Swiss medium format manufacturer Sinar has been hived-off into two companies with its Swiss distributor Tekno AG taking over development, sales, service and support for the brand's products and manufacturing passed to Femron, a management buyout of its production facilities. A new company called Sinar Photography formed by Teckno will take over the relevant assets. Former owner Jenoptik withdrew from the medium format market in July 2009 following the collapse of its partner in the Hy6 system: Franke & Heidecke.

Sinar Photgraphy has said it will focus on analog and digital camera systems including digital backs and its view cameras. However it also said the continuation of the Hy6 medium-format camera is currently under negotiation. Leaf, the other company selling the Hy6/AFi camera stopped supporting the system when it was bought out by Leaf Imaging in July 2009.

Press release:

Sinar Photography to take over parts of SINAR AG

Sinar – brand and embodiment of modular analog and digital system solutions for professional photography.

With effect from October 1, 2009, Sinar Photography AG will take over the Development, Sales, Service
and Support divisions for the products of the Sinar brand. Sinar Photography originates from Tekno AG,
which has already been marketing the Sinar products in Switzerland up to now. By the end of 2009, the
entire unit will be established at Farbhofstrasse 21 in Zurich. The move to Zurich will make Sinar even
more accessible to its customers in future. The commitment of Stephan Fässler (CEO of the new
company Sinar Photography and owner of Tekno AG) and Erich Frefel (Director Marketing & Sales) will
ensure continuity of personnel, also in the continuation and further development of the traditional
products under the name Sinar Photography. In an initial step, Sinar AG’s mechanical production was
spun off and made independent via a management buyout effective July 1, 2009. The mechanical
production now operates under the name Femron AG. Femron will continue to
produce the mechanical cameras and accessories for Sinar Photography.

The German and Swiss markets will be served directly by Sinar Photography from Switzerland, with
support from an existing service, repair and sales office in the Hamburg region. Additional sales support
offices will be announced shortly.

Sinar Photography will continue to provide professional and expert service for its customers. Service and
support for the current Sinar product range are also guaranteed for the future with the new firm Sinar
Photography, including the repair, warranty and guarantee service for Sinar view camera systems, the
digital backs and the Hy6 and Sinar m medium-format camera systems.

The ongoing product development at Sinar Photography will focus predominantly on the tried-andtested
analog and digital camera systems. This includes the digital backs, the globally renowned Sinar
view cameras for studio applications, and the specialist cameras for architecture and document
photography. The continuation of the Hy6 medium-format camera is currently under negotiation, but
the existing business alliance guarantees long-term technical support.

The Sinar eXposure software, which generates DNG files and has a unique shading function specially for
architecture photography, will also be continued by Sinar Photography. The declared goals include
opening up the Sinar camera platforms further for the attachment of third-party backs. The Sinar
products will continue to be sold worldwide via the established and proven distribution channels.