Press IB/E Company
PNP ‒ Local Newspaper
06.05.2023
Oscar glamour descends on the Bavarian Forest
Klaus Eckerl (63) is a technology freak. His company IB/E in Freyung develops and manufactures lenses that inspire the Hollywood elite. This is the second time that Oscar glory has come to the Bavarian town.
IB/E's 'Freyung' headquarters will soon be joined by 'Los Angeles'. Not only is this the second time that cinematographers have been honored with the Oscar whose tools of the trade ‒ the camera ‒ were equipped with lens sets from IB/E Optics and were able to deliver spectacular scenes, most recently James Friend for “All quiet on the Western Front”. A branch of IB/E is also planned in California. Founder and Managing Director Klaus Eckerl (63) also plans to be there frequently. On the one hand because of the beautiful weather in California, but above all to be closer to the professionals and find out what they need.
2016 was the first time in Freyung: Emmanuel Lubezki was awarded the Oscar for Best Cinematographer for his spectacular images in “The Revenant” with Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role, and this was the first time that the high‒precision optics from the Bavarian Forest were used to great effect. The client was the Munich‒based professional camera manufacturer ARRI, which had the optics, i.e. the lenses, for its “Alexa 65” developed by Klaus Eckerl and his team at IB/E and manufactured in the factory under clean room conditions.
“Like brushes and paint for the painter”
IB/E had 21 employees back then. Today, seven years later, there are 60 ‒ and an Oscar has been added. In “Nothing New in the West”, cinematographer James Friend captured oppressive images of the brutality of war, for which he not only had the ARRI Alexa 65 in his luggage, but also the “TRIBE7”, “his favorite lens”, KlausEckerl is proud to say.
lens innovation bears his company's name. IB/E is one of the seven investors ‒ hence the seven numbers ‒ and has developed and produced this new range of lenses. Another investor is camera great Bradford Young (Star Wars, among others).
Eckerl is undoubtedly a technophile. After graduating from high school in Passau, he studied precision engineering in Nuremberg, worked in the field of technical optics and plastic injection molding in Munich for a long time and ventured into self‒employment in his home region of Lower Bavaria in 1992. In 2001, he founded the production company IBE optics GmbH, and in 2006 Eckerl received the first patent in the film optics segment. The industry
The industry took notice and was on the lookout when the small company from Freyung received the “Cinec Award” in 2010 for a quality assurance software for lenses.
This was proof of the quality work ‒ and the breakthrough in the film industry. After the optics for Alexa 65, however, development did not stop. “Good for us,” laughs Klaus Eckerl, and explains clearly why good can always become better and more precise: ”You have to imagine that a lens is to the cameraman, i.e. the Director of Photography, DoP, as the brush and paint are to the painter. These people see themselves as artists because they translate the words written in the script into images.” And this personal image must be shown exactly as the DoP sees it in his mind's eye.
According to Eckerl, a lens is mainly made of “aluminum, steel and glass with different properties”, but the focal length, i.e. the format that the camera is able to capture in razor‒sharp detail, is the key factor. There are a few “key points” here that make the difference ‒ and this is what IB/E is concerned with. This involves preventing wobbling around the optical axis (image jump) or ensuring that extreme weather conditions do not affect the optics.
Klaus Eckerl admits that he likes to have control over what the artist, i.e. the cameraman, has at his disposal later on: “We can now do everything: from the development of the optics and mechanical design to the coating of the lens elements.” Eckerl talks a lot with the “DoPs”, as he calls the cameramen, listens, wants to deliver what they love: “For years, that was a difficult balancing act” he says, describing the task of combining technical specifications with artistic demands. But he has obviously succeeded, as demand and the use in other blockbusters such as “Planet of the Apes”, “Mission Impossible” or even “Revenant” and “Nothing New in the West” prove.
In addition to film studios and rental companies that equip the productions, a few people, mainly successful professionals, also afford IB/E lenses, a set of twelve of which can cost as much as 270,000 euros. However, customers also include industry (e.g. Krones, Audi, Bosch), which orders optics for research and development in Freyung.
