Historical lens manufacturers from Europe, + lesser known/smaller ones from Germany, France and the UK

simplejoy · Nov 9, 2024

An online friend of mine from Portugal and I have recently been curious to know if there have been some interesting lens manufacturers from Portugal and Spain in the past. However it's not easy to find anything...

And so I'm wondering, if some of the people here, who seem to have a wealth of knowledge, know more about perhaps lesser or almost completely unknown manufacturers from European countries, apart from the big lens maker names from Germany, France and the UK.

My home country Austria was the origin country of Voigtlaender (if I remember correctly) and also had a number of smaller manufacturers... but nothing really notable, apart from Reichert (who was bought by Leitz).

I know there have been some pretty good lens makers in Italy (Officine Galileo for example) and of course a number of very notable ones in Switzerland (Kern, Wild Heerbrugg etc.) and of course Meopta (from Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic) as well as PZO (from Poland).

I really hope someone knows a couple more lens makers from other European countries. Even if they're very small ones or specialized (projection lenses, enlarging etc.) I would love to know! Thanks in advance.

EDIT
---------------------------------

I'll list all of the suggestions and what I can find elsewhere here. I also edited the thread title to reflect the inclusion of smaller/lesser known manufacturers from Germany, France and the UK as well, because there is some overlapping and I feel like they might also be interesting to have in one list. Finally I might have included a couple of lens makers which might not fit the "smaller/lesser known" category... in the cases where I'm unsure I have added a (?). Please let me know what you think about those. There might also be a couple of cases where

AUSTRIA
Voigtlaender
Reichert Wien
Karl Kahles
Gerstendörfer
K. Fritsch & Prokesch
Weingartshofer
Eumig
Carl Dietzler
(http://www.photohistory.at/objektive1.htm)

CZECH REPUBLIC
Druopta
Eta Praha
Kolar
Meopta

FRANCE
Clement et Gilmer (?)
Darlot (?)
Demaria-Lapierre
Dupluich
F. Faliez
Gallus
Huet
Kengott
Krauss (?)
Lumiere
OIP
Pulligny et Puyo
Roussel

GERMANY (small/lesser known only)
A. Schacht
C. Friedrich München
Enna (?)
Koehler
Laack (?)
Leidolf
Leitmeyr
Liesegang
Ludwig
Meyer F.F. (Ferdinand Franz, not Hugo/Goerlitz)
Moeller J.D
Montanus
Muller & Wetzig
Noris (projection lenses only?)
Oehler J.
OMFA
Piesker
Rietzschel
Roeschlein Kreuznach
Ruo Optik
Schulze & Billerbeck
Simon
Staeble (?)
Steiner Optik
TeWe Berlin
Wachter
Will Wetzlar
Zwierzina

HUNGARY
Gamma
MOM (Magyar Optikai Művek)

ITALY
Ballerio
Capelli
Chinaglia Domenico
Comi
Durst (possibly 3rd party lenses only?)
Ducati
FAF
Filotecnica Salmoiraghi
Ganzini
GNM
Grilli
GPM
Industria Scientifica Ottica
Ligny
Korstika
Officine Galileo
OMI
PEB
Photoalpha
SCAT
SEDE
SIRIO
Torrani

LATVIA
Minox

THE NETHERLANDS
Old Delft
Philips

PORTUGAL
(?)

ROMANIA
IOR

SPAIN
Curz Optical (projection lenses only?)

SWITZERLAND
Kern Aarau
Suter
Spyr (projection lenses only?)
Wild Heerbrugg

TBC

Dan Pavel · Nov 9, 2024

I presume you are referring to photographic, enlarger and projection lenses only, not technical lenses.
You should, of course, add the ex-Soviet Union countries, as well, to the list.

In Romania IOR made some lenses for its' cameras and enlargers and some projection lenses, as are the Supercin lenses. The Supecins were regarded on par with Meoptas.

In Nederland there is the the Old Delft company that made some highly regarded lenses in Leica mount, some lenses for aerial reconnaissance and some very good projection lenses. Philips made projection lenses, as well.

In Spain there was an important Leica lens factory and the lenses made there were marked "made in Spain".

Dan Fromm · Nov 9, 2024

The first post in this https://www.largeformatphotography....to-look-for-information-on-LF-(mainly)-lenses discussion has a link to "The list," an annotated list of links to sources of information. Some of them have the sort of information the OP wants. Go there a look around.

Dustin McAmera · Nov 9, 2024

Suter, in Basel.

