The deal comes three months after the collapse of Franke & Hedeicke, which manufactured the camera body for Sinar's Hy6 medium format system, and one month after the Swiss-based camera maker lost the support of its major shareholder.

Last month, BJP revealed that Jenoptik had decided to withdraw its investment from Sinar, forcing a management buy-out.

Starting 01 October, Sinar will operate under the newly created Sinar Photography brand. The deal will see the staff of Sinar and Tekno, a Swiss distributor, merge into one team based in Zurich.

'Sinar Photography will take over the development, sales, service and support divisions for the products of the Sinar brand,' says Stephan Fassler, CEO of the new company and owner of Tekno, and Erich Frefel, director of marketing and sales.

The new company will focus on the development of 'the tried-and-tested analog and digital camera systems,' it says. 'This includes the digital backs, the Sinar view cameras for studio applications, and the specialist cameras for architecture and document photography.'

However, the future of Sinar's Hy6 medium format camera remains unclear. 'The continuation of the Hy6 camera is currently under negotiation, but the existing business alliance guarantees long-term technical support.'

Calls to Sinar for further comment were left unanswered.

Sinar is the second company to suffer from Franke & Heidecke's closure after Leaf was taken over by Phase One.