rathenow photo microscope

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drspastic
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Jan 25, 2021 8:50 pm

rathenow photo microscope

#1 Post by drspastic » Mon Jan 25, 2021 10:05 pm

found this ad:

https://www.olx.bg/ad/otlichen-mikrosko ... 8qe1q.html

cant find much info about it. covered in dust, which can be a good sign some idiot hasnt scrubbed it with a brillo pad and kitchen cleaner to sell it.

anybody think its worth me getting it? the guy wouldnt let me turn up in person to inspect it, so could be trashed or maybe covid paranoia. he would do courier cash on delivery but wont know what im getting until too late

BramHuntingNematodes
Posts: 1538
Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2020 1:29 am
Location: Georgia, USA

Re: rathenow photo microscope

#2 Post by BramHuntingNematodes » Tue Jan 26, 2021 4:08 am

Boy I'd like to see one of those rathenow scopes all cleaned up, but I think it's a little far to ship here
1942 Bausch and Lomb Series T Dynoptic, Custom Illumination

dtsh
Posts: 977
Joined: Wed May 01, 2019 6:06 pm
Location: Wisconsin

Re: rathenow photo microscope

#3 Post by dtsh » Tue Jan 26, 2021 4:50 am

It's certainly an interesting looking scope and I'm curious.
Unless it's a super deal, I'd probably shy away and wait from something more common and preferably something you can inspect before buying. I don't know how common those are around there, something worth considering if it needs some parts or you want to expand later.
From what I can tell, it seems to have some sort of built-in film camera system in the round "kassette" in the elbow of the stand.

I've certainly bought a few microscopes untested, but the price and/or some guarantee of usability was typically a factor.

Scarodactyl
Posts: 2775
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2018 9:09 pm

Re: rathenow photo microscope

#4 Post by Scarodactyl » Tue Jan 26, 2021 5:46 am

That's neat--Rathenow is a (much) lesser known East German maker. They are (somehow?) related to the still-extant maker Askania, maybe mostly spatially at this point. Wish I knew kore than what everyone else does though.
There's little to no info about Rathenow or even the modern Askania scopes online. Askania apparently does some work for Zeiss so they must have some chops.

MicroBob
Posts: 3154
Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2016 9:11 am
Location: Northern Germany

Re: rathenow photo microscope

#5 Post by MicroBob » Tue Jan 26, 2021 8:20 am

Hi together,
ROW (Rathenower Optische Werke) was the new name of Emil Busch Optische Werke after 1945 in the GDR. Emil Busch hat a huge impact on worldwide optics industry by inventing lens grinding machines that allowed to produce precision lenses at a fraction of the cost of before. They were in the microscope business before 1945 and made nice instruments, but not in especially big volume and not at the forefront of technological development.
In the time of WW 2 Carl Zeiss Jena was the world leading company and everybody was carefully watching what the did and was done with them in the development of the war. Towards the end of the war it was decided that Jena would fall into th russian sector, but the american troops reached it first. Specifically 1 soldier reached it and asked the boss there to sign a letter that he was first to reach Jena! :lol:
The americans deported leading scientifical staff and management to their sector, but the russians stopped them from removing machines and more staff. The rest of the works and much of the staff was transported to Russia and took up production there (LOMO), in the first time using only Zeiss Jena designs. The GDR rebuilt the works and there was a big law suit with Zeiss in West Germany about the use of the name Zeiss (important to know for the microscopist, 2xZeiss). Zeiss Jena was the bis star company in the GDR, it brought hard currency and they were very proud of it. In the last years of the GDR they gave Zeiss Jena the control over the underdeveloped GDR microelectronics development.

So what became of Rathenow? They were a supplier for Zeiss Jena and basic school and routine microscopes were sold under this name. The school microscope KMC is a fairly nice travel microscope, even by todays standards and plenty here on german ebay, fetching only 15€ or so. I have on incident light ROW microscope, probably for university use, and it is of very basic build quality. Then I have an older routine microscope that is a bit basic but nicely build and incrediby heavy. Today Askania still offers old GDR designs among other products and is said to offer good service.

But where does the ROW Photomikroskop fit? No idea! It is kind of similar to the Zeiss West Phomi, but while Zeiss West had every option imaginable in finnest quality for the Phomi, ROW had a small objective range and nothing fancy available. Zeiss Jena still offered pre war designs in the 50s and didn't have a microscope with built in camera. These microscopes are fairly rare, perhaps ROW tried to enter the research instument market and was stopped by the governmental central economical system?

On the photos your instrument looks like the typical basement find. Not a barn find, but maybe with some mold here and there. As a collectors item it is nice. As a user it is ok but a quite special taste. :ugeek: As an instrument to base a full blown research microscope on it is limited. Perhaps you have a look at the Zeiss West Phomi/Universal range. As they are a bit bigger they are not that sought after and not expensice for what you get. And you can get the most exotic add-ons without having to look for ages.

Bob

drspastic
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Jan 25, 2021 8:50 pm

Re: rathenow photo microscope

#6 Post by drspastic » Mon Feb 01, 2021 10:35 pm

thanks for the info Bob, I think i dodged a bullet there. it looked interesting but at the end of the day i dont need more curios gathering dust. i am spending money instead on some barlows and camera adapter.
i know z jena for their camera gear and it was always my first choice for rugged holiday slr without the fear of my expensive gear getting stolen. for general use the images were just as usable as nikon, mamiya, etc.
many years ago i had a zenit microscope that introduced me to the hobby. totally useable and built like a tank

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