Franke and Heidecke (Rollei MF cameras and projectors) close to an end

[AgX]

I guess they are expecting bulk sale.

But that dealer that offered that special edition mentioned in this thread before is taking requests for special parts and seemingly tries to do an offer on these. All is a bit vague.

[AgX]

A new conpany has shown up, especially founded for the resurection of classical products from Franke & Heidecke resp. Rollei:

This new company, DHW Fototechnik GmbH, has bought out of the Franke & Heidecke insolvency their parts inventory.
For the rest, we should keep in mind that Franke & Heidecke did not longer own much. And even their employees had already ben noticed to leave.

That new company has now to get hold of the machinery, buildings, brand name etc.

Their intend is to produce with a 1/6 of the former number of F&H employees:

-) TLR's
-) MF-projectors
-) maybe the Rollei 35

This all is based on press articles, which seem to base on information by the managing director of that new company.
To me it is not clear whether this is a comprehensive production or `just´ making something out of the parts inventory.

[Alexander Ghaffari]

Hopefully, that all goes well. Thank you for the update.

[HerrBremerhaven]

http://www.photoscala.de/Artikel/DHW...er-produzieren

[Q.G.]

One thing to not about the mention of the Hy6 in this article in the press: Jenoptik has withdrawn from this project entirely and sold Sinar, the vehicle through which they were going to bring this thing to market. Which makes it impossible that the thing will be revived.

Not exactly on-topic in APUG, it may appear at first glance. But it was what could have kept F&H's analog products alive.
Now a 'revived F&H' will have to rely on insanely priced products, so that even very low sales volume will keep the (very much reduced) operation alive.
So don't expect to be able to buy a new analog Rollei TLR any time soon, unless you are as rich as Croesus.

[AgX]

Originally Posted by Q.G.

But [a H6] was what could have kept F&H's analog products alive.

That a project of a modular MF-body based on the Hy6 body is going on at that new enterprise has been hinted at already three weeks ago by someone seemingly from that company. But this has not been referred to in those new information.

Anyway, the legal situation of a Hy6 is even more complicated than that of the classic cameras.

[Q.G.]

Without Jenoptik behind it, with Leaf no longer existing... best forget about that.

Besides, it's not likely that the 20 people that will take on the job of gold and platinum plating TLRs and packing them inside velvet lined tropical hard wood boxes will also be building electronic products.
Not even 20, of course, since 5 - 10 of them will be employed keeping track of the cash flow, count what's in stock every day, and figure out where to ship those hard wood boxes (if they will not deliver them in person).

[DanielStone]

leaf as a stand-alone company is gone. phase 1 swallowed them up.

there are still rumors about continuing with the hy6/afi system. especially since there are enough of them out there. and many digi-back people prefer them to the Mamiya afd platform that P1 decided to continue with for their product line.

a guy I assisted used the HY6. it was a killer camera. super smooth in the hands, butter smooth. mirror slap was almost a null issue. lenses stupendous, overall construction built like a tank.

if I had the cash and was looking for the ultimate 6x6 slr, it would be a hy6 with a couple film backs. I'm a RZ user, and very happy with that system. never let me down. and with Hasselblad removing the V-series from their current line-up was the beginning of the end IMO. I've got a H2, and its fantastic! But in the end, a 500 series body just feels better in my hand IMO.

besides, there are sooooooo many v-bodies and lenses out there on the used market, why not buy into the Hassy v-series? Lenses are great, construction of everything is top-notch, and I've never had a problem with one when using one. Actually, had one jam on me, but it was my dumb fault.

TLR's are great for walk-around though. A friend of mine has a rolleiflex 2.8, later model. It only gets used for b/w, but I'm sure that any color film would be quite happy going through that camera none the less.

-Dan

[HerrBremerhaven]

http://www.sinar.ch/en/press/217-sin...e-der-sinar-ag

[Q.G.]

Originally Posted by HerrBremerhaven

http://www.sinar.ch/en/press/217-sin...e-der-sinar-ag

What does it say there?