The demands on the workforce, which according to the founder consists mainly of physicists and engineers, but also technical draughtsmen, who IB/E itself trains, are correspondingly high. Despite an exciting field of work and contacts in the glittering world of international film, the boss admits that it is not easy to find so many specialists. Overall, he describes his team as an “international mix” with people from India, Chile, Hungary, Lower Bavaria and the Oberpfalz.
Founder wants to arrange his succession
But IB/E is reaching its limits. The current company headquarters were built in 2012 and expanded in 2016. A further extension is not making much progress, first corona put the brakes on the plans, now it's the bureaucracy: “I don't know if I'll live to see it,” says Eckerl, but he is also making “exit” plans and wants to be more present in “LA”, where Klaus is known and appreciated. And he is thinking about his succession. “As I don't have any children, there has to be some way of continuing when I'm no longer there or no longer fit,” he muses about options such as finding investors or a management buy‒out, i.e. a takeover by employees.
But the resourceful entrepreneur is still enjoying successes such as the Oscar. He slept through the award ceremony for Emmanule Lubezki in 2016 or didn't watch it because he didn't have his own work on his radar. This time, however, he joined in the excitement and was delighted when the names “James Friend” and “Nothing New in the West” were called out. Has he already said thank you in Freyung? “No, not yet”, says Klaus Eckerl, ‘he certainly hasn't gotten around to it yet ‒ we're a long way away’.
PNP ‒ Local Newspaper
10.11.2012, Carmen Laux
World innovation for Hollywood from Hutthurm
Hutthurm. The Cinec award in the “Optics” category was won by the company IB/E optics from Hutthurm with a system called MTF STAR. Please who? Please what? So: Cine is held in Munich every two years. It's a trade fair where developers and actual users, technology professionals from film and television, come together. Right in the middle: The company from Hutthurm, which worked with the company Chrosziel in Munich on the MTF STAR, a test system for film and cinema optics. The system, which was shown as a world premiere at Cinec 2010, enables television stations, distributors and camera teams to quickly measure lenses from different manufacturers and save the results and pass them on to other colleagues worldwide.
System costs 13,000.00€.
The work was worth it, the result was convincing: the film received the Cine Award at a state reception in the Munich Residenz. It is awarded by the Fördergemeinschaft Filmtechnik Bayern e.V. (FGF) for outstanding and innovative achievements and developments in the field of film technology. There were 43 applications for six categories ‒ Camera, Technology, Optics, Camera Support/Grip, Camera Equipment, Lighting Engineering and a Special Award for the clever idea/category Lighting Engineering ‒ and the prize in the Optics category went to Hutthurmer and her colleagues from Chrosziel GmbH in Munich.
Initial experience of how the system has been received following its successful premiere has already been gained: “We have already sold a double‒digit number of units to renowned companies. Companies in the film industry such as ZDF, Century, Los Angeles and Abel Cine Tech in New York,” says Klaus Eckerl, head of the Hutthurm‒based company. He is certain. “The Cinec Award certainly helped customers to justify their investments.”
He wants to sell 100 systems worldwide. “With a current sales price of 13,000 euros per software package, that could be a lot of fun,” smiles Klaus Eckerl. After Munich, he also presented the MTF STAR system at trade fairs in India, China and South America. He also wants to establish partners in these countries who will then take care of sales locally.
It remains to be clarified what the name IB/E OPTICS actually stands for and what exactly the company in Hutthurm does: Klaus Eckerl, who studied precision engineering, founded his engineering office after working for several years as an employee in the optical industry. He took on his first employees in 1997 and the team now numbers 12. And more, especially precision mechanics and opticians, are being sought.
Snorkel lens in use at Disney.
The company has also developed further and sees itself as a service provider and producer for customized optics in the fields of research, industry, cinema and film, and also supplies special industrial solutions as a development partner. In addition to development and design services, prototype and small series production is also offered in Hutthurm. Having always been dedicated to measurement technology, Klaus Eckerl and his team discovered the video, cinema and film industry around three years ago, developed ideas and implemented them ‒ in some cases with partners. “As a young company, it is very difficult to gain a foothold in the industry and make a name for yourself,” says Klaus Eckerl. But it worked out. For example, the company in Hutthurm produced a so‒called snorkel lens, which allows the most difficult perspectives and was used in the Disney production “Narnia”.
