It's a cool looking old lens, built in the mid 50's to mid 1960's as a telephoto for use in motion picture and/or for medium format film use. It could also be bought with common 35mm mounts. This one was a gift from a good friend, who found it in a pawn shop.
The glass in it would get about a 3 rating because it's full of some kind of stuff inside the glass, which I suspect is in the glue between the elements.
It still shoots beautiful images though, if the light is good and the aperture is set around f8 or tighter.
The hand wheel is the focus ring. The big knobby ring is the aperture. The small knobby ring moves back for drop in filters.
It's an old design with only two elements, one of which was flipped when I received it, making it so that it would not form an image. It's probably four elements, a "tessar" design with two glued doublets. I took it apart and experimented with the elements until I figured out the problem, then built a mount the correct length for the Nikon from a simple extension tube. I also have a Canon mount for it, that screws on the same extension tube.
It sold for around $750 when it was new.
Here's an interesting link about the company and their lenses.
Astro Berlin Fernbilde
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