LEICA Barnack Berek Blog

ONE OF THE BEST LEICA LENSES EVER MADE

2026-09-16T11:11:32.325-05:00

THE LEICA 180mm F/3.4 APO-TELYT-R

By Heinz Richter

Newer and more advanced production methods have resulted in a relatively large number of lenses with aspherical elements. This has led to considerable advances in lens performance. The 50mm F/2 Apo Summicron ASPH is such a lens. It approaches the limits of what is physically possible. Performance wise, this lens is unsurpassed.

However, that isn’t to say that some of the older Leica lenses are suddenly outdated and undesirable. As a matter of fact, we can go back almost 40 years and still find a lens that is possibly equal in performance to the current Leica lenses.

This lens is the 180mm f/3.4 Apo-Telyt-R. It reached the market in 1975. At that time, it was no longer a secret that Leica had developed the lens for the US Navy as part of a high resolution 35mm camera system.

The system used Leicaflex SL2 cameras, the standard 35mm Summicron-R, a 75mm f/2 Elcan-R, a 180mm f/3.4 Elcan-R (later reincarnated as the Apo-Telyt-R), and a 450mm f/5.6 Elcan-R. This system was used by the US Navy starting in the early 1970s.

Leica 180mm f/3.4 Apo-Telyt-R

One of the problems of lens design is accurate color correction and the Navy presented Leica with the problems of developing lenses that could focus more than just the visible spectrum accurately.

Even today, most of the photographic lenses have what is referred to as “primary color correction,” where only part of the visible spectrum is focused at any time.

The solution to the problem lay in the development of glasses with what are considered “anomalous” properties; the combination of high refracting indexes with low dispersion.

Such properties are found in artificially grown crystals; an example is the calcium fluoride elements made famous in the Canon FL series telephoto lenses.

But such crystals have a very large temperature coefficient, and elements made from them are both brittle and extremely soft. The temperature related expansion of calcium fluoride elements is so great that most lenses made with them are subject to changes in focal length with temperature changes, and therefore have no proper infinity stop or distance markings.

The softness of the material also leads to design constraints. For instance, the Canon 300mm FL lens has a thin, conventional glass element in front of the “front” calcium fluoride element, primarily for protective purposes.

Not an ideal situation. Lenses made of these crystal elements demand extreme care to assure proper performance, and the military considered them incompatible with the kind of treatment they were likely to receive.

The glass research lab in Wetzlar set out to develop a glass that had the optical properties of crystals like calcium fluoride, but without the negative side effects. They did indeed develop such a glass, today commonly referred to as “apo glass.” It was/is used in a variety of Leica lenses, including the Apo-Telyt, the 800mm Telyt-R, and the Noctilux 50mm f/1. Their designer, Dr. Walter Mandler, was the man whose genius brought us those lenses, but also the 35mm Summilux, and close to fifty other lenses for Leica cameras, in addition to lenses for RCA television cameras, IMAX projectors, and Picker X-ray equipment.

How good are the Elcan lenses, specifically the Apo Telyt 180mm f/3.4? While most photographic lenses have a color correction from 400 to a maximum of 700 nanometers, the Leitz apo glass allows correction up to 900 nanometers. In simple terms, this means that all colors of the visible spectrum and infrared are focused in a single plane.

The Apo-Telyt proved to be the best lens of the set, making it one of the very few lenses for 35mm cameras that do not require refocusing when used with infrared films or sensors. For instance, when used with an adapter and with an infrared filter on the Leica M240, M10 and M11 series cameras, the lens can be focused normally and does not require any refocusing to compensate for the infrared focus shift.

The US Navy conducted comparison tests with the 180mm f/2.8 Elmarit-R. These demonstrate the effects of the apochromatic correction of the Apo-Telyt. Both lenses were tested at f/3.4 with blue, yellow-green, red and infrared light. The maximum focus shift of the Apo-Telyt was +/- 0.045mm. The shift of the 180mm f/2.8 Elmarit-R (at f/3.40 was +/- 0.25mm.

In practical applications, such correction translated into fantastic sharpness. Increased resolution is readily apparent, made possible by greatly increased contrast capabilities.

The Navy test showed that the Kodak 5069 film, developed in H&W 4.5 developer consistently achieved resolution figures of 600 lines per millimeter. To make enlargements with this kind of detail required a specially modified Leitz Focomat II enlarger and lenses.

It is safe to say that regardless of manufacturer, the Leitz Apo-Telyt-R 180mm f/3.4 is still one of the very best lenses ever made for 35mm and digital photography.

For more information go to: MANUFACTURE AND PERFORMANCE OF PHOTOGRAPHIC LENSES

This article has a lot more information on the Apo-Telyt and the tests conducted by the US Navy.

For other articles on this blog please click on Blog Archive in the column to the right

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LIGHTING FOR PORTRAITS

2026-09-12T12:32:25.608-05:00

By Heinz Richter

Portraits are a form of photography that can be done in a variety of ways, requiring different skill levels. The easiest and probably the most widely used are snapshots of individuals or groups. Nothing wrong with that, but the outcome is mostly left to chance.

I have always been an advocate of exercising as much control as possible when taking a photograph, portraits included. Even when taking just a simple snapshot, there is a level of control we can exercise. This begins with choosing the individual or individuals we want to photograph. Since most people are not accustomed to be in front of a camera, it is best in most cases if the subjects are unaware that they are being photographed. Subsequently directions are out of the question. But we do have a choice of backgrounds in many cases. Simply changing camera position can lead to a more suitable background. This can also result in a different look of the lighting. In addition there is the choice of lenses. To remain more or less unnoticed, a longer lens can be quite helpful because it increases the distance to the subject(s).

A simple snapshot with just natural light

A simple snapshot is usually better when the photographer is unnoticed

Lighting for a portrait offers a huge amount of control and it has the possibility to bring out the best in whoever we photograph. That doesn’t necessarily require studio light or anything even close to that. Any available light source will suffice. Outside, during daylight hours, this means the oldest light source of them all, the sun.

Unfortunately the sun is also a difficult light source to deal with. Direct sunlight is very contrasty and renders a very harsh light which results in very harsh shadows. When we talk about controlling lighting, what we really do is controlling shadows. A harsh light source like the sun easily casts ugly shadows which, if not controlled, will result in an ugly portrait. With other words, the lit parts of a person are usually just fine, it is the shadows that will make or break the photograph.

The harsh shadows from direct sunlight usually make for a bad portrait.

While some of that can be corrected in Photoshop or similar programs,

it is preferable to correct this prior to taking the photo/

An easy way to avoid these ugly shadows is to avoid direct sunlight. The old Kodak advice to always have the sun in the back of the subject does work, but then you are also shooting into the sun which can create a whole lot of other problems.

Especially with a suitable background, having the sun in the back of the subject will result in an excellent outdoor portrait

Reflected light can be a very good light source because it is diffused and, as such, will not create harsh shadows at all. A light wall or side of a building can make a wonderful, soft light source.

Large trees can be quite helpful as well in modifying harsh sunlight. Having a person standing next to a tree will easily avoid direct sunlight. In addition, the side of the face closest to the tree will usually be darker than the other side and thus even create some modeling of the face. While we usually don’t carry umbrellas when it’s sunny outside, an umbrella can serve as a very useful light modifier, and it is easy to carry. On the other hand, it would require an extra person to assist during the shoot to hold it in place unless the camera is on a tripod and is triggered by remote release or the self timer.

Shaded areas generally increase exposure by a certain amount. If the background is in bright sunlight, this will lighten the background. With other words, this method of lighting also offers a certain amount of control over your background lighting. For instance, relatively dark trees like pine trees can be made lighter in the photograph.

It is even possible to darken the background in outdoor portraits, but this is more involved. To do so would require increasing the subject exposure by the use of a reflector or reflectors. A bright reflective material will shed additional light onto the subject, thus shortening the exposure. This in turn will also shorten the background exposure and render it darker. Even when no means to control the harsh shadows are available, an electronic flash can be used as so called fill flash by adding additional light to the shadows to lighten them and to make them appear less harsh. This too will slightly darken the background.

One of the best light sources for shooting indoors is window light. A large window renders beautiful, soft light. The position of the model relative to the window allows for a variety of different lighting effects like a front lit profile, with the model facing the window, or soft side lighting with the window to the side of the face. Changing the camera position offers further control.

This is a snapshot of Tiger Jack utilizing just window light

The window light in this case came from a large window off to the left of the subject

Without question, the most control over lighting is in a studio with studio lights. Of all the different types of lights available, I much prefer studio strobes. They have the advantage of the short flash duration which usually will eliminate any problems with subject or camera movement. However, simple electronic flash units are less than desirable because you cannot see the effects of the light until after the photograph has been taken. On-camera electronic flash is generally considered to be the least beneficial light source. Not only does it cast very flat lighting since it is emitted from the very camera position. The flash is usually on top of the camera, right above the lens, creating hardly visible, downward shadow. However, when shooting vertically, the light is off to one or the other side of the camera, casting an ugly shadow of the subject.

Not bad except for the ugly shadow on the right side of the picture

Studio strobes have the advantage of modeling lights which are a continuous light source positioned on the strobe such that they show the same lighting pattern as the strobe. They allow full visual control over your lighting and with multiple strobes you can control both your subject as well as your background lighting.

Typical studio strobe. The light for the modeling light and the flash tube are positioned such that they will cast an identical light pattern.

Another popular studio light are the so called hotlights. They utilize relatively powerful lightbulbs which emit enough light to render short enough exposure times to avoid subject or camera movement. However, as the name implies, they are also quite hot and can make shooting in a studio uncomfortable for the model as well as the photographer.

As of late studio lights with light emitting diodes (LED) have become available. These avoid the problem of excessive heat and thus are without question a better choice. But both hotlights as well as LEDs have one drawback. Since both of them have to be relatively bright to allow for useable exposure times, their brightness will also cause the model’s pupils to contract which renders less ideal looking eyes in the resulting photographs. The modeling lights in a studio strobe are not anywhere near that bright with the result that the pupils in the photographs are noticeably larger and thus more attractive. The bright light from the actual flash is much too short to allow for the pupils to contract.

However, there is one advantage to hotlights and LED lights. They can render exposure settings with the camera meter. Studio strobes do require a flash meter to determine the correct exposure settings.

Much has been written about lighting, lighting ratios and light modifiers. While lighting and its control is essential for a good portrait, I personally reject the use of lighting ratios, the difference in relative values between the lighter and the darker side of the face or any other preconceived setups. To me that is the photographic equivalent to painting by numbers. I feel it is much more important to visually control the lighting and, if it looks good, shoot. What lighting ration that results in is totally irrelevant.

When I was still teaching photography, I had a representative from Kodak come in to talk to my students about portrait lighting. To my horror, he continually harped on lighting rations without saying anything about light sources and their various effects. When it came time to demonstrate his “skills”, he pulled out several rolls of string which had markers attached to them. He then demonstrated setting up the lights within certain distances from the camera with the help of the markers on the strings to achieve specific lighting ratios, all the while totally ignoring the actual effects of the lights relative to the model. He didn’t even turn the lights on until he was finished with his setup.

Lighting is being described in many different ways, something that can quickly get confusing. I want to mention just a few basic examples which quickly make it clear what basic lighting is being talked about.

· Front lighting describes basic lighting from the front of the face. This can be used with the face toward the camera as well as with the profile of the person and any position of the face in between.

· Butterfly lighting is a form of front lighting, usually done with a less diffused or undiffused light source. When positioned correctly, the light will cast a small, butterfly shaped shadow directly below the nose.

· Side lighting has the light source off to one or the other side of the face by varying amounts.

· Split lighting is a more extreme form of side lighting and, as the name implies, has the light coming from one or the other side of the face with one half of the face lit and the other shadowed.

· Rembrandt lighting is a form of side lighting with the light source placed such that it will show a triangular shaped lit area of the eye and just under the eye in the otherwise dark area of the face. This expression is used because Rembrandt used this form of lighting in many of his paintings.

There are many more of these descriptions, but to me they quickly become confusing, if not ridiculous. After all, what on earth is John Wayne lighting?

Regardless of what light source is being used, in many cases the shaded areas will be too dark. To add light to the shadows an additional light source can be used. But in most cases a simpler approach is to use a reflector to add some additional light. The intensity of the added light is adjusted by moving the reflector closer or further away. The reflector can be lit by light from the main light source or it can be lit with a separate light.

Let’s look at lights and their effect on the lighting. In general, the smaller in size a light source, the harsher the light will be and cast the harshest shadows. Increasing the physical size of the light source will make the light softer, meaning the transition from light to shadows is more gradual. This doesn’t necessarily require a different light, we use light modifiers instead. A frame with a translucent material, placed in front of a harsh light can easily achieve that, but the lit area of the translucent material must be noticeably larger to have the desired effect. Just putting some diffusing material directly in front of the light will make little difference since the actual size of the light is not increased. Another way to achieve the same effect is to reflect the light off a white, reflective surface. Foam core sheets are very useful for that. I have used large 8x4 foot foam core panels which make a great diffused light source as long as most of the entire panel is lit. Taping two panes together such that they can be folded in the middle allows them to be set up without the need for any other stands etc.

Not only do these light modifiers allow for achieving very soft lighting, varying the size of the lit area on them allows to further change the amount of softness to just what is necessary. Other light modifiers are umbrellas and soft boxes. Umbrellas are especially convenient for transportation because they can easily be folded. They basically come as two types, reflecting umbrellas, where the light is reflected to the subject or diffusion umbrellas where the light shines through the umbrella. Here too the size of the lit area of the umbrella determines the softness of the light. Some umbrellas are designed to be used either way.

Reflective umbrella. By removing the black cover

it can also be used as a diffusion umbrella

Typical soft box

Soft boxes are very similar. They are deigned to enclose the light source and soften the light relative to their size. The amount of softening with any of these light modifiers can further be influenced by varying their distance to the subject. The greater their distance from the subject the smaller they will be relative to the subject.

This was shot on stage with just stage lighting. Other than positioning the face,

no other changes could be made. I chose to position the face to show

Rembrand lighting.

Another example of Rembrand lighting.

Here too existing lighting was used

The soft lighting in this case was the result of a large garage type door opposite from the subjects,

creating the effect of window light.

The only light source here was a chandelier directly above the person. That created very harsh,

long shadows on the face. To lighten them, a large, white piece of cardboard was placed behind

the backrests of the seats in front of the person to reflect light upward.

Another example of utilizing stage lighting.

The steep downward angle of the light created a prime example of

butterfly lighting

Sometimes just outdoor lighting is not sufficient. In this case it rendered the face much too dark.

Reflectors did not add enough light to be useful. A studio strobe, set to match the outdoor lighting

of the background was the answer.

Hard, undiffused light can be quite attractive, providing it is used correctly.

Here the light was positioned such that no shadows can be seen on the face.

Rembrand lighting with a slightly diffused single light source

Rembrand lighting, utilizing the profile of the model with an undiffused

light source. A second light illuminated the left arm of the model

and to highlight the blonde hair.

With the model moving it is necessary to use a softer, diffused

light source like an umbrella to avoid harsh shadows which are

hard to control because of the movement.

A soft light source was positioned slightly to the left slightly above

the face, rendering a very soft illumination biased to the right side of the face.

A hotlight was used for this shot which rendered the pupils relatively small.

The same lighting with a studio strobe would have resulted in larger pupils.

An undiffused light source was positioned to just light an outline of the face

and upper body, often referred to as rim lighting.

An undiffused light source is positioned to glance across the back

of the model. The illumination of the face was the result of some

light reflecting off the right shoulder of the model.

The harsh sunlight was easily controlled with the white hat of the

model. The shadow pattern of the sunlight shining through the

rim is an added benefit.

The initial lighting was outlining the face with rim lighting. To keep the other

side of the face from becoming too dark, extra light was reflected to the

left side of the face with a reflector. The soft light from the reflector was

adding light without ever giving the impression that a second

light source was used.

Problems with harsh sunlight can easily be avoided by placing the model in the shade as in this

outdoor model shot.

This is basically split lighting. However careful positioning of the light and

the face to shed just a streak of light on the right eye resulted in the eye

from being too dark. Hard lighting also will often result in bringing out the

color of the eyes.

Another example of split lighting, combined with a very effective pose.

The dark side of the face was partially lit by light reflecting off the background.

This example was shot under considrable time constraints. Just existing lighting had to be used. This rendered

the eyes relatively dark. Given more time, a reflector could have been used to add more light to the front of thed face.

This photograph is a good example of predicting the outcome of the photograph with a series of accurate light readings. The bright light, outlining the profile of the face and the hands was purposely chosen at +2 1/2 (2 1/2 stops over) to render the skin tones very light. This was determined with an incident light reading of just the main light source and then opening the lens by 2 1/2 stops. The rest of the face needed to be quite dark, but also needed to show detail. For that an underexposure of -2 1/2 stops was chosen. This again was done with an incident reading by adjusting the intensity of the light source until it registered –2 1/2. This photograph was actually shot in a studio with all white walls and a white floor. No black background material was used. The subject was approximately 30 feet from the background. With that distance, so little light reached the background that the reflective meter did register an underexposure of almost 3 stops which renders the background almost black.

All of this requires practice and experience. I found it quite helpful to look at photographs of accomplished photographers, trying to determine what type of lighting was used. Then, trying to duplicate it can further shorten the learning curve.

We have a wealth of means to influence the quality of our portrait lighting and measures of control which all can result in better portraits, rather than leaving things to chance.

I realize that these are only a few examples which will hopefully result in a better understanding of portrait lighting. But an article like this can only scratch the surface. Feel free to contact me any time with questions and examples to increase your understanding of lighting and to make the learning curve a bit shallower.

For more on light reading go here

All photographs taken with Leica equipment

For other articles on this blog please click on Blog Archive in the column to the right

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RARE EARTH RADIOACTIVE GLASS LENSES MADE BY LEITZ/LEICA

2026-09-09T10:56:00.780-05:00

Leica KE-7A with 50mm f/2 Elcan

Leica lenses are known for their quality, state-of-the-art technology and design. To achieve desired results, Leica optical designers have gone radioactive in the past!

In this piece, published by the International Leica Society, Jason Schneider breaks down the quirky history behind rare earth glass Leica lenses. These lenses incorporated elements made of thorium and lanthanum glass because of their unique optical properties. Both materials emit radiation that can be measured with a Geiger counter.

Take a step back into Leica's history and learn more about the design and background of these legendary lenses.

RARE EARTH GLASS LEICA LENSES: A QUICK AND QUIRKY OVERVIEW

By Jason Schneider

Yes, they were (and still are!) literally radioactive, but they incorporated elements made of thorium and lanthanum glass because of their unique optical properties

By the late 1940s, the management at Leica knew they needed to come up with a superlative successor to the well-respected 50mm f/2 Summitar that had been designed by the legendary Max Berek in 1937 and had been in production since 1939. By that time, they were diligently working on a stunning new Leica camera that was to become the landmark Leica M3 of 1954, and their goal was to grace it with the finest, most advanced 50mm f/2 lens the world had ever seen.

The assignment fell to Gustav Kleinberg and Otto Zimmermann, two of the most brilliant optical designers at E. Leitz Wetzlar and close associates of Berek, who passed away in October 1949. To create what became the Summicron, a 7-element, a 4-group masterpiece with elements having shallower curves than those in the Summitar, they needed to use glass that provided a very high refractive index (light-bending power), along with very low dispersion (the differences in light-bending angles for various wavelengths of light.) The classic measure of the optical dispersion of a glass is its Abbe number; the higher the number, the narrower the dispersion spectrum, and the easier it is to control chromatic aberrations, etc.

At the time, the only way to achieve glass that provided a very high refractive index and a high Abbe number was to incorporate a “rare earth,” thorium oxide or lanthanum oxide, into the glass itself. Both materials emit radiation that can be measured with a Geiger counter, but thorium is significantly more radioactive than lanthanum because a much larger percentage of it consists of an unstable isotope. The eventual plan was to use a special Krown Lanthanum glass (later licensed to Schott Glass Works as LaK9) that was formulated by Broemer and Meinart in Wetzlar’s renowned glass division. But LaK9 glass wasn’t available until late 1952, and even then only in limited quantities.

The interim solution: the very first batch of “stealth” 50mm f/2 Leitz Summicrons, identifiable by having a star (asterisk) engraved after the word Summitar on their identification rings, and early examples of the correctly labeled collapsible Summicron dating from late 1951 to 1952, used thorium glass supplied by Chance Brothers & Co, Ltd. of West Smethwick, England! For the record, thorium (aka Torio) glass was used for elements 1, 3, 6, and 7. These lenses are the unique and collectible “radioactive Summicrons” of lore and legend that tend to acquire a yellowish-brownish cast over time that can be eliminated by extended exposure to UV (that is, sunlight.) According to those who’ve shot with a wider variety of 50mm f/2 Summicrons than I, the earliest Summicrons and the very rare Star Summitar are quite good but not stupendous in terms of image quality. Later iterations of the classic 7-element 50mm Summicron (serial numbers 993,000-1.030,000) that employ lanthanum (LaK9) glass provide noticeably better imaging performance, especially wide open. However, this and subsequent improvements were the results of tweaks in the optical design, not the type of glass used. The great Walter Mandler, then chief optical designer at Leitz, was responsible for many of these optical upgrades, including the design of the 6-element, 5-group, and 6-element 4-group 50mm f/2 Summicrons, both of which incorporated other types of lanthanum glass.

The 50mm f/2.8 Elmar: Lanthanum glass gains 2/3 of a stop

While analyzing the possibility of developing a new, faster 50mm Elmar lens back in the ‘50s, the Wizards of Wetzlar determined using then state-of-the-art computer-aided design (CAD) that the latest Red Dial version of the classic 4-element, 3-group 50mm f/3.5 Elmar would be difficult to improve upon at a maximum aperture of f/3.5. However, if they wanted to increase its maximum aperture by 2/3 of a stop to f/2.8 and maintain its legendary image quality, they needed to use lanthanum glass. Indeed, LaK9 glass is employed in the first and last elements of the original 50mm f/2.8 Elmar of 1957-1974, which was made in screw and M mounts. Optical performance was further improved in the 50mm f/2.8 Leica-M of 1994-2007, but to the dismay or bokeh aficionados, this version had a 6-bladed instead of a 15-bladed diaphragm. The 50mm f/2.8 Elmar enjoyed a brief spate of popularity as the standard lens supplied on Leica IIIg outfits (1957-1960) but it was produced in fairly limited quantities despite its 50-year production run (there was a total of 17,461 assigned serial numbers from 1994 to 2005.) It’s a not stellar performer wide open, especially at the edges of the field, but it’s extremely sharp overall at moderate apertures and has lovely natural rendition and beautiful bokeh.

Oh, Canada! The exquisite limited-production Elcan lenses

The fabled Leica KE-7A was made in Leica’s Midland, Ontario, Canada factory in 1972 and 1973. Its basically a black finished military version of the Leica M4 that’s been specially sealed against dust and dirt, has a winterized shutter, and the bottom plate seamed with extreme glue that enhances its tightness, the legend “CAMERA STILL PICTURE KE-7A” engraved on its top. Originally made for the U.S. military, a small number (55 body-lens outfits) were sold to the public found and their way to civilian collectors. Others had the military I.D. number on the back scratched off when the camera was decommissioned. A total of only 550 bodies were ever made so any Leica KE-7A is a rare bird indeed.

The standard KE-7A outfit included the rare 50mm f/2 Elcan (which stands for E. Leitz, Canada) lens, a unique formula consisting of 4 non-cemented, air-spaced elements designed to withstand the rigors of extreme weather and service in active combat zones. The lens, which was designed by Gary Edwards, Walter Mandler, and Erich Wagner, had a 10-bladed diaphragm providing apertures of f/2-f/16, and it focused down to 30 inches. It was constructed of anodized aluminum, and incorporated lanthanum infrared-absorbing glass and high refractive index optical glass, so, like the lenses above it emits radiation. Regrettably, I have never shot with one of these gems, but it’s reputed to be a superb lens capable of outstanding image quality even at maximum aperture—which demonstrates what you can achieve with custom designed, bench assembled optics and mil-spec quality control.

There was a slew of additional super-rare, limited-production Elcan lenses made in M- and R-mounts and designed for the military during the Cold War era. All were designed by or with the input of Walter Mandler, all evidently incorporated lanthanum glass, and all delivered astonishing performance according to those who’ve used them. The 66mm f/2 Leica Elcan was an ultra-high-resolution M-mount lens for the KE-7A reportedly ordered by U.S. Navy and also used by NATO. I haven’t been able to come up with a diagram, but it evidently had 9 elements, a minimum focusing distance of one meter, and took E39 filters. In addition to the 50mm and 66mm f/2 Leica Elcans, Leitz Canada also created a 90mm f/1.0 Elcan, which must have been a pretty hefty handful, and three ultra-high-resolution R-mount lenses for Leica SLRs. This latter trio consists of the75mm f/2 Elcan-R, 180mm f/3.4 Elcan-R, and the 450mm f/5.6 Elcan-R. These lenses were probably not equaled, much less surpassed until the recent Leica lens designs spearheaded by Peter Karbe.

