Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/11/19
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 05:47 PM 1998-11-19 -0500, Ernie Nitka, a normally more careful soul, wrote: >We do know that Contax was the camera of Sir Edmund Hilary/ >Norgay expedition of '53. First, this was Contax RF, not the current plastic SLR thingy. Interestingly, all of the cameras used by the official photographers were Prewar, with Prewar uncoated lenses: Time-Life gave the expedition its stock when it reloaded with the Postwar IIa/IIIa Contax family in '52 and early '53. Second, THE camera, of course, was that carried by Sir Edmund to the top. That was a Prewar Kodak AG (ex-Nagel Kamerwerke) Retina, Stuttgart Type 119, with a Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar. The camera was later stolen from Sir Edmund, but its legacy lives on in that one stunning photo of Tenzing at the top. Third, the prior record-holder for the topmost landborne photo ever taken was on 4 June 1924 when Howard Somervell (and why didn't HE become a "Sir"? Shame on you, England!) This was a shot of then-Lt Col Edward Norton proceeding along the Yellow Band towards the Great Couloir at about 27,000 feet. Shot on Kodak 127 film on a Kodak VP with a B&L-licensed, Zeiss-designed "Anastigmat", Zeiss's original name for the Tessar. This is the camera later lost with Mallory & Irvine which we hope to recover next Spring. Stay tuned for developments! Fourth, the initial, and brief, appearance of Leica on the world's ultimate mountaineering challenge came only in the '35 expedition when Michael Spender (the brother of the noted poet, Stephen Spender) carried a IIIa up to the lower slopes, though he spent his time photogrammetricizing instead of climbing. Leica was not to reappear on Everest to my knowledge until the Canadian Expedition of '82. Leica on Everest, indeed! Sniff! Zeiss was there first, of course. Even the "International Climb" of '72, where the standard camera was the Rollei 35, got a Zeiss lens. Need more be said? Ha-RUMPH! Marc msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!