King & Bauser Regula factory
| Regula-Werk King & Bauser GmbH
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 1936 |
| Seat | Bad Liebenzell |
| Branch | Cameras, photo accessories |
The Regula-Werk King & Bauser GmbH , based in Bad Liebenzell, was a manufacturer of cameras in the lower and middle price range as well as electronic flash units .
founding
The company was founded by the King family in Pforzheim in July 1936 and initially traded as King KG . At first, parts for the radio and electrical industry were produced in a small factory. In 1938 the company expanded and relocated the company headquarters to Bad Liebenzell . After the end of the Second World War , the majority of the production facilities were dismantled by the Allies , which is why the company switched to the production of cameras from 1949.
In 1949, King KG released the prototype of their first camera, the 35mm Regula I camera.
After a fire on November 2, 1951 completely destroyed the factory in Bad Liebenzell, a new factory building was completed within two weeks.
In 1960 the manufacturer began producing flash units for cameras.
Later, Wilfried Bauser, the son-in-law of the King family, who had been in charge up until then, took over management of the company. In the 1980s, the name was changed to Regula-Werk King & Bauser GmbH.
From 1977 the Indian company National Instruments , after having acquired drawings, machines and spare parts from King KG, produced Regula cameras under license in Calcutta .
Due to a misjudgment of the market situation for disc cameras , the production of King cameras in Germany went bankrupt in 1984 .
meaning
From 1949 to 1984 the company produced up to five million cameras, making it one of the most successful German camera manufacturers of the post-war period. The company also tried its hand at the field of single-lens reflex cameras , which most German manufacturers left to Asian companies in the mid-1970s. At the Photokina 1966, the Regula Reflex CTL developed by Joseph op de Beek with an M42 lens connection was presented. The prices for the successor model Regula Reflex 2000 CTL later ranged between 450 DM for the housing with the cheapest lens and 550 to 700 DM with lenses of various standard focal lengths . However, the company was only able to achieve limited sales.
Cameras
The following models were produced:
- Regula 24x36 (with optical light meter)
- Regula IP
- Regula IIIb (with uncoupled light meter)
- Regula IIId (with interchangeable optics, rangefinder and light meter)
- Regula RM
- Regula Cita
- Regula Citalux 300 (special model of the Cita with red leather and gold-plated metal parts)
- Regula Cita III
- Regula LKB (1963)
- Regula Sprint (1963)
- the Regula Sprintic models
- the Regula Sprinty models
- Regula Olymatic
- Regula Olympia I (1963)
- Regula Olympia II (1963)
- Regula Olympia III (1963)
- Instaking (126 film)
- Regula Diplomat (126 film)
- Regulette (1963)
- the Pica models (built in Romania by IOR as Orizont Amator)
- Regula Reflex CTL
- Regula 2000 Reflex CTL (also known as "Ringfoto Reflex" and in the USA as " Kalimar Regula Reflex ")
As an OEM, King KG produced the following models for other suppliers:
- Dominant
- Tickyphot (for Wilhelm Schmidt KG, Calw, manufacturer of the Ticky flash units)
- Pacer 35K (similar to the Regula Picca C)
- Revue (Quelle-Versand): Div. Models of cheap plastic lines
- Ring photo reflex (Sh. Above, Regula Reflex 2000 CTL)
proof
- Helen Smith: Irregular Regulas at mwclassic.com , accessed April 27, 2009.
- Kadlubek's camera catalog (Photodeal edition).
- Photodeal (magazine for camera lovers and collectors of Photographica).
- Description of the Regula SLR [1] , accessed August 16, 2013
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ernst Giger on gigers.com , accessed April 27, 2009.
- ↑ ukcamera.com