12 and 12 researched events on one shared scale. Meyer-Optik Görlitz 1896–present, Taylor Hobson / Cooke 1886–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 and Thomas Smithies Taylor opened a Leicester lensmaking business in 1886, and William Smithies Hobson joined in 1887. The partnership became Taylor, Taylor & Hobson, combining optical manufacture with an expanding commercial operation before the Cooke license defined its photographic reputation.
Harold Dennis Taylor of T. Cooke & Sons patented the three-element anastigmat in 1893 and arranged for Taylor, Taylor & Hobson to manufacture it in Leicester under the Cooke name. The first photographic lenses followed in 1894, establishing a brand-and-maker relationship that would last more than a century.
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
Cooke catalogs grew into a system of portrait, general-purpose, high-speed, process, wide-angle, convertible, and telephoto series. Barrels, sunk mounts, shutters, focusing mounts, and matched extension cells let the Leicester works serve hand cameras, reflex bodies, studios, and large commercial plate cameras.
Taylor, Taylor & Hobson Cooke Lenses Sales Brochure 1908-09 · Cooke Compendium · Lenses for Photography Manufactured by Taylor, Taylor & Hobson
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
War work brought aerial reconnaissance, rangefinder, and military-optical demands. The four-element Aviar answered the need for fast, reliable definition from aircraft and later moved into civilian photography, while the firm's precision manufacturing expanded under conditions that cut Britain off from German optical supply.
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
Horace W. Lee's Series O Opic combined a six-element double-Gauss-derived design with an f/2 aperture. Alongside Kinic cinematograph lenses and expedition telephotos, it gave Taylor, Taylor & Hobson the optical foundation for sound-era cinema just as the company shortened its name to Taylor Hobson.
A Cooke Book · The History of Panchro (Part 1) · Cooke Compendium · Taylor-Hobson Cooke Lenses Advertisement in the British Journal Almanac
Bell & Howell took control in 1930 and distributed Cooke cine lenses in the United States. Speed Panchros expanded across the focal range needed by 35mm studios, while Lee's inverse-telephoto design provided the long back focus demanded by three-strip Technicolor cameras and helped the Leicester lenses become studio standards.
A Cooke Book · The History of Panchro (Part 1) · Innovating Since 1893 · Taylor Hobson Limited
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
Rank acquired Taylor Hobson in the mid-1940s, and factory coating became regular practice in 1947. Gordon Cook joined in 1948 and began revising the Speed Panchro line with new glass and larger coverage, carrying prewar designs into a postwar cinema industry moving toward wider screens and higher contrast.
A Cooke Book · The History of Panchro (Part 1) · Taylor Hobson Limited
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
Series II and III Speed Panchros, Kinetals for 16mm, Telepanchros for long shots, anamorphic research, and purpose-built television zooms broadened Taylor Hobson's reach. Gordon Cook's Varotal III, V, and XIV addressed live broadcast with servo control, long zoom ratios, and increasingly sealed optical mechanics.
A Cooke Book · Cooke Speed Panchro Series II Sales Sheet · Taylor-Hobson Varotal XIV - The Lens That Captured the Win
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 20-100mm Varotal of 1971 established the mechanical pattern for later Cooke cinema zooms. Varokinetal, Super Cine Varotal, Varopanchro, wide-angle Varotal, and Cinetal models served 16mm, Super 16, and 35mm production, while work on S4 primes prepared the lens branch for a new corporate life.
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
Les Zellan led the purchase of Taylor Hobson's optical division and formed Cooke Optics Limited. The transaction created a new legal company while retaining Leicester personnel, machines, designs, and practical manufacturing knowledge from the historic lens branch; Taylor Hobson continued along its metrology path.
A Cooke Book · COOKE OPTICS LIMITED overview · Taylor Hobson Limited
Cooke Optics Limited remains an active Leicester manufacturer of cinematography lenses. Its present factory belongs to a company incorporated in 1998, yet its workforce, tooling, design archive, and product lineage connect directly to the Taylor Hobson optical division and the Cooke name first placed on Leicester-made lenses in 1894.
A Cooke Book · Tradition of Innovation · COOKE OPTICS LIMITED overview
AMETEK acquired Taylor Hobson in 2004. The Taylor Hobson name now identifies an active precision-metrology manufacturer whose surface and form instruments grew from the measurement problems of lensmaking, rather than the current producer of Cooke-branded photographic and cinematographic lenses.
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: Meyer-Optik Görlitz · Taylor Hobson / Cooke
