Altissa Kamerawerk was part of the same firm as Emil Hofert's Eho Kamerawerk in Dresden. Originally founded circa 1928, the company became Amca-Camera-Werk Berthold Altman in 1937, in 1941 it became Altissa Kamerawerk and was finally renamed VEB Altissa-Camera-Werk in 1952 when it became state owned. The Altissa range of box cameras were sold from 1935 onwards - the 6x6, Super 6x6 and Model II - all with optical direct vision viewfinders for eye-level use, an all using the 2.25'' square picture format introduced in the original Brownie in 1900, and which had been more recently revived by the Rolleiflex in 1928.