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Voigtländer

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The Voigtländer family lived for many years in a rural community near Blankenburg, which was part of the Duchy of Brunswick (Germany). Johann's father moved to Leipzig, where he married a mechanic's widow and acquired the orphaned workshop. Here, in 1732, Johann Christoph Voigtländer was born, who would later become the founder of the prominent Voigtländer photographic dynasty.

After graduating from university, Johann Christoph, like many of his contemporaries, traveled extensively to gain practical knowledge. In 1757, he secured a position in Vienna at a workshop specializing in the production of calculating machines and precision measuring instruments.

In 1763, he opened his own workshop focusing on the development of precision optical instruments, including microscopes. Johann Christoph wrote several scientific papers and gave lectures. His enthusiasm as an inventor was duly recognized. In 1763, Johann Christoph Voigtländer was honored with a protective decree from Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria, granting him the right to continue his experimental and commercial activities for the benefit of Austria. Given the unfavorable political situation in Austria at the time, this attention from the authorities was very timely.

One of his early optical instruments was the Camera Lucida, a prismatic device that allowed precise visual copying of distant objects onto paper. The first copying devices, partly made of wood, were short-lived and imprecise. Johann Christoph created a whole series of Camera Lucida instruments made entirely of metal. The fame of these instruments spread so widely that Emperor Francis I himself, who ascended to the Austrian throne at the time, praised them. Voigtländer's workshops received state support.

Johann Christoph Voigtländer passed away in 1797. However, his work continued through his wife and children: Christian Wilhelm Voigtländer (1768–1828), Johann Sigmund Voigtländer (1770–1812), and Johann Friedrich Voigtländer (1778–1858). The company, which had been granted the right to trade throughout Austria, expanded its production and diversified its product range.

In 1801, Johann Friedrich Voigtländer, the younger son of the founder, traveled to renowned workshops in Germany and England to gather new ideas, approaches, and technologies used in the optical field. After acquiring valuable experience in the production of optical glass, binoculars, and lenses, Johann Friedrich went to London in 1805, where he visited the leading optical enterprises of the country. There, he gained invaluable experience in glass calculations and polishing techniques, which were not yet known in Europe.

In 1806, after the death of his mother, Johann Friedrich returned to Austria and, in March 1808, opened his own business — Friedrich Voigtländer, Optik & Mekanik. The new optical company produced lorgnettes, monocles, eyeglasses, theater binoculars, etc., and enjoyed tremendous success not only in Austria but also throughout Europe.

In 1837, Johann Friedrich Voigtländer handed over the management of his company to his only son, Peter Wilhelm Friedrich Voigtländer, who by the age of 25 was already a mature, highly educated businessman. The trademark was renamed Friedrich Voigtländer & Co, and two years later it was changed to Friedrich Voigtländer & Sohn. The company continued to produce high-technology instruments, including telescopes, field glasses, and binoculars.

In 1839, Professor Joseph Maximilian Petzval, with the support of the Austrian artillery mechanics team, designed the portrait lens that came to be known as the Petzval portrait lens. This was the first lens created based on mathematical calculations with high light transmission lenses.

The next step was the design of the first Voigtländer camera. The device produced excellent results, as the high-light optics allowed exposure times of 2-3 minutes instead of the usual 20-30 minutes of the time. Despite the growing demand for cameras, the designer continued to improve the camera model, using the same Petzval F: 3.6 /147 mm lens.

In 1845, the decision was made to move production to Braunschweig, Germany, which at that time was a center of European technical civilization. The production of purely mechanical instruments, which had always been a significant part of the overall production output, was completely discontinued in 1850. From 1850 onwards, the company Friedrich Voigtländer & Sohn focused exclusively on the production of optical instruments, lenses, cameras, and binoculars.

In 1866, Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph presented Peter Wilhelm Friedrich Voigtländer with the Knight's Order of the Third Class, Orden die Eiserne Krone III Klasse, with hereditary rights.

The elder son, Friedrich Wilhelm Voigtländer, who had received excellent European education and studied the production techniques of major optical-mechanical companies, became the chief engineer of Friedrich Voigtländer & Sohn in 1872. In 1876, he took over the management of the company.

Unfortunately, Friedrich Wilhelm’s two sons died of diphtheria. The difficulties in selecting a successor affected the company's name. In 1898, the company was renamed in European style — Voigtländer & Sohn AG.

The development of optical technologies gave a powerful boost to the progress of photography, with lenses being developed with much higher optical parameters. Camera design became more compact. In 1894, Voigtländer & Sohn AG developed the design of their Anastigmat — Kollinear. In 1900, the Heliar was designed, two years earlier than the Tessar, and was an alternative to the Planar (1897) from competitor Carl Zeiss Jena.

With quality optics in hand, Voigtländer began actively producing its first “folding” cameras: “Alpin”, “Bergheil”, “Avus”, and others. For these types of cameras, light-sensitive materials used were plates of sizes: 6.5x9

**The History of Voigtländer**

Voigtländer was founded in Vienna in 1756 by Johann Christoph Voigtländer. The company initially produced optical instruments and lenses. In 1839, Voigtländer began manufacturing lenses and optics for cameras, and in 1840, it introduced the first all-metal cameras for daguerreotypes, the Ganzmetallkamera, with a high-quality Petzval lens. Voigtländer lenses were revolutionary for their time, as they were designed using mathematical calculations rather than empirical lens selection. The Petzval portrait lens had an exceptional aperture of f/3.6 for that period. The optical calculations were made by Hungarian professor Josef Maximilian Petzval (Petzval lens).

