14 and 12 researched events on one shared scale. Graflex 1887–present, Meyer-Optik Görlitz 1896–present.
The axis stretches where either maker has research and collapses where neither does, so a year sits opposite the same year on both. Event counts differ because research depth differs, not because one company did less.
William F. Folmer and William E. Schwing began in New York with metalwork, lighting and bicycles, then moved steadily into photographic goods. Their 1890 incorporation and camera offerings of the mid-1890s established the enterprise that would become one of Rochester's defining professional-camera makers.
Folmer & Schwing 1898 Catalog · A History of Rochester Camera and Lens Companies
Folmer & Schwing's own camera line emerged in the 1890s. The 1898 catalog presents Graphic, Graphic Senior, Cycle Graphic and stereoscopic cameras in several plate formats, alongside a broad lens trade. These compact field cameras supplied the name and practical folding architecture from which later Graphic systems grew.
Folmer & Schwing 1898 Catalog · A History of Rochester Camera and Lens Companies
William Folmer's reflex-camera work joined through-the-lens viewing to a focal-plane shutter. Kingslake dates the first experimental Graflex to 1898 and describes the decisive 1904 change to a dependable curtain with fixed-width apertures, a pattern that became the mechanical signature of Graflex reflex and Speed Graphic cameras.
A History of Rochester Camera and Lens Companies · Graflex 1906 Catalog
George Eastman purchased Folmer & Schwing in 1905 and moved the operation to Rochester. The organization became a Kodak division and later the Folmer-Century operation, bringing Century's view and Cirkut panoramic lines into the same professional-camera shop while William Folmer remained general manager through 1926.
A History of Rochester Camera and Lens Companies · Graflex Corporate History · Graflex 1920 Catalog
Auto, Revolving Back, Press, Naturalist, Series B, Series C, Series D and Home Portrait cameras turned the large-format reflex idea into a broad working system. Formats ranged from compact roll-film sizes to 5 x 7, with the mirror and hood giving photographers an upright, full-size image for focusing before exposure.
Graflex 1939 Product Catalog · Graflex 1941 Catalog · Major Graflex Products · Graflex 1920 Catalog · Graflex 1906 Catalog
The Speed Graphic placed Graflex's curtain shutter in a folding, direct-view camera. Top-handle, larger-board, Pre-Anniversary and Anniversary generations expanded lens choice and refined focusing and handling. By the 1930s and 1940s the camera had become closely identified with American news and military photography.
Graflex 1939 Product Catalog · Graflex 1941 Catalog · Graflex Graphic Model History · Graflex Speed Graphic 4x5 Press Camera · Graflex 1920 Catalog
A court-directed divestiture separated Kodak's professional-camera operation. The Folmer Graflex Corporation took over the assets and continued in Rochester, carrying forward Graflex, Graphic, Cirkut and studio equipment through the Depression and wartime production before the corporate name became Graflex, Inc. in the mid-1940s.
Graflex 1939 Product Catalog · Graflex 1941 Catalog · A History of Rochester Camera and Lens Companies · Graflex Corporate History · Graflex 1927 Catalog
The wooden Crown View was followed by the metal Graphic View and longer-rail Graphic View II. These cameras put generous rise, shift, swing and tilt into studio and location tools, sharing selected boards or adapters with Graphic cameras and giving architectural and industrial photographers a distinctly modern American view-camera option.
Graflex 1939 Product Catalog · Graflex 1941 Catalog · Major Graflex Products · Graflex 1958 Price List
Anniversary and military Graphics, the Combat Graphic, Super D and postwar Pacemaker series carried the company through wartime and into a changed press market. Institutions and working photographers valued robust construction, interchangeable holders and the ability to combine rangefinder, scale and ground-glass focusing on one body.
Dated in the sources as “1940s-1950s”. Decade wording normalized to its full calendar span for scaling.
Gottlieb's Life and Work · Graflex 1941 Catalog · Graflex 1958 Price List · Graflex Speed Graphic 4x5 Press Camera
Pacemaker Speed and Crown Graphics standardized the postwar folding platform, while the Century Graphic adapted its ideas to 2 1/4 x 3 1/4. Super Graphic and Super Speed Graphic added a revolving Graflok back, built-in rangefinding and electrical shutter features, carrying large-format versatility to the end of production.
Graflex Graphic Model History · Major Graflex Products · Graflex 1958 Price List · Graflex 1968 Product Catalog
Graflex acquired the Ciro camera line and sold Ciro-flex, Graflex 22, Graphic 35, Century 35, Stereo Graphic and Graphic 70 cameras. These 120, 35mm stereo and 70mm products widened the badge beyond Rochester's traditional reflex and press cameras, though several compact lines depended on acquired or imported manufacture.
