Astro Berlin Pan-Tachar Primes

Our very first in-house lens project courtesy of No.9 Optics. The Pan-Tachar series was Astro’s landmark cine product, featuring a 4-element design. The iris design was round for a smooth fall-off of focus into the background, particularly for the longer focal lengths. Production of the Pan-Tachar series was disrupted during WWII, resuming again in the 1950s. The Pan-Tachar lenses were used to shoot Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and were utilised by Gregg Toland, ASC for several scenes of Citizen Kane.