as a 35 mm viewfinder camera of new design that would be (almost) as easy to use as cameras that used Instamatic film cassettes, but delivering better image quality. Planning started in 1977 and the cameras were manufactured between June 1980 and September 1981. The Rolleimatic was released onto the market without being subjected to the extensive testing that was usual, with the result that it suffered from unreliability, just like the SL35E had before it. Rollei's bankruptcy brought production to an early end. Under Nord/LB management 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. Although it was extremely popular, the market for amateur photo-laboratories was much too small to make any difference to Rollei. Furthermore, for some obscure reason, he purchased tripods and 35 mm lenses from Japanese companies, fixed focal length lenses from Mamiya, and zoom lenses from Tokina – even though Rollei had enough spare production capacity in Singapore to make them all itself. With the new Rolleinar 35 mm lenses, Rollei was finally able to match the range of focal lengths offered by its competitors. On top of that, Peperzak cancelled Rollei's appearance at photokina 1978. In the end, he left Rollei on 28 February. The Norddeutsche Landesbank (Nord/LB) then appointed Heinz Wehling to manage the company on 1 March 1978. So, Rollei was able to exhibit at photokina after all, but not in its customary location – that had already been allocated. 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. Unfortunately, Wehling was no more successful than his predecessor; in particular, he remained committed to 35 mm SLR cameras, even developing a new camera for the range, and steadfastly refused to close the factory in Singapore. Rollei was now perilously close to bankruptcy, so the search began for a new owner. Hannsheinz Porst Obviously, the new owner could not be a Japanese company. Since neither Agfa, Kodak nor Zeiss were interested, Deutsche Fotoholding GmbH, a company founded by , took over 97% of Rollei Germany on 1 April 1981, with the option of purchasing 75% of Nord/LB's share of Rollei Singapore in 1982. The chairman of Nord/LB's board of directors greeted this event with