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• Voigtlander Binoculars Serial Numbers Lookup

Hello Jay, You've got a valuable, rare and nice binocular. It is also a very unusual example. I maintain a small Leitz binocular serial number database (the Leitz microscope serials cannot be applied to binoculars) and 431011 is a mid-war Leitz number, probably 1943, post-war numbers not beginning until about 480000. Voigtlander serial numbers have been published for many years. However, as more and more contemporary sources are located it has become apparent that many published and on-line listings are not entirely accurate. Below is my most current information relating to Voigtlander serial number dating. Voigtlander Binoculars Serial Numbers 7/19/2018admin These binoculars i picked up at a yard sale, im interested in learning more about them, on the left shoulder it says: voightlander underneath it says braunschweig under that is a serial number capital N and underlined o, and the numbers 62810. Here we have a very nice pair of vintage binoculars, they probably date from the first war, the case has a bit of damage to the fastener, it has the letters ACS S, on the top, the binoculars are in very nice condition, the leather is all complete and no scuffs etc, the metal is good as are the bakelite eyepieces, they are marked 1/2 + 0 - 1/2, on one eyepiece, the view is good no double vision. Update: A reader just sent me another way of determining the production year of Leica cameras and lenses: just got to this website, and type the serial number. And another update on the serial numbers after 2004: 4 000 000-4 010 600: 2004 4 010 601-4 025 900: 2005 4 025 901-4 034 900: 2006 4 034 901-4 057 000: 2007 4 057 001-4 080 000: 2008.

Voigtländer (Germ. pronunciation 'FOYKT-lender') was one of the the world's longest-lived camera and lens makers. The brand is still used by other firms.

Company history

Voigtländer was founded in 1756 in Vienna, Austria by Johann Christoph Voigtländer, as a scientific instrument maker. Voigtländer was an optician and inventor, noted for his work on mathematical instruments, and held letters patent (a state-protected monopoly, the forerunner of a Patent) from the Austrian government, granting an exclusive right to carry on that business. For example, Voigtländer invented instruments for linear and circular measure (i.e. to measure and divide distances and angles with great precision) which were used for calibrating surveying and navigational instruments including astrolabes.^[1]

Voigtländer died in 1797, and the company passed to his widow and two eldest sons, Wilhelm and Siegmund. Another son, Friedrich Voigtländer, took control in 1808.

In the 19th century, Voigtländer made optical products including opera glasses and periscopic lenses. In 1840, the Hungarian Josef Petzval designed the innovative Petzval lens for Voigtländer. The lens, with the widest relative aperture of any then made (about f/3), was very successful for its intended purpose: the making of daguerreotype portraits.^[2] The wide aperture allowed a very considerable reduction in exposure times. The lens' main limitation (it only covers a narrow field of view) prevented it being adapted for other uses (landscape, for example), but does not matter for portraiture. The design was widely adopted, and Petzval lenses were made for about the next century. Voigtländer also made cameras, including the first all-metal daguerrotype camera.

In 1849 Voigtländer built a branch factory in Braunschweig (Brunswick) in Germany under the name Voigtländer & Sohn, Optical Institute, and in 1862 the company moved its headquarters to Braunschweig. In 1898 the company, until then family-owned, became a public company (i.e. sold shares on the stock market, becoming Voigtländer AG).^[3] By 1915 the company had outgrown its buildings and moved to new premises in another part of Braunschweig. Unsurprisingly, the company made some military products during the First World War.^[4]