Perhaps the best way to conclude this fun exploration is to quote from the cogent comments Phil Forrest posted on the Rangefinder Forum on 8/8/17 Here’s a lightly edited, somewhat condensed version:

“The optical properties of old classic lenses won’t likely be replicated in the near future or ever, for that matter. Lead, Lanthanum and Thorium glass production were halted as of 2001. For example, the 38mm (Zeiss) Biogon in the (Hasselblad) SWC underwent a slight formulation change due to the new glass restrictions. Most of the heavy metal glasses were phased out in the late 70s and 80s due to environmental and workplace hazards. So, there’s one reason.

But as far as Leica goes, they have staked their claim into the digital realm. They can’t reissue older designs due to the restrictions of the digital sensors and the very short lens registration, 27.8mm…. Leica (is) designing the nodal point of their new fleet of lenses farther forward so the light rays are more perpendicular to the sensor…. you can’t use (many superb classic lenses) on what Leica sees as their future, without workarounds and image compromise. A 66mm f/2 Elcan could certainly be done but it was a special, rare, niche lens, which never was intended for use by the general population. Design, ray-tracing, tooling, sourcing glass, all would be very expensive, and the sales wouldn’t pay for the investment.”

For the complete article by Jason Schneider go here:

For more information about LHSA, the International Leica Society go here:

Our sincere thanks to Jason Schneider and the International Leica society for allowing us to reprint this article.

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COMPARISON OF SENSOR VS FILM RESOLUTION and 135mm, 200mm, 250mm - LEICA, NOVOFLEX, STEINHEIL, MEYER OPTIK LENS COPARISON

2026-09-07T13:00:11.892-05:00

By Heinz Richter

In a television advertisement a while ago the statement was made that, if it is on the internet, it must be true. That reminded me of an article comparing film to sensor resolution. The writer boldly stated that most films have a resolution of at least 300 l/mm (lines per millimeter). Of course that was overstating things by a huge margin. I don’t mean to say that there aren't films that can attain such high resolution figures, but all films?

Resolution is generally tested by taking photographs of test targets which show a pattern of white lines in an ever decreasing size against a black background. Eventually the lines will become so small that the film, the sensor or the lens, can no longer distinguish the white lines from the black spaces in between. One white line and the adjacent black space are referred to as 2 l/mm (lines per millimeter) or 1 lp/mm (line pair per millimeter).

Typical test target

It is a known fact, however, that evaluating resolution with test targets does not render very conclusive information. The white lines and black spaces in between constitute a very high contrast. This makes it substantially easier for the film (or a lens) to separate the two. Reducing contrast by using grey lines on a black background would render substantially different results.

Another major factor influencing resolution is the grain structure of the film. A film image is made up of silver halide clumps which show up in form of grain. The smaller the silver halide clumps or the grain, the finer the detail that can be shown. Faster films simply do display coarser grain which in turn lowers the resolution of a film.

These three images are from a fine grain negative (Agfapan APX 25).

The first was scanned from an 8x enlargement, showing the entire negative area.

The second image was scanned from a 16x enlargement.

The third shows a cropped section of the same 16x enlargement

Leica M3, 50mm f/2 Dual Range Summicron

Please note: All three images show the resolution on an enlargement. The actual film resolution is higher

For comparison: Full image and cropped section from a 5 megapixel digital camera (Leica Digilux 2)

This isn't to say that higher resolution sensors aren't desirable. The relatively small number of individual sensor elements of a 5 MP camera can only show limited detail. In order to take full advantage of the capabilities of our lenses, a higher resolution is necessary.

Full frame image Leica SL with Leica Vario-Elmarit-SL 24-90mm f/2.8 ASPH

Cropped section of the above image

Further crop of the original image

Leica M240, 28mm f/2.8 Elmarit

Cropped section of the above image

Finally, the structure of the emulsion or emulsion layers influences film resolution because in any case, light traveling through the emulsion, will scatter and thus reduce resolution as well.

Subsequently, to say that most films have a resolution of 300 l/mm is patently false. As a matter of fact, only few commercially available films even have that high a resolution.

Researching this topic, I came across a report written by Joseph A. Schantz, Assistant Head of Research and Development Department at the Naval Photographic Center in Washington, DC. He wrote that since 1963 the Navel Photographic Center and the Naval Air Systems Command, as a matter of continuous policy, have expanded efforts to upgrade 35mm photography on a systematic basis. The aim of this work was not only to improve the quality of documentary and reportage photography but also to improve intelligence collection capabilities of the Navy’s cameras.

According to the research done by Mr. Schantz, the best resolution obtainable with conventional, slow speed films, like the old Agfapan APX 25, is 250 – 300 l/mm compared to 550 l/mm with the Agfa High Contrast Copy Film and 600 l/mm with Kodak 5069 and 3414 film.

Kodak High Contrast Copy Film when processed in the POTA developer of Marilyn Levy (Levy, M., “Wide Latitude Photography,” Science and Eng. Vol. II Number I, January, February 1967) yield excellent high resolution negatives with adequate film speed. The Agfa High Contrast Copy film gives a practical combination of good resolution and emulsion speed.

In addition, C. B. Neblette in his book “Photographic Lenses” clearly states: "The resolving power of a lens-film combination is not fixed by the film alone, but by both the lens and the film (or sensor). Resolution is determined principally by the sharpness of the image (lens resolution). But it is profoundly influenced by the tone producing properties of the receptor (film or sensor) and its ability to reproduce steep gradients. For that reason, resolution cannot be regarded as an exclusive property of the lens."

For the average films available today, a more modest resolution of 100 to 200 l/mm is a realistic figure, based on film speed and general properties of the film. Black and white films generally have a higher resolution than color films. The former Agfapan APX 25, for instance, had a resolution close to 300 l/mm while Fuji Velvia 50 was rated to resolve 160 l/mm.

To make film resolution more understandable in this comparison, let’s refer to the smallest detail a film can show as pixels. On a standard 24 x 36mm 35mm frame, a film with a resolution of 100 l/mm would render a total of over 8,6 million pixels. That increases to over 19,4 million pixels with a film resolution of 150 l/mm and over 34,5 million pixels with a 200 l/mm resolution.

Of course, a 35mm negative or transparency is of little use just by itself. Today transparencies generally are scanned and then further processed digitally. Does anyone still use a slide projector? Many film users still make their own enlargements, mostly from black and white negatives, or the negatives are scanned for further processing. Regardless how films are used, any further processing will have an image degrading effect, based on the slide projector, enlarger or scanner used and by their respective quality. With other words, the resolution figures for films are a theoretical value that can never be fully realized.

For more details on this topic go to LEICA Barnack Berek Blog article “LEICA LENSES – WHAT GIVES THEM THEIR OUTSTANDING QUALITY.” However, without going into the details of that article, just one comment about lenses: Most people consider resolution of a lens to be the most important measure of lens performance. While that is important, the contrast level of a lens is at least equally important. This refers to the lens' ability to distinguish between very similarly shaded objects. A lens with a low contrast level often cannot make that distinction and no increase of contrast during printing or in post production is able to make up for that. It is actually the fact that a higher contrast level of a lens can result in sharper appearing detail.

Most test targets used to measure resolution use white bars on a black background,

which constitutes a rather high contrast. However, if the black bars on a white

background were replaced with grey bars of various density on a grey background,

a low contrast level lens would quickly be incapable of distinguishing between the

bars and the background.

The lens in the top example has twice the resolution of

the one in the bottom example.

But the lens in the bottom example has twice the contrast level

which results in a definitely sharper appearing image

How does this compare to digital sensors? With few exceptions, top level full frame (24 x 36mm) cameras currently have resolution levels of approximately 25 megapixels. The general belief is that the higher the pixel count, the better the image quality. That is correct in as much that the smallest detail a sensor can resolve is the size of the individual pixels. The new Leica M10-R and M11, which increased the megapixel count to 40+ and 60, have proven to be able to deliver finer detail compared to cameras with a 25 megapixel sensor. However, there is a lot more to that than meets the eye. The new CMOS sensors in the new Leica M11, M10, the Leica M (Typ 240) as well as the Leica SL models have definite advantages over conventional CMOS sensors. For a more detailed description of digital sensors and some of the major differences, got to LEICA Barnack and Berek Blog article “THE PIXEL RACE - DOES IT REALLY MAKE SENSE?”

Section of a typical sensor

Image courtesy of Red Dot Forum

Conventional CMOS sensor with deep pixel wells and flat microlenses

Leica CMOS sensor with very shallow pixel wells and tall micro lenses, allowing for larger pixel area

Unlike film, digital sensors will render the same contrast level up to the finest detail. This has the result that the finest detail becomes less visible. A color image is made up out of RGB (red, green, blue) image elements. With the exception of the hardly ever used Foveon sensors, digital sensors can record only in black and white. In order to obtain a color image, the light passes through an array of red, green and blue filters, the Bayer filter grid. This means that the total number of pixels in a sensor are exposed to either red, green or blue light only. To form a color image, the information obtained from the sensor is then processed by interpolation in the camera or by raw conversion software. It takes the pixels of each color and assigns all colors to each pixel. With other words, the software will take a red pixel, for instance, and assign theoretical green and blue values as well to form a complete color image. As good as these types of software have become, there are certain losses involved.

With lower quality cameras these losses can be as much as 50 percent of the resolution. The only exception to this is the Leica M Monochrome. Here the Bayer filter and interpolation software is eliminated to record just black and white images. See LEICA Barnack and Berek Blog article “MONOCHROME SENSOR - WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE.” The result is an unsurpassed image quality and tonal range.

In the final analysis, just as there are definite performance differences among films, there are also considerable differences among sensors. CCD sensors used to be the choice of most camera manufacturers. These have been widely replaced by CMOS sensors. In this respect, Leica is no different. Many people are under the mistaken impression that the CCD sensor in the Leica M8 or M9 delivers superior results than the current CMOS sensor in the Leica M (Typ 240) or M10 and M11 models. A recent comparison test by David Farkas of the Leica Store Miami thoroughly debunked that. He took this very subject to task in a three part series in the Red Dot Forum. See LEICA Barnack Berek Blog article “LEICA M (TYP 240) VS LEICA M9”.

The debate of which is better, film or digital sensors, cannot be answered with any certainty because the large differences among films and sensors. What can be said is that both film and sensors are capable of delivering very high quality images. In many cases they do exceed the requirements of the photographer since extreme cropping or enlarging is necessary to even reveal the limits of their capabilities. Thus, it is more a matter of personal choice than effective differences pointing to one or the other medium as being superior.

As for myself, I used to spend many hours in my professional custom black and white lab developing films and printing with a Leitz Focomat V35 as well as medium and large format enlargers. Having switched to digital, I don’t miss analog photography at all, and I can say with certainty that I am not compromising the overall quality of my work by having done so.

Complementing the above article, is a comparison of four similar lenses by four different manufacturers.

135mm, 200mm, 250mm - LEICA, NOVOFLEX, STEINHEIL, MEYER OPTIK LENS COPARISON

Leica 135mm f/2.8 Elmarit

By Heinz Richter

When my father gave me my first Leica, a Leica III with 50mm f/2 Summar, it was soon followed by a 135mm f/4.5 Steinheil Culminar. It served me well and even after all these years I still have the lens sitting on my desk.

Along the way I also came into possession of a Meyer-Optik Görlitz 250mm f/5.5 Tele Megor. It came with an Exacta mount. I had no intention to keep the lens, primarily because it was useless on any of my Leica cameras at the time. To have a better chance of selling it, I converted it to a Nikon mount. Well, for some reason I still have the lens. As a matter of fact, with a Nikon to Leica M adapter I can even use it on my Leica M240.

Both lenses date back to the early 50s

I got the idea to take some test shots with these two lenses and compare them to my 135mm f/2.8 Elmarit and 200mm f/3.8 Novoflex. Both those lenses have proven to be excellent performers and I use them regularly.

To make this comparison test as neutral as possible, I set my camera on a tripod and shot the same subject at the same distance with all four lenses. To maintain a reasonable exposure time the camera was set to ISO 1000. Each lens was shot wide open and then stopped down through the various apertures to f/16. All four lenses were focused with the electronic Visoflex, wide open. I did not refocus for any of the smaller apertures.

All images are raw, unaltered JPG files.

Looking at the results, it is obvious that the Leica and Novoflex lenses are noticeably better at all apertures. They should be because they are substantially newer than the other two. But in a pinch one might argue that the Culminar and the Tele Megor are acceptable, as long as you have the possibility to use them at their best performing aperture.

Maximum Aperture

Steinheil 135mm f/4.5 Culminar @ f/4.5

Leica 135mm f/2.8 Elmarit @ f/2.8

Novoflex 200mm f/3.8 @ f/3.8

Meyer-Optik Görlitz 250mm f/5.5 Tele Megor @ f/5.5

Steinheil 135mm f/4.5 Culminar @ f/4.5

Leica 135mm f/2.8 Elmarit @ f/2.8

Novoflex 200mm f/3.8 @ f/3.8

Meyer-Optik Görlitz 250mm f/5.5 Tele Megor @ f/5.5

Steinheil 135mm f/4.5 Culminar @ f/4.5

Leica 135mm f/2.8 Elmarit @ f/2.8

Novoflex 200mm f/3.8 @ f/3.8

Meyer-Optik Görlitz 250mm f/5.5 Tele Megor @ f/5.5

Best Aperture

Steinheil 135mm f/4.5 Culminar @ f/8

Leica 135mm f/2.8 Elmarit @ f/5.6

Novoflex 200mm f/3.8 @ f/8

Meyer-Optik Görlitz 250mm f/5.5 Tele Megor @ f/11

Cropped Images

In the past I have written about the advantages of high performing, very sharp lenses and the ability to crop their files to give the field of view of a longer lens. Since the 250mm Meyer lens is the longest focal length in this comparison, I cropped the best files of the other three lenses to give the same field of view. I added the file of the 250 for comparison.

Steinheil 135mm f/4.5 Culminar @ f/8

Leica 135mm f/2.8 Elmarit @ f/5.6

Novoflex 200mm f/3.8 @ f/8

Meyer-Optik Görlitz 250mm f/5.5 Tele Megor @ f/11

This image is not cropped, for comparison only

Adjusted Images

I rarely use images straight out of the camera because I found that in most instances, these can be improved with Photoshop, Lightroom or similar programs. For the final comparison I cropped images of all four files and adjusted them for density and also added some sharpening in Photoshop.

Steinheil 135mm f/4.5 Culminar @ f/8

Leica 135mm f/2.8 Elmarit @ f/5.6

Novoflex 200mm f/3.8 @ f/8

Meyer-Optik Görlitz 250mm f/5.5 Tele Megor @ f/11

VERY SMALL SECTION CROP

For the final comparison I posted the same, optimized images cropped to a very small section of the original image..

Steinheil 135mm f/4.5 Culminar @ f/8

Leica 135mm f/2.8 Elmarit @ f/5.6

Novoflex 200mm f/3.8 @ f/8

Meyer-Optik Görlitz 250mm f/5.5 Tele Megor @ f/11\

Final Thoughts

Looking at the results, it should come as no surprise that the Leica 135mm f/2.8 Elmarit and the 200mm f/3.8 Novoflex outperformed the other two lenses by a relatively wide margin. As a matter of fact, the differences are actually less noticeable here because of quality losses due to compression. It must also be noted that the Leica 135mm Elmarit showed optimum performance already at f/5.6. I did not show any images at apertures smaller than f/11 because all lenses showed a loss of image quality starting at f/16.

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LEICA INTRODUCES SUMMICRON-M 66 F/2 LIMITED EDITION HOMAGE TO A RARE COLD WAR DPY LENS

2026-09-03T12:35:25.391-05:00

By David Farkas, Leicastore Miami

Today, Leica has announced the Summicron-M 66 f/2, a modern reinterpretation of one of the rarest and most unusual lenses in Leica history. Based on the ELCAN 66mm f/2 developed by legendary optical designer Dr. Walter Mandler at Ernst Leitz Canada in the late 1960s, the new lens brings the once-secret military optic into the modern era as a limited edition of just 660 individually numbered lenses worldwide.

The original ELCAN 66mm f/2 wasn’t designed for the general public. Developed under a classified contract for U.S. Naval Intelligence, the lens was produce

d specifically for covert reconnaissance photography, where compact dimensions and extremely high resolution were critical. Only around 200 examples were ever built, making the ELCAN one of the rarest lenses in the history of the Leica M-System.

Rather than simply recreating the original lens cosmetically, Leica has gone further. The Summicron-M 66 f/2 is the first Leica limited-edition lens designed from the ground up, not a variant of an existing production model. While the optical design is based on Mandler’s original ELCAN, the lens has been optimized and adapted to meet modern standards. Leica has retained many of the original lens’s unique mechanical details and military-inspired markings, and of course, the 66mm focal length. The result is one of the more interesting additions we’ve seen to Leica’s Classic Line.

From Classified Reconnaissance to the Leica M

In the late 1960s, Dr. Walter Mandler was heading optical development at Ernst Leitz Canada in Midland, Ontario when the company received an unusual commission from the U.S. Navy. According to Mandler, the requirement was straightforward, if technically challenging, “The Naval Intelligence Service wanted a lens that looked like any other but delivered an unparalleled level of resolution.”

The resulting ELCAN 66mm f/2 was designed specifically for covert reconnaissance photography. Even the unusual focal length was driven by the requirements of the project. Rather than choosing one of the established 50mm or 90mm focal lengths, Mandler settled on 66mm as a precise balance between maximum resolution, fine contrast rendition and compact dimensions.

Only around 200 lenses were produced. Many ELCAN 66mm f/2 lenses are associated with the also-rare Leica KE-7A, a special military version of the Leica M4. Historical accounts also suggest that equipment of this type found its way beyond the original U.S. Navy commission to Western allied partners during the Cold War.

Another particularly fascinating detail in the history of the original sets was that the supplied instruction manual included directions for destroying the camera and lens in the event of capture. Definitely a dramatic origin story for an M lens.

A modern Interpretation of the ELCAN 66mm f/2

The new Summicron isn’t an exact reproduction of the ELCAN version. Most of the original glass types are no longer available. So, like previous releases in the Classics Line, Leica engineers had to work to recreate the vintage rendering with modern optics.

Similar to the original, the optical construction is remarkably straightforward. The Summicron-M 66 f/2 uses just six lens elements arranged in five groups, with no aspherical or APO elements in the mix. Instead, the lens remains true to its predesceor with a classic spherical design. But that simplicity doesn’t mean Leica is positioning the 66mm as a vintage novelty. Quite the opposite. The original ELCAN existed specifically because of its unusually high resolving power, and Leica has attempted to retain that dual personality in the new lens.

Wide open at f/2, results have high contrast paired with soft, creamy bokeh. Stop the lens down to f/5.6 and the historical purpose becomes increasingly apparent, sharpening up considerably across the frame. Contrast, detail and uniformity are all impressive for a vintage lens. And because of the 9-blade aperture, bokeh balls go from round to slightly more geometric when stopping down.

Looking at the MTF charts for the new lens, you can see this play out. At f/2, contrast for the lower frequencies remains very high through much of the image field, while the 20 and particularly 40 lp/mm curves sit noticeably lower and show increasing falloff toward the outer image area. In practical terms, this results in solid overall contrast and subject definition wide open, but with fine details rendered softly.

Stopping down changes the picture considerably. At f/2.8, fine-detail performance improves, and by f/5.6 the 5, 10 and 20 lp/mm curves all register over 80% contrast across the entire frame. The highest-frequency 40 lp/mm response improves significantly as well before dropping toward the extreme corners. For a design from the 1960's, this would have been cutting-edge performance, and well-matched for the best film emulsions of the day.

Distortion is also exceptionally well controlled, with values remaining close to zero through most of the image field. As a spherical design, there is a decent amount of vignetting at f/2, but progressively improving stopping down to f/2.8 and again at f/5.6.

An Unusual 66mm Focal Length

At 66mm, the Summicron sits squarely between a traditional 50mm normal lens and 75mm short telephoto. For portraits, the slightly longer-than-normal focal length offers the more flattering perspective and subtle compression of a short telephoto without feeling as tight as a 75mm. And for general-purpose, the focal length could be interesting for photographers who find 50mm just a little too wide.

Of course, no Leica M camera ever made has 66mm framelines, which poses a small, but easily managable issue. Mounting the lens activates the 50mm and 75mm frameline set. Since the 66mm field of view falls between the two, photographers will need to mentally visualize their final frame. The 50mm frameline provides the wider boundary while the 75mm frameline shows the tighter one, with the actual captured area somewhere in-between.

If you want more precise framing, the lens would be a perfect fit on the M EV1 since the EVF provides a what-you-see-is-what-you-get view through the lens. Or, simply use a Visoflex on an M10 or M11.

No 6-Bit Coding

In another unusual departure from contemporary Leica M lenses, the Summicron-M 66 f/2 is not 6-bit coded. Given the lengths Leica has gone to in recreating the appearance and mechanical details of the original ELCAN, leaving off the modern 6-bit coding feels consistent with the overall concept. For digital M users, though, it does mean remembering to manually select the appropriate lens profile in the menu if you want proper 1/f Auto ISO settings and optical corrections.

Military-Inspired Controls and Engravings

Apart from the optics, the lens has some interesting historically-accurate quirks. The aperture ring rotates in the opposite direction from a standard Leica M lens, recreating the behavior of the original ELCAN. Meter and feet focusing scales on the barrel are reversed as well, following the military specifications of the original optic.

The engravings are also unique. On the front ring is an optical calculation number B1047 (B is for Berek, Leica's first optical designer), Leica’s 12-digit internal material number and the individual edition number. These markings reference the original ELCAN, which carried a C283 optical calculation number along with its production number and 13-digit U.S. Navy order number. But veering from history a little, the new lens carries a prominent LEITZ WETZLAR engraving rather than the original ELCAN designation.

There's one more charming throwback. A small “60” is engraved into the barrel. This isn’t an edition number. On precision lenses of the period, the precisely measured focal length was indicated using the digit before and after the decimal point, without actually engraving the decimal. Here, “60” signifies a precisely measured focal length of 66.0mm.

Size, Handling and Close Focus

Measuring 60.1mm long and 60mm in diameter, the 66mm is realtively compact. Of course, this was its original intention. For modern convenience, the lens takes E49 filters and comes with a screw-on lens hood. If you use a filter, the hood will screw into the front of the filter and will work without visible vignetting.

Minimum focusing distance is a decidedly traditional 1 meter, resulting in a maximum reproduction ratio of 1:13.4. So, despite being a newly designed lens, don’t expect the 0.7m or closer focusing capabilities of most modern M lenses. This was the same story on the 35mm Steel Rim and the 50mm f/1.2 Noctilux re-issues as well.

At 456 grams, the lens definitely has a heft to it. The original ELCAN may have been developed with compactness as one of its design requirements, but the modern 66mm isn’t an ultralight lens.

Limited to 660 Lenses Worldwide

The Summicron-M 66 f/2 will be produced as a worldwide limited edition of just 660 individually numbered lenses. And Leica has added a twist for collectors. For the first time with any limited release, the individual edition number isn’t printed on the outer packaging. The number appears only on the lens itself, so you won’t know which of the 660 examples you’ve received until you actually open the box and take a look at the front ring.

One number won’t be showing up through regular channels though. Summicron-M 66 f/2 No. 001 will be auctioned by Leitz Photographica Auction in Wetzlar in November 2026 to one lucky collector.

Pricing and Availability

The Leica Summicron-M 66 f/2 will be available starting today, September 3, 2026, priced at $10,900. Limited to just 660 individually numbered lenses worldwide, demand is expected to far exceed supply. To purchase the Leica Summicron-M 66 f/2, you can visit Leica Store Miami by clicking the button below, call 305-921-4433, or send an email to info@leicastoremiami.com.\

Complete Information

Sample Images

Leica was nice enough to provide a selection of sample images from the lens from the M11-P and M EV1. Be sure to click on the thumbnail images for the full images.

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LEICA Barnack Berek Blog News

2026-09-01T11:19:26.936-05:00

Number of readers of the LEICA Barnack Berek Blog for August:

I am happy to report that the LEICA Barnack Berek Blog achieved a readership of more than half million with a total of 613276 for the month of August 2026.

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THE LEICA COMPANY ARCHIVES

2026-08-30T11:55:34.063-05:00

Leica Correfot Autofocus Prototype 1980

By Heinz Richter

David Farkas of Leica Store Miami wrote a very interesting article about the Leica company archives. Unfortunately, these are not open to the public. I have always been interested in the history of Leica. Subsequently, on my visit to Wetzlar on, I decided to tour the archives myself, to see what other interesting items I might discover.

Unfortunately, our guide Tim Pullmann had only limited time because he was busy setting up for the Leica Auction that weekend. Even though with more time I might have seen more of the treasures tucked away, it was a memorable experience nonetheless.

Needless to say, much of what we saw has been covered in David's article. Here is his account first, with additional examples from my visit to follow:

David Farkas, Leica Store Miami

Up a back staircase and through a few nondescript double doors, the Leica Company Archives house valuable documents, patents, design sketches, books, photographs, production records, prototype cameras, and more. We took a tour of the Archives, which is located on the second floor of the New Building. Even seeing just the tip of the iceberg, we came away duly impressed.

Records Room

First on our tour was the records room. Here, documents of all sorts were stored in large moveable metal shelving units and more classic file drawers.

