1920 to 1928 Company foundation While Reinhold Heidecke was working as a production manager at
Voigtländer 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 , a salesman and former colleague at Voigtländer. Franke was so enthusiastic he put up 75,000 M of his own money and went looking for more capital. After he secured additional funding of 200,000 M, 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 Viewegstraße 32, which became the company's 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 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 Voigtländer's product range, however, Franke and Heidecke did not want to look as if they were simply copying theirs. They purchased several Voigtländer units, and from what they learned by dismantling these, 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 leveraged for their own products. More importantly, they differentiated themselves from cheaper alternatives. The camera projected an image onto glass plates of dimensions 45 mm × 107 mm. The name
Heidoscop was chosen in part to remind the management at Voigtländer that they had restricted 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 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 plot of land on Salzdahlumer Straße, 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 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. Each of the four small cogs drove
rack and pinions (toothed rails) attached to the lens assembly. This system functioned perfectly, and, thanks to high-quality components, also for many years of service. Only the viewfinder and back of the camera, both made of aluminium, had to be handled with care, which remained the case until the camera went into production. One more prototype was produced in 1928, and then the big moment finally arrived: on 10 August, the first camera went into series production. Altogether, 14 units were made that year. Then, at 11am on Monday, 11 December, selected journalists were invited to a press conference in the festively decorated production area. Paul Franke put together press packs for the occasion, which led one magazine to publish a test report without ever actually handling the camera. Although Franke had forgotten to prepare sample photographs to distribute to the press, he neatly avoided this oversight by distributing empty, labelled cartons around the building, just for show.
1929 to 1950 New premises Demand for the new camera exceeded production capacity by a wide margin. Even though it was quite an expensive product, orders for 800 cameras were received in the first month alone. A
Rolleiflex fitted with a f/4.5 lens cost , with a f/3.8 lens it cost . This success made it possible to obtain credit to buy a new factory and thrive in the midst of the
Great Depression. In the old factory, a further 23,720 cameras were produced up until 1932. In 1930, the company moved into the new factory on Salzdahlumer Straße. It comprised two floors with a total area of , sufficient space to manufacture 20,000 cameras annually. Although the site was well served by public transport, it lay some distance from the city centre, so the company built a canteen and shop for its workforce, which now numbered 309 employees.
Babyflex Wilhelmine Heidecke, Reinhold Heidecke's wife, suggested building a "ladies camera" – a
Rolleiflex that used
35 mm film. This was the first
Rolleiflex to come on the market that used a crank handle to advance the film, a popular feature that emerged on the 6×6 model shortly thereafter. The
Rolleiflex 4×4 – known as the
Babyflex outside of Germany – used
127 format film and came in two versions with either a f/3.5 and a f/2.8 Tessar lens with a
focal length of 60 mm. Unfortunately, sales were disappointing, so production never resumed after the war. The company management believed that many Rollei photographers only made
contact prints from their negatives because they had no access to
enlargers. However, this was not practical in the case of the
Babyflex as the negatives were simply too small. As a result, it was not until 1957 that a new version came onto the market priced at 355
DM, firstly in grey, and later (from 1963) in black. By the time production ceased in 1968, over 67,000 units had been made. By this time few amateur photographers made contact prints any more, preferring instead to take 35 mm
transparencies (slides), which could be viewed on a
slide projector.
Studio camera In 1932, Salomon Kahn, the owner of the renowned
Fotostudios Kardas in Berlin, approached Rollei, asking if they could build him a large
Rolleiflex for the 9 cm × 9 cm film format. Kahn explained as a pretext, that his customers liked to keep the negatives because they had doubts about the durability of prints. Moreover,
roll film was much easier to archive than glass plates. In fact, Kahn had concealed the real rationale behind his request because Franke & Heidecke supported the
Nazi Party in order to get the workers they needed. Fearing the consequences of leasing to a Jew, the owner of his studio had already shut off his water supply. This meant that Kahn had to develop his negatives at home, whereby roll film was easier to transport than plates. A roll film camera would also facilitate house calls. Having built a small
Rolleiflex, the obvious next step was to make a larger version. Indeed, the slogan "you see what you get" had already been envisaged for it. Such a camera would make studio work more straightforward; at that time, the photographer had to stoop under a black cloth to adjust the camera, and then address the subject from this awkward position. Nevertheless, after the failure of the
Babyflex, the company proceeded with caution by initially building some prototypes. One was delivered to Kahn, and the others were shipped abroad in pairs – one to be retained by the importer as a demonstration unit, the other to be delivered to a reputable studio. The project was eventually abandoned after Salomon Kahn was arrested and nobody else showed any interest in the studio camera. Of the 14 prototypes that were built, one still exists: it currently belongs to the Municipal Museum of Braunschweig.
