The ISCO lens manufacturer was located in Göttingen, West Germany. ISCO, which stands for Iosif Schneider Optik, was a 35mm camera lens manufacturer that produced lenses in the Exakta and the M42 mounts.
The ISCO company has been producing lenses for cinema projectors and other high precision optical devices for the military and aviation.
They also continued the tradition and produced metal, chromed, zebra and partially plastic covered lenses. The company also produced lenses for the Wirgin Edixa camera maker, so it’s not unusual to find Edixa-Isco Göttingen lenses.
Since it was not an industrial scale manufacturer, ISCO produced only a limited number of lenses, which is why today they are very hard to find. Their quality both optically and mechanically is very good.
Check our ISCO lenses:
The 35mm ISCO-Gottingen Westron f3.5 is a somewhat rare wide angle lens made by ISCO. It is one of the smallest and lightest vintage lenses we've sampled. Most probably it was produced in the 1960s, but information is really scarce. The lens makes a good first impression on build quality and optics.
The Westron has a minimum focusing distance of 0.6m and it weighs 114g. Mount: M42; filter diameter: 49mm
The 180mm ISCO-Gottingen Edixa-Westanar f4.5 is a rare telephoto lens in the M42 mount. Its all chrome design suggests that the lens dates from the late 1950s, early 1960s. Both build and glass quality are excellent. The focus ring has a long and precise throw, while the blade system is a preset type with 21 blades. The front element can be unscrewed, which is an unusual feature. It also has a tripod mount. At f4.5 maximum aperture is very good for this type of lens.
The 180mm Edixa-Westanar has a minimum focusing distance of 1.8 and weighs 660g. Filter diameter: 52mm