[Leica] Early 35mm cameras

[lrzeitlin at aol.com (Lawrence Zeitlin)]

This is a bit of a dumb (and newbie) question, but were Leica cameras
 > around during the second world war? Or did they arrive afterwards? For
 > some reason I think of the VW beetle and the Leica camera as arriving
 > around the same time. Am I incorrect?
 > thanks,
 > chris


<<Leica pretty much invented the 135 (35mm) format we use today. The
first Leica
was produced in 1925, prototypes date back to 1911. The concept was the
idea of Oskar
Barnack.>>


=========================

Close, but no cigar.

There were a number of 35mm still cameras using perforated movie film 
prior to the Leica. The first patent for one was issued to Leo, 
Audobard, and Baradat in England in 1908. The first full scale 
production camera was the Homeos, a stereo camera, produced by Jules 
Richard in 1913. It took stereo pairs, 18x24 mm, with two Tessar lenses 
and was similar to a primordial Stereo Realist. It was sold until 1920. 
The first 35mm big seller was the American Tourist Multiple, also 
appearing in 1913. It contained a 50 foot magazine with enough film for 
750 half frame exposures and could be fitted with an f2.8 Steinheil 
lens. The camera cost $175 in 1913. By today's standards that's the 
equal of a $3000 Leica. The camera was advertized as containing enough 
film for a full European tour. Of course WW1 started the year after the 
camera was introduced and that pretty well killed grand tours to Europe.

The first camera to take full frame 24x36mm exposures seems to be the 
Simplex, introduced in the U.S. in 1914. It took either 800 half frame 
or 400 full frame shots on 50 ft. rolls. The Minigraph, by Levy-Roth of 
Berlin, another half frame small camera was sold in Germany in 1915. The 
patent for the Debrie Sept camera, a combination 35mm still and movie 
camera was issued in 1918, but was not marketed until 1922. Finally the 
Furet camera, made and sold in France in 1923 took full frame 24x36mm 
negatives and was the first cheap small 35mm camera to look vaguely like 
today's models.

Although Oskar Barnack designed his prototype camera around 1913, the 
first experimental production run of ur-Leicas (Serial No. 100 to 130) 
did not take place until 1923. Full scale production of the Leica did 
not begin until 1925.  By that time there were at least a dozen other 
35mm cameras available. The success of the Leica was attributed by 
contemporary photographic writers, not only to its small size and to the 
precision of its construction, but to its relatively high price which 
established it as a "prestige" item among both photographers and people 
of fashion.

Larry Z