Rolleicord In 1933, the
Rolleicord, a cheaper version of the
Rolleiflex, came onto the market. It had simpler Zeiss Triotar Lens, a steel back-plate, and a knob instead of a handle for winding on the film. The
Rolleicord 1 cost ; altogether 2,699,505
Rolleicords were manufactured until production ceased in 1976. The later models (III - VB) uses
Schneider Xenar lenses that have better optics.
Rolleiflex Automat The release of the
Rolleiflex Automat in the middle of June 1937 marked another significant milestone for Franke & Heidecke. Prior to this, after taking a picture, two separate steps were required to advance the film and cock the
shutter. The
Rolleiflex Automat combined the two, whereby advancing the film automatically cocked the shutter. Not only did this innovation speed up the whole process, it also eliminated accidental
double exposures resulting from inadvertently forgetting to wind on the film. It also had a film-feeler mechanism that automatically started the counter, so no red window was needed. The
Rolleiflex Automat won the Grand Prix award at the Paris
World's Fair in 1937, which generated a lot of interest. The company founders we so taken with their new creation that they immediately commissioned the construction of a second factory. The new factory, comprising three floors with a combined production area of , provided sufficient space to house a further 700 workers. It was completed in 1938, and by the end of that year the 300,000th camera had come off the production line. In retrospect, Reinhold Heidecke regarded the
Rolleiflex Automat as his favourite camera.
World War II During
World War II, the company was required by the
Nazis to support the
war economy. As a result, Rollei was unable to develop any new models from 1940, and production of its stereo camera finally came to an end. Rollei also suffered massive losses resulting from its inability to collect monies owed by debtors from "enemy states". Furthermore, bureaucratic formalities and controls hindered exports to neutral countries. This situation, combined with the collapse in overseas trade, forced Paul Franke to reduce the workforce to 600 people.
Armaments production Alongside its renowned cameras, Rollei – like its neighbour
Voigtländer – was now engaged in the manufacture of equipment deemed important to the German war effort: precision optics for
binoculars,
periscopes,
telescopic sights (for
sniper rifles, for example), and
theodolites for directing
artillery. Although these products consumed the bulk of the companies resources, some regular product development was still possible, and work on
tempered glass lenses as well as
flash synchronization continued, albeit on a small scale. The cameras were used inter alia in military
reconnaissance. As Braunschweig was one of the centres of the German
armaments industry, it was subjected to frequent, sometimes heavy
aerial bombardment, which seriously damaged the city. On 1 and 15 January 1944, and again on 13 August, Rollei too suffered air raid damage to its factories. By the time the war ended on 12 April 1945, almost 65% of its plant and machinery had been destroyed.
The post-war period After the war, Braunschweig ended up in the
British occupation zone. The allied occupying forces wanted Rollei to survive as a company, even helping it procure lenses from Zeiss, which had ended up in the
Soviet occupation zone. Franke & Heidecke started over with 72 workers, and by Christmas 1945 the workforce had grown to 172 employees. Everything the company made in 1945 was delivered to the
British Ministry of Defence. The difficult supply situation forced Rollei into using lenses from the West German manufacturer Schneider as well. However, this was not a problem as Schneider's quality control was equal to that of Zeiss. Paul Franke's untimely death in the spring of 1950 had serious consequences for the company though. Not only did his passing mark the end of an era for Rollei, the loss of his business acumen also led the company to the edge of ruin on more than one occasion.
1950 to 1963 – Horst Franke era The golden era After Paul Franke's death, his son Horst Franke succeeded him. Overall, he proved to be less effective as a manager than his father. In particular, he lacked the flexibility required to adapt to changing circumstances; for example, he failed to reduce the workforce in difficult times, whereas Paul Franke had done so immediately at the onset of the war. To begin with, Rollei had no real competition, which yielded ever increasing sales of its cameras. In the 1950s, almost every press photographer owned a
Rolleiflex, and quite a few amateurs did as well. The camera was so popular that it bred over 500 imitations, more than half of them from
Japan. The factory grew rapidly; by 1956 – the year the millionth camera was sold – the workforce numbered 1600, and by 1957 the workforce had grown to 2000 employees.
