Opton
The name Opton or Zeiss Opton goes back to the time of the German division and the split of the Zeiss group of companies in 1945 . It means two things:
- the Zeiss Oberkochen brand name used in the Eastern Bloc countries until around 1970
- the original name of the Carl Zeiss works when they were evacuated from the East German Jena to the West of Germany (initially to Heidenheim ) at the end of the Second World War .
In October 1946 the company was re-established as Opton Optische Werke Oberkochen GmbH and a new production site was set up in Oberkochen (Baden-Württemberg). A year later the name was changed to “Zeiss-Opton GmbH” and soon afterwards to “Carl Zeiss” - which was heavily criticized by the SBZ for brand reasons. In Jena the VEB Carl Zeiss Jena had meanwhile been established , in the west, however, they saw themselves as the legal successors of the Jena Carl Zeiss Foundation from the prewar period.
Built up than the Oberkochen works in the 1950s, a comprehensive production for industrial and photographic optics and also in the former Soviet bloc began to deliver the products ran into the RGW -Staaten continue under the name Opton to trademark disputes with Jena dodge. Ultimately, Oberkochen agreed with "East Zeiss" Zeiss Jena in London in 1971 on an official regulation of naming rights: Western Zeiss exports to Comecon countries were called "Opton", while Jena products in the west were called "from Jena" ; previously they were mostly called “ Jenoptik ” or “Jenoptik Jena”.
Among the best-known products with the name "Opton" were
- the Opton Proxar , one specifically for close-up photography developed lens with 32mm focal length,
- the Contessa Opton Tessar , the sharpest 45mm f / 2.8 camera lens at the time, and
- the Zeiss Opton stereo microscope (developed around 1950).