Suter - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia

camera-wiki.org

A few in Italy:

Filotecnica Salmoiraghi - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia

camera-wiki.org

Industria Scientifica Ottica - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia

camera-wiki.org

ic-racer · Nov 9, 2024

Enna, from Germany is not well known. They are notable as early manufacturers of retrofocus wide angle lenses. This is a picture of my Edixa with a Enna Lithagon 24mm.

Dan Pavel · Nov 9, 2024

And, of course, there is the great book "A Lens Collector's Vade Mecum" where you can find data about most lens manufacturer that have ever existed or still exist all over the world.
You can buy it here. It's worth every penny if you are interested in old lenses.

Romanko · Nov 9, 2024

simplejoy said:
An online friend of mine from Portugal and I have recently been curious to know if there have been some interesting lens manufacturers from Portugal and Spain in the past. However it's not easy to find anything...

And so I'm wondering, if some of the people here, who seem to have a wealth of knowledge, know more about perhaps lesser or almost completely unknown manufacturers from European countries, apart from the big lens maker names from Germany, France and the UK.

My home country Austria was the origin country of Voigtlaender (if I remember correctly) and also had a number of smaller manufacturers like

Reichert Wien
Karl Kahles
Gerstendörfer
K. Fritsch & Prokesch
Weingartshofer
Eumig
Carl Dietzler
(http://www.photohistory.at/objektive1.htm)

but nothing really notable, apart from Reichert (who was bought by Leitz).

I know there have been some pretty good lens makers in Italy (Officine Galileo for example) and of course a number of very notable ones in Switzerland (Kern, Wild Heerbrugg etc.) and of course Meopta (from Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic) as well as PZO (from Poland).

I really hope someone knows a couple more lens makers from other European countries. Even if they're very small ones or specialized (projection lenses, enlarging etc.) I would love to know! Thanks in advance.

What period of time are you interested in?

Romanko · Nov 9, 2024

MOM in Hungary produced cameras and lenses.

MOM - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia

camera-wiki.org

simplejoy · Nov 9, 2024

Dan Pavel said:
I presume you are referring to photographic, enlarger and projection lenses only, not technical lenses.
You should, of course, add the ex-Soviet Union countries, as well, to the list.

In Romania IOR made some lenses for its' cameras and enlargers and some projection lenses, as are the Supercin lenses. The Supecins were regarded on par with Meoptas.

In Nederland there is the the Old Delft company that made some highly regarded lenses in Leica mount, some lenses for aerial reconnaissance and some very good projection lenses. Philips made projection lenses, as well.

In Spain there was an important Leica lens factory and the lenses made there were marked "made in Spain".

Thanks a lot! IOR is a great suggesion, Old Delft as well. I'm not sure Philips really manufactured any of the lenses with their label on it, but it might be possible, so I've included them.

Your sample of Leica Spain doesn't really fit the thing I'm going for, because Leica is clearly a German brand in my opinion. It's interesting as a different kind of story though... I only knew about Leitz/Leica Portugal however and haven't been aware of a Spain equivalent.

Dan Fromm said:
The first post in this https://www.largeformatphotography....to-look-for-information-on-LF-(mainly)-lenses discussion has a link to "The list," an annotated list of links to sources of information. Some of them have the sort of information the OP wants. Go there a look around.

Thank you so much - I will have to look through that in detail... There's certainly a wealth of information there. Unfortunately it's not easy to look through it and find manufacturers by country, but I'm sure it can be done with some more time.

Dustin McAmera said:
Suter, in Basel.

Suter - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia

camera-wiki.org

A few in Italy:

Filotecnica Salmoiraghi - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia

camera-wiki.org

Industria Scientifica Ottica - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia

camera-wiki.org

Thank you so much. I've added those and a couple more. Please let me know what you think about the addition names.

ic-racer said:
Enna, from Germany is not well known. They are notable as early manufacturers of retrofocus wide angle lenses. This is a picture of my Edixa with a Enna Lithagon 24mm.

Many thanks! I'm not sure Enna is what I would consider a "small" or "unknown" brand. It might not be as notable as several other German manufacturers, but they seem to have produced A LOT of lenses in terms of numbers and also sold them to several different relevant brands. What do others think on the matter? Is Enna really a small/lesser known brand? (I find it quite hard to draw the line there...)

Dan Pavel said:
And, of course, there is the great book "A Lens Collector's Vade Mecum" where you can find data about most lens manufacturer that have ever existed or still exist all over the world.
You can buy it here. It's worth every penny if you are interested in old lenses.

Thanks a lot! Of course - as an avid lens collector and (I guess) hobbyist researcher - I have bought the vade mecum a long time ago. It's a wonderful work which features a LOT of unique information and still is an ambitious and highly impressive work. I've added a lot of names from there - thanks for the suggestion.

