Berthiot anastigmats for large format

[Jim Galli]

Excellent as always Dan. I will indeed use this resource in my struggle with insomnia these days. May as well learn something while I'm wishing I was asleep. Berthiot, the Hudson of lenses. Indeed I have at least one Eidoscop with Berthiot markings.

Also I have a rare one. Berthiot Color Serie 1d No 2 F4 150mm. In this case the name Color is a play on Olor I think and it was supposed to be a soft focus lens by way of messing with how the colors landed at the image plane. (never a great idea). I confess I've never had a play with it. But at 150mm I expect it to cover 4X5 nicely. Serial no. 126240

[Dan Fromm]

Jimbo, you could, if you wanted, read about the Color, and then you'd know. Berthiot and the inventor say its good for color if you don't look too closely.

More seriously, check your Color's s/n. If Pont's chronologies are correct you dropped a digit. 12,000 was well pre-1900 and the Color seems to have been released around 1922.

[Jim Galli]

I'll get there, not to worry. But just now I'm packing for a christmas trip to the kiddo's in Sparks. Also, check my serial no again. It is 6 digit as originally posted. We mustn't waste insomniatherapy all in one sitting now, must we.

[Dan Fromm]

My error, I didn't see the trailing zero. Early 1920s, all correct.

Season's greetings.

[chris73]

Dan, many thanks for the great effort.

I did a research about the early Berthiot history once, and as you mention there is not any commercial connection between Benoist-Berthiot and Claude Berthiot.

Though, Louis Berthiot and Claude were born in the same village named Cencerey in Burgundy. Also as far as i can remember i found many individuals with the same surname from that community. So there is a possibility Louis and Claude that were relatives... who knows?

[Dan Fromm]

Chris, its possible that Claude and Louis were related. I found no information that indicated or denied a relationship. I'll bet there are parish birth registers ...