Lots of records, with room to grow

An entire section with Leica patent records

Collection of Leica photography books

Dealer and trade show display model cameras and promo items

A book of old advertisements

Hand drawn 3D product renderings

Renderings for concept cameras that were never developed

Binocular schematics

Original screw mount camera schematics from 1929

Museum

The next stop on the tour was more of mini museum, with several glass display cases. On offer were some significant historical pieces, like a camera and lens from the Hindenburg, the Jony Ive designed camera for (RED) which sold for $1.8 million, Oskar Barnack’s original notes and sketches, contact sheets from the first roll of film ever shot, production records, and some prototyping models for various cameras.

Camera and lenses from Hindenburg

Detailed production records

Oskar Barnack’s original employee ID card

Oskar Barnack design sketches

The first ever roll of film shot with a Leica camera, by Oskar Barnack

Notes by Oskar Barnack

Oskar Barnack design sketches

More Oskar Barnack design sketches

Old school prototyping

New school 3D printed prototyping, here for the X-U

Jony Ive (Apple’s head of design) designed M for (RED) camera

The Camera Vault

For the third and final stop on the tour, our guide led us through another set of double doors and into the crown jewel of the Archive – the camera vault. This large room, about the same size as the records room, had row after row of metal shelving, with almost every spot occupied by storage bins, each labeled with a product name or two. Our guide removed one of the bins and opened it. Inside was about a dozen cameras of that type.

Sadly, no pictures were allowed in there, so you’ll just have to imagine what a Leica collection with thousands of cameras and lenses looks like.

The Future

Leica plans to make the archive available to the public in the future. In the meantime, a team of full-time archivists keep the growing collection preserved for future generations. Leica created the first 35mm still camera over 100 years ago. In that time, the company has had an enormous impact on photography. Clearly, the company understands the importance of maintaining and curating this history.

Additional discoveries during my visit:

All photographs by Heinz Richter unless otherwise noted

Groundbreaking fo the new headquarters at Am Leitz Park in Wetzlar, April 25, 2012

Ceramic replica of a Leica ! (model A), made by a Japanese collector

A while ago Leica acquired the Leica collection of Rolf Fricke. The collection was much too extensive to put on

display and most items are tucked away in foam lined storage containers.

Leica M 4-P Half Frame

All individual parts of a Leica IIIf, including the manufacturing steps for the top plate

60mm f/2 Lens made for the US Navy

Early experimental model of a digital M7

For more information go here

Earliest production records for Leica cameras

Original negatives of photographs with the Ur-Leica by Oskar Barnack

Photographs of Ernst Leitz with the Ur-Leica by Oskar Barnack

Biggest Leica I ever had in my hands

Photograph: Tim Pullmann

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THROUGH THE LENS OF A LEICA – THE LÜNEBURG HEATH

2026-08-24T12:12:21.521-05:00

By Heinz Richter

Most people, when traveling to Germany from other countries, will go to Bavaria which certainly is worth the trip. As a matter of fact, southern Germany in general seems to have more appeal to foreign travelers than the rest of the country. Yet other areas have a distinct charm of their own.

One such area is the Lüneburger Heide or Lunenburg Heath in English. It is a large area of heath, geest and woodland in northeastern part of the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It forms part of the hinterland for the cities of Hamburg, Hanover, and Bremen and is named after the town of Lüneburg. Most of the area is a nature reserve.

The remaining areas of heath are kept clear mainly through grazing, especially by a North German breed of moorland sheep called the Heidschnucke. Due to its unique landscape, the Lüneburg Heath is a popular tourist destination in North Germany.

Following is a series of photographs taken by Marlies Amling of Vilsheim, Germany. Now retired, she used to operate a photo studio in Weilburg which is only a few miles from Wetzlar, the headquarters of Leica Camera AG.

All photographs were all taken with Leica equipment and a variety of Leica lenses.

The Heidemuseum, a building typical for the area with half timbered construction and a thatched roof

Celle, the capital of the area

Farmhouse

Storage Barn

Sheep Barn

Shepherd

Out for a walk on Sunday

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HOW TO USE FLASH ON LEICAS WITHOUT FLASH SYNCH

2026-08-21T10:48:07.907-05:00

THE LEITZ VACU

By Heinz Richter

A little known accessory for Leica screw mount cameras is the VACU. It was made in a variety of versions. It offered the use of flash equipment with Leica cameras up to the Leica IIIc. Its replacement, the Leica IIIf was the first model with built-in flash synch.

Leitz made several versions, all with their own catalog designation. Ranging from CAVOO-A to CAVOO-F.

The CAVOO-A was to be used with the Leica III, the CAVOO-B was for the Leica IIIa and IIIb and several versions for the "c" model Leicas, from CAVOO-C to CAVOO-F.

The unit consisted of a small trigger device that screwed onto the shutter release of the camera. It worked in conjunction with a small cam that attached to the shutter release dial. When releasing the shutter, the rotating shutter speed dial would activate a small switch via the cam to fire the flash. This in turn was connected to the VACU via a short cord with a PC fitting.

Leitz Vacu

The cam attachment came in four different versions depending what model Leica it was for. A word of caution; I have seen versions of the VACU offered for sale from time to time, but in each case the cam was missing, therefore rendering the unit incomplete and useless.

Cam attached to shutter speed dial

Trigger Switch

The position of the cam on the shutter speed dial is critical because it determines the position of the shutter curtains at the moment the flash is triggered. Rotating it back or forth will allow for exact positioning.

That, of course, requires a means to see if the flash is fired at the correct moment. To test if your camera synchs properly with a flash is no problem as long as you can open the camera back. Looking at the frame opening of the camera while firing the flash at a bright surface, will quickly reveal if the entire frame is exposed correctly. But what to do with cameras that don’t have an opening back like all of the Leica screw mount cameras?

There is a very simple, non-invasive way to do so. All one needs is a piece of so-called glow-in-the-dark-tape. This should be noticeably larger than the frame opening of the camera. Inserting it into the camera in place of the film is all that’s necessary. With the lens removed, connect the flash to the camera, set the required synch speed and set off the flash, preferably firing right into the camera and then remove the tape. In a not too bright area, the tape will glow with the outline of the exposed area. This will quickly reveal if the entire frame is illuminated or if the shutter is covering part of the negative area while the flash is firing. This test will work with all types of flash equipment. .

VACU on Leica III Front View

VACU on Leica III Rear View

The VACU, however, is not the only such unit made for the older Leicas. A very similar flash synch device was made by the company of Geiss. Definitely not as sophisticated as the VACU, it was added to the accessory shoe of the camera. The trigger switch was built at the right side of the unit with a the PC contact on the left. The flash could be added on top.

Geiss flash sync device

This used the same principal as the Leitz VACU by triggering a

switch via a cam attached to the rotating shutter speed dial

The first Leica I ever owned, a Leica III, was equipped with a VACU. I still consider it one of my prized possessions and I fondly remember learning to take pictures with this camera, including flash pictures. It is a great camera to learn with because everything is manual. It created useful habits that I still practice today. For instance, after getting many severely blurred pictures, in spite of careful focusing, I learned that it is advisable to pull out the collapsible Summar f/2 before shooting.

Leica III with VACU

But that is ultimately a different story. I don’t use the Leica III very often anymore in these days of digital photography. But it does take up a prominent spot in my Leica collection, together with the VACU attachment in place on the camera.

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THE BEST 35mm ENLARGER EVER - LEITZ FOCOMAT V35

2026-08-17T10:03:21.968-05:00

Please note: For those unfamiliar with the history of Leica Camera AG,

the company used to be called Ernst Leitz Wetzlar GmbH in honor of

its founder Ernst Leitz. Many of their product carried the prefix Leitz,

like the Leitz Focomat V35.

By Heinz Richter

It may seem strange to talk about an enlarger these days of digital photography, but this is not your average, amateur darkroom piece of equipment. Film is still very much in use by many photographers and Leica is still making very high quality film cameras. Of course, negatives (and transparencies) can be scanned and printed digitally, but even here many photographers still prefer to arrive at their final enlargements the old fashioned way..

With Leica film cameras and Leica lenses we have equipment with an unsurpassed performance potential. In a conventional darkroom, it is a simple fact that only an enlarger and enlarger lens with an equal quality will be able to render enlargements with the same level of quality.

Such an enlarger is the Leitz Focomat V35 and its 40mm f/2.8 WA-Focotar lens. It was made specifically for 35mm film by accepting only negatives up to 35mm, a 35mm enlarger only, not a copy camera, a graphic arts device, nor anything else. There is no other enlarger made by anybody that completely addresses itself to the wide range of 35mm photography.

Major points in favor of the V35 are the broad autofocus range, the brightness of the image, the 40mm wide angle enlarging lens, the streamlined design, and its extremely functional operation.

Autofocus is one of its prime features. Many manufacturers have tried it over the years, and just as many disposed of it with the claim “Autofocus is out-of-focus.” True enough in most cases, especially when final cost plays a role.

A good autofocus system in any case requires a focusing cam that is a perfect match for the precise focal length of the lens. One can either take each individual lens and painstakingly match each individual cam to the respective lens, or do as Leitz did, using their expertise in precision lens manufacture to make the 40mm Focotar to such tight optical tolerances that the focusing cams required little or no hand machining .

The focusing cam arrangement on the underside

of the V35 enlarger head

Modern Photography magazine said: "…over the years, there has only been one manufacturer consistently willing to submit to these financial and engineering tortures – E. Leitz.”

There is another problem involved with autofocus design. Regardless of how well the focusing mechanism might be executed, it will not work if the negative does not stay where it belongs, and it has to do that within the depth of field of the lens.

This brings us to the negative carrier. I don’t want to get involved in a discussion of glass verses glassless carriers, only the one that optimizes, results can be considered the right one. Leitz used a combination of the two.

V35 negative carrier

The adjustment knobs for the cropping frames

A negative with the emulsion side toward the enlarger table (as it should be) will always have a slight upward curvature. Utilizing this, the Focomat enlargers have always used the principle of lowering a glass surface onto the negative to hold it perfectly flat, without the necessity of a sandwich type glass carrier. Such carriers often present dust problems as well as Newton’s rings, a phenomenon eliminated in the Focomat by using an anty newton glass design. The Focomat carrier is no different from the inside of a camera, where we also have a precision cut aperture with a pressure plate.

The benefits of such a system cannot be underestimated. As one person at Leitz put it, we “no longer have to peer through focusing magnifiers all day and go home tired and cross eyed. The user will no longer have a stiff neck and a pulled shoulder from attempting to make 16 times enlargements.” Autofocus will also eliminate the prints rejected after inaccurate eyeball focusing.

Many of us also know the hassle involved in making enlargements to exact sizes. The endless height adjustments and refocusing can be very time consuming with non-autofocus enlargers. By saving time, the autofocus enlarger allows more high quality work in less time.

A great deal can be said about the overall quality of the enlarger. In a test, Modern Photography magazine said they were surprised to find none of the expected sideways wobble in the enlarger arm. The V35 was truly built like the proverbial little brick house with crescent moons on the door (hearts in Germany).

The inside of the V35 height adjustment arm

Column height adjustment to compensate for

different easel height

This has some immediate as well as long term benefits. Obviously, a piece of equipment built like this well will last a lot longer, but it has also an immediate effect on the quality of the results. The most basic reason to build an enlarger as sturdy as possible is to assure perfect alignment and parallelism among the film plane, the lens stage, and the baseboard. According to Modern Photography’s test, the parallelism was perfect, not “just about”, but perfect laterally and longitudinally.

Even the best optics in the world will become useless of the film and the printing paper are not properly aligned and parallel to one another. Lens sharpness would become irrelevant.

The vibration damping of the V35 can be demonstrated by putting a glass of water on top and then hitting the enlarger with the knuckles. The water will ripple slightly, then quickly settle. All other enlargers, even the Beseler 23C or 45MCRX will vibrate substantially more when compared to the V35. Part of the reason is the steel support plate underneath the baseboard. No other enlarger has this solid column support.

The V35 commitment to quality is also shown in the baseboard and the Leitz easels. They are manufactured to a flatness within 0.8mm, and the fact that when manually focused when necessary, the mount has no backlash at all, a problem very common with other enlargers; and there is no bellows to wear out.

The illumination system is most likely the best ever offered in any enlarger. Even though brightness is somewhat subjective, with the V35 is has resulted in drastically shorter exposure times. The efficiency of the illumination system is clearly shown when compared to the Wallner color head as it was available for the Focomat Ic. Both have similar diffusion chambers and use identical bulbs. With the lens and the color filters removed, the V35 is over two stops brighter at the lens stage. This can aid the cost efficiency of the enlarger since it eliminates worries about reciprocity failure in color materials and further lessens potential vibration problems.

V35 light mixing chamber

Equally important is evenness of illumination. To quote Modern Photography: “Illumination was the best we have ever seen. Illumination, corner to corner, varies less than 1/20 stop, and the difference between center and edges was within 1/10 stop. This is not just good performance, it is outstanding.”

Arriving at such impressive figures was not easy. As is the case with any wide angle lens, the Focotar has slightly less corner illumination. To even this out, Leitz used a special diffuser on the bottom of the diffusion chamber. It is shaped similar to a condenser, but has its curvature downwards to the negative stage. Its density increases from the edge towards the center, compensating for the uneven illumination. This is the main reason why the 40mm Focotar would not work anywhere near as well on any other enlarger, including the Focomat Ic.

One objection that is often heard is in regard to the lack of condensers. While it may be generally true that a diffusion system cannot deliver the same contrast level as a good condenser system, it is a fact that the V35/Focotar combination delivers such a high contrast level that a condenser system without a point light source would hardly be an improvement.

Another critical point often raised concerns the use of Styrofoam in the mixing chamber of an enlarger that lists for almost $2000. The reasons are quite valid. With the use of high precision injection molding, the shape of the chamber can be maintained within very close tolerances. That, combined with the very high reflectivity of the material, produces the very high light output of the enlarger.

The foam also has excellent thermal properties. Heat buildup at the negative stage, even after prolonged use, is negligible. So why not use Styrofoam? Maybe it all wouldn’t sound so bad if we refer to it as polyalkene.

Other advantages of the enlarger cannot be shown in numbers, they have to be experienced. In terms of ease of use there is nothing close to the V35. Every knob and adjustment is within arm’s reach. The f/stop illumination can easily be seen, the f/stop scale can be adjusted to the best working position. Everything works with the proverbial Leica smoothness and precision, which is something few other manufacturers could make claim for.

The list of fine points goes on: the feet under the baseboard are high enough to put a 100 sheet box of paper beneath, and they are positioned such that in spite of the oversized baseboard, the enlarger will still fit an average size enlarging table. These baseboard dimension are necessary because the V35 is one of the few enlarger’s which allow a 16 x 20 enlargement on the baseboard – with autofocus.

The negative carrier can be depressurized from either side. The enlarger head can be swung around to make oversized prints, and does not have to be counterweighted. The clickstops of the Focotar can be deactivated, allowing infinitely variable aperture adjustments to accommodate the use of color analyzers. The negative can be masked from all four sides with four easily accessible knurled knobs in the front of the enlarger.

Wiring is internal. There is not the usual clutter of wires and hookups on the outside of the enlarger. For that matter, the overall styling contributes to the functionality of the enlarger, and the V35 looks like no other ever marketed.

This brings us to the color filtration of the V35. Unlike any other enlarger, the V35 does not have a color head as an accessory. Instead it has only a filter module. The entire illumination system is shared by both black and white and color printing, and only the color filters need to be added. The greatest versatility is gained with the color filter module. Not only does it offer filtration for color printing, the color filters can also be used to change contrast levels with variable contrast paper. For individuals not interested in color printing at all, there is also a variable contrast module which allows infinitely adjustable contrast levels with variable contrast papers.

V35 color module

Please note: the variable contrast module is very

similar, except it has only one knob for the contrast adjustment

Filtration of all three colors for color printing goes up to the rather high values of 200 units. The dials are illuminated and easily read (as are the dials of the variable contrast module). A white light switch allows the removal and instant return of the filters to their preset values. This is nothing new or really different, but it again works with Leica precision, and in combination with the V35 the capabilities of the dichroic filtration system are certainly maximized.

The general finish and design of the V35 shows extensive input from the designer as well as the manufacturer. In comparison, other enlargers are crudely put together. Their finish is rough, virtually screaming of mass production.

Even little things like lens boards that require lens retaining rings, or square lens boeads that make it impossible to adjust the viewing angle of the aperture scale, these things too show lack of thought in terms of functionality and further amplify the incredible finesse of the V35.

Finally, let’s look at the 40mm WA Focotar. Again a quote from the test in Modern Photography: “Using a 40mm instead of the usual 50mm lens traditional on 35mm enlargers means a larger image for equal paper or negative distance. The lens proved to be an outstanding performer. It was at its best at f/5.6 where it provided a degree of crispness, corner to corner sharpness, and illumination evenness that was exemplary. Prints had superb overall quality with the high color saturation characteristic of high optical quality. This is a lens that matches the quality of the enlarger it is fitted to. It was even usable at f/2.8. In fact, it is the closest thing to our test apochromat that we have ever seen.”

IN FOCUS

a book by John Holts, Harper & Row

I usually don't accompany articles with a commentary, but this one is very fitting. I came across this book quite some time ago. Part of which deals with the purchase of an enlarger. Mr. Holtz starts out by saying that it does not make sense to have the very best in cameras and lenses if one makes prints on a cheap enlarger. That is good advise.

But a bit further on things get rather confusing. After recommending an enlarger able to accommodate various negative sizes, Mr. Holtz goes on saying: ..."the only reason beyond your budget...are the discontinued Leitz Valoy and Focomat enlargers... These 35mm format machines provide a kind of silvery long scale black and white print gradation that other sources can't match. Neither the bigger Leitz Focomat II series machines...or the stylish, but almost useless Focomat V35 can produce prints as good."

Apparently, Mr. Holtz does not like diffusion enlargers. While I agree with his general comment of diffusion enlargers giving a softer image than comparable condensor equipped counterparts, I most profoundly disagree with him in regard to his comment about the V35. Generalizations like "almost useless" do not have any place in a book that is supposed to be written to help people gain knowledge about certain products.

It is obvious that Mr. Holtz either has never tried the V35, or he does not exactly know what he is talking about. While he is right that the V35 is a diffusion enlarger, it certainly does not have to fear comparison to the older Focomat Ic enlarger.. If there is a loss in crispness, tonality or any other aspect, it definitely does not show.

I have used both of these enlargers and compared to the Focomat Ic, the V35 is superior in most any respect. It should be obvious that the engineers at Leitz were well aware of the shortcomings of conventional diffusion systems. But by optimizing the system as used in the V35, such fears are totally unfounded, and comments like those by Mr. Holtz are utterly out of place.

Had he raised the question whether the V35 might not be even better in performance with a condenser system like in the Focomat Ic, he would have given grounds for a sensible discussion, but "almost useless"...

I can't help wondering what terminology he might have used in regard to some enlargers that are way behind the V35 in terms of quality and performance.

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHIC FILM

2026-08-13T11:30:44.742-05:00

By Heinz Richter

Many are familiar with the history of the Leica and its influence on photography in general. The photographic analog process Leica relied on essentially was no different from what we are using today. Many of the early Leica photographs are well known. Quite a few were taken by Oskar Barnack, the inventor of the Leica, himself.

Wetzlar Eisenmarkt 1914

Photo: Oscar Barnack

The earliest permanent photograph in existence was made in 1826 by Joseph Nicéphore Niepce, showing the roofs and chimneys visible from his workroom. It required an exposure time of eight hours on a bright, sunny day. He used a pewter plate with a light sensitive varnish of asphalt (bitumen of Judea) and then used oils as a fixing agent. During the exposure, various areas of the asphalt would harden to different degrees. The oils washed away the less hardened areas of the asphalt, resulting in a recognizable image. The word snapshot doesn’t apply.

Joseph Nicéphore Niepce photograph from 1826

Niepce’s process proved to be a dead end. Through the company of Chevalier, the major manufacturer of lenses at the time, he met Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre. They formed a company to research other means to take permanent photographs. Unfortunately, Niepce died before they had any success. A nephew of his continued to work with Daguerre, but when a viable process was developed, Daguerre took the credit all for himself. This was the famous Daguerreotype, first introduced in 1839 to the French Académie des Sciences. While a lot faster than Niepce’s first attempts, it still had the drawback of producing just a single picture at the time. There were no negatives from which multiple copies could be made.

"Boulevard du Temple", taken by Daguerre in 1838 in Paris, includes the earliest known candid photograph of a

person. The image shows a street, but because of the over ten-minute exposure time the moving traffic does not

appear. At the lower left, however, a man having his boots polished had both men motionless enough

for their images to be captured.

The first successful negative process was developed by William Henry Fox Talbot in 1840. He used sensitized strips of paper, which, when developed, resulted in a negative which allowed the contact printing of multiple images. Thus the photographic process closest to what we use today, was born.

William Henry Fox Talbot, Laycock Abbey 1847

However, Talbot’s process still had one drawback, the texture of the paper which held the negative image easily transferred to the final print. That problem was solved by the 1850s. Thin glass plates coated with photographic emulsion became the standard material for use in the camera. Although fragile and relatively heavy, the glass used for photographic plates was of better optical quality than early transparent plastic like materials and was, at first, less expensive. Glass plates continued to be used long after the introduction of film, and were used for astrophotography and electron microscopy until the early 2000s.

Box of photographic glass plates

In 1887 Hannibal Goodwin, a minister, patented a celluloid backed photographic rollfilm. He was motivated to search for a non-breakable, and clear substance on which he could place the images he utilized in his Biblical teachings. He filed a patent for "a photographic pellicle and process of producing same ... especially in connection with roller cameras". George Eastman of Kodak fame tried to get a patent for a similar film in 1892, only to learn that Goodwin’s patent was five years older. A bitter court battle lasted eleven years; the patent right finally were given to Goodwin, but by that time his health had deteriorated sharply and he assigned his rights to the Ansco Company. Another court battle started which was not decided until March, 1914. Eastman Kodak Company ended up paying 5 million dollars of restitution.

Karl Kellner

Ernst Leitz I

Photograph by Oscar Barnack with the Ur-Leica

The middle of the 1800s saw the establishment of many of the well-known photographic companies. In 1849 Karl Kellner founded the Optical Institute in Wetzlar. The company was later taken over by Ernst Leitz and was to become the company that established 35mm photography with the Leica. 1867 saw the founding of AGFA in Germany. It is interesting to note that one of the company’s founders was Dr. Mendessohn-Bartholdy, a son of the great composer Felix Mendelssohn. Another giant of the photographic industry, Eastman Kodak was founded a few years later in 1888.

Early transparent roll films were made from highly flammable nitrocellulose, commonly known as celluloid, a highly flammable material. Cellulose acetate or "safety film" was introduced by Kodak in 1908, but first it found only a few special applications as an alternative to the hazardous nitrate film, which had the advantages of being considerably tougher, slightly more transparent, and cheaper.

Initially, black and white films were only sensitive to blue, violet and ultraviolet light which posted quite a few problems. For instance, blue sky was usually rendered as plain white without detail, while bright yellow and red appeared almost black.

Isochromatic or orthochromatic films, depending on the manufacturer, made a more accurate rendering of colored subject matter possible. Because they were still disproportionately sensitive to blue, the use of a yellow filter and a consequently longer exposure time were required to take full advantage of their extended sensitivity.

In 1894, the Lumière Brothers of France introduced their Lumière Panchromatic plate, which was made sensitive to all colors including red, although very unequally. In 1902 the much more evenly color-sensitive Perchromo panchromatic plate was introdiced by the German manufacturer Perutz.

All of these were glass-based plate products. Panchromatic emulsions on a film base did not become available until the 1910s. Many photographers who did their own darkroom work preferred to go with films not sensitive to red to be able to process their exposed film with a red safelight. For instance, Kodak's popular Verichrome black-and-white film remained a red-insensitive orthochromatic product until 1956, when it was replaced by Verichrome Pan.

Early black and white roll films which survived, unused, until today.

The Gevaert film (Gevaert was incorporated into Agfa at a later date) has an expiration date of 1955

The Hauff film expired in 1960 while the Perutz has no expiration date

Virtually as soon as even early photographic processes became available, the quest for color photographs started. The earliest color photographs were actually hand colored daguerreotypes. Simultaneously, a number of individuals experimented with a variety of processes to produce color images. Some were met with limited success while others could not be repeated with any certainty.

The three color process of red-green-blue, RGB, was first used by James Clerk Maxwell in 1861. His picture “Tartan Ribbon” is generally considered the first durable color photograph and the very first made by the three-color method Maxwell first suggested in 1855. Maxwell had the photographer Thomas Sutton photograph a tartan ribbon three times, each time with a different color filter (red, green, and blue-violet) over the lens. The three photographs were developed, printed on glass, and then projected onto a screen with three different projectors, each equipped with the same color filter used to photograph it. When superimposed on the screen, the three images formed a full-color image. Maxwell's three-color approach underlies nearly all forms of color photography, whether film-based, analogue video, or digital.

James Clerk Maxwell, "Tartan Ribbon" 1861

The credit for a valid color process goes to John Joly. He was aware that a color image could be formed by mixing just three colors, red, green and blue, a process still used today in all types of color imaging. He used a glass plate which contained a ruling of alternating RGB filters, about 200 per inch. This was placed against the glass negative plate in the camera during exposure. After developing, the same glass plate was put in register with the negative, resulting in a color transparency which could even be projected.