If anyone wants more detailed descriptions, lens names, specs etc. on these lenses any many more from around the world, I second the suggestion: GO BUY THAT BOOK!

simplejoy · Nov 9, 2024

Romanko said:
MOM in Hungary produced cameras and lenses.

MOM - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia

camera-wiki.org

Thank you - excellent suggestion! Added it in the original post.

Romanko said:
What period of time are you interested in?

Pretty much any time period, really!

4season · Nov 9, 2024

Not sure where Kilfitt was based, but some of the lenses are engraved "Made in Liechtenstein".

Dan Pavel · Nov 9, 2024

simplejoy said:
I only knew about Leitz/Leica Portugal however and haven't been aware of a Spain equivalent.

My mistake. You are correct, it was Portugal, not Spain.

simplejoy · Nov 10, 2024

4season said:
Not sure where Kilfitt was based, but some of the lenses are engraved "Made in Liechtenstein".

Thanks, you're right! I think Kilfitt was from Munich (Germany) but some of their lenses were manufactured in the Kamerabau-Anstalt Vaduz, which is indeed in Liechtenstein. Both are great examples.

Unfortunately I just realized it's not possible to edit the original post after a while (I personally hate the lack of that feature in forums, as it could provide a significantly better overview, but whatever...), so I'll have to post an updated list as a reply again. If you know about some more than were mentioned before, please keep them coming.

If someone has a good overview of ex-USSR factories in European countries, it would be very appreciated as well - Pierre Tizien has some of them listed on his site (https://pierretizien-photos.blogspot.com/p/sur-cette-page-vous-trouverez-les.html), but I assume there might have been smaller ones as well, which probably produced for one of the big labels during the USSR times.

ic-racer · Nov 10, 2024

simplejoy said:
Many thanks! I'm not sure Enna is what I would consider a "small" or "unknown" brand. It might not be as notable as several other German manufacturers, but they seem to have produced A LOT of lenses in terms of numbers and also sold them to several different relevant brands. What do others think on the matter? Is Enna really a small/lesser known brand? (I find it quite hard to draw the line there...)

Ok, I did not see it on your list because, in Europe, Enna is well known.

I don't think Enna is well known in US/canada/Mexico. I only heard about ENNA from the lens on that Edixa that was obtained on a trip to Germany many years ago.

4season · Nov 10, 2024

France:
Angénieux
SOM Berthiot
Optique & Précision de Levallois (Foca cameras, Oplar lenses)

Germany:
Schneider (kinda big to miss?)

USSR:
I'm not sure how to categorize, as some factories such as Belomo (Belarus) and Valdai (Russia) produced products which were same as KMZ's (also Russia).

Ukraine's Zavod Arsenal seems to have been USSR's biggest producer of professional and advanced amateur cameras.

MattKing · Nov 10, 2024

simplejoy said:
Unfortunately I just realized it's not possible to edit the original post after a while (I personally hate the lack of that feature in forums, as it could provide a significantly better overview, but whatever...), so I'll have to post an updated list as a reply again. If you know about some more than were mentioned before, please keep them coming.

This feature is critical to avoiding threads that seem to shift like the sands. Otherwise there ends up being a bunch of arguments about what was once in existence, but which no longer is .
That being said, we are always happy to add references to later posts in earlier ones - just Report the post that you want the reference added to.
Alternatively, and perhaps preferably, we could add a recommendation in your first post to people to read the entire thread, for the purpose of seeing how your list evolves, grows, and becomes more refined.

simplejoy · Nov 10, 2024

Thanks to all who have contributed so far for helping out!

ic-racer said:
Ok, I did not see it on your list because, in Europe, Enna is well known.

I don't think Enna is well known in US/canada/Mexico. I only heard about ENNA from the lens on that Edixa that was obtained on a trip to Germany many years ago.

Yeah - you might be correct. It doesn't seem to be big international name. Perhaps similar to Ludwig and others I would personally add to the list. There's admittedly a lot of subjective categorizing here... I don't know of a better distinction yet though. Perhaps the well known could be included and just marked differently?

4season said:
France:
Angénieux
SOM Berthiot
Optique & Précision de Levallois (Foca cameras, Oplar lenses)

Germany:
Schneider (kinda big to miss?)

USSR:
I'm not sure how to categorize, as some factories such as Belomo (Belarus) and Valdai (Russia) produced products which were same as KMZ's (also Russia).

Ukraine's Zavod Arsenal seems to have been USSR's biggest producer of professional and advanced amateur cameras.

