13 and 12 researched events on one shared scale. Linhof 1887–present, Wollensak 1899–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.
Valentin Linhof founded a Munich precision-mechanical workshop in 1887 and pursued metal camera construction while wooden plate cameras remained common. Early upright, square, stereo-panorama, and large plate cameras established the company’s long-running emphasis on rigid standards, controlled movement, and repeatable manufacture.
Historische Kameras · Linhof 1957 Product Catalog · Linhof History
Nikolaus Karpf entered the family firm, completed the Ur-Technika prototype in 1934, and refined the folding technical camera for production. The Technika name joined a protected metal body and drop bed with view-camera movements, creating the portable professional platform that would become Linhof’s defining product line.
The rebuilt Munich works introduced the Technika III in 1946 and developed coupled-rangefinder Super Technika versions for export during the 1950s. By 1957 Linhof offered 6×9, 4×5, and 5×7 bodies, the Technika Press, and the Aero Technika, supported by tested lenses from specialist German optical makers.
1956: Linhof Technika Press · Linhof 1957 Product Catalog · Linhof History
Linhof translated its precision-camera practice into the Kardan optical bench. Color, Bi, Standard, and Super Color versions placed movable standards on rails for long extension, format changes, and controlled perspective in studio, industrial, and architectural work, complementing rather than replacing the folding Technika.
Dated in the sources as “1950s-1970s”. Decade wording normalized to its full calendar span for scaling.
Linhof General Catalog 6603/52e · Historische Kameras · Linhof 1957 Product Catalog · Linhof History
Technika 70, Press 70, Aero Press, Electric 70, and the fixed-lens Linhof 220 explored faster roll-film work. Bright-frame finders, coupled lenses, exposure metering, motorized transport, and interchangeable backs carried Linhof precision into press, travel, aerial, and industrial photography beyond the classic 4×5 field camera.
Linhof General Catalog 6603/52e · 1966: Linhof 220 · Historische Kameras · Linhof Technika 70
Super Technika V bodies in 4×5, 5×7, and 6×9 refined the drop-bed system with rangefinder coupling, triple extension, revolving backs, and extensive movements. The formats were distinct cameras, not interchangeable labels; the large 5×7 branch continued through 1986 while smaller versions followed their own production paths.
Linhof General Catalog 6603/52e · Historische Kameras · 1964: Super Technika V 13x18/5x7
Aero Technika 45 EL combined motorized large-format transport, vacuum film flatness, and interchangeable focusing lenses for aerial work. Linhof records American and European mission use, while the later Aerotronica 69 adopted a rotating high-speed shutter and a large 6×9 motor cassette for mapping and observation.
Linhof Precision Cameras and Systems · Historische Kameras · Linhof History
The fixed-lens Technorama 617 began Linhof’s 6×17 panoramic line in 1976. A redesigned body, the 612pc II with built-in rise, and the interchangeable-lens 617s III expanded the idea. Shift accessories and lens modules brought architectural control to rigid roll-film cameras before original lens supply ended.
Technikardan cameras rotated their standards around a telescoping monorail for compact transport, combining field portability with direct view-camera movements in 6×9 and 4×5. In parallel, Kardan Master GT and GTL systems offered heavier modular studio construction, yaw-free controls, and conversions through larger sheet-film formats.
Master Technika models carried the folding 4×5 lineage into current production. The classic retained coupled rangefinder use, while the 2000 and later 3000 emphasized ground-glass focusing and extreme wide-angle operation. Modern accessories also connect film-era bodies to roll-film and digital-back workflows.
Linhof Precision Cameras and Systems · Historische Kameras · Linhof Price Listing, valid as of February 1, 2023 · Linhof History
Introduced in 1996, the M 679 was conceived for both medium-format film and digital backs. The M 679cc added direct rear-standard correction in 2000; the M 679cs of 2004 integrated a leveling panorama base and refined movements, making one studio platform adaptable across rapidly changing capture systems.
Development stages of the Linhof M 679 · Linhof Price Listing, valid as of February 1, 2023 · Linhof History
Linhof Präzisions-Systemtechnik GmbH was founded in 1998 and remains registered in Munich. Its current program continues precision camera manufacture, including Technika, Technikardan, Kardan, M 679, Techno, panoramic, and reproduction platforms, while the factory openly limits service for many older discontinued models.
Linhof Impressum · Service and spare parts · Linhof Price Listing, valid as of February 1, 2023 · Linhof History
The Linhof Techno combines Technika lensboards with the M 679 rear standard in a compact platform for digital backs and roll-film cassettes. Wide-angle bellows, front and rear shifts, and interchangeable adapters show how Linhof has carried the mechanical language of the technical camera into contemporary location photography.