Development of the Rolleiflex Hans Hass, the underwater diving pioneer, approached Franke & Heidecke to see if they could make him a special housing suitable for
underwater photography. As a result, Rollei developed the
Rolleimarin, an ingenious underwater camera housing rated for depths up to 100 m. It was made from two
cast metal parts. The top part contained a glass prism that was attached to the camera's
focusing screen. There were also knobs on top of the housing for adjusting the exposure and aperture settings. On the bottom, left-hand side of the housing was the focusing knob, and on the right-hand side, the winding handle and a frame counter. There was also a filter turret. A special flash bulb could be attached for flash photography, in which case a battery pack had to be installed inside the housing. Of course, a viewfinder frame could also be screwed onto the housing. Although there were many imitators, none could match the quality of the original
Rolleiflex – that is, until the
Mamiya C-Series from Japan appeared in 1956. Mamiya initially offered three sets of interchangeable double lenses for it: normal, telephoto and wide-angle. Later on, additional double lenses with focal lengths of 55 mm and 250 mm were introduced; one even had a dimmable viewfinder lens, which enabled
depth of field adjustment through the viewfinder. By comparison, the
Rolleiflex only had a single, fixed
normal lens, although the Rollei
Magnar tele-converter lens with 4× magnification was available as an accessory. This could be attached to the front of the primary lens while a mask (which did not magnify the image) was placed over the focusing screen. In addition, Zeiss offered two double lens converters which attached to the viewfinder filter bayonet and the primary lens bayonet. The 5-element
Mutar tele-converter magnified 1.5×, weighed 327 g and could render an image accurately in the viewfinder up to a distance of 4m from the object. The 4-element
Mutar wide-angle converter magnified 0.7×, weighed 437 g and could render an object accurately from a distance of 1 meter. In all cases, for the best image quality, closing down the aperture two stops was recommended. This explains why conversion lenses of this type were only regarded as a makeshift solution in comparison to fully interchangeable lenses. In response to the challenge from Mamiya, Rollei created a camera comparable to the
C Series and gave it to photojournalists to test. Although they were enthusiastic, Rollei did not believe – much to the astonishment of industry experts – that it could manufacture removable lenses with the required precision. Instead, as a compromise, the company introduced in 1959 the
Tele-Rolleiflex with a Zeiss
Sonnar f/4, 135 mm lens. This camera was particularly well-suited to
portrait photography. Meanwhile, plans for another model with a 150 mm lens were abandoned. The
Wide Angle Rolleiflex (also known as the
Rolleiwide) with an f/4, 55 mm lens followed in 1961. It only remained in production until 1967, which today makes it one of the rarest
Rolleiflex cameras – excluding special editions. Its main advantage lay in its ability to photograph large crowds at heavily attended events. Reinhold Heidecke kept on making new cameras right up until his death in 1960, although no one bothered to admonish him over the development costs any more. One of his projects was the
Magic, which required several expensive machine tools to be built – expenditure that could not be justified relative to the small number that were produced. In contrast,
Agfa preferred the opposite approach, of always developing as many models as possible from an existing camera housing. The
Magic, although intended for amateur photographers, was relatively expensive at 435 DM. It featured an automatic exposure control system driven by a coupled
selenium light meter which could select shutter speeds from 1/30 sec to 1/300 sec and apertures from f/3.5 to f/22. There were only two manual controls: one for focusing, the other for selecting either a
shutter speed of 1/30 sec (for flash photography), or
Brief (for long-exposure
night photography). Its successor, the
Magic II, cost 498 DM and also featured manual exposure control.
TLR accessories Some accessories manufactured for Rollei TLRs: • '''': A set of close-up lenses, in three magnifications (Rolleinar 1, Rolleinar 2, and Rolleinar 3). A pair of Rolleinar lenses are placed on both the viewing and taking lenses. • '''': A soft focus lens for the taking lens only available in two grades, "0" and "1", which softens the definition and produce striking halo effects, particularly when used with back lighting. The Rolleisoft lens has concentric circles ground in groves and is used principally for portraiture. • '''': Instead of screwing the camera body to a tripod, this tripod head clamps down on the TLR. • '''': Rollei's polarizing filter. • '''': Allows the use of 35 mm film. • Rollei panorama head: Attaches the camera to a tripod, and enables the photographer to take a series of aligned pictures to create a panoramic photo in an arc up to 360°. • Rollei pistol grip • '''': underwater housing.
The situation around 1960 By the end of 1950s, the market for twin-lens medium format cameras had gradually become saturated. More and more amateur photographers and photojournalists were using 35 mm format cameras, while studio photographers preferred single-lens medium format cameras. Although they were more expensive, single-lens cameras offered
film holders, which could quickly be swapped (an assistant loaded the film), as well as interchangeable lenses.
