Rollei
Rollei is a German manufacturer of optical instruments founded in 1920 by and in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, and maker of the Rolleiflex and Rolleicord series of cameras. Later products included speciality and nostalgic type films for the photo hobbyist market.
Originally named Werkstatt für 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, part of the South Korean Samsung Group, it was sold back to its internal management in 1999. 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.
In early 2009, Franke & Heidecke GmbH, Feinmechanik und Optik declared itself insolvent. Since 2009 Rolleiflex medium format cameras, Rollei 35 and Rolleivision slide projectors were being produced by the DHW Fototechnik GmbH—a company founded by Rolf Daus, Hans Hartje and Frank Will, former Franke & Heidecke employees. DHW Fototechnik presented two new Rolleiflex cameras and a new electronic shutter at photokina 2012. DHW itself filed for insolvency on 15 August 2014 and was dissolved in April 2015, thereby temporarily ending any further production of cameras, lenses and accessories. A new, smaller company called DW Photo was formed with reduced staffing, and more or less the same people leading the business; the manufacturing and sale of projectors and twin-lens reflex cameras, as well as that of the series 6000, was stopped, to concentrate on the Hy6 and accessories. A new battery and charger for owners of the 6000 series were however released to the market in 2019, as the original NiCd batteries could age prematurely.
As of 2015 the brands "Rollei" and "Rolleiflex" continue to be owned by the RCP Technik Verwaltungs GmbH. On 1 January 2015, 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.
Overview
Rollei was a German company that established a worldwide reputation with the Rolleiflex, a twin-lens reflex camera.Rollei was founded in 1920 as the Werkstatt für 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 2007/2008.
The frequent name-changes are an indication of a turbulent history: After the popularity of the twin lens reflex cameras declined, the Rolleiflex was supplemented with a variety of models. 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 company's 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, Brett Weston, and Helmut Newton, 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
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 and, mounted between them, a Carl Zeiss Super Triplet 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 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 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.Image:Rollei Karton.jpg|90px|left
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 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.