Back from the dead? Not quite. I looked into who's using iconic photography brand names like Agfa, Minolta, Rollei any Yashica today — and what I discovered shocked me

It's Minolta Jim, but not as we know it...

26 Apr 2026, 15:00 by https://www.techradar.com/uk/author/peter-fenech · TechRadar

Features By Peter Fenech published 26 April 2026

(Image credit: Peter Fenech / AgfaPhoto / Yashica / Rollei / created with Adobe Firefly)

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There are certain brand names that are indelibly linked to classic photography. Names like Agfa, Minolta, Rollei, and Yashica bring to mind the so-called golden age of analog imagery, having propelled the medium from a fringe area of experimentation to a mainstream, commercially viable industry.

Their products were amongst the best film cameras for beginners all the way to pros. However, times change and not every brand, whether they were iconic or not, made the transition into the digital age with equal success.

But what value is there in a name? It turns out quite a lot, actually. Have you ever wondered what happened to some of these once household names, only to stumble upon a product emblazoned with very familiar lettering in a department store, or in the recesses of the internet you normally visit to find DIY accessories?

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This happened to me recently, while I was standing in a queue at a budget high street hardware store and I noticed a pile of AA batteries with Agfa titles on them. Wait, Agfa still exists? Apparently so, but not necessarily as you might remember it from the ‘good old days’.

You see, names live on, but the companies that own the rights to them change behind the scenes, without the general public ever realising what has happened. Sometimes, this is through understandable industry consolidation – brands like Manfrotto, Gitzo, Lowepro, and Sachtler, who make some of the best tripods and the best camera bags, are all currently owned and operated by Videndum plc, for example – but in other cases, the exchange is far less predictable.

Brand names carry with them loyalty and pedigree, the value of which can far exceed that of the original company itself. Therefore, the name can be sold as an independent asset or acquired when a failing company is bought out and repurposed. This can lead to the name being used on products that have no affiliation or direct connection with the company and products that originally used them.

So what are some of these orphan brand names in the photography industry? I spent an eye-opening weekend digging into the history of some long-dead companies that seem to live on in corporate purgatory.

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