Hasselblad was the market leader in this segment. The Swedish company introduced their first camera, the
Hasselblad 1600F, in 1948. However, this model was regarded as being technically inferior because its shutter was unreliable. To solve this problem, the
1000F was released in 1952 with a reduced shutter speed range, but the
focal-plane shutter was still prone to failure. While it was no threat to the fully developed
Rolleiflex to begin with, that situation changed when the legendary
Hasselblad 500C featuring a Compur
leaf shutter appeared in 1957. The management of Rollei under Horst Franke were caught napping, having failed to produce a camera that could match the latest Hasselblad. As a consequence, sales plummeted and the company got into financial difficulties. In the end, Horst Franke relinquished his position as general manager.
New products In 1960, Rollei introduced its first
slide projector, the
P11. It included two slide trays: the left-hand tray was for 35 mm (5 cm×5 cm) slides, the right-hand tray was for medium format (7 cm×7 cm) slides. The
Rollei Universal Projector sold for 398.60 DM, plus 97.50 DM for a standard lens. The
P11 remained in production until 1978; many more projectors were subsequently added to the range, providing a major boost to Rollei's turnover. In 1963, Rollei introduced the
Rollei 16, Above all, there was no longer any need to alternately load the slides into two magazines. The
P3800 was made in Singapore starting from 1980 and cost 1,000 DM. Several successors followed, including the
Rolleivision 35 twin (1986), MSC 300/300P (1995–1998), MSC 310/320s/330P (1998–2003), MSC 315/325P and 535P (2003–2014); the final generation of
Rolleivision twin projectors also includes the 535P, a "P"rofessional (or "P"rogrammable) version which uses 250 watt bulbs.
Rolleimatic The
Rolleimatic was the last new camera to go into production before Rollei went bankrupt. It was conceived as a 35 mm viewfinder camera of new design that would be (almost) as easy to use as cameras that used
Instamatic film cassettes, but delivering better image quality. Planning started in 1977 and the cameras were manufactured between June 1980 and September 1981. The
Rolleimatic was released onto the market without being subjected to the extensive testing that was usual, with the result that it suffered from unreliability, just like the
SL35 E had before it. Rollei's bankruptcy brought production to an early end.
Under Nord/LB management Perzak's behaviour became increasingly erratic; in an attempt to save the factory at Uelzen, he got
Kaiser Fototechnik in
Buchen to develop an
enlarger, which Rollei sold as the
Rolleimat Universal. Although it was extremely popular, the market for amateur photo-laboratories was much too small to make any difference to Rollei. Furthermore, for some obscure reason, he purchased
tripods and 35 mm lenses from Japanese companies, fixed focal length lenses from
Mamiya, and zoom lenses from
Tokina – even though Rollei had enough spare production capacity in Singapore to make them all itself. With the new
Rolleinar 35 mm lenses, Rollei was finally able to match the range of focal lengths offered by its competitors. On top of that, Peperzak cancelled Rollei's appearance at
photokina 1978. In the end, he left Rollei on 28 February. The
Norddeutsche Landesbank (Nord/LB) then appointed Heinz Wehling to manage the company on 1 March 1978. So, Rollei was able to exhibit at photokina after all, but not in its customary location – that had already been allocated. He negotiated a contract with IEC, the
Industria De Equipamentos Cinematograficos S. A. in São Leopoldo, Brazil to manufacture Rollei slide projectors and enlargers under license. Unfortunately, Wehling was no more successful than his predecessor; in particular, he remained committed to 35 mm SLR cameras, even developing a new camera for the range, and steadfastly refused to close the factory in Singapore. Rollei was now perilously close to bankruptcy, so the search began for a new owner.
