A new, smaller company called DW Photo [13] was formed with reduced staffing, and more or less the same people leading the business; the manufacturing and sale of projectors and twin-lens reflex cameras, as well as that of the series 6000, was stopped, to concentrate on the Hy6 and accessories.

Rollei was founded in 1920 as the Werkstatt für Feinmechanik und Optik, Franke & Heidecke in order to make a twin-lens reflex camera.

The frequent name-changes are an indication of a turbulent history: After the popularity of the twin lens reflex cameras declined, the Rolleiflex was supplemented with a variety of models.

Heidecke tried unsuccessfully to secure financing to start his own company, so, at the insistence of his wife, he presented his concept to Paul Franke [de], a salesman and former colleague at Voigtländer.

The first prototype of the new camera, named the Rolleiflex, was finally completed in 1927; it was built for absolute reliability and featured a rigid, injection-moulded housing made of aluminium.

Focusing in the "Rolleiflex" was achieved by moving the carriage that held both the viewfinder and the imaging lens, i.e. the camera had so-called "metallic bellows"; that is, the plate enclosed the sides of the case.

Although the site was well served by public transport, it lay some distance from the city centre, so the company built a canteen and shop for its workforce, which now numbered 309 employees.

[citation needed] Alongside its renowned cameras, Rollei – like its neighbour Voigtländer – was now engaged in the manufacture of equipment deemed important to the German war effort: precision optics for binoculars, periscopes, telescopic sights (for sniper rifles, for example), and theodolites for directing artillery.

The allied occupying forces wanted Rollei to survive as a company, even helping it procure lenses from Zeiss, which had ended up in the Soviet occupation zone.

In particular, he lacked the flexibility required to adapt to changing circumstances; for example, he failed to reduce the workforce in difficult times, whereas Paul Franke had done so immediately at the onset of the war.

One of them, Heinrich Peesel, a physicist from Hamburg, produced a concise, 5-page report that so impressed Rollei management that they offered him the chairmanship of the board, thereby accepting that far-reaching changes were necessary.

Rollei's new products found favour with its customers, which helped to boost its annual turnover by 30% in comparison to 1963 – the year that the company posted losses in the midst of the first economic downturn since the war.

In contrast, other companies such as Leitz and Hasselblad had better understood how to promote their expensive cameras in photographic magazines – not just through paid advertising, but also through feature articles in the editorial pages.

Rollei's research and development department continued to follow the basic philosophy it had established for its medium format cameras: adding more electronics.

In 1967, Rollei started to sell flash units, but without much success as this market was already crowded with offerings from other manufacturers – not just other camera makers, but also consumer electronics companies such as Metz.

Although wages in Germany were low to begin with, they increased steadily, which prompted Peesel to negotiate an exclusive agreement with the government of Singapore in 1970 to manufacture photographic equipment there.

The Braunschweig-based camera manufacturer Voigtländer closed down on 23 August 1971, whereupon the German mail-order firm Quelle GmbH (Foto-Quelle) entered into take-over negotiations, but no agreement could be reached.

As a result, a new company called Optische Werke Voigtländer was established on 1 March 1972 with 320 employees to manufacture lenses for both Rollei and Zeiss Ikon cameras.

On 1 April, Peter Canisius Josef Peperzak, the former head of Canon in Germany, took over the leadership of Rollei with the intention of fundamentally changing its pricing and marketing policy.

It was the first microprocessor-controlled medium format camera in the world, whereby the aperture and shutter speed were set electronically via two linear electric motors built into the lens.

Perzak's behaviour became increasingly erratic; in an attempt to save the factory at Uelzen, he got Kaiser Fototechnik in Buchen to develop an enlarger, which Rollei sold as the Rolleimat Universal.

He negotiated a contract with IEC, the Industria De Equipamentos Cinematograficos S. A. in São Leopoldo, Brazil to manufacture Rollei slide projectors and enlargers under license.

In addition, the Yen and the Singapore Dollar had appreciated strongly in value, which significantly increased the cost of the products that Peperzak had earlier contracted to import from Asia.

Mired in debt and close to bankruptcy, Porst finally filed an application on 3 July 1981 in the District Court of Braunschweig to put Rollei into voluntary administration.

A new company called Rollei Fototechnic GmbH employing 380 workers manufactured, sold and (until 1 July 1983) serviced a "rationalised" range of cameras, lenses and slide projectors.

Significant improvements included a film magazine and TTL flash metering – superior technology that made it the leading medium format camera.

In addition to improved electronics, this was the first medium format camera to include automatic exposure bracketing; demand for this feature was so great that it led to a five-month lead time.

Once again, Franke & Heidecke was manufacturing medium format cameras, projectors, photo-technical accessories and lenses on the old company site in Salzdahlumer Straße in Braunschweig.

Rollei's latest products are currently available in Switzerland, Austria, Italy, France, Portugal, Great Britain, Greece, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands.

[35] DHW Fototechnik (founded in 2009 by Rolf Daus, Katherina and Hans Hartje and Frank Will) in Braunschweig[36] was an exhibitor at photokina 2010 where it showed the Rolleiflex Hy6,[37] a hybrid digital back-compatible and 4.5×6 / 6×6 film medium format camera, with integrated TTL-metering and an HFT PQS AF-Xenotar f/2.8, 80 mm standard lens,[b] the twin-lens TLR[38] and the Rollei 35.