Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/11/23
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Marc James Small wrote: > At 03:52 AM 11/23/97 -0500, Marvin Moss, man of noted worth, wrote: > >When Leitz got into the act > > in 1964 with the 1st Leicaflex, it was so far behind the Nikon and > > > Canon technology that it took over 25 years to catch up. > > This is a commonly accepted canard. The Leicaflex was quite > competitive > for its time (snip) > Nikon got its lead not by technical innovation (snip) Marc, With all due respect, these statements simply are not true. From DAY ONE of its introduction in June of 1959, the Nikon F offered a list of accomplishments which to THIS DAY no Leica SLR has matched! 1) the fastest production motor drive of its day 4 fps 2) interchangeable finders and focusing screens 3) a lens lineup from 21 mm to 1000 mm 4) a finder which showed absolutely 100% of the film plane In addition, by the time the Leicaflex was introduced in 1964, Nikon had added: 1) it's first slr Macro lens (1961) 2) the world's first 35 mm tilt/shift lens (1962) 3) the world's first production 35 mm fisheye lens (1962) 4) the world's first production 35 mm zoom lens (85-250) (1959) 5) Nikon's first medical macro with built in focus assist and strobe (1962) 6) tele lenses with auto diaphragms from 400 to 1200 mm (1964) 7) fast long tele 400/4.5 (1964) 8) fast wide 35/2 (1962) Nikon built its reputation on technical innovation which no other manufacturer could match in the 1960's. More of the Nikon F's history is at my site at http://cameraquest.com/fhistory.htm In contrast, the Leicaflex standard in 1964 had 1) NO motor or winder capability 2) NO capability to interchange finders or screens 3) a five lens line up covering only 21-135, no zooms, longer than 135 was done with a Viso adapter setup WITHOUT auto diaphragm operation 4) less than 100% finder area and no provision to show Depth of Field in the finder 5) no 50/1.4 lens 6) no fast wide angles 7) no fast teles This is not to say that the Leicaflex was not a fine camera, it was, and is. But to say it was competitive to the Nikon F of 1964, is like saying the stripped down Volkswagen bug was competitive to the Rolls Royce because they both had four wheels. Regards, Stephen Gandy