WThe ADOX brand for photographic purposes has been used by three different companies since its original conception over one hundred fifty years ago. ADOX was originally a brand name used by the German company, Fotowerke Dr. C. Schleussner GmbH of Frankfurt am Main, the world's first photographic materials manufacturer. In 1962 the Schleussner family sold its photographic holdings to DuPont, an American company. DuPont used the brand for its subsidiary, Sterling Diagnostic Imaging for X-ray films. In 1999, Sterling was bought by the German company Agfa. Agfa did not use the brand and allowed its registration to lapse in 2003. Fotoimpex of Berlin, Germany, a company founded in 1992 to import photographic films and papers from former eastern Europe immediately registered the brand and today ADOX is a brand of black and white films, photographic papers and photochemistry produced by ADOX Fotowerke GmbH based in Bad Sarrow near Berlin.
WThe Arri Group is a German manufacturer of motion picture film equipment. Based in Munich, the company was founded in 1917. It produces professional motion picture cameras, lenses, lighting and post-production equipment. Hermann Simon mentioned this company in his book Hidden Champions of the 21st Century as an example of a "hidden champion". The Arri Alexa camera system was used to film Academy Award winners for Best Cinematography including Hugo, Life of Pi, Gravity, Birdman, The Revenant and 1917.
WFreitaler Kameraindustrie Beier & Co was an East German camera manufacturer from 1923 to 1989. Woldemar Beier (1886-1957) opened a camera factory in Freital on 1 April 1923, initially producing plate cameras of wood, then aluminium from 1929, 35mm cameras from 1932 and single lens reflex from 1938. In 1941 the factory converted to production of parts for bombers and submarines. In 1945, the machinery was moved to Ulyanovsk, but production resumed in Freital with a variety of small items such as potato peelers, pots and cigarette rolling machines. Camera production resumed in 1949. The company was part nationalised in 1959 and fully nationalised in 1972, when it was renamed VEB. Beirette compact cameras were produced from 1958 to the 1989, when production became part of the Praktica range. Several versions were sold as the Boots Beirette.
WBerlebach Stativtechnik from Mulda, Saxony in Germany, is a manufacturer of Tripods and Monopods for Photography, Telescope and Surveying made from ash.
WBraun GmbH is a German consumer products company founded in 1921 and based in Kronberg im Taunus. The company is particularly well known for its industrial product design from the mid-20th century which included electric shavers and record players.
WCewe is a German photographic processing company based in Oldenburg. It was founded in 1961.
WRollei was a German manufacturer of optical instruments founded in 1920 by Paul Franke and Reinhold Heidecke in Braunschweig, 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.
WEuropean Pressphoto Agency B.V. is an international news photo agency.
WFranka Kamerawerk was a manufacturer of camera equipment situated in Bayreuth, Germany. It was founded by Franz Vyskocil in 1909. Company was known under several names during its life: Vysko-Fabrik Franz Vyskocil; Weigand & Vyskocil; Frankonia-Kamerawerk; Hogaschwerk; Franka-Kamerawerk. By 1958 Franka had 154 employees and production of 650,000 cameras.
WC. P. Goerz was founded in 1886 by Carl Paul Goerz. Originally, it made geometrical drawing instruments for schools. From 1888 it made cameras and lenses. During the First World War, Goerz's main production was for the German and Austrian military. Goerz is known primarily for Anschütz strut-folding cameras, Dagor lenses and Tengor, Tenax cameras, and Minicord subminiature camera. C. P. Goerz also made a series of telescopic sights for sporting rifles that saw some use during the shortage of military sniping rifles experienced during the early stages of the trench warfare that was to characterise much of World War I.
WHama GmbH & Co KG is a German distributor of accessories specialising in a number of areas including photo, video, audio, multimedia, computer and telecommunications. The company also acts as a distributor of various product ranges. Hama employs around 2,500 people worldwide, 1,500 employees work at the headquarters in Monheim, Bavaria, Germany. Hama is represented by 17 subsidiaries and numerous commercial agencies in Europe and beyond.
WThe Hofatelier Elvira was a photography studio in Munich founded by jurist and actress Anita Augspurg and friend photographer Sophia Goudstikker in 1887 and is notable as the first company founded by women in Germany. A branch also existed in Augsburg from 1891. They became especially famous for their work in the feminist movement.
WIhagee was a camera manufacturer based in Dresden, Germany. Its best-known product was the Exakta single-lens reflex camera.
WKamera-Werkstätten Guthe & Thorsch was a photographic equipment manufacturer based in Dresden.
WLeica Camera AG is a German company that manufactures cameras, optical lenses, photographic lenses, binoculars, rifle scopes and microscopes. The company was founded by Ernst Leitz in 1869, in Wetzlar, Germany.
