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

[cmo]

Originally Posted by E76

I wonder how this will affect Sinar, Leaf, and the Hy6, seeing as F&H was the company actually building the camera.

Here in Germany we hear that some people at Leica did not jump out of their skin. The end of the Hy6/Sinar/Leaf would leave just three digital middle format systems in the market, and that is Hasselblad H, Mamiya ZD/PhaseOne and Leica S2. if I were a camera manufacturer, I would probably be focused on sales, and today - sorry to mention that - it is not analog cameras where you make money to survive the crisis, simply because most analog photographers buy used equipment at bargain prices today.

BTW, Leica has stopped the Leica R system (that is confirmed) and will replace it with a DSLR system rebuilt from scratch (that is a sustained rumour).

[cmo]

Originally Posted by AgX

But `Rollei´ had already at least two near-death experiences in the 70's. So, who knows...

I don't know when I stopped counting the Voigtländer near-death experiences and take-overs... and they share some of their history with Rollei. Leica has a good list of crises as well, I think it has almost become a part of their brand identity

[Q.G.]

Originally Posted by cmo

I don't know when I stopped counting the Voigtländer near-death experiences and take-overs... and they share some of their history with Rollei. Leica has a good list of crises as well, I think it has almost become a part of their brand identity

But do understand that it is not (that says: not) Rollei that is insolvent.
It is Franke and Heidecke. A rather new company that thought it could make a success of what Rollei could not.

Rollei is still going strong. They just stopped making MF cameras some years ago (and that will be why).

[Klopstock]

If I get it right, Rollei is just the company that licenses the brand. I am also sure it will stay somehow for years. Voigtländer is also just a brand owned by the german Ringfoto company group.

[AgX]

But as Klopstock said `Rollei GmbH´ is not a manufacturing company. It is Franke & Heidecke who continue(d) the production of MF cameras and projectors for pictorial use.

[Q.G.]

That's right.
Rollei was (!) the manufacturer of Rolleiflex cameras, until they realized that it was not going well, and got out in time.
Franke & Heidecke then formed, because some other people thought it would go well for them.
It didn't.

[agGNOME]

Saw the Franke & Heidecke booth at PMA a few days ago. While the booth was not overrun with activity, the 3 reps. were showing off their cameras with pride. The Hy6 (with a film back) was obviously the centerpiece and it's a really nice system. They were also demonstrating a current 6000 series model, and the current wide and normal TLRs.

[Prest_400]

Originally Posted by Q.G.

That's right.
Rollei was (!) the manufacturer of Rolleiflex cameras, until they realized that it was not going well, and got out in time.
Franke & Heidecke then formed, because some other people thought it would go well for them.
It didn't.

If F&H lowered the price or improved gratly the rolleiflex design, maybe this wouldn't have happened.
When did Rollei quit the 'flex manufacture, and when was this F&H formed?

[Ian Grant]

There's a lot of misinformation in this thread, Franke and Heidecke have always made Rollei cameras, the company was bought by Samsung in the mid 90's, a management buyout at the end of the decade then two or three years later it came under control of a Danish investment company.

This Danish company split the business into two the Rollei company who just trade re-badged products under the prestigious name and Franke and Heidecke who make the cameras and projectors that Rollei is famous for. Most cynics at the time felt that the Danish company were cashing in on the Rollei name.

Franke and Heidecke is the same company who have always made Rollei camera's etc albeit under different ownership. One reason that has been highlighted for the current insolvency is large undisclosed debts & liabilities that were not made known to the new owners last year.

Ian

[Q.G.]

Originally Posted by Ian Grant

There's a lot of misinformation in this thread, Franke and Heidecke have always made Rollei cameras, the company was bought by Samsung in the mid 90's, a management buyout at the end of the decade then two or three years later it came under control of a Danish investment company.

By that time, it no longer was called Franke and Heidecke.

Originally Posted by Ian Grant

This Danish company split the business into two the Rollei company who just trade re-badged products under the prestigious name and Franke and Heidecke who make the cameras and projectors that Rollei is famous for. Most cynics at the time felt that the Danish company were cashing in on the Rollei name.

They are.
They also stopped building MF cameras, because after the debacle of the 6008AF, things looked very dim for Rollei MF cameras.
And they were right.

What they (cleverly, cynics might say) managed to do was find some rather less clever people who were easily persuaded that they should buy that branch of the company, and have a go at it.
Not only that, but they also managed to extract a licence fee from that new company, so even though they sold the risk off to blue-eyed "Franke & Heidecke, the second coming", they retained a way to generate profits from Rollei cameras for as long as it would take F&H Mk II to run down.

Too cynical? Perhaps. But not too far off the truth.

Originally Posted by Ian Grant

Franke and Heidecke is the same company who have always made Rollei camera's etc albeit under different ownership.

It takes quite a stretch of the imagination to see F&H Mk II as the same company.
And it isn't. It's a new company (formed in 2005, Prest_400) who bought all the Rollei making stuff from Rollei (because Rollei new it was a dead end, etc. )

Originally Posted by Ian Grant

One reason that has been highlighted for the current insolvency is large undisclosed debts & liabilities that were not made known to the new owners last year.

That's right.

Among the skeletons that came out of the closet however also were the burden of having to pay Rollei (you know: that company that's still doing well), and the disappearing believe that they (F&H Mk II) could do what Rollei thought was not doable.

Still a pitty.