]

I have hand engraved Berthiot Fabricant Opticien Paris No.4. Aperture ring has a scale with numbers 31, 22, 16, 11, 8, 5, 2 1/2, 1, where 31 is wide open. I can't find much information about this lens as well...

Could that be the diameter of the aperture, in millimeters?

There are a couple of "reverse" aperture numbering systems, but this looks more like a diameter. If that's what it is, you determine the f-number by dividing the focal length of the lens by the diameter of the aperture.

[Steven Tribe]

I think Ole is right! These "diameters" certainly represent a halving of the aperture area for each stop down. This kind of aperture marking makes sense with casket (trousse in this case) so that the user refers to the attached tables. I have a casket set from Berthiot with absolutely no markings on the wheel aperture.

[kapro]

Could that be the diameter of the aperture, in millimeters?


Thank you Ole, Steve,
this is exactly what I was thinking about today while dismantling the lens for cleaning and manufacturing adapter to Copal 3. Wide open it has cca 30mm diameter. (I didn't have right slide gauge to measure it).

Do you know what type of lens it is? Looks like RR but I'm not sure because I wasn't able to loosen the rear part.
K.

[Ole Tjugen]

RR is always a possibility with old lenses. A 250mm f:8 RR (or Aplanat, or Aplanatique) would have a max aperture of about 31mm - so maybe you can measure the focal length?

[kapro]

It might be. When it came I made a projection of ceiling lights on the floor (4-5m high) and it was sharp when lens' aperture ring positioned around 23-4cm from the floor (just very fast and uncertain measuring of focal length :)). I'll measure it when I'm back home on Thursday.

Thanks a lot Ole.

[Steven Tribe]

And post some photos at the same time?
Berthiot is a problem child as no early catalogues for the first years have been available on-line (including France).

[kapro]

Steven,
here are some junk photos of my Berthiot No.4
Sorry for the quality, I don't know to work with colleague' s digital camera.. ;-)

[Steven Tribe]

And here is mine for comparison of serial numbers ( a bit dark but it is 22606) and engraving style.
Mine is size 3bis and is a casket set. Note our serial numbers are close!,

[kapro]

Steven, do you know production year of yours? My should be little bit older.