SOM Berthiot 1950s

Société d'Optique et de Mécanique Berthiot (SOM Berthiot) was a French manufacturer of optics and photographic lenses. They produced C and D mount motion picture lenses for professional and amateur use, as well as the Pan Cinor series of zoom lenses.

In 1958, SOM Berthiot received an award in the "Scientific or Technical Achievement" category from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The award was for the development of a high speed vari-focal photographic lens, the Pan Cinor B3 (the professional equivalent of the Pan Cinor 70 and 100 series).

Paillard was a major distributor for SOM Berthiot lenses and often advertised them alone or in conjunction with other Bolex products. Listed below are the standard mount, RX mount and zoom lenses manufactured by the company during the 1950s.

D Mount Lenses for 8mm Cameras

Lytar 12.5mm f/1.9 Standard focal length lens with focus ring.

Lytar 12.5 f/2.5 Standard focal length lens; fixed focus. It was commonly sold with the Bolex C-8S camera.

Lytar 13mm f/1.9 Standard focal length lens; fixed focus.

Pan Cinor 12.5mm-36mm f/2.8 zoom lens (HUPAN) A D mount zoom lens with an attached viewfinder. Introduced in 1954; sometimes referred to as the "Pan Cinor 36".

Pan Cinor 30 DV (10mm-30mm f/2.8) Introduced in 1958, the Pan Cinor 30 "Direct View" zoom lens had a built-in zoom lever and adjustable viewfinder. It was available in standard D mount with a zoom range of 10mm-30mm focal length.

C and RX Mount Lenses for H-16 Cameras

Cinor 10mm f/1.9 RX Wide angle lens; designed for H-16 reflex cameras.

Cinor 25mm f/0.95 A fast lens of standard focal length; normal C mount, for non reflex cameras.

Cinor 25mm f/1.4 RX Standard focal length lens; designed for H-16 reflex cameras.

Lytar 25mm f/1.8 Standard focal length lens; introduced as a lower priced lens than the "Cinor" series. Normal C mount with a focus range from 1.5' to infinity.

Tele-Cinor 75mm f/2.5 A C mount telephoto lens with a focus range from 3.3' to infinity.

Pan Cinor 20mm-60mm f/2.8 Zoom Lens with Viewfinder (PANCI) A C mount zoom lens with an attached viewfinder, introduced in 1953. The field shown in the parallax corrected viewfinder was coupled to the focal length distance of the lens.

Pan Cinor 70 (17.5mm-70mm f/2.4) Zoom Lens with viewfinder) Introduced in 1955, this lens offered a built-in viewfinder which offered through-the-lens viewing and framing of the subject. Pan Cinor 100 (25mm-100mm f/3.4) The Pan Cinor 100 was available in the same year, and offered an increased focal length of 25mm-100m, but at a slightly lower speed of f/3.4. It is otherwise similar in appearance to the Pan Cinor 70 (pictured above).

Pan Cinor 85 (17mm-85mm f/2) C mount The Pan Cinor 85 was introduced in 1959. It was designed for use with H-16 cameras. The attached viewfinder featured a split-image rangefinder focusing aid. Although it's similar in appearance to the earlier Pan Cinor series, it is identifiable by a black finish.