Schacht was founded by Albert Schacht in 1948 in Munich (Germany). Albert Schacht had a long pedigree of lens design. From 1913-1919 he was an operations manager at Carl Zeiss Jena, followed by seven years at ICA A.G., before it was merged into Zeiss Ikon (Dresden) where he continued until 1939. During the war years until 1946 he was a technical director at Steinheil in Munich. Schacht focused on designing and building lenses for 35mm film cameras. In 1954 production was moved to Ulm. Schacht manufactured interchangeable lenses in the range of 35-200mm for all common camera connections. Most lenses at Schacht were designed by Ludwig Bertele, who founded an optics office in Switzerland in 1946 with the help of Wild Heerbrugg.
The first interchangeable SLR lens manufactured was the Albinar, 13.5cm f/4.5 in 1952. It was produced exclusively for export to the USA and with an Exakta bayonet connection. It wasn’t really a telephoto, but rather just used a simple 4-lens design. Production was then expanded to include three more common focal lengths: the Travenar 50mm f/2.8, 85mm f/2.8, and 135mm f/3.5. The Albinar was renamed Travegon in 1954. They were available in Alpa, Exakta, Praktica (M42), Pentacon, and Leica mounts. In 1956 a wide-angle Travegon 35mm f/3.5 was introduced. Schacht produced lenses in the most popular focal lengths, and was one of the first lens manufacturers to deliver SLR lenses with an automatic aperture.
Most of its early lenses were of standard 1950s aluminum construction. In the 1960’s Schacht changed the visual appearance of their lenses to match those of other manufacturers, i.e. a black lens with a zebra-style design which initially incorporated berg-and-tal stype controls, opting eventually for a more modest raised style of grip. These are generally considered good quality lenses, however not as common as other brands. Early lenses are marked as A. Schacht Munchen, older ones A. Schacht Ulm. Brands included: Albinar, Travenar, Travegon, Travelon, Travegar, Travenon, sometimes with the prefix tele- S-, M-, or Tele-.
In 1967 the company was acquired by Constantin Rauch. In 1969 the optics division was sold on to the Wilhelm Will KG company in Wetzlar. Due to production difficulties, lens production ended in 1970.
Notable lenses: Travenar 135mm f/3.5
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