John Joly "Butterflies" 1893

The process worked, but was relatively cumbersome. Obviously, it would be a lot easier to do away with the RGB plate and combine the RGB filters with the emulsion. Such a process was developed by the Lumière brothers. They patented their Autochrome process in 1903 and began marketing it in 1907.

Just like Joly’s process, Autochrome is an additive color process. The medium consists of a glass plate coated on one side with a random mosaic of microscopic grains of potato starch dyed red-orange, green, and blue-violet (an unusual but functional variant of the standard RGB additive colors) which act as color filters. Carbon particles fill the spaces between grains, and a black-and-white panchromatic silver halide emulsion is coated on top of the filter layer. The glass plates were loaded with the filter layer facing the lens. After developing, a color transparency was the result. Autochrome was one of the most widely used color photography process in use before the advent of subtractive color film in the mid-1930s.

RGB colored starch particles function as a filter

Autochrome Photographs by Lumiere brothers

A similar process was developed by Agfa in the 1920s. Instead of the dyed starch particles, they developed a very fine RGB screen with also was attached to the glass plate. It too produced color transparencies. In 1932 Agfa was the first company to offer a film-based version of their Agfa-Farbenplatte (Agfa color plate), enabling Leica owners for the first time to take color photographs.

Agfacolor

But there were still drawbacks. The Autochrome and Agfa systems were notoriously slow. The RGB filters absorbed a huge amount of light. Another process was needed to solve that problem.

In 1912 Rudolph Fisher at Agfa discovered chemicals would react to the silver halides in the emulsion and convert other compounds into insoluble dyes. These color forming ingredients, called dye couplers, could be included in the emulsion. Fisher’s work resulted in researching three emulsion layers in films to form a color image. Initial trials were unsuccessful because some of the color dyes migrated from one emulsion layer to the other during development.

This was also the case with Leopold Mannes and Leopold Godowsky, who worked at the Kodak laboratories in Rochester, New York. To solve the problem, they switched to incorporating the dyes in the developer. This resulted in a breakthrough, and in 1935 the first three emulsion layer color film became reality, the Kodachrome. Because the dye couplers of this film were added during the developing stage, this was a very complicated process and it was necessary to send the film to Kodak to have it processed.

The original 18 exposure 35mm Kodachrome

Note the "For use with Retina, Contax and Leica Cameras"

The first color film to incorporate the dye couplers in the emulsion was the Agfacolor Neu (new) in 1936. It was the first time that photographers were able develop their own color film. The Neu designation was used to distinguish these Agfacolor films from the previous Agfacolor films. Both Kodachrome and Agfacolor very quickly spelled the end of Autochrome and other, similar films.

Both Kodachrome and Agfacolor were available as 35mm films giving Leica owners and owners of other 35mm cameras for the first time a convenient and reliable means to take color photographs. It is interesting to note that both companies initially marketed their films with the reference to Leica and other 35mm cameras. Thus we have a further indication how important the Leica was in creating photography as we know it today.

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THE BEGINNING OF DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY

2026-08-10T10:49:06.868-05:00

Digital Leica prototype based on Leica M7

By Heinz Richter

These days, digital photography has encompassed virtually all aspects of daily life. Film has been forgotten by all but a dedicated few. Digital photography, along with the ever increasing automation of our cameras, has resulted in pictures being taken with a frequency and multitude never seen before.

Leica has become an important player on the field of digital cameras with products that have to be considered at the forefront of digital photography, along with the names of many of their competitors. Yet few are aware of the development of digital cameras. It seems as if they suddenly appeared out of nothing, destined to take over the world of photography.

Digital photography is a rather recent development, one that took substantially less time than the development of photography in the 19th century. The first digital electronic camera was shown in 1975. It was designed by Steven Sasson, an engineer at Eastman Kodak in Rochester, NY. It used a CCD (charge coupled device) as a sensor. The camera was a huge, 8 pound device, devoid of any portability. But it did render digital images of 0.01 megapixels in black and white, using a cassette tape for storage. The first images took 23 seconds for each exposure. To view the images, the data was read off the tape and displayed on a TV monitor.

Steven Sasson with his digital camera

Prototype Digital Camera Playback system

A portable digital camera would not appear until 1981. This was the first marketed digital camera, the Sony MAVICA. The name Mavica stood for MAgnetic VIdeo CAmera. It too used a CCD as a sensor, but it produced an analog video signal in the NTSC format at a resolution of 570 × 490 pixels (0.28 megapixels). The color images were stored as still pictures on 2” magnetic discs which could be viewed with the help of a special playback unit on a television screen or they could be made into color photographs on a printer which was developed later on.

The magnetic disks were called “Mavipack” with a recording capacity of 50 color pictures. The discs could be erased, reused, and removed from the camera at any given time, with no threat to their longevity or dependability.

1981 Sony Mavica with added electronic flash

The camera also allowed to be used as a motion picture video camera when coupled to a Betamax videotape recorder. When the camera became available on the photographic market it sold for $646.00 which was a huge amount of money in 1981.

Of course image quality was very low and the camera was incapable to compete with analog film cameras. Film would still rule supreme for a few more years until the digital photography revolution set in. I think it is safe to say that most photographers and other members of the photographic industry were surprised how quickly digital photography replaced film. It was this incredibly fast change that spelled the demise of many well established photographic companies. Kodak, Agfa and Ilford, just to mention a few, have all but disappeared from the market and are alive today mostly by name only. Even Leica ran into considerable difficulties until the company was saved by Dr. Andreas Kaufmann. Leica’s success with their digital (and analog) products has to be considered one of the photographic success stories of recent years and we can look forward to more exciting new items from Leica Camera AG.

Leica S1, the first digital camera from Leica

THE 26 MEGAPIXEL LEICA S1

Leica has often been criticized for not having paid enough attention to digital photography, that a few years ago they fell hopelessly behind their competition. Yet in all this criticism one fact is getting lost these days, the fact that already in 1996 Leica introduced a high resolution digital camera, the Leica S1.

We must remember that this was at a time when 2 to 3MP digital cameras that took pictures of questionable quality were the norm, the days when film photography was still way ahead of digital and when the Leica M6 was the best 35mm film camera that money could buy. In view of this, it is all the more amazing that the Leica S1 offered a resolution of 26 megapixels, something that even by today’s standards is very high.

How could this be possible? At that time, resolution levels of this magnitude could only be achieved with so called scanning backs. Instead of taking the entire image instantly, as is the norm today, the Leica S1 (as well as other, similar digital cameras at the time) scanned the image line by line. Unfortunately this resulted in exposure times of about 185 seconds. Subsequently the camera was only useful for stationary objects.

The camera was designed to capture square 36 x 36mm images using 35mm lenses. Though designed for use with Leica R-series lenses, Leica also offered lens mounts for Nikon, Contax, Canon FD, and Minolta lenses as well as for medium-format optics from Hasselblad and the Pentax 6x7. There was also a Novoflex adapter that allowed the use of large-format lenses from Rodenstock & Schneider, and a tilt-shift adapter for use with Hasselblad lenses.

Leica S1 with Leica R mount

The S1 could also be coupled to the rear of a view camera to take advantage of tilt, swing, and shift movements which further increased the overall versatility of the camera.

The ISO setting for the S1 was ISO 50, the D-max about 3.3, and the image files contained a dynamic range of 11 stops of latitude. At 300 dpi you could produce incredibly sharp 17 x 17" prints without having to interpolate the image, which in 1996 was almost unheard of.

Leica S1 Side View

Leica S1 Viewfinder

Included with the Leica S1 was a 55mm IRa filter, LaserSoft High Software, a PCI card (PC or Mac), and a 20' cable. As for system requirements, the S1 ran off of PowerMacs (7.55 or higher), or Pentium PCs (Windows 95 or higher) with a minimum of 256MB of RAM, a hard drive of at least 1GB, and Photoshop 3.05 or higher.

All that could be had for the price of $21,500. Needless to say, the camera did not set any sales records. It was mostly sold to museums and research institutions. But it is interesting to think that this level of performance was not available again from Leica until the introduction of the Leica S2 in 2008.

While the Leica S1 was a formidable camera, especially at its time, the scanning system had the major drawback of not allowing instant photographs of moving subjects. An instant sensor was needed. The first such camera form Leica was a compromise, by using the existing Leica R8 and R9 camera bodies and offering an interchangeable, digital back. ,That, however, resulted in a relatively large and heavy camera, limited by a resolution of only 10 MP. That solution never gained any nominal popularity. A better solution was needed

The best selling Leica at the time were the Leica M6 and M7 and Leica began working on a digital M camera. The first prototype was a digital Leica M7. Prototype is actually overstating things by quite a margin. The camera was simply a test bed to determine if a digital conversion could be done by utilizing the sensor and electronics of the R8/9 sensor and electronics.

The camera was mounted on a rail, together with a Leica R9. The DM-R digital back that had been marketed for the Leica R8 and R9 was modified to fit the back of the M7, to provide a sensor inside the camera and some of the electronics.. Since the basic body of the M7 had no room inside for any additional electronics, a Leica R9 was used to provide the necessary electronics to run the digital DM-R back and to trigger the shutter via several cable connections from the R9 to the DM-R back.

While not even close to the first digital Leica M, the M8, it was definitely the first digital Leica M camera ever. After seeing this setup, it is easy to understand why the first digital M camera, the M8, had the same 10mp resolution as the DM-R back for the R8/9.

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CLOSE UP WITH LEICA M CAMERAS - THE LEICA ELPRO 52 CLOSE UP LENS

2026-08-07T10:52:58.825-05:00

By Heinz Richter

The Leica ELPRO close up lenses have always been a relatively inexpensive means to extend the close focusing range of Leica lenses. The newest member is the ELPRO 52. Unlike the Leica Macro Adapter M, which goes between the camera and the lens, the ELPRO 52 threads onto the front of a wide variety of Leica lenses. Not only does the ELPRO 52 reduce the minimum focus distance and increases the reproduction ratio, it also maintains the maximum aperture of the lens it is used on. With an extension tube, like the Leica Macro Adapter M, in many cases you are using the lens beyond its intended focusing range. This usually is accompanied with a reduced lens performance. This is not the case with a high quality close up lens like the Elpro. Its optical construction comprises of two cemented lens elements with anti-reflective multi-coating. This ensures images are crisp, sharp and practically free from chromatic aberrations. The ELPRO 52 has a 52mm thread, and attaches directly onto lenses with a 52mm filter thread. But it comes with adapters for 49mm and 46mm threaded lenses as well as a case. For lenses with 39mm and 43mm filter threads step down adapters have to be added. The ELPRO 52 cannot be used on lenses with filter threads larger than 52mm.

The use of the ELPRO 52 on Leica M is restricted to models starting with the Leica M240. Other M cameras do not offer visual control over the focusing accuracy.

Photos: Leica Store Miami

Photo: Leica Store Miami

The official press release from Leica:

Leica Camera expands its portfolio of accessories with the introduction of the Leica ELPRO 52, a closeup lens attachment that extends the capabilities of Leica M and TL-lenses for macro photography. The compact and lightweight Leica ELPRO 52 is easily transported, quick to set up and easy to use on any compatible lens.

The ELPRO 52 expands the photographer’s capabilities and gets the photographer closer to the subjects by greatly reducing focusing distance. This allows for maximum magnifications as high as 1:1, depending on the lens it is paired with. ELPRO 52 expands the photographer’s capabilities and gets the photographer closer to the subjects by greatly reducing focusing distance. Its optical construction comprises of two cemented lens elements with anti-reflective multi-coating. This ensures images are crisp, sharp and practically free from chromatic aberrations. The ELPRO 52 makes it possible to capture impressively detailed, close-up images with a newfound level of depth using lenses you already own.

The close-up lens will natively fit all 52 mm filter threads, and is supplied with two stepping ring adapters for 46 and 49mm sizes. This packaged combination of the native 52 mm size plus stepping rings allows the ELPRO 52 to be mounted on more than 20 different Leica M and TL-Lenses. The set comes packaged in a leather case. Other stepping rings can be purchased separately to adapt the ELPRO 52 to lenses smaller than 46mm, though they must be purchased from other suppliers and at the user’s discretion.

For more information go here

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FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY OF THE FEMALE NUDE

2026-08-05T12:40:25.468-05:00

Heinz Richter

By Heinz Richter

Historically, the human form has fascinated artists probably more than any other subject. Therefore it should come as no surprise that the same fascination has extended to photography as well.

While photography has generally been accepted as a valid art form, photography of the nude to this day is struggling with that recognition. In the view of many, it is still looked upon as sleazy and objectionable, even harmful. No such objections exist when it comes to paintings and sculptures. People regularly visit art galleries. No objections are generally voiced to see nude art there. Public spaces often display nude sculptures, no objections there either. Yet nude photographic art is still widely rejected. As a matter of fact, eBay just recently changed their regulations to basically make it impossible to list any nude photographs for sale. Why?

Heinz Richter

Marlies Amling

I must emphasize that the key word here is art. Many of the great photographers have produced fine art nudes like Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, Edward Weston, Man Ray, Helmut Newton…, just to mention a few. Of course, just as with other art forms, some like Robert Mapplethorpe or Jeff Koonz, for instance, have pushed the envelope by producing images that are questionable to some, but such work should not be generalized and held against other serious photographers.

I often discuss this with my sister who, now retired, is a successful professional photographer in Germany. She is often in disbelief of how much more restricted photography of this type is in the US. For instance, in her studio she had three different display windows for her work, one of which was usually dedicated to fine art nude photography. That is simply unthinkable in the US.

Marlies Amling

That brings up the question of what constitutes fine art nude photography. During my 13 years of teaching photography that question regularly came up during class discussions. Of course the definition of art in general is in the eye of the beholder. There are no clear cut instructions to be had.

Heinz Richter

Marlies Amling

Heinz Richter

This photograph was recently added by LFI (Leica Fottografie International)

to their gallery of Nudes/Sensual Art

When it comes to fine art nude photography, it is quite easy to take a photograph of a person without any clothes. That, however, is not art and should not be attempted to be presented as such. Instead the emphasis should not be so much on nudity but on shape, form, lighting, design and composition.

That adds a considerable amount of difficulty which is further emphasized that in most cases, a similar approach with similar results has been done before.

In an interview, Kim Weston, grandson of Edward Weston, when asked about his photography in comparison to his grandfather’s said that he generally does not think about him. He went on to say whatever kind of photograph he might attempt, “Edward has done it.” He said he cannot take a landscape without being told that Edward has done it, he virtually cannot photograph anything without the constant reminder that Edward has done it.

Marlies Amling

The same is the case with fine art nude photography. Regardless of the outcome, someone most likely has done it before and someone most likely will do it again in the future.

The best approach in my opinion is to carefully plan a fine art nude photography session and then proceed without too much attention to the work of other photographers. Then careful selection of only the best examples with a healthy dose of self-criticism should give the assurance that the shoot was successful. And don’t forget, the old adage the practice makes perfect still applies.

Heinz Richter

Günter Rössler

Klaus Ender

Heinz Richter

This photograph was recently added by LFI (Leica Fottografie International)

to their gallery of Nudes/Sensual Art

Blaine Schultz

Heinz Richter

This photograph was recently accepted by the LFI (Leica Fotografie International) gallery

for their Leica Master Shots collection

Heinz Richter

When Kim Weston explained that, whatever he shoots, it will be pointed out that his grandfather Edward has done it. This comment can easily paraphrased to nude photography by saying that whatever we shoot, someone has done it. One approach that I found is to use lighting and posing to create photographs that are elevated above the ordinary.

As of late, Photoshop has opened photographic possibilities that previously were impossible or at least very difficult to achieve. But a lot of what Photoshop has to offer, contrary to what many seem to assume, is not available merely at the push of a button. Anyone who has ever worked with Photoshop will agree that there is a considerable learning curve; to master it certainly does not come overnight. However, one does not need to be afraid of it. Photoshop definitely can be learned to quite an extend simply by trial and error, although professional instructions will definitely speed up the learning process.

Opinions about the system are diverging to quite a degree. Some see it as nothing more than a means to cover mistakes that occurred during shooting. While many such mistakes can definitely be corrected with Photoshop, it is not a panacea to everything that might possibly go wrong. Just as in the past, it is definitely advisable to strive to do everything correctly during a shoot. That, of course, requires a considerable base knowledge. As a matter of fact, Photoshop should not al all be considered a means to become a good photographer without knowing photography as such. Composition, posing, lighting, exposure control, camera operation…., all are still as important today as they were in the past and there is little that Photoshop can do to overcome those shortcomings.

Others criticize images modified with the help of Photoshop as not original photography any longer. A colleague of mine recently claimed that “real” photographs are only ones that are shown as they come out of the camera. I find that rather short sighted. Even in the past we used retouching and a variety of darkroom trickery to alter the images as they came off the negative. It was quite common to alter the resulting photographs with changes in development, both film and paper. We used manipulative processes like solarization, bas relief, posterization and a lot more to create images that certainly differed substantially from what the lens put on film. Thus I find these criticisms quite out of place.

The most important part of creating a photographic image is the end result. How we arrive at that ultimately is irrelevant.

Following are a number of images that made extensive use of Photoshop, and while the results certainly required a lot of work, it was ultimately a lot easier and less time consuming to create them with the help of Photoshop than what would have been necessary to come up with similar results during the “good old days.”

From an architectural photography assignment Studio shot with very similar lighting

Combining the images rendered a great location shoot

The two base images were combined with considerable modification into this result

This was done without Photoshop. Instead I made a lage print of the original,

put the spoon and sugar in place and rephotographed it.

As I mentioned before, most topics of photography are quite difficult to do if one tries to find a different approach, something that has not been done by other photographers before. That is especially the case with fine art nude photography. The nude has always been a very popular theme of the arts, including photography. Regardless of how one approaches the subject, it probably has been done in one form or another before.

I had been looking for such a different approach for a long time, and finally decided to use Photoshop to reach that goal. The result is “Photosculptures,” where I use photographs of sculptures and combine them with photographs I have taken of models.

That might not appear to be particularly difficult. After all, Photoshop is used to alter images in just about any imaginary way. However, Photosculptures require a lot more than just replacing part of the sculpture with a photograph of a different person. It is important that the pose of the model and the lighting coincide with that of the sculpture, however, it is not my intention to produce a perfect copy of the original. Then the two images have to be carefully matched in size. Finally, the transferred image has to be modified to match the color and texture of the sculpture. All of this is not an easy process, and it is very time consuming. But the end results can be quite rewarding.

This is the most difficult sculpture I modified, because it consists of three different individuals

The original, raw images of the three models, all taken with Leica equipment

The original photograph of the three models required considerable modifications. All had to be right and left reversed. Then all three had to be matched in size to the size of the sculpture. In addition, the posing angle of the models was altered to match that of the sculpture. Then, after masking off the background, the images of each model were transferred to the photograph of the sculpture. Then each model was altered to match the white marble of the sculpture. That included lowering the contrast of the facial features and the hair to again match the sculpture.

The finished Photosculpture

Original Photosculpture

Even though the pose of the original and the model are similar, this example required a considerable amount of detail work. The right arm of the model had to be lengthened to match up with that of the original sculpture. The wing of the swan had to be modified a lot to bridge the void that otherwise showed in front of the model’s face. In addition the head of the swan needed to be moved further from the neck. Since the position of the left arm of the sculpture and the model are quite different, a fair amount of reconstructive work was necessary to cover the arm of the original sculpture.

Additional Photosculptures:

Accurate posing of the model definitely makes this kind of work considerably easier. For that reason it is advisable to work with experienced models that are able to strike a great variety of poses and do it accurately once they see a sample of what pose is required. I have worked with most of the models shown here on several occasions, with some of them even for several years. That has created a very good working relationship which is also very helpful for this kind of work.

Regardless of what approach one chooses to take with these types of photography, none of it will come easy. Especially for a novice there is a lot to learn and master. For that reason I want to invite anyone interested to rely on my experience by asking questions, whatever they might be. I’ll gladly help.

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MAKING CAMERAS AND LENSES THE LEICA WAY - AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT THE INNER WORKINGS OF LEICA IN WETZLAR

2026-08-02T10:28:23.496-05:00

Leica Headquarters, Wetzlar

By Heinz Richter

During a recent visit to Leica in Wetzlar, I was accompanied by my sister Marlies Amling. We were treated to the unexpected privilege of being allowed into the actual production areas of both the cameras and lenses to take photographs and to ask questions. I specifically wanted to get more data on what sets Leica apart from their competitors. All the major camera and lens manufacturers are capable of making equipment of the highest possible quality, yet when taking overall performance into consideration, Leica cameras and lenses are the ones that usually stand out. That, of course, brings up the question “why?” The main reason generally given is that Leica is the only major manufacturer that does not mass produce any of their cameras and lenses. Mass production, as good as it has become, is simply incapable to generate the overall quality that Leica can produce with their approach.

With my contact Roland Elbert at Leica

Part of the production area for the Leica SL and Leica TL2

Batches of the Leica TL2

During my visits to Leica I was able to obtain a wealth of information about what Leica is doing differently. The main factor are the tolerances they apply. These amount to tolerances and a level of precision simply not available from other manufacturers. This takes place on two levels, the mechanical and optical precision. For reasons of greater accuracy, Leica does not utilize any assembly lines. Instead, all production and assembly steps are done on individual workstations, in clean rooms with the work station functioning by design as additional clean environments. The various assembly steps are done under no time pressure like on an assembly line. Everyone is encouraged to take as much time as necessary to finish each individual assembly step within the quality parameters set by Leica.

Typical work station

Leica M10 sensors ready for assembly

Installing sensors in the Leica CL

Adjusting the sensor on a Leica M10

The mechanical tolerances applied by Leica must conform to a minimum of 1/100 mm or 10 micrometers which equals less than 0.00039 inch for the accuracy of the lens mounts of both cameras and lenses, but also for the accuracy of the focusing mount of their lenses and for the rangefinder in the Leica M-type cameras. The same tolerances used to be applied to the accuracy of the focal plane in the Leica analog cameras. These needed to be increased substantially for the positioning of digital sensors since, unlike with film, sensors are totally flat. Other manufacturers apply tolerances of about half of these measurements. The reason for this is that the performance of several Leica lenses would be compromised if these tolerances would not be adhered to. For the focusing mounts of all manual lenses, initial testing is done by machine. But the final test is up to an experienced individual who is trained to feel even the slightest imperfections in the smooth operation of the focusing mount. No machine is capable of doing that.

Adjustments to the focusing movement being performed

Items that do not meet the Leica quality standard are being set aside to be adjusted or discarded

Yes, Leica still makes analog cameras

Working on a Leica Q

Checking and adjusting Leica TL2

Batch of Leica SL bodies

The basic camera body configuration of future cameras is made with a 3D printer

Yes, metal work is still being performed at Leica in Wetzlar

If it were possible to make a perfect lens, one without any flaws, this article would be meaningless. However, it is impossible to do so. Each lens will display certain faults which are virtually impossible to overcome and, unfortunately, of these faults or aberrations there are many, all of which will cause the photographic image to deteriorate. It is not my intention to go into the problems of lens design as such; instead I want to talk about what can be done to keep aberrations to a minimum, to make a lens perform as well as possible.

The easy answer is obvious; keep aberrations to a minimum, eliminate them as much as possible. Every lens designer and manufacturer does this, within the parameters given to them.

The answer is actually quite easy, but very difficult to realize. The key word is once again tolerances or precision. The more precise a lens is designed and made, the closer it comes to an ideal, flawless lens, the better the lens will perform.

Grinding of spherical lens elements

The optical tolerances of Leica lenses go far beyond the mechanical ones. This starts with the various types of glass being used to make a lens. Leica used to make their optical glass in house, but that proved to be too expensive in recent years. Instead Leica now purchases their glass from companies like Schott and Hoya. This includes proprietary designs like the so-called Apo glass which was first developed by Leica for the 50mm f/1 Noctilux.

This Leica 900403 glass consists of no fewer than a dozen different ingredients, including the rare earth element lanthanum. One kilogram of this glass costs almost 60 times as much as a common optical glass such as BK7. This socalled APO glass is twice as heavy as BK7. Subsequently the volume of glass in a kilogram that can be turned into lens elements is only half as great, making the actual price ratio between these two optical glasses approximately 120-to-1

Grinding and polishing of aspherical lens elements

In many cases the factory receives the glass as pressings which roughly approximate the final shape of the lens. Other glasses can only be obtained in blocks which must be sliced into sheets, cut into squares, cemented together and ground to form a stack of discs. These work pieces are then cemented onto the appropriate grinding and polishing heads. About 100,000 of these grinding heads must be on hand. Until a few years ago, the grinding heads were made large enough to grind several lens elements simultaneously. However, for reasons of greater precision, Leica grinds each lens element individually in modern machines. Each grinding step is immediately accompanied by a check for proper tolerances before the element is passed on to the next step.

Each manufacturing and assembly step is immediately followed by a check

Checking for lens element surface accuracy.

Measuring the center thickness of a lens element

Tolerances differ substantially already with the raw glass. Leica applies a standard of ±0.0002% for the accuracy of the refractive index. This compares to the international standard of ±0.001% as applied by other lens manufacturers. The accuracy of the Abbe number, the measure for dispersion, is ±0.2% for Leica compared to ±0.8% internationally.

