Braun

Two eras of Braun logos

Braun Paxette I and Super PaxetteP — Braun Paxette I and Super Paxette

Braun (Carl Braun Camerawerk) of Nuremberg, Germany, was originally founded in 1906 as an optical and industrial production house. In 1948, the company began producing box film cameras, in rollfilm and 35mm format. Its best known model was the Paxette series of 35mm rangefinder cameras. Most of the company's cameras were consumer-level models, though the company did briefly produce several more advanced 35mm rangefinder designs as well as an interesting 35mm SLR line with leaf shutters, the AMC/Paxette Reflex. The most advanced of Braun's rangefinders and SLRs had interchangeable lenses.

In 1954, the company began producing slide projectors, a mainstay of its business for the next forty years.

Braun ceased making cameras in the 1960s, in part because of high labour costs and a resultant inability to compete in the consumer level camera market. The company began to focus on its established line of slide and optical projectors, selling more than four million units by 1997. In 2000 the company became insolvent.