01 as werkstatt f r feinmechanik und optik franke & heidecke ; rollei gmbh & co. kg owns the rights to the rollei brand since 2015 01 01 founder paul franke de and reinhold heidecke de headquarters hamburg germany formerly braunschweig products cameras and other optical equipment website www.rollei.com rolleiflex medium format camera . rollei german pronunciation la was a german manufacturer of optical instruments founded in 1920 by paul franke de and reinhold heidecke de in braunschweig a lower saxony and maker of the rolleiflex and rolleicord series of cameras . later products included specialty and nostalgic type films for the photo hobbyist market . originally named werkstatt f r feinmechanik und optik franke & heidecke the company renamed into rollei werke franke & heidecke gmbh in 1972 rollei werke franke & heidecke gmbh & co. kg in 1979 and rollei fototechnic gmbh & co. kg in 1981 . after being purchased in 1995 by samsung techwin 1 part of the south korean samsung group it was sold back to its internal management in 1999 . 2 in 2002 it was bought by a danish investment group and renamed rollei gmbh in 2004 . in 2005 2006 the company headquarters moved to berlin and the company was split into two different companies rollei gmbh in berlin owner of the rollei brand and selling various oem equipment and rollei produktion gmbh in braunschweig an equipment factory which became franke & heidecke gmbh feinmechanik und optik . following another restructuring in 2007 rollei was split into three companies . franke & heidecke gmbh feinmechanik und optik focused on the production of professional medium format cameras and slide projectors while rcp technik gmbh & co. kg in hamburg was responsible for rollei consumer products like re branded compact digital cameras in the european market and with the rcp technik verwaltungs gmbh owning the rights to the rollei and rolleiflex brands . finally rollei metric gmbh took over the photogrammetry business . 3 in early 2009 franke & heidecke gmbh feinmechanik und optik declared itself insolvent . 4 5 since 2009 rolleiflex medium format cameras rollei 35 and rolleivision slide projectors were being produced by the dhw fototechnik gmbh 6 7 a company founded by rolf daus hans hartje and frank will former franke & heidecke employees . 8 dhw fototechnik presented two new rolleiflex cameras and a new electronic shutter at photokina 2012 . 9 dhw itself filed for insolvency on 2014 08 15 10 and was dissolved in april 2015 11 12 thereby ending any further production of cameras lenses and accessories . as of 2015 the brands rollei and rolleiflex continue to be owned by the rcp technik verwaltungs gmbh . on 2015 01 01 the rcp technik gmbh & co. kg refirmed as rollei gmbh & co. kg to market digital consumer cameras and accessories under the rollei label in europe . 13 14 contents 1 overview 2 historical development 2.1 1920 to 1928 2.1.1 company foundation 2.1.2 stereo heidoscop 2.1.3 hyperinflation in germany 2.1.4 rolleiflex 2.2 1929 to 1950 2.2.1 new premises 2.2.2 babyflex 2.2.3 studio camera 2.2.4 rolleicord 2.2.5 rolleiflex automat 2.2.6 world war ii 2.2.6.1 armanents production 2.2.7 the post war period 2.3 1950 to 1963 horst franke era 2.3.1 the golden era 2.3.2 development of the rolleiflex 2.3.2.1 tlr accessories 2.3.3 the situation around 1960 2.3.4 new products 2.4 1964 to 1974 peesel era 2.4.1 reorganisation of the product line 2.4.2 rolleiflex sl66 2.4.3 rollei 35 2.4.4 rolleiflex sl26 2.4.5 rolleiflex sl35 2.4.6 rollei 35rf 2.4.7 flash units 2.4.8 super 8 2.4.9 uelzen 2.4.10 viewfinder cameras 2.4.11 singapore 2.4.12 voigtl nder 2.5 1975 to 1981 peperzak wehling porst era 2.5.1 downsizing the company 2.5.2 rolleiflex slx 2.5.3 dissolve projectors 2.5.4 rolleimatic 2.5.5 under nord lb management 2.5.6 hannsheinz porst 2.6 1982 to 2003 rollei fototechnic ush mandermann samsung dume capitellum era 2.6.1 new owners 2.6.2 rolleiflex sl2000f 2.6.3 rollei metric 2.6.4 classic project 2.6.5 rollei 35 rf 2.6.6 prego cameras 2.6.7 single lens medium format systems 2.7 2004 to 2015 new franke & heidecke rcp technik dhw era 2.7.1 break up 2.7.2 new owners 2.7.3 dhw 3 product overview 3.1 medium format 3.1.1 system 6000 3.2 35 mm 3.3 rollei subminiature cameras 3.4 digital 3.5 slide projectors 4 see also 5 notes 6 references 7 further reading 8 external links overview edit rollei was a german company that established a worldwide reputation with the rolleiflex a twin lens reflex camera that pioneered the use of roll film . rollei was founded in 1920 as the werkstatt f r feinmechanik und optik franke & heidecke in order to make a twin lens reflex camera . the company changed its name and legal form many times to rollei werke franke & heidecke in 1962 to rollei werke franke & heidecke gmbh & co. kg in 1979 to rollei fototechnic gmbh & co. kg in 1981 and finally to rollei gmbh in 2004 . in 2006 the headquarters of rollei gmbh were moved to berlin while production was transferred to rollei produktion gmbh currently franke & heidecke gmbh in braunschweig . the company underwent more radical restructuring in 2007 08 . the frequent name changes are an indication of a turbulent history after sales of the now obsolete rolleiflex declined the company expanded its production facilities and product range at the end of the 1960s beyond what a small company like rollei could manage . rollei s decision to start manufacturing in singapore in 1970 was regarded as a pioneering achievement by the photographic industry . unfortunately it also damaged the companies reputation as a german precision manufacturer . in 1982 after many failed attempts at restructuring the company finally achieved success by focusing on medium format cameras along with a few other products . surveying systems were added to the product range in 1986 and modern digital and compact cameras were