Once the raw glass blanks have been received and tested for the proper accuracy of their properties, they are ground to their specified shapes. For the manufacture of individual lens elements Leica allows minimum production tolerance of no more than ¼ lambda or ¼ of the average wavelength of light which corresponds to approximately 500 nanometer or 0.0005mm for the accuracy of the lens surface. However, with some lens elements this accuracy is set for 0.0001mm or 0.1 μm (micrometer). In comparison, the tolerances applied by other lens manufacturers are ½ lambda or 0.001mm or 1 μm . Similar tolerances are used for the thickness of the elements and proper centering along the optical axis.

For some lens elements Leica uses rather exotic types of optical glasses whose surface will deteriorate when not in their finished stage. To prevent this, the individual lens surfaces are coated with a special black paint which is later removed to finish the lens element.

Checking for proper centering of element groups.

This instrument sits on a huge block of granite to avoid vibrations.

It is so sensitive that touching the granite surface ever so softly

added enough vibration to render the instrument useless.

Cementing of lens elements

Many lens elements are coated with a protective paint which has to be removed before further assembly

Lens Production - Production of Asphericals - Grinding

As of late many manufacturers are offering lenses with aspherical surfaces which can greatly improve lens performance by virtually eliminating spherical aberration. However, there are distinctively different approaches in the manufacture of these elements. An inexpensive method is to produce a “conventional” spherical element and sandwich it with a thin aspherical surface element. These are made of precision molded acrylic. However, this method, originally developed by Zeiss, was ultimately discarded by them because it could not approach their quality standards. The main cause was the fact that even the clearest plastics, like acrylics, consist of relatively large molecules. Light, when transmitting, literally will be scattered by these molecules, causing the light to be slightly diffused, which ultimately has adverse effects on lens performance. Other companies use precision molding equipment where a glass blank is reheated until it becomes pliable and then is precision molded into the final shape of the lens element. Some exotic types of glasses cannot be used with this method because the reheating and molding will cause the glass to deteriorate and thus make it useless. Subsequently, this precision molding process forces the lens designer to compromise to a certain degree because better suited glasses cannot be utilized. The same applies to lens elements of larger diameters. Leica uses an entirely different approach. They use computer controlled automatic grinding and polishing of the glass elements which require the adherence to extremely tight tolerances. Unfortunately such production methods can only be achieved at considerable expense.

For the production of aspherical lens elements Leica applies tolerances which cannot exceed 0.01 micrometer or 0.00001mm. Leica uses computer-controlled (CCP) and magneto-rheological (MRF) precision grinding and polishing to finalize the surface of its aspheric lenses. This process requires the use of a magnetic-sensitive fluid (MR fluid or MRF) whose viscosity changes in milliseconds when subjected to a magnetic field. MRF delivers high-performance surfaces previously unattainable with standard polishing techniques. This grinding compound must be continuously agitated during storage to avoid deterioration.

The stream of magnetized grinding compound is clearly visible coming from the nozzle on the left

The magnetized grinding and polishing compounds must be constantly agitated to prevent deterioration

Unlike with other manufacturers, at Leica all individual lens elements, spherical and aspherical, do not approach their final surface configuration and thickness until the lens coating is applied. Lens coating at Leica is not applied in the same manner for all elements. Instead selective coating layers of different substances is applied in a manner that eliminates surface reflection as much as possible. The Leica coating process enables the reduction of light reflection to 0.4%.

Preparing lens elements for coating

Cleaning of lens elements before coating

Lens coating machine

Back of lens coating machine

Each lens element is checked to assure proper coating

Grinding aspherical surfaces via the method used at Leica is extremely time consuming. As with all manufacturing steps at Leica, each individual step is immediately followed by a check. If these checks show that deviations from the norm still exist, the step is either followed by additional work, or the lens element is discarded. This often leads to no more than five aspherical lens elements being produced in a single day.

Before lenses are assembled, each lens element is coated at the sides with black paint to avoid reflections. This used to be done with a brush, but now a specially designed foam applicator is used instead. The question is often asked why this isn't done by machine. The simple answer is higher accuracy. The general black coating is easily applied with just one step. However the often sharp edge between the polished lens surface and the edge often requires as many of five additional applications to be perfect. This can only be done by hand.

Applying paint to the edges of a lens element

During our visit at Leica, our guide pointed out that a new person was being trained to apply the black coating to the edges of various lens elements. This was being done without any time constraints. The person was asked to take as much time as necessary to be perfectly comfortable to do the job, even if it would take a year or longer.

Even after mounting into lens subassemblies the lenses are once again checked and adjusted in a milling machine

Laser based interferometer to check alignment

To increase lens production, Leica tried to outsource the manufacture of some aspherical lens elements to other companies. Unfortunately this proved to be a dead end. The companies that were approached by Leica either were not able to work within the specified tolerances or they simply were not able to supply a sufficient number of elements to make such cooperation feasible.

All of this makes Leica by far the foremost and most advanced manufacturer of aspherical lens elements in the world.

There are a couple of additional steps in the manufacture of Leica lenses which are virtually ignored by other manufacturers. It is a known fact that regardless of how precise one tries to make each individual lens, there will always be slight fluctuation in performance from one lens to another. To minimize these fluctuations Leica tests each individual lens element after the completion of all manufacturing steps to determine its actual focal length and along with it the fluctuations from the ideal. If these do not fall within the rather stringent parameters set by Leica, these elements are usually discarded. The other ones are marked to indicate the deviations. Then, during assembly of the optical components, these figures are used to even out the differences with the result that there are considerably less fluctuation in performance from one lens to another.

Counter to common belief, even Leica binoculars are being worked on in Wetzlar

Finally, there are some additional steps when it comes to the Leica rangefinder lenses. In order to work with utmost focusing accuracy in conjunction with the mechanical Leica rangefinder, the actual focal length of each lens is measured very accurately. Older Leica lenses were even engraved with these figures. For instance, my 90mm f/2.8 Elmarit has the figure 05 engraved to the right of the infinity mark on the focusing scale while my 135mm f/2.8 elmarit reads 55. If my memory serves me correctly, this means that the 90mm is actually a 89.5mm lens while the 135mm in reality is a 135.5mm lens. The focusing cam of all Leica rangefinder lenses is then ground, by hand, to reflect the actual focal length of the lens to make rangefinder focusing as accurate as possible. Unfortunately the extra precision that goes into every Leica lens is also quite expensive. But it proves once again, you get what you pay for.

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LEICA TRI-ELMAR-M 28-35-50 MM F/4 ASPH : A LANDMARK OPTICAL AND MECHANICAL DESIGN DELIVERING SUPERB IMAGE QUALITY

2026-07-31T10:33:01.237-05:00

By José Manuel Serrano Esparza

The introduction of the Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH lens by Leica in 1998 was a remarkable surprise with which the German photographic firm proved its second to none opto-mechanical prowess in the designing of top-notch objectives for 24 x 36 mm format.

It was a significant technological tour de force accomplished, because for the first time Leica was able to combine its three most used focal lengths (28 mm, 35 mm and 50 mm) with its rangefinder cameras into a single lens,

in a compact design (dimensions of 55 x 68 mm, with a weight of 340 g) and keeping great image quality, something exceedingly difficult to achieve,

so they had to take to the limit all of their knowledge and expertise available at the time.

IMPRESSIVE OPTICAL SCHEME WITH INTERNAL FOCUSING

The Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH features an exotic optical formula with 8 elements (two of them aspherical, the second and fourth) in 6 groups and an eight blade diaphragm.

In addition, 5 of the elements are made of first-class highly refractive index optical glasses, including the first one (boasting a pronounced curvature), by far the biggest and most expensive, and made by Hoya.

Leica managed to create in this lens an amazing mechanism focusing by means of the three front lens elements and making that when the focal length is changed, there´s a simultaneous shift in both the three rear lens elements and the iris diaphragm, while the corresponding bright-line frame for 28, 35 or 50 mm is turned on in the viewfinder of the Leica M camera :

Configuration of the Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH in 28 mm focal length position, the one in which there is more distance between the third and fourth elements of its optical scheme.

It is also visible the optical layout of this extraordinary lens, made up by two vario groups, the first one with three elements and the second one with five.

This is a good example of Leica tremendous expertise in this domain, because however powerful and advanced computers and optical design programs may be, when it comes to creating a lens like this, yielding excellent image quality, size and weight skyrocket from scratch.

Therefore, the touches of their own and instructions given to those softwares by the most knowledgeable and experienced Leica top class optical designers become the key factor.

That´s why to attain a lens like this, doing it the Leica way, with very little dimensions, fairly low weight and stunningly short diameter of front lens, preserving a very high performance with a praiseworthy uniformity of excellent image quality in center, corners and borders, from widest aperture to f/8, is the greatest challenge for any optical designer and truly a feat, to such an extent that on stopping down the Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH, photographers will only gain depth of field.

That´s to say, this unique jewel of engineering at its highest level delivers the same extraordinary image quality both at its widest f/4 aperture and f/5.6 (with a very slight drop, almost imperceptible at f/8, because of diffraction) when using 28 mm and 35 mm focal lengths, and at f/4, f/5.6 and f/8 on using the 50 mm focal length (until reaching f/11, when diffraction drops a bit resolving power and contrast).

Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH in 35 mm focal length position. It can be seen that the distance between the Vario Group 1 and the Vario Group 2 is almost half in comparison with the optical configuration of the lens when used in 28 mm focal length position.

Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH in 50 mm focal length position. You can see that now the distance between the Vario Group 1 and the Vario Group 2 has hugely reduced, to such an extent that the two first elements of the Vario Group 2 are very near the third element of the Vario Group 1.

Light rays traced through the Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH in each one of its focal lengths.

The corresponding alternative design without the two aspherical surfaces would have led to a greater physical length of the lens and a higher weight, so both aspherical elements (the second one and the fourth one in its optical formula) achieve more compact dimensions and a far superior image quality, though the production cost is inevitably very steep, because an aspherical surface curvature deviates from the conventional ball-shaped surface, making necessary an extremely precise fabrication.

REFERENCE-CLASS AND HIGHLY COMPLEX MECHANICAL CONSTRUCTION

The Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH lens features a very robust and state-of-the-art mechanical build, made in aluminium and brass, which is to all intents and purposes an engineering milestone in the history of photographic lenses for 24 x 36 mm format.

The design and production of this lens required to tackle a myriad of technical problems.

First of all, Leica had to manage to make that the change of focal lengths automatically introduced the adjustment of the bright-line frames to each corresponding 28 mm, 35 mm or 50 mm focal length in the viewfinder.

Many years of thorough study were necessary to solve this conundrum, until Leica could attain it by means of a very smart and enormously complex inner spring loaded device, in such a way that on shifting to each one of the three different focal lengths, the relative position of the lug handling the bright-line frames is changed.

Needless to say that the Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH frameline for each focal length accurately clicking into place on turning the zoom ring, is a relish to experience.

And if we speak about the focusing helicoid (made of brass and aluminum alloy) movement remaining utterly smooth and accurate for many decades of intensive use, photographing with this lens becomes an indulgence.

Moreover, the lens sports some decisive mechanical components, as the brass milled cams and the guiding rolls with teflon or kevlar bushes, while the engineering drawing of the guidance

ways for focal length changes stays true to its great mechanical intricacy.

On the other hand, the internal focusing system leveraging the three front lens elements of the Vario Group 1, means that when using this lens, there isn´t any extension of the barrel or turn of the front ring.

The Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH isn´t a zoom in its literal sense, but a parfocal lens working flawlessly,

Another view of the Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH, showing its first-rate mechanical construction with aluminium and brass, screws and many other metallic parts, together with the stunning assembling accuracy inherent to Leica and a benchmark machining precision having been its hallmark for more than a century.

so when focusing the subject with it, you can change the focal length without being bound to focus again or making exposure adjustmens because of a value change of the diaphragm aperture, which doesn´t happen.

Needless to say that this one of a kind lens meaningfully epitomizes the second half of nineties of XX Century, when Leica became the world benchmark in manufacture of objectives boasting aspherical surfaces, with revolutionary methods of blank pressed optical glasses up to a diameter of 20 mm and CNC grinded ones for larger diameters, creating other extraordinary lenses like the Summilux-M 35 mm f/1.4 ASPH (1994), the Summicron-M 35 mm f/2 ASPH (1996), the Apo-Summicron-M 90 mmm f/2 ASPH (also introduced in 1998) and so forth.

Front view of the Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH lens, revealing its outstanding compactness : 55 x 68 mm and a very low weight of 340 g for an objective able to harness the three most used focal lengths with Leica M rangefinder cameras.

Another significant aspect of the fabulous mechanical construction of this lens is that according to the Leica traditional lens designing keynote, it was made with the minimum feasible quantity of optical elements and groups, to assure the maximum possible transmission of light and the minimum size and weight.

And because of optical and mechanical reasons, the markings on the lens barrel are 35-50-28, with the 50 mm focal length in central position, since only that way was possible the interaction of the lens with the contrivance in the camera body that must introduce the bright-line frames corresponding to each focal length in the viewfinder.

Suffice it to say that the Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH from 1998 is mechanically much more complex and sophisticated than the also extraordinary Tri-Elmar 16-18-21 f/4 ASPH, introduced in 2006, which is essentially a continuous zoom design.

A GREAT LENS FOR TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY, STREET PHOTOGRAPHY AND LANDSCAPES BOTH WITH ANALOG AND DIGITAL LEICA M RANGEFINDER CAMERAS

The Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH was designed for use with colour and black and white emulsions, with which it delivers superb image quality using the three focal lengths it offers, between widest f/4 aperture and f/8.

And it yields excellent image quality coupled to 24 x 36 mm format digital rangefinder cameras like the Leica M10, Leica M10-R, Leica M11, Leica M11-P, Leica M11-D, Leica M11 Monochrom and others.

It´s true that its moderate f/4 maximum aperture significantly reduces its operativeness on getting pictures indoor or in dim light contexts, but the major improvements made by Leica regarding high iso performance with its Leica M10 and the different models of Leica M11 have turned the 55 x 68 mm and 340 g Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH ( 55 x 68 mm, 340 g and minimum focusing distance of 1 meter) into a more than acceptable lens in this kind of photographic environtments.

Anyway, it is obviously a far cry from the capabilities of such stellar performing Leica M lenses shooting in low light levels like the

- Summicron-M 28 mm f/2 ASPH version 1 from 2000 ( 40.8 x 53 mm, 270 g, minimum focusing distance of 70 cm and two stops faster).

- Summicron-M 28 mm f/2 ASPH version 2 from 2016 ( 40.8 x 53 mm, 289 g, minimum focusing distance of 70 cm and two stops faster).

- Summicron-M 28 mm f/2 ASPH Version 3 from 2023 ( 55 x 58 mm, 275 g, minimum focusing distance of 40 cm and two stops faster).

- Summicron-M 35 mm f/2 ASPH from 1996 ( 35.7 x 53 mm, 252 g, minimum focusing disstance of 70 cm and two stops faster).

- Summilux-M 35 mm f/1.4 ASPH Pre FLE from 1994 (46 x 56 mm, 320 g, minimum focusing distance of 70 cm and three stops faster).

-Summilux-M 35 mm f/1.4 ASPH FLE from 2010 ( 56 x 58 mm, 320 g, minimum focusing distance of 70 cm and three stops faster).

- Summilux-M 35 mm f/1.4 ASPH FLE II from 2022 (46 x 58 mm, 337 g, minimum focusing distance of 40 cm and three stops faster).

- Apo-Summicron-M 35 mm f/2 ASPH (40.9 x 53 mm, 320 g, minimum focusing distance of 70 cm and two stops faster).

- Apo-Summicron-M 50 mm f/2 ASPH from 2012 (47 x 53 mm, 300 g, minimum focusing distance of 70 cm and two stops faster).

- Summilux-M 50 mm f/1.4 ASPH from 2004 ( 59.3 x 58.6 mm, 377 g, minimum focusing distance of 70 cm and three stops faster).

Vast majority of those class-leading fixed focal lenses are smaller, lighter and outperform the Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH, particularly indoor and under low available light, in addition to likewise delivering better image quality outdoor with good light (though differences reduce very much between f/4 and f/8), specially in the outer zones and extreme corners, also being far superior to get selective focus.

But it is not a fair comparison, because the Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH is a 27 years old design, and the aforementioned Leica M primes are currently the cream of the crop in the scope of highly luminous 28 mm, 35 mm and 50 mm primes of the German photographic firm, with stellar performance in terms of resolving power and contrast and featuring a much favourable minimum focusing distance.

However, it isn´t less true that amazingly, the Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH is still nowadays a superb lens, substantially approaching that selected wideangle-standard domain lineup of aspherical Leica M fixed focal lenses as to image quality between f/4 and f/8 in each of its focal lengths.

On the other hand, this step zoom keeps on being unsurpassed in convenience for travel photography, street photography and landscape, likewise being a fantastic story-telling lens and taking advantage of its three-in-one focal lenghts without having to change lenses, so it is certainly lighter than carrying three separate prime lenses, and you can get away without a camera bag.

Moreover, it is also a bless to use in hot and dusty areas, where you can swap 28, 35 and 50 mm focal lengths keeping the digital sensor free of dust.

And regarding image quality and overall performance, although the best highly luminous modern aspherical 28 mm, 35 mm and 50 mm Leica M primes will always have the upper hand, in outdoor photographic conditions with good light (whenever you don´t need to use large f/1.4, f/2 or f/2.8 to obtain selective focus and highlight the photographed person or thing with a lot of bokeh in the out of focus areas), the Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH continues to be a contender raising to the challenge, giving more image quality than every Leica M pre aspherical 28 mm, 35 mm and 50 mm lens, with the exception of the 6 elements in 4 groups Summicron-M 50 mm f/2 Versions 4 and 5, though it approaches very much to its optical performance between f/4 and f/8.

All of it with the added bonus of its very small size and weight ( 55 x 68 mm and 340 g) for what it offers, as well as being built like a tank, exuding the typical Leica M quality, having exceptionally smooth control rings and becoming an ergonomic delight.

If we compare it with the 40.8 x 53 mm and 270 g of the Summicron-M 28 mm f/2 ASPH Version 1, the 46 x 58 mm and 337 g of the Summicron-M 35 mm f/2 ASPH FLE II or the 47 x 53 mm and 300 g of the Apo-Summicron-M 50 mm f/2 ASPH, we see that though being a bit larger and heavier, the dimensions and weight of the Tri-Elmar 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH are undoubtedly very compact, specially if we bear in mind that it offers three different focal lengths and was one of the most commendable optical and mechanical tour de forces ever made,

with only 8 elements in 6 groups and a visionary mechanics with incredibly tight tolerances, pioneering a host of concepts which would subsequently be applied in other top-tier Leica M lenses from the first decade of XXI Century onwards.

The image quality delivered by the Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/2 ASPH is superb (with a very interesting and nice aesthetics combining classic and modern look) and will be much more than adequate for most professional Leica photographers, except those ones needing outstanding performance at apertures wider than f/4 or very big enlargements on photographic paper showing tons of detail with remarkable sharpness and contrast, a field in which the best highly luminous primes are the yardstick hands down.

And its distortion correction is laudable, with very slight levels of barrel distortion at 28 mm and virtually non existent for 35 mm and 50 mm, the same happening with curvature of field and vignetting, which have been reduced to negligible levels, together with an outstanding correction of aberrations resulting in great image quality in terms of resolving power, contrast and textural details, preserving those values even at the nearest focusing distances, over the whole image field.

In addition, the centering of the optical elements of the Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH is of exceptional accuracy and meant a turning point in this technological sphere since its very appearance in the photographic market in 1998, in the same way as the reference-class efficiency of the material used, thickness and number of coatings (usually six) for each individual lens surface, which were very precisely calculated and applied on the untreated glass elements in a vacuum kiln in which the adequate metal oxides and fluorides were vaporized, getting an average thickness of coating of 1/10,000 millimeter to achieve a broadband resistance to reflections.

Needless to say that this is a very pure optical design, whose superb image quality, achieved in a number of different important parameters, doesn´t stem from any firmware inside digital bodies.

AN INCREASINGLY BETTER PERFORMANCE WITH 24 X 36 MM FORMAT LEICA M DIGITAL CAMERAS

September 23, 2010. First day of the 42th Leica Historical Society of America Annual Meeting in Wetzlar (Germany).

The Wetzlarer Hof Hotel has turned into a hive of Leica enthusiasts and professional photographers belonging to the LHSA.

Benson Shulman´s Leica M9 with non aspherical 6 elements in 4 groups Summicron-M 50 mm f/2 Version IV (1979-1994) designed by Walter Mandler at the Ernst Leitz Factory of Midland, Ontario (Canada) and coupled to a Leica Camera GMBH 12538 shade on the floor of the Wetzlarer Hof Hotel main hall on September 23, 2010.\

Only one year has elapsed since the introduction of the gorgeous 24 x 36 mm format Leica M9 digital rangefinder camera

Benson Shulman, from Boca Raton (Florida), holding his Leica M9 digital rangefinder with non aspherical Summicron-M 50 mm f/2 coupled to a Leica Camera GMBH 12538 shade in the lobby of the Wetzlarer Hof Hotel on September 23, 2010.

with which the legendary German photographic firm has accomplished a seamless analog / digital transition.

Many of the LHSA attendees coming from all over the world have already acquired this new photographic tool,

Leica M9 Silver Chrome with 8 elements in 6 groups Elmarit-M 28 mm f/2.8 ASPH. Beside the camera is an original metallic pin from the Photokina 1956, courtesy of Dr. Mervin Stewart, from Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania), a veteran member of the LHSA, who visited it sixty-nine years ago. Wetzlarer Hof Hotel. September 23, 2010.

whose raison d´etre and fundamental philosophy hark back to the analog Leica M3 from 1954 and the keynotes established by Willi Stein (Chief Designer and Head of the Ernst Leitz Wetzlar Photographic Product Development and Design Department at the time), Hugo Wehrenfenning (inventor of the Leica M bayonet in 1950 and designer of the first Leica M lenses) and Oskar Barnack (a genius of miniaturized mechanics at Ernst Leitz Wetzlar and inventor of the Ur-Leica prototype in 1914, which set the foundations for the spreading of 24 x 36 mm format as photographic standard, subsequently creating the Leica 1 Model A, first 35 mm camera produced in series, in 1925, and other revolutionary for its time screwmount cameras like the Leica II Model D from 1932, first one boasting a built-in rangefinder and able to couple interchangeable lenses).

The launching into market of the 24 x 36 mm format digital Leica M9 has been the fruit of six years of strenuous effort by Leica Camera AG since it created the digital 1,33 x crop Leica M8, featuring a 18 x 27 mm 10 megapixel Kodak KAF-10500 CCD sensor,

Leica M Digital Photography, book written by the Leica expert and great photographer Brian Bower in 2009 after three years getting pictures with the digital Leicas M8 and M8.2 rangefinders and published by Lark Book New York, proved that in spite of featuring 1,3 x CCD sensors, both cameras delivered medium format quality up to roughly ISO 640, paving the way for future Leica rangefinder cameras which would leverage full frame sensors and utter compatibility with manual focusing Leica M lenses made since 1954.

which delivered great image quality with rich tonal response in the shadows and highlights that is very difficult to achieve with a CMOS, though the tradeoff is sometimes noise and color accuracy.

Brian Bower on September 23, 2010 inside the main lecture and projection room of WetzlarerHof Hotel. His tremendous experience and skill as a photographer getting excellent images in a raft of different contexts, enabled him to verify during 2006, 2007 and 2008 the huge potential of the original Leica DNG archives to get impressive detail and tonal values using the Leica M8 and M8.2 all over the world and confirming the extraordinary image quality they were able to yield coupled to aspherical Leica M lenses manufactured during nineties of XX Century and first half of the first decade of XXI Century, which in spite of having been designed for use with chemical films, also achieved superb results in symbiosis with a 18 x 27 mm APS-H CCD sensor.

Something that had also been confirmed by Dr Edward Schwartzreich (one of the most knowledgeable members of the LHSA and a world-class pundit on Leica M and Nikkor lenses) in mid 2006, when he tested a pre production Leica M8 shooting at ISO 160, with which he made very good pictures in Vermont, showing a creamy smoothness of rendering and lavish detail reminding him of medium format.

Among the extensive assortment of Leica M lenses used worldwide by Brian Bower between 2006 and 2008 to check the image quality obtained by the Leica M8 and M8.2 in a number of different photographic contexts

In late 2006 Brian Bower had been one of the first photographers in the world using the Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH with 6-bit code (visible on the back left side of the lens), a very witty solution that had just been introduced by Leica and whose data were read by a sensor on the Leica M8´s bayonet mount and subsequently on the Leica M8.2´s one, recognizing the lens and optimizing image quality accordingly, laying the first stone for both the digital Leica M9 rangefinder (launched into market in september of 2009) and the rest of Leica M cameras which would appear later, also using the 6-bit code to allow photographers to use every Leica M prime manufactured since 1954.

was the Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH, which he put through its paces in Sunrise Monument Valley ( Utah, United States), Red Canyon ( Utah, United States), Pioneer Historic Park (Phoenix, United States), Rotterdam (Holland), Route 66 (Arizona, United States), the Grand Canyon (Arizona, United States) and the Bryce Canyon (Utah, United States), making great pictures with crisp rendering of details and making a point of its versatility.

