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Multiblitz goes into liquidation

German lighting manufacturer, Multiblitz, has gone into liquidation.

Too late: Multiblitz first standalone flash, the M6-TTL was released in 2016.

Since the end of October, Multiblitz had indicated financial woes and was looking for a potential buyer to keep the company afloat. But this ultimately failed.

Multiblitz will now join the likes of Bowens, as an innovator of flash photography that didn’t manage to survive 2017.

Bowens attributed cheap rip-offs from Chinese manufacturers, competitor innovation, and changing buying behaviour from photographers as primary reasons for its death.

This is likely to have also led to the downfall of Multiblitz, however the company hasn’t released a statement explaining what went wrong.

French photo news website, Focus Numerique, noted that Multiblitz was slow to release a standalone flash, with the M6-TTL arriving at Photokina in 2016.

The Profoto B1 and B2; Phottix Indra360 and Indra500; and Broncolor Siros 400 L and 800 L have covered this market nicely. (And then, of course, the Chinese rip-offs follow closely behind them)

Multiblitz was founded in 1948 by Dr Ing. Dieter Mannesman in Cologne, Germany.

The company’s strobes became popular with press reporters during the 50s and 60s. Mannesman invented the ‘Guide Number’ formula, the maximum flash-to-subject distance and f-number aperture to correctly expose film, which is still used today, according to Multiblitz.

Multiblitz prided itself on producing award-winning studio lighting equipment that was engineered and manufactured entirely in Germany.

Multiblitz headquarters in Cologne, Germany. ‘ Every step of production, from the first idea to the final inspection, is carried out and monitored by dedicated professionals in order to supply photographers worldwide with the most reliable and accurate products available on the market’.

The company sent this e-mail to distributors around the world:

Dear Multiblitz Distributor,

we deeply regret to inform you that the intention to continue with the Multiblitz company under new ownership could not be implemented last week.

The company is now being liquidated under administration of RA Dr. Mark Boddenberg.

For remainig requests we kindly ask you to contact info@multilbitz.de.

After almost 70 years we must say farewell to the photo industry. We thank you for your trust and the great collaboration during the past years and wish you all the best for your business.

A last good bye from Cologne,
Team Multiblitz

One Comment

  1. Kevin De Arbrew Kevin De Arbrew October 17, 2020

    Very Sad. I once had 3 monoblocks of Multiblitz. Very Sad

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