Hannsheinz Porst Obviously, the new owner could not be a Japanese company. Since neither
Agfa,
Kodak nor
Zeiss were interested,
Deutsche Fotoholding GmbH, a company founded by , took over 97% of
Rollei Germany on 1 April 1981, with the option of purchasing 75% of Nord/LB's share of
Rollei Singapore in 1982. The chairman of Nord/LB's board of directors greeted this event with the words, "Thank goodness, I am finally rid of Rollei...". The takeover by Hannsheinz Porst was met with universal astonishment as his own company '''' was already in trouble. Also, many wondered who, actually, was behind the holding company. Rumour had it that Agfa had taken a share in order to avoid restrictions from the
German Federal Cartel Office. The management of Rollei was shared between
Otto Stemmer, a former employee of Agfa who became the technical director, and Hannsheinz Porst, who became chairman of the board. Porst announced his strategy for the company: • withdrawal from the pocket camera market, which was declining rapidly • avoid the bottom end of the market • 35 mm viewfinder cameras • 35 mm and middle format cameras for the top end of the market • slide projectors • advanced flash units • no more Rollei
Super 8 cameras, which were hardly selling anyway Yet nobody took much interest as all confidence in Porst, Rollei and Nord/LB had already been lost. Hannsheinz Porst was especially disappointed when he failed to gain the support of the photographic trade. As a result, Rollei's turnover declined by 20% from March 1981. In addition, the Yen and the Singapore Dollar had appreciated strongly in value, which significantly increased the cost of the products that Peperzak had earlier contracted to import from Asia. Mired in debt and close to bankruptcy, Porst finally filed an application on 3 July 1981 in the District Court of Braunschweig to put Rollei into
voluntary administration. The court-appointed administrator announced that Rollei's professional products and services division would be retained, that production would continue until the end of September, and that some employees would be laid off in October. The estimated value of Rollei's unsold inventory was put at about 100 million DM. An advertising campaign was mounted to sell the remaining stock, and advertisements were placed in photographic magazines highlighting the fact that this would be the last opportunity to buy accessories for older Rollei cameras. The rights to the
Voigtländer brand name were sold to the
Plusfoto Group for 100,000 DM. Some 700 employees were still working for Rollei in 1981.
1982 to 2003 – Rollei Fototechnic / USH / Mandermann / Samsung / Dume / Capitellum era New owners On 1 January 1982, Rollei split into three separate companies:
Rollei Deutschland GmbH assumed responsibility for disposing of the remaining stock and servicing its former products, while
Rollei Gebäude GmbH together with
Nord/LB, its largest creditor, took over its properties and the management of its former production facilities. A new company called
Rollei Fototechnic GmbH employing 380 workers manufactured, sold and (until 1 July 1983) serviced a "rationalised" range of cameras, lenses and slide projectors. This company, which had nothing more to do with the former Rollei company up until the takeover of its "leading designs", was 100% owned by
USH (
United Scientific Holdings). The London-based
USH was founded after the war to manufacture
optoelectronic instruments. Rollei initially made contact with USH through its Singapore subsidiary,
Avimo Ltd. The intention was to collaborate in the development of products for the German military. As a result, Rollei began to make 7×42 binoculars, otherwise
USH exerted no influence over Rollei's camera product line. Rollei simply made the products and received test and measurement instruments from
USH in return – equipment that it would otherwise have built itself. Consequently, collaboration with
USH proved to be extremely beneficial to Rollei.
Rollei Fototechnic GmbH concentrated on system cameras, which were still made in Braunschweig, and slide projectors, which were made in Singapore until 1983. After that, production of slide projectors was transferred back to Germany so that they, too, could be marketed under the catch phrase "
Made in Germany". The
P801 slide projector was initially made by in Italy, but its successor, as expected, was also made in Braunschweig. These products were manufactured in leased premises within Rollei's former factory. Only a quarter of the available space was required; the remainder was utilised by companies unconnected with the photography industry. After ''USH's'' strategy to manufacture for the military market failed, Rollei was sold to on 10 June 1987 for the symbolic price of 1 DM together with 14 million DM in debts. Mandermann was a German photographic industrialist, who had owned
Schneider Kreuznach since 1982. The firm followed the rangefinder trend and introduced the
Rollei 35 RF in 2002. Yet the
35 RF was neither developed by Rollei, nor was it based on any of the earlier variants of the
Rollei 35. Instead, it was derived from the
Cosina Voigtländer
Bessa R series of rangefinder cameras; The Rollei 35 was nearly identical to the camera sold as the
Voigtländer Bessa R2. Like the Voigtländer Bessa R-series and
Zeiss Ikon cameras from Cosina, it utilised a bayonet lens mount derived from the
Leica M3. Rollei offered three lenses of its own design made by
Zeiss. The
Rollei 35 RF is no longer in production, and it appears that not many were sold.
DHW DHW Fototechnik (founded in 2009 by Rolf Daus, Katherina and Hans Hartje and Frank Will) in Braunschweig a revised Rolleiflex FX-N TLR, and the
DHW Electronic Shutter No. 0 HS1000, which was based on the former
Rollei Electronic Shutter. The
Rolleiflex 6008 AF and
Rolleiflex 6008 integral 2, the
X-Act2 camera, the
Rollei 35, and the
Rolleivision projectors were continued to be sold as well. In 2014, DHW filed for insolvency and was dissolved in April 2015.
DW Photo After DHW's insolvency and asset sales, the same management team started the business again with a further reduced number of employees under the name DW Photo. The manufacturing of TLRs and projectors has been dropped to concentrate on the Hy6 system. == Product overview ==