An instrumental factor in attaining this superb image quality was the then unique sensor of the Leica M8, incorporating a specially designed micro-lens structure with the micro lenses at the edge of the sensor shifted laterally to achieve maximum performance from the Leica M lenses, a scope in which Leica Camera AG had made a pivotal advance in 2009 with the introduction of the 24 x 36 mm digital sensor of the Leica M9, a masterpiece of electronic technology, implemented by the genius Jesko von Oeynhausen (then Senior Project Manager of the German photographic firm), who mannaged to figure out how to handle the angle of incidence of the light rays from the tiny rangefinder lenses on a full frame digital sensor, in which the position and shape of the individual microlenses was very important, to such an extent that the M9 Leica used microlens shifting to accommodate large incident angles towards the corners (near the center of the sensor the microlenses are centered on the photosites beneath whereas microlenses further out are shifted towards the center).

But high emotions regarding the Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH haven´t finished at all in Wetzlar (Germany) this last week of September 2010, because two of the present photographers have come with a sample of this lens :

A riveting sight : Ralph Childs, one of the most veteran members of the LHSA, inside the lobby of the Wetzlarer Hof Hotel on September 23, 2010, while a lot of remembrances come to his mind. He has been an unswerving Leica M photographer for more than half a century, since he bought a Leica M3 in late fifties of the XX Century.

a) Ralph Childs, a veteran Leica M photographer from Chicago, Illinois, who is taking pictures with a Leica M8 connected to a silver chrome Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH Version 1 with 49 mm filter (equivalent to a 36-45-65 mm coupled to this camera).

He has known the superb image quality produced by this lens for twelve years with analog Leica M cameras,

having likewise verified its remarkable performance coupled to his Leica M8 since early 2007. He feels that the Leica analog / digital transformation is in the pipeline.

Ralph Childs Leica M8 coupled to a silver chrome Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH Version 1 with 49 mm filter. The contrast between the black colour of the camera body and the entirely metallic chromed surfaces of the lens was a relish to behold. Entrance hall of the Wetzlarer Hof Hotel. September, 23, 2010.

Top view of Ralph Childs Leica M8 with silver chrome Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH Version 1 E49. It can be seen that though not being as small and light as the best more modern aspherical 28, 35 and 50 mm f/2 Leica primes, it is very compact for the three focal lengths it offers and sets up a very coherent combination with any Leica M camera. You can also appreciate that the machining thoroughness of the three lens rings is simply dazzling. Wetzlarer Hof Hotel entrance hall. September 23, 2010.

Ralph Childs focusing his silver chrome Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH Version 2 E55 before pressing the shutter release button of his Leica M8 to get a picture inside the Wetzlarer Hof Hotel entrance hall. September 23, 2010.

He elaborated on the fact that during the previous four years he had been able to bear out the excellent resolving power and contrast yielded by this lens in symbiosis with the 18 x 27 mm and 10 megapixel Kodak KAF-10500 CCD digital sensor of the Leica M8, so he had foretold since september 2009 that both the 18,5 megapixel Leica M9 and other 24 x 36 mm format models of Leica rangefinder cameras to come, featuring many more megapixels, would deliver better and better image quality with the Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH and would conspicuously improve their performance at high isos with the arrival of breakthrough new digital full frame CMOS sensors.

Carl Merkin, a highly experienced Leica professional photographer from State Island, New York, who began his career as a freelance advertising and catalog photographer in 1968, one of the historical Directors of the LHSA and a recognized Leica expert (featuring at the time being an experience of 42 years in the trade making advertising and catalogue still life photography, mainly with large format cameras and 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 Hasselblads), and who has worked with a very comprehensive assortment of both Leica M and Leica R lenses since late eighties (he also used 35 mm Nikon cameras during seventies and eighties)

has come to Wetzlar with a Leica M9 and Tri-Elmar 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH Version 2 E49 (which regained its native focal lengths with the first 24 x 36 mm format digital camera made by the German photographic firm) with Leica 12450 vented lens hood and a Metz 32CT3 System SCA-300 flash (featuring a swivelling head with three automatisms, manual position and TTL, boasting the great quality of light inherent to the Metz flashes) attached to a Lumiquest Pro Max 80-20 accessory and is now within a hotel of Wetzlar two days later, on September 25, 2010.

He was able to get excellent results with flash by dint of his extensive know-how of decades handling different light contexts and enabling him to hold sway over indoor light, masterfully controlling it depending on the available luminic contexts, sometimes to increase light levels in very dim conditions and other times to attain an accurate fill-in flash, also managing often to use his Lumiquest Pro Max 80-20 device, illuminating the scene with light bouncing off neutral coloured ceilings and simultaneously providing fill-in light off the bounce device itself, making the most of the remarkable versatility of the three focal lengths provided by this unique lens.

And the steady technological advances during the last fifteen years, between 2020 and 2025, in 24 x 36 mm CMOS digital sensors with more and more megapixels and much better

performance at high ISOS in cameras like the Leica M Typ 240 (2012), Leica M Monochrom Typ 246 (2015), Leica M10 (2017), Leica M10-P (2018), Leica M10-R (2020), Leica M11 (2022), Leica M11 Monochrom (2023) and others, have greatly fostered the photographic capabilities of the Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH, even in contexts of low light, where it currently fares well in comparison to the times when it was connected to the first M8, M8.2 and M9 of the first decade of XXI Century, whose image quality dropped apparently from ISO 1250 onwards, though f/1.2 and f/2 aspherical Leica M primes keep on being the best choice to shoot in low light with low and medium ISOS, in addition to sporting a better handling balance.

The upshot of it all is that however incredible it may seem, twenty-seven years after being created, the Tri-Elmar-M 28-35-50 mm f/4 ASPH goes on being an extraordinary lens, even to present standards, not reaching the stellar performance of the current best highly luminous 28 mm, 35 mm and 50 mm f/1.4 and f/2 more modern Leica M aspherical primes, but delivering much more than enough image quality for most professional photographers between f/4 and f/8, a scope in which the optical performance of this lens significantly approaches to them, in addition to excelling in travel photography, reportage, street photography and landscape, though users of this step zoom will have to bear in mind its four main downsides : its slow maximum luminosity of f/4, its lack of adequacy to get selective focus, a minimum focusing distance of 1 meter, and that it is a bit proned to flare in the first version at 50 mm position (which was fixed in the version 2 using flare reducing paints within the lens internal barrel).

Anyway, flare is very well controlled in the 28, 35 and 50 mm available focal lengths, thanks to the contained number of surfaces and the many layers of coating in its optical elements.

And though this very special lens was discontinued in 2007, after a production life of only nine years, because of its very high cost of manufacturing, it keeps on standing out as a homage to second to none Leica ingenuity, innovative drive and mastery when designing top-notch lenses, producing praiseworthy image quality in the digital era, almost three decades after it came on stream.

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EMIL MECHAU AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE UR-LEICA

2026-07-28T11:05:49.506-05:00

By Heinz Richter

It is often quite interesting to find out about the circumstances that lead to the discovery or development of certain items. The Leica is no exception in this respect.

Many are familiar with the development of the Ur-Leica, the prototype that Oskar Barnack began to work on starting in 1913. Much has been written about his love for photography and that early on he was looking for a more portable camera.

We know that this led to his attempt to modify a 5x7 camera by dividing the glass plate to take a number of smaller, individual negatives. But the negative material at the time did not render images of a sufficient quality to enable even modest enlargements.

The circumstances that lead to the development of the Ur-Leica actually began with someone else. Please note that this is not an attempt to discredit Oskar Barnack in any respect, but an account how a variety of circumstances led to the Leica as we know it.

This began with a colleague of Oskar Barnack, Emil Mechau. Both worked for Zeiss, in Jena in the early 1900s. Emil Mechau was born in 1882 and started working for Zeiss in 1900. In 1903 he was promoted to work on special optical projects in his laboratory at Zeiss. It was there that he overheard a conversation by his superiors about how the annoying flicker of projected movie pictures might be eliminated by means of an oscillating mirror. He decided to research the subject in depth.

However, Zeiss was not particularly interested in this project and did not afford Mechau to spend much time on it. That resulted in his decision to leave Zeiss and to begin working for Ernst Leitz GmbH in Wetzlar in 1910. They were much more open to his idea and soon he was able to show an improved version of the projector.

Shortly after Mechau began working at Leitz, the company needed a master machinist in the microscope research department. He informed Oskar Barnack about the position, but he was hesitant and his reply very much illustrates his character. Though he seemed dissatisfied with his work I Jena and being interested in the Wetzlar position, he answered, “Surely it is not desirable for a company to hire a young employee who still has to familiarize himself with the new tasks and whose health compels him to take a leave of absence of one or two months every year, not to mention the fact that the cost of such cures would be too high for me as a private person.”

Barnacks original letter, declining the job offer from Leitz

The answer impressed Ernst Leitz and with Mechau’s negotiations a deal was struck, and he decided to hire him in spite of his disclaimers. His assurances prevailed and on January 1, 1911, Barnack arrived in Wetzlar.

The Mechau projector soon found worldwide interest. That resulted in Leitz having Mechau establish an independent motion picture plant in Rastatt, a town near to the Black Forest.

As a master machinist, one of Barnacks first tasks was to design diamond lathes for the lens polishing department. Soon he started work on an all-aluminum motion picture camera, a radical departure from the heavy wooden models of the time. It would become the first all metal motion picture camera ever. This venture into motion picture cameras resulted from the company's need for films to test Mechau’s projectors.

Barnack himself made a number of movies with his new device and samples of his work still exist. Members of the LHSA (Leica Historical Society of America) had the pleasure to view several of these movies during their annual meeting in Minneapolis in 1980. Barnack displayed considerable skill as a motion picture camera man and for a while seriously thought of changing careers again.

Barnack's motion picture camera

Barnack using his motion picture camera

One of the problems of shooting movie film at the time was determining proper exposure. Photoelectric meters were not yet available, and the camera operator always ran the risk of losing the whole 200-foot roll to improper lens settings. Barnack decided to build a small exposure testing device that would use short sections of movie stock. With it he would expose film by the common method of the time - take a good guess – and expose his movie identically. Afterwards, the test exposures were processed, and any exposure problems were compensated for by evaluating the test and adjusting the development of the movie film accordingly.

Barnack’s “light meter” was equipped with a Zeiss Kino Tessar lens and had a fixed exposure time of 1/40 second, the common motion picture shutter speed. The quality of the results surprised him; in the motion picture film he had finally found a fine enough grain structure to yield good enlargements, and he recalled his old idea of making a small negative camera. He decided to give the problem a good try, and, in 1913, he began to work on his first real still camera.

To get the most from the small 35 mm film he chose to double the size of the standard motion picture frame; in so doing he created the modern 35 mm still camera format (or full frame format). The camera had a focal plane shutter with a fixed slit width of 40 mm. Shutter speeds were controlled by variable spring tension. The first lens was the same Zeiss Kino Tessar he had used in the exposure testing camera, but it proved to have unsatisfactory coverage for Barnack’s full frame format. The next lens tried was a 64 mm Leitz Macro Summar, but it too was unable to satisfy Barnack’s requirements. It was Max Berek, Leitz’ chief lens designer who finally solved the problem. The challenge was to design a lens equal to or better than the best the market could then offer. He designed the Leitz 50 mm f/3.5 Anastigmat, later renamed the Elmax. It was the five-element forerunner of the world famous Elmar.

Thus, the first Leica camera came into existence. Many improvements were to come later, but most of the features of the production cameras were already present in that unnamed experimental camera.

The influence of Emil Mechau, though unintended, on the development of the Ur-Leica cannot be denied. It serves as an example how life’s twist and turns can result in inventions far from imaginable at the time.

The first production model of the Leica was shown at the Leipzig Spring fair in 1925, and Emil Mechau was able to witness the success of that little camera whose existence was to quite a measure influenced by him.

While the motion picture projector was Mechau’s crowning achievement, it was far from the only one.

The development of sound motion picture films required substantial financial investments, something Leitz considered too much removed from their core businesses and they decided to sell the projector plant in Rastatt to AEG in Berlin, including all of its patents. That also included optical sound devices which Mechau had developed. These created the sound via a light beam, a system which found widespread use in later years. Another of Mechau’s achievements was the development of a 180 line spinning disc scanner, a further development of the Nipkow perforated disc. This was specifically designed for the newly developing television. It was first shown at the 1934 Berlin Radio Exhibition.

In 1935 Mechau left AEG and began working for Telefunken to continue his work in the new field of television. There he developed a flying spot TV scanner for which he received the Grand Prix in the Innovations and Development category in 1937 at the Paris World Fair.

The flying spot TV scanner was instrumental in the development of television, but it also resulted in the television telephone service which, for the first time, enabled a telephone caller not only to hear but also to see the other person on the line. It was the forerunner of today’s video conferencing.

Another television first, developed by Mechau, was a television camera with interchangeable lenses. It became famous for a 1600mm f/5 Leitz lens. For the first time this allowed television transmission from great distances.

Unfortunately, his life ended much too soon. Just a few weeks after the end of the war, Emil Mechau, at the age of 63, was accidentally killed when he was asked by a Russian soldier to defuse a hand grenade. This tragic mishap ended the life of this modest man and brilliant inventor.

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101 YEARS OF LEICA

2026-07-24T11:13:22.661-05:00

Much has been written about the Leica being 100 years old last year. The first Leica was indeed introduced to the world at the Leipzig Spring Fair in 1925. It was the first practical camera utilizing 35mm motion picture film. Unlike some prior attempts to utilize this film in a still camera, the Leica was an entirely new concept, unlike anything ever attempted before.

It would never have come into being without the efforts of Oscar Barnack. His farsightedness allowed his camera to influence photography like nothing ever before or after.

But it didn't appear overnight. It was the result of a multitude of circumstances over the course of several years. The following article is a detailed account of the development of this remarkable camera:

ERNST LEITZ, OSKAR BARNACK AND THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE LEICA

Oskar Barnack working at his desk

By Heinz Richter

The origins of Leica Camera AG go back to the early days of photography in general. The history of photography cannot be told without mentioning Ernst Leitz, Oskar Barnack and his invention of the Leica. No other camera has influenced photography as profoundly as the Leica. Here is how it all came to be:

I: E. Leitz and the Early History of Photography

Niepce, Daguerre, Fox Talbot; these names are inseparable from the history of photography. These men are figures of history, important, but remote; their discoveries were seminal, but primitive; their processes were anachronisms a century ago. Their technology was cumbersome and ill understood by present standards, and their picture taking apparatus bears only conceptual likeness to the modern camera.

And yet, one of the most respected photographic companies in the world today had its start in the days of the daguerreotype and the 20 x 24 inch wet-plate collodion camera. E. Leitz Wetzlar, or Leica, as they are now called, had its origins a scant ten years after the world saw its first daguerreotype.

In 1849 Ernst Leitz was living in Sulzburg in the Black Forest, a six year old schoolboy. Karl Kellner, a 23 year old physicist, founded in that year the “Optical Institute” in Wetzlar. At that time Wetzlar was a small town tucked away in a valley north of Frankfurt, out of the mainstream of commercial activity. It may be its serenity that lured poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to Wetzlar to study and write. Even today the town retains its old world charm, a survivor of two world wars.

Carl Kellner shortly after he founded the Optical Institute

Kellner's home in Wetzlar

Kellner had excellent mechanical skills and a great interest in optics. His optical studies reached back as far as his school years and he continued them all through his apprenticeship years. He also obtained exclusive knowledge in mathematics.

The Optical Institute manufactured optics for microscopes and telescopes and from the beginning held a reputation as a leader in the field. It was, in fact, Kellner’s own invention of an orthoscopic eyepiece, a new achromatic lens combination, that allowed him to start his new business. Many scientists, especially astronomers, had for years looked for such an eyepiece and the success was obvious. The welcome his invention received is shown by the fact that the great astronomer, physicist and mathematician C. F. Gauss wrote a personal letter to Kellner to congratulate him on his new invention.

Kellner started out with 12 employees. Business was good; Kellner optics and the instruments quickly gained international reputation and in May, 1851, the first instrument was delivered abroad to Geneva.

The company flourished. Soon it added names like Bishoff, Liebig, Virchov, Leuckart and Koelloker to the customer list. In 1853 they started to produce more microscopes than telescopes, which so far had been the mainstay of the business. But its founder was not to see his company’s full glory. Kellner’s health failed and in 1855 he dies of one of the great perils of the time, tuberculosis. His partner, Charles F. Behltle, took over the company and shortly thereafter married Kellner’s widow. This assured the existence of the Wetzlar optical industry.

In 1865 Behltle took on a new partner. It was an inauspicious occasion. No one could have known at the time that it would be his new partner that would lead the Wetzlar company to the pinnacle of international fame and recognition. His name was Ernst Leitz.

Ernst Leitz I

photograph by Oskar Barnack with the Ur-Leica

Born in 1843, in Sulzburg in the Black Forest, he grew up as the son of a school teacher. After completing his apprenticeship and journeyman’s service in precision engineering and optical workshops in Southern Germany, Switzerland and France, he came to Wetzlar in 1864.

The workshop’s success continued. The 1000th microscope left the shop in 1867. When Behltle died suddenly in 1869, Ernst Leitz became the sole proprietor of the company, and for a while kept the name Wetzlar Optical Institute; but in 1870 the company introduced an achromatic microscope in a catalog that bore for the first time the name Ernst Leitz Company.

Work became more complex as a variety of new instruments was added to the line, such as a large horizontal photographic apparatus (a novel item in the still young field of photography) which appeared in the price list in 1865. Skill and experience alone were no longer sufficient, so in 1887 Leitz hired mathematician Carl Metz to develop new designs. This departure from the trial and error methods prevalent in optical design at the time soon assured Leitz’ leadership in the field.

1887 also saw the completion and sale of the 10,000th microscope. Much credit must be given to Ernst Leitz for turning a once small company in the space of a few years into an internationally renowned microscope manufacturing plant, employing some 4000 people, almost 35 times the original payroll.

These events were taking place during an extremely active period in the history of photography. Daguerre had died in 1851; his success lived on, though not without the genius of Englishman Henry Fox Talbot. Talbot’s negative process, Kalotype, laid the foundation for modern photography. The chemistry of the photographic process had progressed far beyond the first infant steps.

But emulsion sensitivity was still quite low and photographers the world over were looking fro faster lenses. The most widely used lens of the mid-century was a two element f/14 design manufactured by the French company of Chevalier. The Austrian Joseph Petzval was the first to design a multiple element portrait lens, ten times faster than the doublet Chevalier. The Petzval lens was a five element f/3.6 design with two cemented groups; the lens was manufactured by Voigtländer. Petzval also designed a “landscape” lens which had an unusually wide angle of coverage for the time.

The next great step forward in the development of modern lenses was made by the company of Karl August von Steinheil. The famous Aplanat lenses led to the Portrait-Aplanat, remarkable in its day for its speed of f/2.4. Lens speed and sophistication of design had progressed rapidly in just a few years.

In 1878 young George Eastman began producing photographic emulsions, but the start of one of the largest photographic companies was slow. Eastman had to fight for his success in a number of court battles, one of which involved the principle of rollfilm In 1887 Hannibal Goodwin, a minister, patented a celluloid backed photographic rollfilm. Eastman tried to get a patent for a similar film in 1892, only to learn that Goodwin’s patent was five years older. A bitter court battle lasted eleven years; the patent right finally were given to Goodwin, but by that time his health had deteriorated sharply and he assigned his rights to the Ansco Company. Another court battle started which was not decided until March, 1914. Eastman Kodak Company ended up paying millions of restitution.

Another landmark of the period was the founding of the Aktiengesellschaft Für Anilinfabrikation, AGFA, once the largest photographic manufacturer after Kodak. (It may be of interest to note that one of the company’s founders was Dr. Mendessohn-Bartholdy, a son of the great composer Felix Mendelssohn.) Following an initial involvement in the production of various chemicals, AGFA turned to photographic developers. In 1891, after the unsuccessful US marketing of their Eikogen developer, the company produced an improved version, the now famous Rodinal™, which became the oldest, continuously marketed photographic product on the market.

II: Young Barnack

Oskar Barnack was born November 1, 1879, the son of a teacher in Lynow, a small town in the Mark Brandenburg, close to Berlin. Shortly after Oskar’s birth his father moved his family to Lichterfelde, a suburb of Berlin and it is there that young Oskar would go to school.

One of Barnack’s early goals was to become a landscape painter. His father opposed the idea, brushing it off as a poor man’s trade, so young Oskar was apprenticed to Master Lampe. Lampe was engaged in what was apparently considered a much more sensible trade, the manufacture of tellurians, the small clockwork driven models of the planets and the solar system. Barnack enjoyed his work with these precise mechanical devices; through his work he developed an interest in astronomy and decided to become an astronomer.

He worked as hard as possible, his newfound interest driving him through his three years of apprenticeship. He accepted each new task as a challenge and an opportunity for greater knowledge. No task seemed to be too difficult for him as he perfected his mechanical skills and after 2 ½ years Master Lampe released him from his learning period, telling him he had nothing left to teach him.

At approximately this time the Leitz Company’s catalog was issued for the first time without reference to its founder C. Kellner. It showed a considerably expanded line of equipment and featured such “exotics” as a projection apparatus illuminated by a paraffin lamp. By 1899 Oskar Barnack had committed himself to a career as a master mechanic. That year was also the 50th anniversary of the Ernst Leitz Company and that year the catalog showed an apparatus for counting blood corpuscles, a stereoscopic microscope and an arc lamp for microscopic projection.

After leaving Lampe, Barnack made the customary travels through Europe as a journeyman. One of his travels brought him to a small town in Saxony, where he began work for a manufacturer of calculating machines. The company’s owner was not fond of people from the big city of Berlin and for a while he treated Barnack with disdain. On one of Barnack’s first days at work his employer gave his new employee a calculator to disassemble for cleaning and left for a short walk downtown. Barnack found the machine badly in need of an overhaul. Though he had never worked on such a mechanism, he fully disassembled the immense number of gears, levers and springs, cleaned and reduplicated them and reassembled the machine. The owner, upon his return, found the calculator operating as if it had just been manufactured. All was in perfect order. Barnack received an immediate raise.

In 1902 Barnack traveled to Jena, a town in southeastern Germany near Austerlitz, where Napoleon had decisively defeated the Prussians, Austrians and Russians in the Dreikaiser (Three Emperor) Battle nearly a hundred years before (1805). There he joined the Zeiss Optical Works and it was there where he first developed an interest in photography.

He enjoyed hikes in the countryside, often spending time in the Thuringian Forest. He frequently took along a 5 x 7 plate camera and developed some skills as a photographer. But since he had never been a very strong person, he soon began wondering about an alternative to carrying the heavy camera equipment along all the time. The obvious choice was a smaller negative and as early as 1905 he began experimenting with a camera specially converted to take fifteen or twenty smaller negatives an a single 5 x 7 glass plate. The grain structure of the film materials of the day proved too coarse for such an approach and no useable enlargements resulted. He gave up the idea.

Barnack’s health began to give him problems and after receiving a small inheritance, he decided to travel south to Tyrol, hoping the climate would rid him of asthma and chronic colds. He remained near Bozen for a few months, enjoying the fresh air and the countryside. With renewed vigor he traveled to Vienna, but the leisurely pace in Vienna proved uncomfortable for the conscientious Prussian and he soon returned to Master Lampe in Berlin. Lampe, thrilled at Barnack’s return and contemplating retirement, offered Barnack his business at no cost. Barnack turned the offer down.

After a brief brush with the manufacture of mechanical pencils in 1909, Barnack returned to Jena and the opto-mechanical industry, taking a job at the Jena glass works. There he befriended Emil Mechau, who had started work on a new type of movie projector that used a rotating prism instead of the mechanical cam-claw arrangement to freeze the frames on the screen. Mechau thought his prism system to be superior, since with a compensating prism one frame would blend into the next, not unlike a dissolve projector. His superiors in Jena, however, did not think the project worthwhile to pursue and Mechau was forced to set aside its development. Discouraged, he left Jena. He took his idea to Leitz in Wetzlar and in 1910 he joined the company with a guarantee he could continue to develop his projection system. Barnack, always looking for new challenges, left Jena the same year and joined the IKA camera factory in Dresden. He stayed in Dresden only two months and then returned to Jena.

III: Barnack in Wetzlar

In 1910 it became apparent that Leitz was in need of a master machinist in the microscope research department. Emil Mechau, recently arrived from Jena, thought immediately of his friend Oskar Barnack and suggested him to the Leitz management. Leitz contacted Barnack on short order, but he was hesitant and his reply very much illustrates his character. Though he seemed dissatisfied with his work in Jena and being interested in the Wetzlar position, he answered, “Surely it is not desirable for a company to hire a young employee who still has to familiarize himself with the new tasks and whose health compels him to take a leave of absence of one or two months every year, not to mention the fact that the costs of such cures would be too high for me as a private person.” The answer impressed Ernst Leitz and he decided to hire him in spite of his disclaimers. His assurances prevailed and on January 1, 1911, Barnack arrived in Wetzlar.