General Precision Equipment acquired Graflex in 1956, and the company moved to a new Monroe Avenue plant near Pittsford in 1957. The catalog still centered on professional Graphic cameras, film holders and lighting, while product development reached toward lighter Super models and new medium-format systems.
Graflex 1958 Price List · A History of Rochester Camera and Lens Companies · Graflex Corporate History · Graflex 1968 Product Catalog
The XL replaced the folding bed with a modular medium-format body, dedicated focusing barrels and interchangeable roll, sheet and instant-film backs. Rangefinder, Standard and thin Super Wide Angle bodies accepted lenses from Zeiss, Schneider and Rodenstock, making the last Graflex camera system unlike its press-camera ancestors.
Singer's ownership carried Graflex cameras into the early 1970s, but camera manufacture ended in 1973 and tooling was sold to Toyo. The original manufacturing company did not continue as a camera maker; surviving cameras, manuals and the specialist community now carry the name's practical and historical continuity.
Optician Hugo Meyer and merchant Heinrich Schätze founded the Optisch-Mechanische Industrie-Anstalt Hugo Meyer & Co. in Görlitz in 1896. The workshop began with photographic optics, expanded beyond its first Löbauer Straße premises, and moved production to Biesnitzer Straße in 1901. Early Aplanat and Aristostigmat products established the firm's place in the Görlitz camera and optical cluster.
Hugo Meyer — Geschichte der Fotoindustrie in Görlitz · History: Meyer Optik 1896-today · Large Format Lenses from the Eastern Bloc Countries, 1945-1991 · 100 Jahre Plasmat — Photographie
Meyer acquired the Görlitz-based Optische Anstalt Schulze & Billerbeck in 1911 and absorbed its Euryplan line. Trioplan production is documented by the mid-1910s, although published dates and designer attributions conflict. The company also expanded into projection optics and products for the growing camera and cine markets.
History: Meyer Optik 1896-today · Large Format Lenses from the Eastern Bloc Countries, 1945-1991 · 100 Jahre Plasmat — Photographie
Former Carl Zeiss designer Paul Rudolph began collaborating with Meyer around 1920 on the Plasmat family. Doppel-Plasmat, Kino-Plasmat, Makro-Plasmat, and related designs extended Meyer's technical range, while OEM supply to Ihagee and other camera makers made interchangeable lenses a larger part of the business. Period evidence places the Trioplan, Euryplan, Aristostigmat, Plasmat, Primoplan, and Tele-Megor names within a varied catalog rather than a single system.
Hugo Meyer and Meyer Optik Görlitz lenses for Exakta · History: Meyer Optik 1896-today · Large Format Lenses from the Eastern Bloc Countries, 1945-1991 · 100 Jahre Plasmat — Photographie
The firm adopted the name Optische und Feinmechanische Werke Hugo Meyer & Co. in 1936. Civil photographic production gave way to military optical work during the war, and manufacturing was partly relocated. In 1945 the production equipment was removed to the Soviet Union as reparations, forcing a physical reconstruction of the works.
Hugo Meyer — Geschichte der Fotoindustrie in Görlitz · Large Format Lenses from the Eastern Bloc Countries, 1945-1991 · The Meyer-Optik Story
Production restarted on a small scale in 1946. The enterprise entered public ownership as VEB Optisch-Feinmechanische Werke Görlitz and was renamed VEB Feinoptisches Werk Görlitz in 1948. Archival balance-sheet holdings begin with the 1 July 1946 opening balance, while later histories describe the legal confirmation and name transition as a process rather than a single instantaneous event.
Hugo Meyer — Geschichte der Fotoindustrie in Görlitz · Saxon State Archive holdings: opening balances for Hugo Meyer & Co. and related photographic firms · Large Format Lenses from the Eastern Bloc Countries, 1945-1991 · Sechzig Jahre Meyer-Optik: Festschrift des VEB Feinoptisches Werk, Görlitz
The VEB installed antireflection-coating capability in 1952 and sold lenses under the Meyer-Optik product mark. Trioplan, Primoplan, Telemegor, Helioplan, and Primotar lines were joined or replaced by designs such as Lydith, Oreston, Orestor, Orestegon, and Orestegor. Period brochures show supply for several 35mm mounts and for Praktisix/Pentacon Six, while long telephotos used interchangeable rear adapters. A new Görlitz building with surface-treatment facilities opened in 1966.