included from 1991 . over the years many great photographers have used rollei cameras david bailey and diane arbus rolleiflex 3.5 f tlr with 75 mm f 3.5 planar brett weston rolleiflex sl66 and sl66e slr and helmut newton rolleiflex 2.8 gx amongst others . rollei cameras typically used carl zeiss or schneider kreuznach lenses as well as lenses manufactured by rollei based on designs by zeiss and occasionally lenses made by japanese manufacturers . historical development edit 1920 to 1928 edit company foundation edit while reinhold heidecke was working as a production manager at voigtl nder in braunschweig around 1916 he got the idea to manufacture a new type of roll film camera . however the company rejected his proposal because they thought there would be problems keeping the film perfectly flat . besides their current camera range which used conventional photographic plates was selling well . heidecke tried unsuccessfully to secure financing to start his own company so at the insistence of his wife he presented his concept to paul franke de a salesman and former colleague at voigtl nder . franke was so enthusiastic he put up 75 000 dm of his own money and went looking for more capital . after he secured additional funding of 200 000 dm they resolved to go into business together . in november 1919 they filed an application to register the company franke & heidecke which was entered into the german trade register on 1 february 1920 . in need of factory space they rented several rooms in a house at viewegstra e 32 which became the companies first headquarters . the house survived world war ii intact and stands to this day . other rooms in the house were used by a dancing school who had to abandon their dancing lessons because of noise from the factory . within a year franke and heidecke had taken over the entire building . by 1922 business was so good that they were able to take out a loan to purchase the property outright . stereo heidoscop edit to get the company going franke and heidecke decided to manufacture a stereo camera in the short term . cameras of this type were popular and reinhold heidecke was very familiar with them . as they were also in voigtl nder s product range however franke and heidecke did not want to look as if they were simply copying theirs . anyway they purchased several voigtl nder units and from what they learnt by dismantling them constructed the stereo heidoscop . it included two carl zeiss tessar lenses f 4.5 55 mm and mounted between them a carl zeiss super triplet f 3.2 viewfinder . at that time tessar lenses were widely regarded as the best available ; they were often used in the united states even though locally produced alternatives were available . zeiss had an excellent reputation world wide which franke & heidecke wanted to leverage for their own products . more importantly they wanted to differentiate themselves from cheaper alternatives . the camera projected an image onto glass plates of dimensions 45 mm x 107 mm . the name heidoscop was chosen in part to remind the management at voigtl nder that they had been mistaken in restricting heidecke in his work there . the heidoscop was a great success exceeding all expectations . in 1923 the company introduced a heidoscop for 117 format b1 roll film . it was from this product the roll film heidoscop that the name rollei was derived which later became the name of company . hyperinflation in germany edit rollei in braunschweig salzdahlumer stra e between 1914 and 1923 the period of hyperinflation in germany paul franke lived up to his reputation as a savvy financier he invested the income from exports in foreign currency so astutely that the company came through this difficult period unscathed a rather unlikely outcome if heidecke alone had made these decisions . during this period the company acquired new premises . the city council in braunschweig did not really want a noisy factory operating within a residential area and pressured the company to move its factory elsewhere . accordingly on 10 january 1923 the company purchased a 60 000 m plot of land on salzdahlumer stra e which at that time lay just beyond the city limits . hyperinflation had devalued the currency so much that the land purchase cost practically nothing . once the new factory had been built much was expected of the new camera . however paul franke proposed a temporary suspension of further development work because of the catastrophic economic situation . heidecke concurred believing that better times lay ahead . rolleiflex edit advertisement from 1920s the first prototype of the new camera named the rolleiflex was finally completed in 1927 ; it was built for absolute reliability and featured a rigid injection moulded housing made of aluminium . heidecke wanted to avoid conventional leather bellows for focusing the lens because of an earlier bad experience around 1916 he conducted an experiment with a kodak camera ; he left it in a cellar and when he later retrieved it he found that rats had eaten the bellows . this convinced him that a camera designed for photojournalism and operation in the tropics had to work perfectly which excluded components that might rot . he ruled out a cloth shutter curtain for the same reason choosing instead a compur mechanical shutter . focusing in the rolleiflex was achieved by moving the carriage that held both the viewfinder and the imaging lens i.e. the camera had so called metallic bellows ; that is the plate enclosed the sides of the case . it was crucial that the plate remained parallel as it moved during focusing ; to achieve this heidecke developed an ingenious design which proved to be highly successful . behind the imaging lens and surrounding the opening for the optical path was a large cogwheel which drove four smaller cogs located top left and right and bottom left and right .