LA CINESCOPIE

André Van Remoortel (1893-1986) was an inventor, manufacturer and distributor of photographic equipment. He came from a Belgian family from Antwerp (in Dutch-speaking Belgium) who had settled in Binche (French-speaking Belgium) after the Belgian revolution (1830).

Van Remoortel graduated as a mining engineer from the University of Liege. After World War I, he moved to the United States to Hollywood, where he was successively operator, director and producer of commercial films. Back in Belgium, he settled in Brussels and founded in 1922, with the pilot and inventor Goldschmidt, the company "La Cinéscopie", with the aim of making and distributing microfilms for teaching purposes. In 1924 Van Remoortel invented the "Photoscopic", a camera that used a 135 film for an image format of 24x24 mm. The optics of the camera was supplied by O.l.P. (Optique et Instruments de Précision) of Ghent.

In 1929, he separated from his partner Goldschmidt after which he kept the company "La Cinéscopie" and continued to build the Photoscopic, a camera which remained on the market from 1929 to 1939 and of which about three hundred units were produced. After the Second World War, André Van Remoortel was no longer working in production and his attention was always focused on microfilm and its use for bibliographic purposes. He was Honorary President of the Mundaneum in Brussels (Centre des Archives currently located in Mons) and Chairman of the Association des Inventeurs Belges.

Three models of cameras designed and built by Van Remoortel have been identified:

"Photoscopic": 35 mm camera - 1924

All metal - Painted black - flat back
Film 135 in cassettes - format 24 X 24 mm - 50 frames
Rear loading
O.I.P optics, Gand, Labor f.3.5/45 mm
Helical focus, with a graduated white disc behind the shutter.
Iris diaphragm 3.5-25
shutter Pronto, T, B, 25,50,100
Galileo viewfinder placed laterally
Film transport with film advance by side puller

"Photoscopic": 35 mm camera - 1924 (Model put on the site)

All metal - painted black cracked - flat back
Film 135 in cassettes - format 24 x 24 mm - 50 frames
Loading by the back.
O.l.P. Gand optics, Labor f.3.5/45 mm
Helical focus, with a graduated white disk behind the shutter.
Iris diaphragm 3.5-28
Ibsor shutter, T,B, 1-150
Galileo viewfinder placed laterally
Film transport with rotary feed button

"Cinescopic": 35 mm camera - 1930.

All metal covered with leather - Rounded back
Film 135 in reels format 24 x 24 mm - 50 frames.
Bottom loading
O.l.P. Gand optics, Labor f.3.5/50 mm
Front focus
Iris diaphragm 3.5-22
Ibsor shutter, T,B, 1-150
Centrally placed Galileo viewfinder
Film transport with rotary feed button

Ref: Cameras from Belgium and Holland - 19ste ans 20ste century - 1991-1992 - Museum of Photography - Antwerp. p. 109-111.