Despite the company’s distinguished reputation as a fabricator, Rollei commonly partnered with, and outsourced to, the best German glassmakers rather than producing their own lenses. For cameras, Rollei has been synonymous with Goerz, Zeiss and Schneider, but within Delta’s purview – projection and enlargement lenses reversed for use as capture optics – the most relevant partnerships …
Famously the only good thing to come out of Sparkhill, Birmingham (a long way from Alabama), the Aldis brothers were to set their family name on a handful of British icons. In the grand scheme of things, Aldis can be considered as spawning from Dallmeyer in 1901. The company quickly established itself with a range …
The bent of young Waterworth was perhaps revealed by his acquisition of membership to the Royal Society of Tasmania at the age of 17 – at whose meetings and lectures were discussed such wide-ranging and improving topics as horticulture, practical and adapted science, history, philosophy and psychology. His 1990 obituary cited gardening as his primary private …
Another seminal maker lost to the purview of recent generations, J.H. Dallmeyer was destined for entanglement in the fate of its internecine rival, A. Ross. John Henry Dallmeyer was the son-in-law of Andrew Ross, and was employed initially in the company’s workshop, then as a scientific advisor. Following the death of Andrew Ross in 1858, …
From the late-1970s and until well into the 1990’s the BelOMO optical works of Belarus (known before 1971 as MMZ) churned out many substantial projector lenses of variable design and quality, now cheaply available on the used market – sometimes referred to as ‘those Russian KP’ lenses. Mindful of Belarus’ technical independence from the former …
Relegated to an obscurity unilluminated by the usual sources, the French manufacturer F. Faliez was active from approximately 1912 until at least the late 1940s, with factories and offices based in the village of Aufreville-Brasseuil in Mantes, fifty kilometres west of Paris in the Seine-et-Oise district – it’s distinctive ‘Ft PARIS’ branding a somewhat elastic …
Like its close rival Ross, the Kershaw brand dates to the latter half of the 19th Century, and was therefore among the first generation of makers to design lenses for projection. The story of A. Kershaw & Sons is briefly recapped in this article, explaining its intertwining with the Gaumont and Kalee brands en-route to …
Company history Dating Clues: Premises and Branding Advertisements and catalogues show the domed square of the traditional Ross London and Ross Ensign logo giving way to a sleeker bowed cartouche with ‘Ross London’ in a double-decker arrangement during 1956. Restructuring and relocation of the company between 1955-1957 resulted in Ross the public limited company simply …
Founded by its namesake in 1937, the J. Arthur Rank Organisation rapidly grew to dominate the British film and photographic landscape. ‘Rank’ products encompassed projection screens, lenses, cameras, darkroom equipment, technical instruments and a diverse range of accessories previously designed and made by a roster of independent makers. By 1968 Rank had completed a program …
Meopta’s first range of 8mm, 9.5mm and 16mm projectors was launched in 1934, equipped with the company’s own Polar and OP lenses. Lenses for 8mm & 16mm Film Projection: CORRIGON for 8mm: Only available in a 28mm mount for Meopta’s Super AM8, the original Corrigon 25/1.3 (Catalogue 806 50) was a five element / three …