Meyer-Optik Görlitz and Wollensak

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

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.

Wollensak 1899-1972 · Wollensak Timeline

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.

Raptar Enlarging Lenses · Wollensak Timeline

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.

Wollensak Timeline · Trade Catalogs from Revere Camera Co.

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