Voigtlander Vitoret Rapid D Prontor 300 Camera Editorial Image

Voigtländer is an optical company founded by Johann Christoph Voigtländer in Vienna in 1756 and is thus the oldest name in cameras. It produced the Petzval photographic lens the fastest lens at that time: f/3.7 in 1840, and the world`s first all-metal daguerrotype camera Ganzmetallkamera in 1841, also bringing out plate cameras shortly afterwards. It set up a branch office in Braunschweig in 1849, moving its headquarters there later. The company issued stock in 1898, and a majority of the shares were acquired by Schering in 1925. Over the next three decades, Voigtländer became a technology leader and the first manufacturer to introduce several new kinds of product that would later become commonplace. These include the first zoom lens 36–82/2.8 Zoomar in 1960 and the first 35mm compact camera with built-in electronic flash Vitrona in 1965. Schering sold its share of the company to the Carl Zeiss Foundation in 1956, and Zeiss and Voigtländer integrated in 1965. In 1972 Zeiss/Voigtländer stopped producing cameras, and a year later Zeiss sold Voigtländer to Rollei. On the collapse of Rollei in 1982, Plusfoto took over the name, selling it in 1997 to Ringfoto. From 1999 until the present time 2011, Voigtländer-branded products have been manufactured and marketed by Cosina; for these, see Cosina Voigtländer.