Honoured: Jürgen Nussbaum from Chrosziel in Munich and Klaus Eckerl from IB/E OPTICS in Hutthurm with the jointly developed MTF STAR system and the Cinec Award, which was presented in recognition of the world innovation.
PNP ‒ Local Newspaper
21.09.2002, Alois Schießl
IB/E develops the smallest zoom lens in the world
Hutthurm engineering office creates clarity with optical measuring technology − Complete system construction for visual surface inspection and measurement
Hutthurm. The team around Klaus Eckerl, graduate engineer (FH) in precision engineering and managing director and owner of the company IB/E (Eckerl Engineering Office), is small. Only around a dozen employees work for him in Hutthurm. And yet this mini team with its "electronic eyes" ensures that even very large companies can bring error‒free products to market, or that their night vision devices and cameras really provide a clear view. The reference list is impressive. It contains names of companies such as Bosch, Siemens VDO and ADC in the automotive supply sector, as well as CyBio and Roche in the biotechnology sector, Aesculap and Kappa in the medical technology sector, and Jenoptik and Plansee, for whom complex optical measuring machines were developed and built. A visual inspection of a planetary gear is currently being carried out for ZF, and the smallest zoom lens is being developed together with the Fraunhofer Institute IPA & Mühlbauer in the world for measuring purposes. "Our company is certainly not large, but it is highly specialized and difficult to beat when it comes to hardware and software for individual visual inspection," says the 42‒year‒old.
The focus is on the development, construction and maintenance of optical systems, the design of complete mechanical structures and ‒ if required ‒ the software‒controlled evaluation of the test parts. In addition, IB/E also offers company know‒how as a service and solves quality problems. They always have a keen eye on the perfect overall solution.
And that has worked well so far. Eckerl gives examples: When car engines run like clockwork, IB/E in Hutthurm also has a part to play. For Bosch, the software and hardware that uses an electronic eye to check spark plugs to see whether their ceramic coating has cracks, for example, was developed. Defective candles are sorted out fully automatically using a computer. Eckerl has developed a ballpoint pen‒like He developed a pen with optical sensors that detect dents or holes on a tooth in three dimensions. Eckerl then developed a system for the company Oremetrix that transfers the image information into a 3D model, which can be used to mill teeth in great detail using computer support.
According to Eckerl, anyone who needs to identify defects on surfaces down to a thousandth of a millimeter can also visit IB/E. To check the paintwork on wires, the ibe company in Thyrnau, for example, turned its attention to Eckerl. The Bayer‒ische Bohrerwerke also did this, commissioning a system for extremely fast temperature measurement during the rolling of drill bits. And according to the company boss, nothing escapes the “eyes” of IB/E devices, even when monitoring has to be done very quickly. Even if the test times are less than a second, such as when checking for errors in fast‒running TDI injection systems, nozzles, ABS systems or circuit board production, there are no “image disturbances” with IB/E products. “Here too, we meet the requirements with complete image processing processing systems meet every requirement for measurement accuracy in the micrometer range and thus ensure the quality of our customers' products," said Eckerl.
The reputation that the company now has is also demonstrated by the fact that the University of Munich asked IB/E for support in developing a system for micro gear measurement, and the company is currently developing a micro‒mirror LCD application for a Fraunhofer Institute.
IB/E has also built special optics for highly sensitive cameras for Bosch‒Blaupunkt. A special order was the development of the optical part of a simulation driver's cabin for the German army's Leopard II tank. When asked about the secret of its success, Eckerl says: "First and foremost is a highly qualified team that is able to solve customer problems individually." Doctorates in physics, computer science, graduate engineers, as well as technicians with experience in optics, construction and laboratory work and motivated business people form the basis for this. In addition, there is close cooperation with universities and collaborations with highly specialized know‒how providers such as Micro‒Epsilon in Ortenburg.
CEO Klaus Eckerl at a measuring system developed by IB/E that can be used to check the smallest parts for damage.