Linhof Price Listing, valid as of February 1, 2023 · Linhof History
Stephan Rauber and brothers Andrew and John Wollensak organized Rauber & Wollensak Optical Company in Rochester on July 1, 1899. Working first in a 250-square-foot rented barn, they made photographic shutters. The firm incorporated in 1900, moved to larger quarters, and adopted the Wollensak Optical Company name in 1902.
John Wollensak established an optical department in 1902 with three grinding and polishing spindles and one assistant; its first lens followed that September. Catalogs soon paired lenses with shutters. By 1914, after several moves and rapid hiring, a dedicated 40,000-square-foot Clinton Avenue factory housed a workforce of roughly 300.
Wollensak Lenses and Shutters Catalog 1903 · Wollensak 1899-1972 · Wollensak Timeline
The purchase of Rochester Lens Company in 1906 brought the Royal Anastigmat and Royal Portrait designs, renamed Velostigmat and Vitax. Andrew Wollensak's complex shutter work received a 1910 patent, while the 1911 collaboration with H. Oliver Bodine turned his Pictorial Lens into the Verito, a durable name in soft-focus portraiture.
Wollensak Lenses and Shutters Catalog 1903 · US961192A - Photographic Shutter · Wollensak Timeline
During the First World War, about ninety percent of Wollensak production served military needs, including trench periscopes, battery-command telescopes, aerial cameras, and related optics. A three-story addition doubled Clinton Avenue floor space in 1918; employment rose from about 500 that year to more than 600 in 1920.
Wollensak Timeline · 172nd New York State Board for Historic Preservation Meeting Notes
After Kodak stopped buying the Optimo shutter in 1920, Wollensak broadened its output to telescopes, binoculars, microscopes, movie equipment, and other instruments. It moved lensmaking to the spacious 872 Hudson Avenue building in 1925, expanded its catalog, and partnered with Howard D. Beach on a multi-focal portrait lens in 1929.
Photographic Lenses and Shutters, 1926-1927 · Wollensak Timeline · 172nd New York State Board for Historic Preservation Meeting Notes
Wollensak devoted its Second World War output to military equipment, from aerial-camera shutters and binoculars to optical components for the Norden bombsight. The rapid Rapax shutter emerged from wartime needs. Afterward, a public naming contest supplied the Raptar name, and coated Raptar lenses replaced the Velostigmat line in 1947.
Wollensak supplied Graflex with Optar-branded lenses beginning in 1942 while selling related designs under its own Velostigmat and later Raptar names. Wocote hard anti-reflection coating distinguished the postwar line. The shared optical ancestry makes brand engraving important: an Optar is a Graflex product identity, not a separate Wollensak system.
Wollensak Serial Numbers · Raptar Enlarging Lenses · Wollensak Timeline
Wollensak acquired rights to Western Electric's Fastax high-speed camera in 1950, strengthening a scientific and industrial line able to record extremely rapid events. The concentric-mirror Mirrotel and Fototel followed in 1952. Revere-era catalogs then joined these specialist products with stereo, 8 mm, and 16 mm cameras carrying Wollensak lenses.
Wollensak Timeline · Trade Catalogs from Revere Camera Co. · Wollensak 16 Magazine Model 91
Revere Camera Company bought roughly seventy percent of Wollensak stock in May 1953 and later acquired the balance. Wollensak initially remained a separate entity and reached about 1,200 workers that year. Revere-backed still, stereo, and movie cameras used the Wollensak name, often as premium versions of established Revere designs.
3M acquired Revere in 1960 and placed Wollensak within its photographic and optical businesses. Rochester lenses served demanding work, including a specially made 25 mm Raptar used during Alan Shepard's 1961 flight. Yet employment declined, lens sales contracted, operating losses mounted, and 3M sold Fastax to Redlake in 1968.
Wollensak 1899-1972 · Wollensak Timeline · Trade Catalogs from Revere Camera Co.
3M sold the division in 1969 to interests that formed Wollensak, Inc. The new company acquired Polan Industries but struggled with losses, debt, and delivery delays. A federal investigation rejected its claim that increased imports were the major cause of serious injury. Directors voted for bankruptcy in October 1972, closing all facilities.
Wollensak 1899-1972 · Wollensak Timeline · Optical Elements: Wollensak, Inc., Rochester, N.Y.
After liquidation, Rudolph Novak bought the old 872 Hudson lens plant and in 1975 acquired the Wollensak name, drawings, and technical information, later making a poorly documented range as Wollensak Optical, Inc. Virginville Lens Company bought the building and contents in 2003 and later registered the trademark; the factory became housing in 2020.
Wollensak Timeline · 172nd New York State Board for Historic Preservation Meeting Notes