Thank you! I probably would have classified all of these as well known, particularly Angenieux and Som Berhiot... or do you know more famous French manufacturers? Boyer as well. I'm not suer about Foca... I've read that name a lot, but it might be due to my interests and they're actually not as well established.

Schneider is certainly well known in my book, among the first german names after Zeiss and Leitz. Rodenstock, Steinheil, Meyer and Agfa as well. I personally would add Goerz and Astro Berlin to the "well-known" category as well, however I absolutely admit, that it's hard to draw a line, when I compare them to some on my Germany list, which might have produced significantly more lenses (like Ludwig, who seem to have made a great number of lenses, even though they never seem to have been significant names...) in terms of raw production size.

As I've written above, it might be worth it to just include all of the names you've mentioned + the one I initially wanted to exclude and just mark them differently?

MattKing said:
This feature is critical to avoiding threads that seem to shift like the sands. Otherwise there ends up being a bunch of arguments about what was once in existence, but which no longer is .
That being said, we are always happy to add references to later posts in earlier ones - just Report the post that you want the reference added to.
Alternatively, and perhaps preferably, we could add a recommendation in your first post to people to read the entire thread, for the purpose of seeing how your list evolves, grows, and becomes more refined.

Yeah, I get it! Of course it makes sense for that purpose. Thanks a lot for the information about references - that's good to know!

Hunter_Compton · Nov 10, 2024

For Germany there is also Feinmess VEB of Dresden. To my knowledge they only produced one camera lens, the Bonotar 105mm f/4.5 available in both Exakta and M42 mount.

simplejoy · Nov 11, 2024

AUSTRIA
Voigtlaender (early)
Reichert Wien
Karl Kahles
Gerstendörfer
K. Fritsch & Prokesch
Weingartshofer
Eumig
Carl Dietzler
(http://www.photohistory.at/objektive1.htm)

CZECH REPUBLIC
Druopta
Eta Praha
Kolar
Meopta

FRANCE
(Angenieux)
(Benoist Berthiot)
(Boyer)
Clement et Gilmer (?)
Darlot (?)
Demaria-Lapierre
Dupluich
F. Faliez
Gallus
(Hermagis)
Huet
Kengott
Krauss (?)
Lumiere
OIP
(Optique & Précision de Levallois = Foca)
Pathe Freres
Pulligny et Puyo
Roussel
(Som Berthiot)

GERMANY
A. Schacht
(Agfa)
(Astro Berlin)
C. Friedrich München
Docter Optics
(Emil Busch)
(Enna)
Feinmess
Finetta
Gerlach
(Goerz)
Iloca
(ISCO Optik)
Koehler
Laack
Leidolf
Leitmeyr
(Leitz)
Liesegang
Ludwig
(Meyer Optik Goerlitz)
Meyer F.F. (Ferdinand Franz, not Hugo/Goerlitz)
Moeller J.D
Montanus
Muller & Wetzig
Noris (projection lenses only?)
Oehler J.
OMFA
Piesker
Plaubel
Rietzschel
(Rodenstock)
Roeschlein Kreuznach
Ruo Optik
(Schneider Kreuznach)
Schulze & Billerbeck
Simon
(Staeble)
(Steinheil)
Steiner Optik
TeWe Berlin
Voigtlaender
Wachter
Will Wetzlar
Wirgin
(Zeiss)
Zwierzina

HUNGARY
Gamma
MOM (Magyar Optikai Művek)

ITALY
Ballerio
Capelli
Chinaglia Domenico
Comi
Durst (possibly 3rd party lenses only?)
Ducati
FAF
Filotecnica Salmoiraghi
Ganzini
GNM
Grilli
GPM
Industria Scientifica Ottica
Ligny
Korstika
Officine Galileo
OMI
PEB
Photoalpha
SCAT
SEDE
SIRIO
Torrani

LATVIA
Minox

THE NETHERLANDS
Old Delft
Philips

PORTUGAL
(?)

ROMANIA
IOR

SPAIN
Curz Optical (projection lenses only?)

SWITZERLAND
Kern Aarau
Suter
Spyr (projection lenses only?)
Wild Heerbrugg

UK
Corfield
(Dallmeyer)
Grubb
Hailer Adam
Halina
Hall
Kershaw
Lancaster
Leech Optics
Optomax
Perken Son and Rayment
Pullin Optical
Rochester Optical
(Ross)
Sutton
Swift and Son
(Taylor & Hobson)
Watson
(Wray)

Dan Pavel · Nov 11, 2024

France - Hermagis
Germany -Linhof (probably only rebranded lenses)

simplejoy · Nov 11, 2024

Hunter_Compton said:
For Germany there is also Feinmess VEB of Dresden. To my knowledge they only produced one camera lens, the Bonotar 105mm f/4.5 available in both Exakta and M42 mount.