In 1849, a branch of the company was established in Brunswick, Lower Saxony, named Voigtländer & Sohn, Optische Anstalt (Voigtländer & Son, Optical Institute). Later, Voigtländer's headquarters moved to Brunswick.

In 1898, the family-owned Voigtländer became a joint-stock company. In 1925, Schering AG acquired a controlling stake in Voigtländer. In 1956, Schering AG sold Voigtländer to Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung, as well as Zeiss Ikon and the Zett factory in Brunswick. In 1965, Zeiss-Ikon/Voigtländer-Vertriebsgesellschaft was established. Sales declined, and on August 4, 1971, the Voigtländer factory, which employed 2,037 people, was closed. In 1973, the factory was sold in equal shares to Carl Zeiss, Rollei, and the government of Lower Saxony. Later, Rollei became the sole owner of the factory. The factory produced lenses for Zeiss Ikon and Rollei. In 1974, Optische Werke Voigtländer was liquidated, and Voigtländer Vertriebsgesellschaft mbH was established in its place. Rollei produced cameras under the Voigtländer brand at its Singapore factory.

In 1982, Rollei went bankrupt. The Voigtländer trademark was sold in 1983 for 100,000 marks to Plusfoto GmbH & Co. In 1997, Plusfoto transferred the trademark to Ringfoto. Voigtländer GmbH became a subsidiary of Ringfoto GmbH & Co. ALFO Marketing KG.

In 1905, the company released the popular "Alpine" camera among photography enthusiasts. From 1910, the "Berg Heil" and "Avus" film cameras were produced in large quantities.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the famous Heliar and Skopar lenses were produced.

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At Voigtländer, two seemingly very different but enterprising young men worked. One was Paul Franke, who began his career in 1900 as an office manager at Voigtländer. Over the following years, Paul advanced and became a sales manager in 1911. At that time (in 1906), the second young man, Reinhold Heidecke, described the idea of creating a new camera and in 1907 became a designer at Voigtländer. In 1911, Reinhold presented his idea at a meeting of photography enthusiasts. In 1916, he proposed organizing mass production of film cameras, but due to some technical issues, the idea was rejected and later forgotten. He then decided to leave Voigtländer and start his own production. Attempts to raise funds for his idea led him to Paul, who invested 75,000 marks and attracted another 200,000 from investors.

In 1919, they obtained a license, and in 1920 began working on their first camera, naming the company after the founders—Franke & Heidecke. They rented a few rooms for their production facilities, with a dance school located in the adjacent rooms. Within a year, Franke & Heidecke occupied the entire building, and in 1922 the company secured a loan to purchase its own building.

Initially, the company produced stereoscopic cameras. Heidecke was well acquainted with them from his work at Voigtländer. He created a camera with two Carl Zeiss lenses, named the Heidoscop. Initially, it used old-fashioned plates rather than film. The popularity of the camera led to the release of a new model. And in 1927, the revolutionary Rolleiflex was introduced.

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In 1930, the production of the medium-format "Bessa" camera began, and in 1931, the "Brilliant" camera was introduced. Voigtländer started producing small-format cameras relatively late—starting with the Vito camera in 1939.

After World War II, Voigtländer produced compact cameras such as the "Vitessa" (from 1953), "Dynamatic" (from 1960), and "Vitrona" (1963). The "Vitrona" became the world's first 35 mm camera with a built-in electronic flash.

In 1952, the company began producing the world's first apochromatically corrected lens for medium-format cameras—the 4.5/105 mm Apo-Lanthar. In 1959, production started on the world's first interchangeable zoom lens—the 36-82/2.8 Zoomar.

In the 1950s, production began on the medium-format "Bessa-II" camera, the rangefinder camera with interchangeable lens "Prominent," and the single-lens reflex camera with a central shutter "Bessamatic" (from 1957). Sales of such cameras declined, but the company's management paid little attention to this. In 1965, the TTL camera Ultra-Matic CS was developed. The Ultra-Matic CS became the last model produced by Voigtländer. The camera was complex, expensive, and unreliable, with only some Voigtländer lenses fitting it. By then, Pentax with the M42 screw mount had appeared, and sales of the Ultra-Matic CS were very sluggish, leading to its discontinuation in 1968.

In 1963, a prototype of the "Bessaflex" with an M42 screw mount and Carl Zeiss lenses was created. The camera sold well due to its high-quality optics.

In the mid-1960s, Voigtländer began losing price competition to Japanese manufacturers, followed by technical lag behind Pentax and Nikon.

In the 1970s, Rollei began producing Voigtländer cameras. The cameras were made with the same components and were identical in many aspects.

From 1999, Japanese company Cosina developed and manufactured products for Voigtländer. Under the Voigtländer brand, a series of rangefinder cameras called Bessa was produced, as well as optics for them. Since 2009, the medium-format Voigtländer Bessa III camera, a joint development of Cosina and Fujifilm, has been produced.

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