Barnacks original letter, declining the job offer from Leitz

He was soon befriended by Leitz who recognized the affinities between Barnack’s personality and his own. Leitz helped Barnack to locate and purchase a small house, located such that it was protected from the harsh east winds, with a glass enclosed porch and Barnack’s beloved garden. Barnack was so susceptible to chills that it had become common practice for him to stay home after a haircut to avoid a cold. Leitz thought the sheltered house and glass enclosed porch might help to keep his employee’s health from deteriorating any more than necessary.

As a master machinist one of Barnack’s first tasks was to design diamond lathes for the lens polishing department. Soon he started work on an all aluminum movie camera, a radical departure from the heavy wooden models of the time. It would become the first all metal motion picture camera ever. This venture into movie cameras resulted from the company’s need for films to test Emil Mechau’s projectors. There was apparently no way to buy or rent films in Germany at the time, nor did Leitz see fit to buy a camera from another company.

Barnack's motion picture camera

The camera was almost totally destroyed in a fire. It wasn't until many years later that Malcolm Taylor was asked to restore the camera. This was described in detail in the LEICA Barnack Berek Blog article "The 'Leica' Before The FirstLeica".

Barnack using his motion picture camera

One of the problems of shooting movie film at the time was determining proper exposure. Photoelectric meters were not yet available and the camera operator always ran the risk of losing the whole 200 foot roll to improper lens settings. Barnack decided to build a small exposure testing device that would use short sections of movie stock. With it he would expose film by the common method of the time - take a good guess – and expose his movie identically. Afterwards, the test exposures were processed and any exposure problems were compensated for by evaluating the test and adjusting the development of the movie film accordingly.

Barnack’s “lightmeter” was equipped with a Zeiss Kino Tessar lens and had a fixed exposure time of 1/40 second, the common motion picture shutter speed. The quality of the results surprised him; in the motion picture film he had finally found a fine enough grain structure to yield good enlargements and he recalled his old idea of making a small negative camera. He decided to give the problem a good try and, in 1913, he began to work on his first real still camera.

Max Berek

It is important to note that the Barnack prototype 35 mm camera was not the same as the exposure testing camera built quite some time prior as is commonly assumed. The exposure testing camera had a fixed 1/40 sec. exposure time and used the common half frame format of 18 x 24 mm of the time. However, it gave the impetus for Barnack to build the Ur Leica, which was to become the “grandfather” of the famous line of Leica rangefinder cameras.

The Leica Prototype, the Ur-Leica

Thus the first Leica camera came into existence. Many improvements were to come later, but most of the features of the production cameras were already present in that unnamed experimental camera. It wasn’t until much later that it was called the Ur Leica. The camera did not yet have a self capping focal plane shutter. To avoid exposure during winding, a small disc, directly attached to the lens, had to be swung into place to make the camera light tight. But unlike any camera before, this was an entirely new design, one that for the first time combined film transport and shutter cocking mechanisms and avoided the possibility of accidental double exposure. Since the camera utilized the relatively inexpensive motion picture film, twelve pictures now could be made for the price of a single 5 x 7 plate and 40 exposures could be made in a single loading. The camera laid the foundation for an entirely new kind of photography and influenced the 35 mm camera design for years to come. Only in recent years has the basic focal plane shutter design, as used in principle in the Ur Leica, been replaced; it is still used in various forms by most camera makers.

Initially, film had to be loaded into the camera in the dark, something that Barnack soon recognized as a problem. To overcome this problem, he designed a reloadable cassette that could be inserted into the camera. To make room for the cassette it was necessary to shorten the roll of film from the initial 40 exposures to 36. This maximum of 36 exposures per roll has never been changed and the daylight loading film cassette has become universal. Even the comparatively insignificant accessory shoe, added by Barnack to the Ur Leica to accommodate a viewfinder, has kept its dimensions through all the years since it was built onto the Ur Leica. Perfection, as we all know, cannot be improved upon.

The following is Oskar Barnack’s own description (c. 1931) of the cameras development:

"I have often been asked, “How did the Leica really come to be?” Whether it was particularly difficult, whether it took a long time, why I arrived at the particular format of 24 x 36 mm, further, what actually happens when something is invented, and many other questions. The development of the Leica system caused me such a chronic shortage of time that I was happy to take care of at least the immediate problems and tasks as best I could.

For the time being, it did not occur to me to entertain historical reflections. Perhaps that might happen when more time has passed. But these considerations did not take Curt Emmermann into account; he proved to me quite clearly that it was my duty to say something in the new “Leica:” magazine (published by Emmermann), even if it was only in the form of an apology. This is indeed correct: I really have no apologies for the Leica. When I think of the many bothers and vexations experienced by otherwise accomplished photo fans with this peculiar camera and how allsorts of newfangled gadgets made life difficult for my dear contemporaries, such as the perforated motion picture film, which always tore right away (if you loaded it incorrectly), a camera that nobody could understand, then those confounded cassettes designed especially to irritate my fellow men, when I think of all that, I feel like a real mischief maker.

Whereas up to now everything had been nicely solved and arranged with those solid plates and those wonderful roll films. All that worked very smoothly. One should have left well enough alone. A friendly acquaintance, who had some bad results through no fault of his own, even wanted to throw the Leica at my head.

My only consolidation is that the unfortunate one, when he happened to have some bad luck, was not automatically in danger of his life, as could easily be the case in an automobile or an airplane, when the steering mechanism goes on strike. I also lived in the hope that perhaps these mistakes might be followed by know how, which turned out to be the case quite often. Fourteen days later the bomb thrower mentioned above was quite pleased, as he informed me in a letter that he really did not mean it so seriously.

The Leica happens to be a rather sensitive creature. A French acquaintance, who prized his Leica very much, described it as ‘capricieuse comme une jolie femme.’ With superficial or even incorrect handling it promptly exerts passive resistance and if you try to force it, you might as well pack up. However, this is a minority because the majority does not consider the instruction booklet entirely superfluous. This conclusion is based on eager testimonials, unsolicited and often the result of enthusiasm.

There were cases where 100,000 exposures were made in the very same Leica in one year, without any trouble whatever! A Leica owner like that is a master of his craft, and the instrument performs smoothly in his hands. Here imitation is recommended.

How did I happen to design the Leica? To answer this question, I really have to go back 2 ½ decades. It was around 1905. At that time I assiduously made photographs with my (5 x 7) plate ‘crate’ with 6 double plate holders and a leather container that resembled a sample case. That was quite a lot of baggage to carry up the slopes of the mountains. As I was already bothered somewhat by asthma, the thought must have occurred to me: Isn’t there an easier way? In any case, I still remember very clearly how I experimented with (5 x 7) plates, trying to divide them into small individual pictures by using a lens with a short focal length in a special fixture , resulting in rows of 15 to 20 pictures. But the attempt was a complete failure. Because of the coarse grain of the plates, the enlargements were not exactly appealing. For a while, I let the entire matter rest, but the realization ‘Small negative, large picture’ for a still camera had been born.

One of Barnack's pictures of the Wetzlar Cathedral

In the meantime, a change took place in my activities, as I joined the Ernst Leitz Optical Works in Wetzlar. Here my responsibilities included, among other things, motion picture technology. I designed my first motion picture camera in 1912 and pretty soon I was headed in the right direction because of the fine grain of motion picture film. A postcard size enlargement from a motion picture frame was quite acceptable.

But meanwhile I had become more demanding. The postcard and even more so the size might be nice souvenir pictures, but the actual , real picture emerges only at 5 x 7 or better yet at 8 x 10. Even these sizes appear quite small once one has seen pictures 20 inches wide. It is really true that, the larger the picture, the more plastic and realistic its effect.

For that purpose the motion picture frame was too small. Since regular film unfortunately was not permitted to become wider because of the wonderful invention of standardization, I had to employ as much feasible length in order to make optimum use of it. Right off, I tried to double the frame width and what do you know, it worked out very well; that is, 24 mm wide and 36 mm long. That is how the Leica format came to be. In other words, it was not the product of prolonged pondering, as was the case later with other camera parts that frequently seem quite insignificant. To this day, I still consider the proportion of 2 by 3 as the most attractive one.

Now the actual designing of the Leica began. I gave a free reign to my yen for the unusual and the novel. I was not restricted by any particular assignment or direction, as would be the case in a modern design department; rather it was a private hobby. Because I was not inhibited by customary guidelines and because I used hardly anything that was heretofore considered essential for a good photographic camera, the result was this novel type of camera. Already then it was basically as it is still seen today. The difference was that the first model did not have a focal plane shutter with variable slit width, it had a fixed slit 4 cm wide and several spring tensions and it did not yet have daylight loading cassettes. But it already had all the other features. Particularly the obligatory coupling of film and shutter advance.

Wetzlar "Eisenmarkt"

Probably the best know photograph by Oskar Barnack

I used that model for many years and I still have many pictures from those days. However, further refinement of the camera was temporarily halted by the outbreak of World War I. More important things had to be worked on. But extremely valuable experience was gained with the many pictures taken during the war years, so that, when the question of actual manufacture was later brought up, I was able to come up with a production model in a relatively short time.

One of Barnack's pictures made during the mobilization for WWI

Next, the following things had to be designed: a rangefinder for close-up pictures, an indispensable requirement for a camera without ground glass; then the self capping focal plane shutter with adjustable slit width that was absolutely reliable and finally daylight loading by means of cassettes. I also built the viewfinder at that time. After these things had been satisfactorily solved, as I believe they were, only one major item remained to be settled and that was a suitable lens. This naturally would have to be of superior quality, because at least a tenfold linear enlargement was required.

This is where the work of Professor Dr. M. A. Berek comes in. He succeeded in designing a 50 mm f/3.5 anastigmat lens which was at least equal to the very best lenses of its type. This step had a very significant effect in getting the whole concept of a small camera accepted. Very slowly at first, then gradually faster, but with remarkable even acceleration from year to year. Now 60,000 Leica cameras have been built. That’s what is called healthy evolution.

Today, six years later, one might well say that the existence of a good miniature camera has been definitely justified. Small cameras that once existed about 16 to 18 years ago, like the “Minigraph,” undoubtedly did not survive because their negative size (18 x 24 mm) was too small and their external dimensions much too large. A miniature camera just had to be small and to make 500 exposures on a single film, as in the “Minigraph,” is not everyone’s cup of tea. Thirty-six exposures with the Leica are already plenty, and on the other hand, this is occasionally desirable.

The future of the miniature camera is substantiated by the new models of the most varied types that are now constantly appearing on the photo market. I do not consider them as competition, quite the opposite, they all support the new concept of “Small Negative, Large Picture.” Those who want to draw a final conclusion from the wealth of their long experience with all sorts of camera types will probably change over to the Leica.

That is quite understandable. It is simply the most versatile and the most universally applicable camera. All the accessories and objects that have been added in the course of time fit the Leica perfectly and they form the complete range of instruments that made the now so-called Leica system a reality. Now the door is open to master any photographic task by means of appropriate accessories from photographs of the most distant subjects, as in astronomy, to close-up pictures with supplementary lenses, proceeding further to even shorter subject distances to a scale of 1 to 1, that is, actual size, thus branching the gap to photomicrography.

That is the Leica and what it can do."

(From “Viewfinder,” Vol. II, No. 4: used by permission)

Barnack himself demonstrated an eye for the picturesque, but with the Leica in hand he also showed some skill as a photoreporter. His pictures of the mobilization for World War I represent some of the first spontaneous photo reportage in history. He also photographed during the Wetzlar flood in 1920.

A Barnack photograph of the 1920 Wetzlar flood

The outbreak of World War I ended development of “Barnack’s camera,” as it was called. Barnack stayed in Wetzlar during the war; the German forces refused him because his health was so poor. Very little is known about the plant’s activities during the war years, but it is safe to assume that it was occupied with military contracts.

Though he was unable to continue work on the camera, Barnack photographed with the prototype throughout the war years. When food began to run short he used photographs for barter, photographing farmers and farm buildings in return for eggs and butter.

By the end of the war Barnack was very much in need of a vacation. Ernst Leitz, aware that his friend’s health was failing, invited him along on a trip to the Black Forest. The camera accompanied them, of course. The trip provided a photographic opportunity that has left us a large stock of negatives from that earliest Leica, including a number of pictures of Leitz and of Barnack himself.

Ernst Leitz I (left) and Barnack vacationing in the Black Forest

In the past it has always been assumed that Oskar Barnack made two prototypes, the first of which he supposedly gave to Ernst Leitz II. The subject appeared to have been well researched, including by Gianni Rogliatti, who gave the following account:

This second prototype, identical to the Ur Leica and built presumably at the same time, was the one used by Barnack and remained in the hands of his family when he died. For some unknown reason it was given into the custody of the Deutsches Museum in Munich during World War II. After the war the camera was returned to the son of Oscar Barnack who was living in Munich and operating a grocery store. Barnack’s son later sold the camera and it was resold at an auction. All of this happened several years ago and Barnack’s son subsequently died causing every trace of the camera to be lost.

We do know the account of the events that led to the development of the initial prototype of the Leica, the Ur-Leica. I stand by my assertion that this camera was not the exposure testing device that Barnack made (see:HOW THE LEICA CAME TO BE)

It is with the many accounts of what happened after the development of the Ur-Leica that a lot of misinformation has been brought forth.

Recent extensive research by me has shown that, in spite of all the published information about a second Ur-Leica, there is and always has been only one example

The Leica Prototype or Ur-Leica

It is correct that Konrad Barnack did have a Leica camera that was at the Deutsches Museum for a while, and it is correct that this camera was later sold by him to a collector, but this camera was one of the preproduction, Null Serie (0-series) models made by Leitz prior to the decision to manufacture and market the Leica. This camera was the 0-series camera #105.

Rolf Fricke, one of the foremost experts of the Leica and co-founder of LHSA, the Leica Historical Society of America, now called the International Leica Society, wrote the following:

The camera that was at the Deutsches Museum was not an Ur-Leica!!! It was 0-Series (or Null-Serie) camera No.105, which Konrad Barnack requested back from that museum and subsequently sold to Jim Forsyth of Florida. Many years later, Prof. Al Clarke of Columbus, OH and I bought out that collector, and Al kept No.105, which he later sold to another prominent collector, and Al also kept the large format camera that Oskar Barnack had used during his hikes in the woods, and which he found cumbersome and which motivated him to work on a smaller, handier camera, which led to the Ur-Leica. There is no solid proof whatsoever that there ever was a second Ur-Leica. References to a second Ur-Leica are always couched in the words "alleged", or "said to be", and this eventually creeps into the stories of superficial historians! The camera that Ernst Leitz took along on his visit to New York was the original and only Ur-Leica!

Over the years Rolf has had a rather personal connection to Leica, much beyond anyone outside of the company. He explains that he bought his first Leica, a used model IIIc on February 21, 1949. In Rio De Janeiro, where he grew up.

I still have that camera and the instruction booklet in Portuguese, the camera is still functional!

Next I very naively went to the local Leitz representative, where a kind elderly gentleman (Paul Louis Toinndorf) explained to me that the distributor does not handle retail matters, which are the responsibility of the dealers, but he invited me in anyway and patiently demonstrated to me what one can do with a Leica, like using a wide-angle lens, a long focus lens, a close-up attachment, etc, none of which I could even remotely afford.

He even very graciously offered to lend me such accessories, all of which endeared the man and his firm to me. Much, much later I learned that he had completed his apprenticeship at Leitz in the Hausertorwerk building, the very building where Oskar Barnack had his office, and he had met that legendary man in person! That warm treatment endeared the camera to me and created a loyalty that led to further acquaintances, all the way to the Leitz brothers and sister themselves, and even repeated stays at the Leitz villa Haus Friedwart.

I recently wrote about the possibility that I came across a picture of what might be the second Ur-Leica. It is a picture of a camera that obviously is of the same design as the known Ur-Leica, but it is outwardly different. I obtained this picture from the Deutsches Museum in Munich. I contacted the museum to shed some more light on this issue. I corresponded with Frau Dr. Cornelia Kemp, curator for photo and film at the museum. She wrote about the camera that used to be owned by Konrad Barnack:

Picture of the Ur-Leica from the Deutsches Museum in Munich

Bei der Leica handelt es sich nicht um die Ur-Leica, sondern um die Nr. 105 aus der Nullserie, die ab 1923 hergestellt wurde. Sie gehörte aber nie dem Museum, sondern war ihm von Oskar Barnacks Sohn Conrad von 1939-45 leihweise zur Verfügung gestellt.

(The Leica is not the Ur-Leica, but the No. 105 from the pilot series (0-series) that was produced from 1923. It never belonged to the museum, it was given on loan by Oskar Barnack's son Conrad from 1939-45)

Leica 0-Series Camera with optical viewfinder

Leica 0-Series Camera with folding viewfinder

Dr. Kemp went on to explain the picture the museum had sent to me:

Am 30. 9. 1940 bat der Museumskonservator Theodor Konzelmann Conrad Barnack (son of Oscar Barnack) um Bildmaterial für einen Vortrag. Unter dem übersandten und am 30. 10. 1940 zurückerstatteten Bildmaterial befand sich auch ein Leica Dia welches die Ur-Leica darstellt. Ganz offensichtlich versäumte das Museum nicht , von dem Dia eine Kopie zu ziehen.

(On 9. 30. 1940 Theodor Konzelmann, the curator of the museum, asked Conrad Barnack (son of Oskar Barnack)for some photographic material for a lecture. Among the material sent on 10. 30. 1940 was also a Leica slide of the Ur-Leica. Obviously the museum did not miss out on making a copy of the slide)

This, however, does not explain the differences between the camera on the picture from the Deutsches Museum and the known Ur-Leica that is in possession of Leica Camera AG. Considering that the picture was taken in 1940 or even earlier, it stands to reason that the differences, which are mostly cosmetic, occurred during the time after the picture was taken, especially if one considers that until relatively recently, the camera was handled quite often in a rather cavalier manner.

Rolf Fricke made the following comment:

The one and only Ur-Leica (by definition, it would not be an 'Ur-Leica' if there was more than one!) traveled around for quite a bit after the Museum picture was taken in 1940. For example, the former Leitz CEO Alfred Loew brought it to Rochester, NY in conjunction with a presentation he gave at a Photo History Symposium at George Eastman House way back in the 1970s, for which I organized the program. He left the camera with me for a week while he went to Washington, DC on business and retrieved it on his way back. Nowadays that camera is highly insured and it is treated with significantly greater caution and security.

I can certainly confirm the relatively careless treatment of the camera from personal experience because I had the opportunity to handle the camera on two occasions during annual meetings of the Leica Historical Society. Once it had been brought by Rolf Fricke and another time by Dr. Wangorsch, then the curator of the Leica Museum in Wetzlar.

We do know of the existence of another prototype of the Leica, the so-called third prototype. It is a camera visibly different from the Ur Leica and it is always shown without a lens. However, there is what should be considered a third prototype which is relatively unknown.

So called Prototype 3

This camera is thoroughly described in the Book “Barnacks Erste Leica” (Barnack’s First Leica), written by Dr. Günter Kisselbach. I did get permission from Dr. Kisselbach to use some of the pictures from the book. Since I have not yet been able to obtain this book, I am using a description by Rolf Fricke:

There is a large, very well-illustrated book by the very personable Dr. Günter Kisselbach, an ear-nose-and-throat doctor in Wetzlar, who is the younger son of Theo Kisselbach, the erstwhile director of the original "Leica Schule". Guenther's older brother Wolfgang Kisselbach is the overall manager of the construction of the brand new purpose-built factory buildings and museum in Leitz Park in Wetzlar.

The book is entitled "BARNACKS ERSTE LEICA" (= Barnack's first Leica"), and it features a camera in great detail that is very similar to the 0-series camera with the same optical finder, except that it is all brass with brown leather covering and has a different flat dial between the viewfinder and the rewind knob for setting the slit width (in mm) of the focal plane shutter. Evidently Kisselbach the father kept that camera when he retired and Kisselbach the younger inherited it, and he thoroughly studied it and had it disassembled and adapted for picture taking by expert repairman Ottmar Michaeli (who was one of my speakers at one of the LHSA Annual Meetings!), all of which is beautifully illustrated in the aforementioned book.

By "First Leica", Günter Kisselbach means Barnack's first practical camera (still not named 'Leica'!) after the Ur-Leica. On page 187 of that outstanding book there is a photo of "Prototyp Nr.3" in what is left of the Leica museum, which was plundered for sales when the company was about to go bankrupt. That camera has no lens mount, a folding, recessed open frame viewfinder frame on top and an exposure counter on the front of the camera. There is no rewind knob, and the accessory shoe is located where that knob would be.

Barnacks Handmuster (Sample)

Top of 0-Series Leica for comparison

For more information go to:

www.barnacksersteleica.de

www.barnacksfirstleica.com

Since this camera is so very close to the 0-series cameras, one must assume that the so-called prototype Nr. 3 was made prior to it and I feel it is not wrong to refer to it as the second (not third) prototype. However, since no date for this camera has ever been established, this is simply conjecture on my part. What I can say with certainty at this point is that only one Ur-Leica was made by Oskar Barnack and that two other prototypes exist from the time prior to the 0-series cameras.

In 1914 Ernst Leitz II took the Ur-Leica to the United States. Leitz photographed during the trip on the ship Das Vaterland (the Fatherland) and in the streets of Manhattan; but he also took advantage of the trip to file patents on the new camera and the first US patent was granted in that year.

Manhattan 1914, Photograph by Ernst Leitz II

In 1914, when Count von Zeppelin landed one of his dirigibles in nearby Giessen, Barnack immediately set out to see it and after some talk convinced the Count to take him up on one of the voyages. In so doing he made the first ever aerial photo with a 35 mm camera.

The year 1913 saw one other major breakthrough at the Leitz plant. During that year the company developed the first binocular microscopic eyepiece, a feature so common on the modern microscope that little thought is given to it anymore.

After the war, Barnack made a third prototype, incorporating a number of improvements and changes. The shutter was still not the self capping type, yet Barnack had left off the small lens covering disk, thinking it sufficient to press the lens against the chest during film winding to avoid accidental exposure.

Ernst Leitz II took over the company in 1920 following the death of his father. At this time Emil Mechau had refined his projector and the company began production of the Model 3 Cine Projector at a new plant in Rastatt.

Barnack further refined his camera, at last incorporating the self capping shutter and in 1923 the company decided to try a pilot run of 30 or 31` cameras (the exact number has never been conclusively determined), the so called Nullserie preproduction model, equipped with Max Berek’s 50 mm f/3.5 lens.

Ernst Leitz II

The cameras were distributed to professional photographers for evaluation and drew a mixed response. Most were skeptical of the new miniature format, but many acknowledged that it could produce astonishingly good enlargements and that it had great potential.

Leica Nullserie Preproduction model

The advances of the early years occurred during Germany’s postwar depression. Unemployment was widespread. Money had virtually no value; a loaf of bread costing a million marks or more was not unusual. Many cities printed their own money. When paper ran out they printed it on leather and even wood. Use of the barter system reached an all time high.

Lower sales threatened Leitz with layoffs. Ernst Leitz II despised the possibility of such a thing and in his father’s tradition believed he owed employment to his workers, even if it meant a loss for the company. Looking for new, marketable products, he suggested Barnack’s camera to his board of directors. They opposed it; the risks were too high, it was too drastic a departure from the usual trade of a microscope manufacturer, the times were too harsh. But it was to overcome the harshness of the depression that Leitz finally proclaimed, “Barnacks Kamera wird gebaut (Barnack’s camera will be built).”

At that time, in 1924, Ernst Leitz III had passed his high school examination, the Abitur, and before entering university had come to the Leitz company as an apprentice instrument mechanic and toolmaker. The day of his father’s decision he called the longest day of his life; it was a fateful day for the Leitz company and for photography in general.

Production started late in 1924 and by the time the camera was introduced to the public at the Leipzig Spring fair in 1925, at least 800 cameras had been completed. The Leica caused quite a sensation. Many professional rejected it, skeptical of its small size and subsequent performance capabilities. The general public, on the other hand, was very much in favor of it; finally there was a camera small enough to be taken anywhere.

Leica I or Model A

Special versions of the Leica I or Model A with Rim set and dial set Compur shutter

The Leica, in fact, was soon taken on the Zeppelin, on expeditions to the North pole and to Africa. It filled the need for a camera that was small and that could be used with ease under almost any lighting conditions, and it began to gain acceptance from professional photographers.

Still looking to improve the camera, Barnack’s thoughts turned to a rangefinder. He called some of his associates into his office and told them about the idea, then put a ruler across the top of a Model A Leica from the rewind knob to the winding knob. He told them neither the size nor the pleasing appearance of the camera could be changed and that the rangefinder had to fit in the space below the ruler. His words were:

“Gentlemen, the rangefinder will have to fit within the dimensions of the present size of the camera, it will have to be of such a design that it will function with all the lenses and it must be possible to incorporate it into cameras that were built in the past.”

No small order, but the rangefinder materialized and the Leica II and Barnack’s farsightedness prevailed. The new camera was called Autofocal Camera. The year was 1932.

Two photographs of Barnack at his workbench in the Leitz factory

Improvements had been occurring all along. The first interchangeable lenses had appeard in 1930. Lens production had been enhanced after 1927 when Ernst Leitz III, returning from university studies under Max Planck, began to develop a method of machining lenses with the aid of diamond tools.