Thanks! They made at least another lens (projection lens) but that might be about it, I guess...

Dan Pavel said:
France - Hermagis

Many thanks - forgot about that one.

Dan Pavel · Nov 11, 2024

Germany - Plaubel

Ian C · Nov 11, 2024

Although mainly a camera maker, Wirgin of Wiesbaden, Germany also made lenses.

I own a Wirgin Wiesbaden Gewironar 1:4.5 7.5 cm enlarging lens. The mounting thread is 29.5 mm x 0.5 mm pitch.

Mechanically, it is of good quality. Optically, it’s a disappointment.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wirgin

rduraoc · Nov 11, 2024

Dan Pavel said:
My mistake. You are correct, it was Portugal, not Spain.

It is indeed Portugal, and the sentence shouldn't be drafted in the past, as the factory is still there - now producing (and repairing) mostly Leica sports equipment (binoculars, telescopes and rifle scopes): https://www.leica.pt/?lang=en.

simplejoy · Nov 13, 2024

Just a small update...

I'm wondering if there have ever been some small lens manufacturers in Sweden, Finnland or Norway... Does anyone know?

AUSTRIA
(Voigtlaender) (early)
Reichert Wien
Karl Kahles
Gerstendörfer
K. Fritsch & Prokesch
Weingartshofer
Eumig
Carl Dietzler

CZECH REPUBLIC
Druopta
Eta Praha
Kolar
Meopta

FRANCE
AFR
(Angenieux)
(Benoist Berthiot)
(Boyer)
Cindo
Clement et Gilmer
Darlot
Demaria-Lapierre
Derogy
Dupluich
D. Degen
E. Français
F. Faliez
Gallus
(Hermagis)
Huet
Itier
Kengott
Krauss
Lumiere
OIP
(Optique & Précision de Levallois = Foca)
Pathe Freres
Pulligny et Puyo
Roussel
(Som Berthiot)
Zion

GERMANY
A. Schacht
(Agfa)
(Astro Berlin)
C. Friedrich München
Contessa-Nettel
Docter Optics
(Emil Busch)
(Enna)
(Ernemann)
Feinmess
Finetta
Gerlach
(Goerz)
Guthe & Thorsch
ICA
Iloca
(ISCO Optik)
Koehler
Laack
Leidolf
Leitmeyr
(Leitz)
Liesegang
Ludwig
(Meyer Optik Goerlitz)
Meyer F.F. (Ferdinand Franz, not Hugo/Goerlitz)
Moeller J.D
Montanus
Muller & Wetzig
Noris (projection lenses only?)
Oehler J.
OMFA
Piesker
Plaubel
Rietzschel
(Rodenstock)
Roeschlein Kreuznach
Ruo Optik
(Schneider Kreuznach)
Schulze & Billerbeck
Simon
(Staeble)
(Steinheil)
Steiner Optik
TeWe Berlin
Voigtlaender
Wachter
Will Wetzlar
Wirgin
(Zeiss)
Zwierzina

HUNGARY
Gamma
MOM (Magyar Optikai Művek)

ITALY
Ballerio
Capelli
Chinaglia Domenico
Comi
Durst (possibly 3rd party lenses only?)
Ducati
FAF
Filotecnica Salmoiraghi
Ganzini
GNM
Grilli
GPM
Industria Scientifica Ottica
Ligny
Korstika
Officine Galileo
OMI
PEB
Photoalpha
SCAT
SEDE
SIRIO
Torrani

LATVIA
Minox

THE NETHERLANDS
Old Delft
Philips

NORWAY
(?)

PORTUGAL
Leica Portugal (any lens development?)

ROMANIA
IOR

SPAIN
Curz Optical (projection lenses only?)

SWEDEN
(?)

SWITZERLAND
Kern Aarau
(Kern) Paillard
Suter
Spyr (projection lenses only?)
Wild Heerbrugg

UK
Aldis
Beck
Chadwick
(Cooke)
Corfield
Coronet
(Dallmeyer)
Dollond
Ensign
Grubb
Hailer Adam
Halina
Hall
Houghton Butcher
Kershaw
Kodak Ltd.
Lancaster
Leech Optics
Optomax
Perken Son and Rayment
Pullin Optical
Rochester Optical
(Ross)
Sands & Hunter
Sutton
Swift and Son
(Taylor & Hobson)
Watson
(Wray)

Historical lens manufacturers from Europe, + lesser known/smaller ones from Germany, France and the UK

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