Hugo Meyer — Geschichte der Fotoindustrie in Görlitz · Hugo Meyer and Meyer Optik Görlitz lenses for Exakta · Tele Megor and Telemegor — Hugo Meyer and Meyer Optik Görlitz · History: Meyer Optik 1896-today · Large Format Lenses from the Eastern Bloc Countries, 1945-1991 · Publicity for lenses for the Praktisix and Pentacon Six · Zeittafel DDR-Kleinbild-Wechselobjektive · Sechzig Jahre Meyer-Optik: Festschrift des VEB Feinoptisches Werk, Görlitz
VEB Feinoptisches Werk Görlitz was integrated into the Kombinat VEB Pentacon Dresden in 1968. Meyer-Optik markings continued during a transition, but Pentacon publicity and surviving objects show the old lens names and maker label being replaced around 1970-1971. Integration date, brochure date, and engraving date must therefore be recorded separately.
Saxon State Archive holdings: SED organization at VEB Pentacon, Feinoptisches Werk Görlitz · Hugo Meyer — Geschichte der Fotoindustrie in Görlitz · Hugo Meyer and Meyer Optik Görlitz lenses for Exakta · History: Meyer Optik 1896-today · Publicity for lenses for the Praktisix and Pentacon Six · Zeittafel DDR-Kleinbild-Wechselobjektive
The former Görlitz works continued manufacturing within Pentacon. Several Meyer calculations and mechanical platforms persisted as Pentacon or Pentacon Prakticar lenses, and export names could obscure origin further. Post-1970 serials do not form a dependable universal year sequence; low-number blocks can follow much larger serials, and model, mount, and barrel evidence become essential.
Hugo Meyer and Meyer Optik Görlitz lenses for Exakta · Large Format Lenses from the Eastern Bloc Countries, 1945-1991 · Publicity for lenses for the Praktisix and Pentacon Six · Zeittafel DDR-Kleinbild-Wechselobjektive
The Görlitz operation moved into the VEB Carl Zeiss Jena combine during the 1984-1985 reorganization. In 1990 it was separated as Feinoptisches Werk Görlitz GmbH and again shipped some Meyer-Optik-marked products. The short-lived company did not establish a competitive production base and the Görlitz works closed on 30 June 1991. Some 1990-1991 Meyer-marked large-format lenses were actually supplied from the Carl Zeiss Jena Saalfeld plant.
Hugo Meyer — Geschichte der Fotoindustrie in Görlitz · Hugo Meyer and Meyer Optik Görlitz lenses for Exakta · History: Meyer Optik 1896-today · Large Format Lenses from the Eastern Bloc Countries, 1945-1991
Koblenz-based net SE relaunched the Meyer Optik Görlitz name at photokina 2014 and marketed manual lenses through conventional sales and crowdfunding. The enterprise was a trademark revival rather than a continuation of the Görlitz factory. net SE filed for insolvency in July 2018 with multiple projects and customer obligations unresolved.
History: Meyer Optik 1896-today · net SE insolvent: the end of Meyer Optik Görlitz, C. P. Goerz and Oprema Jena? · Meyer Optik Görlitz is to be revived
OPC Optical Precision Components Europe GmbH acquired the Meyer Optik Görlitz trademark rights and design materials from the insolvent net SE or SEMI Verwaltung GmbH in December 2018, without assuming the predecessor's debts. OPC audited the inherited portfolio, rejected the modified Russian Somnium and modified Chinese Nocturnus lines, and released a rebuilt Trioplan 100 II in June 2020 followed by additional II-series lenses.
History: Meyer Optik 1896-today · Company history · Successful start to the year for Meyer Optik Görlitz · Meyer Optik Görlitz relaunched by OPC Optics following insolvency
A new Meyer Optik Görlitz GmbH began operating in 2021 within the OPC group, and a Hamburg lens manufactory opened that November. Official material describes optical-component production within the German group, German precision-mechanical suppliers, and hand assembly in Hamburg. Current products are manual-focus, full-frame lenses offered in several legacy and modern mounts. The current legal entity is registered in Hamburg; official group pages and a 2026 registry mirror should be reconciled before stating exact current ownership or control.
Manufactory: Handcrafted Camera Lenses Made in Germany · Trioplan 100 f2.8 II · Meyer Optik Görlitz GmbH, Hamburg · Company history · Meyer Optik Görlitz — a real company again · Legal notice · Frequently Asked Questions · Meyer Optik Görlitz — New manufactory in the heart of Hamburg · Legal notice
Read either maker on its own: Graflex · Meyer-Optik Görlitz