Voigtländer remained independent after the War, when hard times (due in part to the effects of War reparations on Germany's economy) caused some other firms to enter mergers. In 1920, Rudolf Heidecke and Paul Franke, employees of Voigtländer, left the firm to form Franke & Heidecke (their first camera, the Heidoscop, bears a striking similarity to Voigtländer's Stereflektoskop; Heidecke was a designer, and it seems likely that he either had rights to this design, or had Voigtländer's blessing to use it). In 1925, Schering AG (a chemicals company) bought a majority share in Voigtländer. The company expanded its premises again in 1929. It was in the period of Schering's ownership that many of the familiar Voigtländer cameras were made, including the first Bessa. Voigtländer again made military equipment (including but not limited to aerial reconnaissance cameras, binoculars and rifle scopes) for Germany's rearmament and the Second World War, but continued development of cameras at least up to shortly before the War itself; the Bessa 466 was designed around 1938 (Voigtländer's British patent for this innovative camera was finalised in 1940, actually during the War)! During this time parts of production were moved to the Wolfenbüttel district (still on the outskirts of Braunschweig), where prisoners of war were employed.

In 1956 Schering sold its shares in Voigtländer to Carl Zeiss.

Lenses

Despite the successful early metal camera designed by Voigtländer, lenses were the company's main contribution to photography in the 19th century, and the success of Voigtländer's camera lines of the 20th century was based on the quality of its lenses. At the turn of the 20th century, Voigtländer had a branch office in New York, Voigtlander & Son Optical Co. (with no umlaut), advertising Voigtländer lenses like the Dynar for use with the better Kodak cameras.

While still in Austria, Voigtländer introduced the Petzval lens, which became a standard lens for portrait photography: Voigtländer's Petzval lenses were fitted to cameras of many makers. The lens has four elements, divided in two groups, the two front elements cemented, the two back elements just placed close to each other. The lens has a characteristic vignetting and curvature of field, but it made images which were very sharp in the centre. This and its wide aperture make it ideal for portraiture, though of little use for other photography; portrait photography was a big business, however.In 1900 Carl August Hans Harting, working for Voigtländer produced another fast lens, the Heliar, a symmetric lens, improved by him as an asymmetric design in 1902. Other fine lens designs of that time were the Dynar and Kollinear (later Collinear) lenses. During the 20th century the Skopar and Color Skopar lenses became the standard lenses for Voigtländer's own cameras. Voigtländer also made the Zoomar, the world's first interchangeable zoom lens, in 1959.^[5]

The Voigtländer camera and lens age can be determined by the serial number on the lens. See this Voigtländer lens serial-number reference to date the original production year.

Lenses

• Collinear / Kollinear f/6.3
• Color Skopar
• Dynar f/5.5
• Dynaron
• Heliar f/4.5
• Lanthar
• Petzval portrait lens
• Radiar
• Skopar
• Skoparon
• Tele-Dynar f/6.3
• Voigtar f/6.3
• Zoomar

See here for dating the serial numbers of Voigtländer lenses.

Shutters

• Verschluss (1890), one of the first modern leaf shutters, with 4 blades

Cameras

Early cameras

• 1840: Daguerreotyp-Apparat zum Portraitiren
• 1890: Reisekamera
• 1900: Reisekamera Typ A
• Reisekamera Tropical

35mm SLR

35mm RF, interchangeable lens

35mm folding

35mm fixed lens

* Vito B, small or big finder

120 box

120 folding

• Inos I (6×9)
• Inos II (6×9) (6.5x11)
• Jubilar (6x9)
• Virtus (4.5×6)
• Prominent (6×9)
• Bessa (prewar) (6×9)
• Bessa RF (6×9)
• Bessa I (6×9)
• Bessa II (6×9)
• Bessa 46 (4.5×6)
• Bessa 66 (6×6)
• Perkeo (6×6)
• Perkeo II (6×6)
• Perkeo E (6×6)
• Rollfilmkamera (6×9)

120 TLR

127 folding

• Perkeo (3×4)

Folding plate cameras

• Alpin (9x12 and 10x15) (1906-1928)
• Alpin Rapid (9x12) (1925)
• Metall-Heliar-Kamera (9x12) (1903-1920)
• VAG

Reflex cameras

• 1905 onward: Spiegel-Reflex-Kamera (various models and sizes, 1905-1925). Some of these were also named the Heliar Reflex
• 1908: Bijou ('Miniatur-Reflex-Kamera'; 4.5x6 cm)

