Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/05/12
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 09:33 PM 5/12/98 EDT, Larry Zeitlin, thoughtful and knowledgeable cuss, wrote: > Quoting from Helmut Gernsheim's "History of Photography", >"Advantages of the Leica were not appreciated immediately - - - It was in fact >a plate camera, the Ermanox, made by the Ernemann Works, Dresden, and put on >the market in 1924, one year before the Leica that for a few years proved a >more useful tool for photographers needing a fast instrument. Indeed the >powerful F1.8 and F2 Ernostar lenses made snapshots possible by available >light This is an excellent, and accurate, portrayal of the state of the photographic art in the 1920's. As Erwin Puts had previously pointed out to me in some detail, the Leica did NOT catch on with professionals until the later 1930's. Its sales were rather small until a marketing blitz convinced the growing German middle class that this small and flexible camera provided an ideal mix of portability and quality. The professionals came later! And those glorious Ermanox lenses were designed by Dr Ludwig Bertele who, of course, was soon to design the very Zeiss Sonnars and Biogons later borrowed by Nikon and Canon but let's not stir up them sleepin' dogs, guys ... Marc msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!