WLeidolf was a manufacturer of optical equipment situated in Wetzlar, Germany. It was founded by Rudolf Leidolf in 1921, initially producing lenses for microscopes. In 1948 camera production was started and in 1962 the factory ceased operations. Leidolf is in no way related to Leitz, even though Wetzlar has been the historical location for both companies.
WLinhof is a German company, founded in Munich in 1887 by Valentin Linhof. The company is well known for making premium rollfilm and large format film cameras. Linhof initially focused on making camera shutters and developing the first leaf shutter, which became part of Compur.
WMinox is a manufacturer of cameras, known especially for its subminiature camera.
WORWO is a brand of black and white film products, made in Germany.
WPaul Teufel & Cie Photogerätebau is a Trading company for photographic and optical equipment and until the 1980s, manufacturer of enlargers and photo lab requirements in Stuttgart, Germany.
WPentacon is the company name of a camera manufacturer in Dresden, Germany.
WPlaubel is a German camera maker, founded in November, 1902, by Hugo Schrader, who learned the technology of cameras and lenses as an apprentice at Voigtländer in Braunschweig in the late 1800s before being employed by a Frankfurt camera and lens manufacturer and distributor, Dr. R. Krügener, whose daughter he married. Hugo Schrader and his wife elected to open their own business, Plaubel & Co., as distributors and makers of cameras and lenses, naming it after his brother-in-law because he thought Plaubel was easier to remember than Schrader.
WThe Plaubel Makina was a series of medium format press cameras. Makina cameras had leaf shutters and rangefinder focusing with collapsible bellows, except for the specialized 69W Proshift model.
WPraktica was a brand of camera manufactured by Pentacon in Dresden in eastern Germany, within the GDR between 1949 and the German reunification in 1990. The firm Pentacon was divided in mainly two parts and sold after German reunification. Schneider Kreuznach and Noble bought parts of it. Pentacon is a Dresden-based company in the optical and precision engineering industry, which was at times a major manufacturer of photo cameras. The name Pentacon is derived on the one hand from the Contax brand of the Dresden Zeiss Ikon Kamerawerke and Pentagon, because a pentaprism for SLR cameras developed for the first time in Dresden has this shape in cross section. Today's PENTACON GmbH Foto- und Feinwerktechnik is still based in Dresden. It is part of the Schneider Group, Bad Kreuznach. Pentacon is the modern-day successor to Dresden camera firms such as Zeiss Ikon; for many years Dresden was the world's largest producer of cameras. Previous brands of the predecessor firms included Praktica, Exa, Pentacon, Zeiss Ikon, Contax, Ica, Ernemann, Exakta, Praktiflex, and many more.
WRollei was a German manufacturer of optical instruments founded in 1920 by Paul Franke and Reinhold Heidecke in Braunschweig, 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.
WSachtler is a manufacturer of film and video camera support products and reporter lighting equipment. The company was founded in 1958 and was bought by Great Britain’s Vitec Group plc. in 1995.
WSchneider Kreuznach is the abbreviated name of the company Jos. Schneider Optische Werke GmbH, which is sometimes also simply referred to as Schneider. They are a manufacturer of industrial and photographic optics. The company was founded on 18 January 1913 by Joseph Schneider as Optische Anstalt Jos. Schneider & Co. at Bad Kreuznach in Germany. The company changed its name to Jos. Schneider & Co., Optische Werke, Kreuznach in 1922, and to the current Jos. Schneider Optische Werke GmbH in 1998.
WVoigtländer was a significant long-established company within the optics and photographic industry, headquartered in Braunschweig, Germany, and today continues as a trademark for a range of photographic products.
WWirgin was a German company which is still known for its brands Wirgin and Edixa, and for its camera types like the Edina, the Edinex or the Gewirette. It was based in the Hessian capital Wiesbaden and made a line of quite inexpensive 35mm SLRs from the 1950s to the 1970s, including the Edixa Reflex and Edixa-Mat Reflex. Wirgin was West Germany's main producer of SLRs with focal plane shutter. It also produced some of the lenses for its cameras, among them several M42 screw mount lenses.
WCarl Zeiss AG, branded as ZEISS, is a German manufacturer of optical systems and optoelectronics, founded in Jena, Germany in 1846 by optician Carl Zeiss. Together with Ernst Abbe and Otto Schott he laid the foundation for today's multi-national company. The current company emerged from a reunification of Carl Zeiss companies in East and West Germany with a consolidation phase in the 1990s. ZEISS is active in four business segments with approximately equal revenue, Industrial Quality and Research, Medical Technology, Consumer Markets and Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology in almost 50 countries, has 30 production sites and around 25 development sites worldwide.