Astro-Berlin: WWII German telephoto lenses
While researching german WWII PK (Propaganda Kompanie) photographers (Bildberichters) , I came across photographs of Leica's hooked up to some really massive telephoto lenses. There was practically nothing to go on from the Bundersarchiv photo captions of these pictures until I discovered their identity through an equally rare 35mm film camera used with these lenses called the Askania Z.
ASTRO-BERLIN telephoto lens coupled to an Askania Z aimed at England by Richard Kamm, Kriegsberichter (war correspondent) of the Whermacht, February 1942) The identity of these lenses was finally revealed to be ASTRO-BERLIN. The Astro-company Bielicke & Co (later: GmbH & Co. KG ) is a German pioneering company of optical camera technology and cinematography in Berlin. Little is known about the activities of Astro-Berlin during the Second World War save for a 1942 patent, and it did not appear in any delivery documentation related to the Wehrmacht. It could be many of the records may have been destroyed during the war seeing as Berlin bore the brunt of the Allied onslaught in the last days of WWII. After the war the company was in the East German sector under the Russians.
ASTRO-BERLIN was founded in 1922 by the German-American Willy F. Bielicke and Indian-born Hugh Ivan Gramatzki and Otto as a partnership. A large part of the technical development of the produced lenses were by William ("Willy") F. Bielicke. The mathematician Bielicke lived and worked in London (for Ross) and in Rochester (New York) for Bausch & Lomb, before he started his own business in Berlin together with Gramatzki and Otto. Among other things, the designs and patents for the extremely powerful " Tachar " and "Tachon" lenses from Astro-Berlin come from him.
Kriegsberichter using an Askania Z 35mm film camera with Astro-Berlin lens
Astro-Berlin display booth at Photokina in Cologne, c. 1960
One of the founders, the engineer Hugh Ivan Gramatzki , was a successful amateur astronomer and astrophotographer , who published in the journal Astronomische Nachrichten and for several years headed the Berlin branch of the "Berlin Astronomical Association". The range of products of Astro-Berlin were sought after for their high luminous intensity for astrophotography and astronomical photometry. ASTRO-BERLIN lense were increasingly used for the emerging film industry by such notables as Leni Riefenstahl that shot Hitler's Olympics. Their specialty was high-intensity lenses and lenses with high magnification ("telephoto lenses"). Gramatzki invented the Transfokator (British Patent No. 449434), what was to become the forerunner of modern zoom lens.
Leni Riefenstahl and assistant behind an Astro-Berlin hooked up to an Arriflex. Berlin Olympics, 1936 Photo by Lothar Rubelt. Note the massive tripods designed to hold the weight of these monster lenses.
After the war in 1945, the company underwent reconstruction under Fritz Joachim Otto (* 1916, † 1993), son of the company founder Otto. Fritz Joachim Otto had stopped studying physics with a focus on optics, who had worked for several years as a UFA cameraman and war correspondent for the National Socialist German newsreel. With the resurgence of the German film industry, the company regained its importance in the film industry. Astro-Berlin was known at the beginning of the 1960s, especially for the production of highly corrected recording and playback lenses, especially with long and extremely long focal lengths. In specialist publications, the products were called "master optics". Astro-Berlin lenses with an extremely long focal length were also used at that time by famous sports photographers like Bob Gomel. Otto led the company as Managing Director until 1987 and advised Astro-Berlin after his departure. The company was struck from the Commercial Register Berlin (HRA14070) on 19 October 1991. EKOS GmbH, Berlin acquired the technical rights to the lenses and took on some of its employees. EKOS GmbH continues to manufacture optical devices and zoom lenses, and you probably can get replacement parts from them for these lenses if you happen to have one lying around. EKOS GmbH website: http://www.ekos-gmbh.de/Entwicklung/Variooptik/Variooptik.html
Astro-Fernbildlinse 640mm attached to an Arriflex
Astro telephoto lens types The long-distance lenses of Astro-Berlin were produced for still photography as well as for cinematography. They are very simple lenses consisting of one (1: 5, 1: 6,3) or two (1: 2,3) achromatic doublets . An achromatic lens or achromat is a lens that is designed to limit the effects of chromatic and spherical aberration. The focal lengths were from 250 mm to 2000 mm. 1: 5 lenses with focal lengths of 300, 400, 500 and 640 mm characterise the small format 24 × 36 mm, 1: 5/800 mm objective the medium format 60 × 60 mm and 1: 6,6-2000 mm long-distance lens 60 × 90 mm. The F5-Fernbildlinsen for 8 and 16 mm films was available with focal lengths of 100, 150 mm and 200 mm for 35 mm filming. Great german website for Astro-Berlin lens history: http://www.exaklaus.de/astro.htm