Stereo cameras

• 1902: Stereoskop
• 1904: Stereophotoskop (4.5×10.7 cm plates)
• 1905: Stereo and Panorama Kamera (9×14)
• 1911: Alpin Stereo (10×15)
• 1912: Spiegelreflex-Stereo
• 1914: Stereflektoskop (4.5×10.7 and 6×13 cm)

Other plate cameras

• 1903: Scheren-Camera; 9x12 cm scissor-strut hand-and-stand camera

Zeiss Ikon / Voigtländer

35mm SLR

For the Icarex line, see Zeiss Ikon.

35mm fixed lens

• Vitessa 500 L / 500 S / 500 AE electronic / 500 SE electronic / 1000 SR

126 film viewfinder

• Bessy k/ak/as/s
• Vitessa 126 CS / 126 electronic / 126 S electronic

Voigtländer (Rollei)

35mm SLR

With 42mm screw lenses:

• VSL 2CX automatic (prototypes)

With Rolleiflex SL35 lenses:

• Vitoflex E (prototypes)

35mm rangefinder

• VF 101 (1974–76)
• VF 102 (1974, prototype)
• VF 135 (1976–80)
• VF 35F (1981)
• XF 35 (1981)

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Intermediate period

35mm

• Vito

• Vito CS
• Vito C-AF

Voigtlander Binoculars Serial Numbers Lookup

110 film pocket camera

• Vitoret 110 (1976–81)
• Vitoret 110 EL (1976–81)

Cosina and Ringfoto

Long after the demise of the original Voigtländer company, the brand was re-used by Ringfoto and Cosina.

Notes

1. ↑For example, Christie's in London sold a brass alidade by W. Voigtländer of Vienna (one of J.C. Voigtländer's sons) in June 2000. An alidade is a surveying instrument for measuring or marking the horizontal angle of sighted landmarks.
2. ↑Greenleaf, Allen R. Photographic Optics. Macmillan, New York, 1950. p67-8.
3. ↑Thus British Patent 18157 of 1897, Improvements in Photographic Objectives, is in the name of Friedrich, Ritter von Voigtländer, while US Patent 716035 of 1902, Lens, is in that of Voigtländer & Sohn Aktien Gesellschaft; both patents at Espacenet, the patent search facility of the European Patent Office.
4. ↑For example, Voigtländer binoculars at PBase.
5. ↑US Patent 2902901, Reflex camera varifocal lens, filed June 1958 and granted September 1959 to Frank Back personally, and German Patent 1094480, Pankratisches Objektiv für Aufnahme- und Wiedergabe-Zwecke (A Pancratic Objective for Taking and Projection), filed January 1959 and granted December 1960 to Voigtländer AG, citing Frank Back as the inventor; at Espacenet.

Links

• Voigtländer.de Manufacturer's site (German & English)
• Voigtländer Cameras Price Guide at CollectiBlend
• Extensive list of Voigtlander instruction manuals, PDF format, color - English at Orphancameras.com
• Voigtländer Camera Collection Good Overview, English & French

In French :

• Voigtländer page at Collection G. Even's site.

In German :

• lenses of Voigtländer on taunusreiter.de [1]
• Meine Voigtländer-Sammlung by Hans Lißberger
• Voigtländer on the German Wikipedia.

Leitz / Leica 'Binoculars' data courtesy of Peter Abrahams

• References: Leica Collectors Guide. Price list, Cat. No. 8187a, G-2/54-AMP, E. Leitz, NY (1954) Price list No. 41-1R5, 5M 6-61 (1961) Leitz Technishcher Katalog 1, Stand 1984. Catalogs: 1929 (M-1-29-B); 1911? (43J); 1931; Liste Fernglas 8528 VIII 53 DCX (1953) 1953 NY Price List and 1950 NY Price List