Leica II, first model with rangefinder

Leica Reporter with detachable electric motor

In 1932 Leitz introduced the Leica Reporter which allowed the photographer to make 250 24x36 negatives before changing film. Even an electric motor was designed for this model. Barnack’s improvements were continuous and comprehensive. He was always willing to listen to new ideas. He would never make any direct comments on any of these, but later one could often notice comments about the items like “totally overexposed,” or “way underexposed” in the margins of his notes. Even though not all the improvements on the Leica were not entirely his own ideas, until his death he made the decisions on what was to be changed and what not. Recent luxury features, like auto winders, 250 exposure backs, remote releases and motor drives, just about all were at one time or another tried by Barnack. And while one of today’s camera manufacturers once claimed that every SLR has a little bit of their SLR in it, one can safely say that in some way, every 35mm camera of recent times had a bit of Oskar Barnack’s genius in it. As a matter of fact, even the current digital Leica M must be considered to be a direct descendant of Barnack’s ingenious prototype Ur-Leica.

Until his very last days Barnack’s time was totally consumed by the Leica. Even when his poor health would confine him to bed, he mostly occupied himself with the camera and when he returned to work he would always bring along sketches of new ideas.

Design sketch signed by Barnack

This design sketch, signed by Barnack, was scanned from the original.

It has the same size of the original and an accurate

rendering of the yellowed color it has now.

Barnack designed shutter tensioning device, a miniature torque wrench

His private life was very quiet, and by himself he was a rather unassuming person. He was also a very accomplished chess player. His character was not at all influenced by the great success of his camera.

In summer of 1935 he became seriously ill. The diagnosis confirmed pernicious anemia. Recovery was slow, but on January 2, 1936, he was able to celebrate his 25th anniversary with the company. A few days later pneumonia forced him back to bed. His health deteriorated rapidly and on the morning of January 16, 1936 Oskar Barnack died. His legacy, the Leica, remained, and long after Barnack’s death, his invention continued to change photography as nothing else before or after has done.

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SEVEN RECOMMENDED RANGEFINDER FOCUSING TECHNIQUES

2026-07-20T11:37:00.066-05:00

By Johnny Martyr

Many photographers struggle with focusing rangefinder cameras. Some photographers, unfortunately, tend to shoot only wider/slower lenses or give up on rangefinders entirely for this reason. But I don’t think photography should always be easy and by learning to use simpler cameras, we can internalize concepts and develop instincts and reflexes that apply to any type of camera.

I think that peoples’ trouble with rangefinders begins with SLRs. This may sound funny but what I mean to say is that, when we pick up our first rangefinder, we often try to use it like an SLR. I did that for years myself, and remember the frustration.

But I found that it takes more of a photographer to use less of a camera. And have no doubt about it, a rangefinder does less for you than an SLR and needs to be approached this way.

Leica M6 TTL 0.85 | Leitz 5cm 1.5 Summarit | Kodak Tri-X 400 | Kodak HC110b

By allowing us to focus through the taking lens itself, SLR’s alleviate the need to adopt habits that rangefinders encourage and, I think, make us stronger photographers as a whole.

With an SLR, we tend to live inside the viewfinder.

By living inside the viewfinder, I mean that we tend to treat SLR finders like magic boxes that we look inside of to see the future; our images almost exactly as they will eventually appear on film.

When we look into a rangefinder we are immediately struck with how rudimentary the viewfinder is, and the fact that we are most definitely, not peering into a magic box. With a rangefinder, I think the photographer sheds any illusion that they are looking into something more than some of panes of glass. And thus one must accept more agency for the images that one wants to create.

I imagine that many photographers carry their live-inside-the-viewfinder method of focusing into their use of rangefinders. And this may be fine with conservative use. But why spend the money and time on any camera and not push the system to its limits as well as become a more effective shooter?

Below are seven techniques that I find are important to embrace in order to focus rangefinder cameras more quickly and more accurately. You’ll notice that each technique involves and relies on the others to work and make sense. I may have even overlapped some of them too much in trying to describe what I do. But like everything with photography, all the elements affect one another. None are fully isolated. And therefore, you will find yourself employing different techniques and combinations of techniques for different subjects and scenes.

Before we get going, I also want to point out that while analog Leica cameras and lenses are my personal rangefinder preference, I also use Voigtlander and some Japanese fixed lens rangefinders too. Regardless of your brand preference or model, a rangefinder is a rangefinder and this advice should apply.

Technique One: Service Your Rangefinder

It’s not a focusing technique per se, but I can’t say it enough. Service your rangefinder.

Even a cheap, fixed lens RF like an Olympus XA will benefit from professional service. Will service cost more than the camera? Maybe. But so will the cost of film and processing over a short period of time. Why not make those shots count? And certainly if you purchase a costly interchangeable lens rangefinder camera and lenses, you owe it to yourself for them to be working properly!

Nikon FM2n | Nikkor 55mm 2.8 Micro AIS | Kodak TMAX 100 | Kodak HC110b |

Send out both the body and your fastest/longest lenses to be calibrated for one another, together. Specific bodies need to be set up with specific lenses in order to maximize focusing accuracy.

This is not SLR World where we just throw any old lens on any old camera then go shoot a portrait session at full aperture. The faster and longer a rangefinder lens is, the more carefully it must be calibrated for your camera and your camera for it. (Also, be sure that the rangefinder you’re using has a long enough effective baselength to accurately focus the lens you’ve mounted to it!) Rangefinder windows can also become dim with age and require either interior cleaning or full out replacement of the beamsplitter. Be certain that your rangefinder is serviced and in top mechanical and optical condition before demanding perfect focus from it.

Failing to do this first will make all other efforts moot.

Technique Two: Pre-set Your Focus

Most of us probably learn to manually focus cameras by looking into the viewfinder and jockeying the focus ring back and forth until the image looks as it should. This is a bad habit encouraged by the SLR and it’s the first step we take before falling into helpless dependency on our viewfinder. Remember, don’t live inside your viewfinder – look at your surroundings! Be aware of what you’re shooting.

There are a couple ways to pre-set your focus, including hyper focal distance and simply guessing distance.

1930 Leica III | Leitz 5cm f3.5 Nickel Elmar | Kodak Tri-X 400 | Kodak HC110b

Street photographers know to use hyperfocal distance to pre-set their focus and avoid looking into their viewfinders too often or unnecessarily. This is good practice for all of us, no matter what type of camera we’re using or genre we’re shooting.

Hyper focal distance can be set using the distance and depth of field scales on your lens. The technique works works best with wider lenses and apertures like f8 or smaller. Set the infinity mark of your distance scale on the f8 that appears right of center on your depth of field scale. Consult the number of feet indicated by the same aperture (f8 in this example) left of center. In the case of my Voigtlander 40mm 1.4 Nokton, using these settings puts everything from seven feet to infinity, in focus. Find a subject that’s more than seven feet away and they will now be in focus. Your viewfinder is only for composition now.

Practice hyperfocal distance but also, in tandem, practice guessing distance

Infinity is easy. If you’re shooting landscapes or any subject on the horizon, there’s no need to use your camera to focus at all, rotate the lens to infinity. There. You’re in focus.

1930 Leica III | Leitz 9cm f4 Elmar | Kodak Tri-X 400 | Kodak HC110b

When I took fireworks photos with my 1930 Leica, for example, this is all that I did. I set the lens to infinity and then forgot about focus for the remainder of my shoot.

Focusing on infinity and using hyperfocal distance alleviates the need to depend on your rangefinder for focus at all. But when you’re focusing a longer/faster lens at a wider aperture and closer distances, out of necessity or just because you want to blur the background, another technique must be employed.

Before even lifting your camera to your eye, guess the focus. Just take a guess and set it on your lens. The idea is to get the focus distance in the ballpark and to use the rangefinder simply to verify and refine your guess, not to do all of the work. At dimly light wedding receptions, I set my focus for five or six feet and walk towards and away from people to bring them within distance. Sometimes your subject will move into the frame and literally focus themselves!

Leica M6 TTL 0.85 | Leitz 5cm 1.5 Summarit | Ilford Delta 3200 @ 6400 | Kodak HC110b

I started out by learning what my minimum distance of three feet looked like, my middle distances of about ten feet and infinity. Three feet is a little further than the length of my arm and the closest that most rangefinder lenses can focus. I taught my daughter to extend her arm to subjects with her Instax viewfinder cameras. If she can touch the subject with the tips of her fingers, she’s too close to it so she needs to take a couple steps backwards. This ensures that she is not too close to the subject for it to be in focus. Six feet is good to recognize for social distancing! Find some distances that you like to frame subjects at, then remember what those distances look like. Quiz yourself by guessing then focusing with your camera and checking the distance. Do this often, in different spaces and you’ll pick it up quickly!

If you get into a grove with pre-focusing, you’ll probably find that you don’t need to jockey the focus ring back and forth so much, if at all. If you pre-focus AND use the rangefinder to focus, it’s like a two factor authentication for focus; more accurate than using the rangefinder alone.

Technique Three: Know Your Depth of Field

Everyone loves lenses. We probably own many more lenses than we really need. And that’s fun. But the problem is that it can be difficult to learn a particular lenses’ depth of field on an instinctual level if we don’t use a particular lens regularly enough.

Leica M6 TTL 0.85 | Leitz 90mm f2 Summicron E55 Pre-ASPH | Kodak Tri-X 400 | Kodak HC110b

A large part of the disconnect that one may feel when looking through a rangefinder is that they unapologetically offer no visual sense of depth of field. Alarming to some, liberating to others, no matter how you see it, this is another reason that you have to be more of a photographer to use less of a camera.

Zone focusing is a technique that is closely related to hyperfocal distance and guessing. Viewfinder-type cameras (such as Fuji Instax) sometimes employ zone focus marks such as a mountain symbol for infinity (a far away subject), two people symbol for middle distance (a subject 7-10 feet away) and a single person for close distance (a subject 3-5 feet way). I didn’t discuss zone focusing with pre-setting focus because I recommend using it at an instinctual level that is rooted in ones understanding of depth of field.

Take some time to study the depth of field scale marked on your rangefinder lens. Gain an understanding of the relationship between focus distance and aperture of a particular lens. Most everyone knows that the smaller your aperture, the more depth of field you have. But notice that the further away your subject, the more depth of field also. For whatever reason, distance to subject is often forgotten about as an influencing factor on depth of field. Translate this knowledge into habits. You’re more likely to miss focus on closer subjects than further ones, so spend more time focusing on the closer subjects.

1930 Leica III | Leitz 5cm f2 Nickel Summar | Kodak Tri-X 400 | Kodak HC110b

If a subject is ten feet away and you’re stopped down, you might be able to snag the shot before or without even using the rangefinder to focus at all. If you’re in a situation where action is unfolding quickly, stand further away and stop down. Regardless of if you use your rangefinder or not in a scene like this, you are increasing your chances for good focus.

However, if your subject is 3 feet away and you’re wide open, guess and pre-set your focus then use your rangefinder to hone it in. Don’t try to guess or zone focus this scene 100%, use guessing/zone merely as guides. Understanding the depth of field scale of your lens is not zone focusing alone, it’s understanding when to and NOT to zone focus. So this is what I mean about learning particular lenses and being instinctual.

Very few modern SLR lenses even feature these scales anymore. But as a rangefinder photographer, you’re concerned with doing things yourself and having a full sense of your surroundings so as to take the best photos that you can as quickly and as effectively as possible.

Leitz 5cm f2 Summitar as photographed with Olympus OM-1n | Zuiko 55mm 3.5 Macro | Kodak TMAX P3200 @ 1600 | Kodak HC110b

When you internalize a particular lenses’ depth of field scale, you learn not only to control the DoF and lens performance more accurately, but you can use DoF as a focus aid. The smaller your aperture and wider your lens, the more sloppy your distance guessing from Technique Two can be and still work -because you’re relying on depth of field to cover the inaccuracy of your guess.

Leica M6 TTL 0.85 | Leitz 5cm f2 Summitar | Kodak TMAX P3200 @ 6400 | Kodak HC110b

But knowing depth of field is not just for guessing focus. When focusing through the rangefinder window, you must place your subject in the center of the viewfinder where the focus patch is. Next you must re-compose. If your DoF is very shallow or your subject is not perfectly parallel to your lens as you re-compose, your focus may become inaccurate when using a longer lens and/or wider aperture. But if you re-compose and know that you have ample depth of field, you will know that your subject will be in focus, despite the slight move. And if you don’t have enough DoF to cover a potential error, maybe you decide not to recompose or simply take a centered and off centered version of the shot to cover yourself.

So understanding depth of field also helps achieve accurately focused rangefinder photos

Technique Four: Look For Lines

With standard matt screen focusing on SLR’s, you many not have trained your eye to look for lines. Since rangefinders work by splitting the image and aligning it laterally to focus, a good habit is to look for vertical lines on your subject to verify focus.

Leica M6 TTL 0.85 | Voigtlander 40mm 1.4 Nokton | Kodak TMAX P3200 @ 6400 | Kodak HC110b

Eyes, of course, contain concentric circles that, like straight lines, are perfect to focus on when shooting people. This is where an accurately calibrated lens and rangefinder count. In this photo of fellow Leica enthusiast, Ben Eisendrath, I could focus perfectly on his eye at full aperture thanks to the clear line of contrast between his iris and the white of his eye. Notice that depth of field is so shallow and focus falls out from the center so quickly that only Ben’s left eye is in focus. I’ll admit to doing some focus jockeying on this one!

However, in less than perfect lighting conditions you may see that peoples’ eyes are in shadow and difficult to find the lines in. In those instances, the vertical line of the bridge of the nose works nicely to focus on also, or eyeglasses if they wear them, presuming you have enough depth of field to cover the eye beyond the nose or glasses.

Leica M6 TTL 0.85 | Leitz 5cm 1.5 Summarit | Ilford Delta 3200 @ 6400 | Kodak HC110b

I took the image above of local burlesque performer, Lipstick Lamarr. Profile poses like this can be very fast to focus because the subject’s nose contrasted sharply against the shadow that she cast on the wall behind her. Step-by-step; I guessed my distance from Lamarr and set my lens for that distance (I think it was about 3 feet). Next, I put her nose in the center of the viewfinder, in the rangefinder patch since the light was speckled and her eyes were in shadow. I set focus for the bridge of her nose and then recomposed, knowing that at f2.8 at 3 feet (guessing settings based on vague memory and the look of the image) I’d have pretty shallow DoF but enough to cover moving the lens. I recomposed now that focus was done and took the shot.

Leica M6 TTL 0.85 | Leitz 5cm 1.5 Summarit | Kodak TMAX 100 | Kodak HC110b

Speaking of lines, invariably you’re going to get into a situation where the subject is covered in repeating lines such as shadows from window blinds or a fence, or some other pattern. But you don’t have to panic because you’ve already pre-focused. And instead of jockeying back and forth hopelessly, unable to discern one line from the other, you’ll very quickly see the correct alignment of the pattern with a single flick of the focus ring to one side or the other.

Another reason to look for lines in a scene, aside from aiding focus, is that they can be used to help level your photograph using the framelines in your viewfinder. Sure, this can be done with an SLR but for me, personally, I just feel it works more easily with RF framelines.

Like the awareness of space that depth of field and pre-focusing brings, looking for lines is another example of how being aware of your surroundings leads to holistic improvement in ones work, whereas using auto focus can completely deaden the senses.

Technique Five: Wait For Your Subject

SLR and particularly digital, auto-everything photographers tend to equate shooting fast with spraying and praying. But shooting with speed, also means setting up quickly so that you’re ready when the time is right to shoot.

Effective rangefinder focusing is often about anticipation. Anticipate the future position of a subject and simply wait for them to come into focus, or make the moment you want.

Leica M6 TTL 0.85 | Voigtlander 40mm 1.4 Nokton | Kodak Tri-X 400 | Kodak HC110b

Jellyfish are slow-moving, unpredictable creatures. So I found vertical lines (tentacles) to focus on, understood I’d have enough depth of field regardless of how near or far they moved. And then I waited. I watched and waited for the jellies to get into a position that I found balanced and appealing. I stopped thinking about focus, and I just watched my subjects. Then I snapped. I did not keep jockeying my focus in a frenzy as the jellies floated about.

Leica M6 TTL 0.85 | Leitz 5cm 1.5 Summarit | Kodak TMAX P3200 @ 6400 | Kodak HC110b

When shooting live concerts, I will sometimes focus on the stationary mic or mic stand (Look For Lines), expecting the singer to get closer to it again, and then… snap. I did not follow the singer with my camera, focusing and refocusing as she moved up and down the stage.

The jellyfish and the singer came to my point of focus. I controlled the scene, not the subject.

If shooting a woman drinking wine, I might focus on her face when she’s not taking a sip, shoot that and then shoot again when the glass is on her lips without changing focus. When she places the glass on the bar, I could get a close-up of the glass. I’d focus on the glass and shoot it without her hand, wait and then get a shot of her hand on the glass as she lifts it to her mouth again.

Leica M6 TTL 0.85 | Leitz 90mm f2 Summicron E55 Pre-ASPH | Kodak TMAX 100 | Kodak HC110b

This technique can be a way to grab different versions of a scene without refocusing over and over. Awareness of focus brings awareness of a scene and vice versa. This is how you get perfectly timed and composed moments. Not scrambling focus in and out as the scene changes. Not by chasing subjects. But watching movements and behaviors, anticipating moves and working smarter, not harder.

Technique Six: Focus On What You Can Focus On

Turn something difficult into an asset. Get creative. Don’t rule out a scene because you can’t focus on what you initially wanted to focus on. Don’t throw up your hands and buy an auto-focus, mirrorless wonder! Don’t blame the tools! Find something that you can focus on.

1930 Leica III | Leitz 5cm f2 Summar | Kodak TMAX 100 | Kodak HC110b

If your depth of field is too shallow or subject too close for hyperfocal distance, focus on something stationary and/or further away. I’ve gotten into the habit of doing this mostly when photographing kids because they are often just moving too damn fast to follow them! I can’t tell you how many new parents I’ve talked to who’ve given up on taking family snapshots with their 35mm film rangefinders, and even SLR’s, in favor of autofocus digitals, simply because they couldn’t keep up with their kids.

Can’t remember what camera/lens I took this with but it was on Kodak TMAX P3200 @ 6400 with Kodak HC110b

But we are not focus automatons! We are not dumb auto focus motors chasing movement. There’s no need to live in the viewfinder. Find something stationary and make that your subject instead of fighting with your fast-moving subject. Listen to what the scene tells you. Cover the scene as the scene wants to be covered.

And this leads me to the final technique that I will recommend for focusing with a rangefinder camera…

Technique Seven: Accept Inaccurate Focus

We all know the famous Henri Cartier-Bresson quote – “sharpness is a bourgeois concept.” Yet we often cast this lesson from the rangefinder master aside and obsess over which lens to buy or kick ourselves if focus is slightly off in a photo. So, if all else fails, just rock the soft focus!

Nikon FM2n | Nikkor 35mm 1.4 AIS | Ilford Delta 3200 @ 6400 | Kodak HC110b

Why do we obsess over sharp focus?

Many of the world’s most celebrated and effective images are soft or completely out of focus.

What makes out of focus photographs great is that they are more than mere lens advertisements. They capture bare, unabashed emotion and make a clear, definitive statement – without being clear at all! Out of focus photographs can sometimes TRANSCEND FOCUS!

For me personally, I value shooting with all manual cameras because I believe that by doing so, one is not only rendering the scene but also documenting ones reaction to it. Missed focus can sometimes express excitement, chaos or simply cause the viewer to explore the other elements of design within an image.

I took the image above with an SLR, not a rangefinder and included it both to make a comment about how SLR focus isn’t perfect either and also because I think it is a nice demonstration of how and why an out of focus image can still be successful. I always aim to nail focus but when it doesn’t happen, as artists, we have to give up the dogma for a moment and be able to see things as they are.

So please folks, don’t give up on your rangefinders! What they lack, you’ll have to make up for with your own skill, talent and creativity! Are you up for the challenge?

Thanks for reading, happy shooting

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www.tamarkin.com

http://www.tamarkin.com/leicagallery/upcoming-show

To comment or to read comments please scroll past the ads below.

All ads present items of interest to Leica owners.

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EDDYCAM - the first and only ergonomic elk-skin camera strap
www.eddycam.com

Inventive Camera Bags for All of Your Gear

www.tamarkin.com

www.tamarkinauctions.com

Buy vintage Leica cameras from
America's premier Leica specialist
www.tamarkin.com

http://www.tamarkin.com/leicagallery/upcoming-show

To comment or to read comments please scroll past the ads below.

All ads present items of interest to Leica owners.

_______________________________________________________________________

EDDYCAM - the first and only ergonomic elk-skin camera strap
www.eddycam.com

Inventive Camera Bags for All of Your Gear

www.tamarkin.com

www.tamarkinauctions.com

Buy vintage Leica cameras from
America's premier Leica specialist
www.tamarkin.com

http://www.tamarkin.com/leicagallery/upcoming-show

To comment or to read comments please scroll past the ads below.

All ads present items of interest to Leica owners.

_______________________________________________________________________

EDDYCAM - the first and only ergonomic elk-skin camera strap
www.eddycam.com

Inventive Camera Bags for All of Your Gear

www.tamarkin.com

www.tamarkinauctions.com

Buy vintage Leica cameras from
America's premier Leica specialist
www.tamarkin.com

http://www.tamarkin.com/leicagallery/upcoming-show

To comment or to read comments please scroll past the ads below.

All ads present items of interest to Leica owners.

_______________________________________________________________________

EDDYCAM - the first and only ergonomic elk-skin camera strap
www.eddycam.com

Inventive Camera Bags for All of Your Gear

www.tamarkin.com

www.tamarkinauctions.com

Buy vintage Leica cameras from
America's premier Leica specialist
www.tamarkin.com

http://www.tamarkin.com/leicagallery/upcoming-show

To comment or to read comments please scroll past the ads below.

All ads present items of interest to Leica owners.

_______________________________________________________________________

EDDYCAM - the first and only ergonomic elk-skin camera strap
www.eddycam.com

Inventive Camera Bags for All of Your Gear

www.tamarkin.com

www.tamarkinauctions.com

Buy vintage Leica cameras from
America's premier Leica specialist
www.tamarkin.com

http://www.tamarkin.com/leicagallery/upcoming-show

To comment or to read comments please scroll past the ads below.

All ads present items of interest to Leica owners.

_______________________________________________________________________

EDDYCAM - the first and only ergonomic elk-skin camera strap
www.eddycam.com

Inventive Camera Bags for All of Your Gear

www.tamarkin.com

www.tamarkinauctions.com

Buy vintage Leica cameras from
America's premier Leica specialist
www.tamarkin.com

http://www.tamarkin.com/leicagallery/upcoming-show

To comment or to read comments please scroll past the ads below.

All ads present items of interest to Leica owners.

_______________________________________________________________________

EDDYCAM - the first and only ergonomic elk-skin camera strap
www.eddycam.com

Inventive Camera Bags for All of Your Gear

www.tamarkin.com

www.tamarkinauctions.com

Buy vintage Leica cameras from
America's premier Leica specialist
www.tamarkin.com

http://www.tamarkin.com/leicagallery/upcoming-show

To comment or to read comments please scroll past the ads below.

All ads present items of interest to Leica owners.

_______________________________________________________________________

EDDYCAM - the first and only ergonomic elk-skin camera strap
www.eddycam.com

Inventive Camera Bags for All of Your Gear

www.tamarkin.com

www.tamarkinauctions.com

Buy vintage Leica cameras from
America's premier Leica specialist
www.tamarkin.com

http://www.tamarkin.com/leicagallery/upcoming-show

To comment or to read comments please scroll past the ads below.

All ads present items of interest to Leica owners.

_______________________________________________________________________

EDDYCAM - the first and only ergonomic elk-skin camera strap
www.eddycam.com

Inventive Camera Bags for All of Your Gear

www.tamarkin.com

www.tamarkinauctions.com

Buy vintage Leica cameras from
America's premier Leica specialist
www.tamarkin.com

http://www.tamarkin.com/leicagallery/upcoming-show

To comment or to read comments please scroll past the ads below.

All ads present items of interest to Leica owners.

_______________________________________________________________________

EDDYCAM - the first and only ergonomic elk-skin camera strap
www.eddycam.com

Inventive Camera Bags for All of Your Gear

www.tamarkin.com

www.tamarkinauctions.com

Buy vintage Leica cameras from
America's premier Leica specialist
www.tamarkin.com

http://www.tamarkin.com/leicagallery/upcoming-show

To comment or to read comments please scroll past the ads below.

All ads present items of interest to Leica owners.

_______________________________________________________________________

EDDYCAM - the first and only ergonomic elk-skin camera strap
www.eddycam.com

Inventive Camera Bags for All of Your Gear

www.tamarkin.com

www.tamarkinauctions.com

Buy vintage Leica cameras from
America's premier Leica specialist
www.tamarkin.com

http://www.tamarkin.com/leicagallery/upcoming-show

To comment or to read comments please scroll past the ads below.

All ads present items of interest to Leica owners.

_______________________________________________________________________

EDDYCAM - the first and only ergonomic elk-skin camera strap
www.eddycam.com

Inventive Camera Bags for All of Your Gear

www.tamarkin.com

www.tamarkinauctions.com

Buy vintage Leica cameras from
America's premier Leica specialist
www.tamarkin.com

http://www.tamarkin.com/leicagallery/upcoming-show