Re: [Leica] Points to ponder....

["Dan Post" <dwpost@email.msn.com>]

Noel, Mark, et al-

So- Barnack, an amateur photography buff, came up with the idea.... makes it
even more interesting! Thanks for the clarification! Amateurs have often
made inroads where organized researchers were afraid to tread! I recall the
many instances where hams in the early part of the century made major
contributions toward the development of radio, tv and RADAR!
Now, if I can just get the laser fusion plasma containment problem solved, I
can run my Leica C-2 Zoom without batteries, indefinitely!!!
Dan ( Cold fusion is just a matter of putting the right elements together!)


- -----Original Message-----
From: Marc James Small <msmall@roanoke.infi.net>
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Date: Monday, April 26, 1999 10:35 AM
Subject: Re: [Leica] Points to ponder....


>At 09:08 AM 4/26/99 -0400, Dan Post wrote:
>> I believe Victor Hasselblad was an
>>ornithologist who wanted a camera suited for photographing birds, Ernst
>>Leitz liked to hike and and take pictures, but got tire of carrying a
large
>>view camera- that's the story I heard, and prevailed on Barnack to adapt a
>>motion picture film exposure tester to be used as a small camera.
>
>Well, not really, on either.
>
>Victor Hasselblad owned the family business, the Swedish Kodak agency.  He
>began producing aerial recon cameras for the Swedish military and was, late
>in the war, prevailed to develop the German HK12.5 camera for use by the
>German military.  The war ended, and he had the basis for what became the
>Hasselblad 1600F.  He was a noted amateur bird-watcher, but I doubt if this
>had much impact on the design of the camera:  Victor was also a cadgey
>businessman and was primarily interested in producing a successful, and
>profitable, camera design.
>
>As to the birth of the Leica, Barnack was the hiker, not Ernst Leitz.
>Barnack also was asthmatic, and the weight of a field camera was more than
>he was willing to lug around.  The story of the "movie film tester", while
>hoary with age, is most improbable:  Barnack himself denied this, in
>writing, though, late in his own life, Theo Kisselbach claimed that Barnack
>had admitted its truth.  It seems far more probable that Barnack, having
>been exposed to the titanic improvements in cine emulsions by his friend,
>Emil Mechau (Barnack was a microscope shop foreman, not a photography dude,
>though he did take a lot of pictures himself!), thought up the idea of
>using these new emulsions to produce a light-weight camera which he could
>take around on his woodland jaunts.
>
>(Another interesting tid-bit is that Barnack left Zeiss because they
>wouldn't put him on the corporate health-insurance plan due to his having a
>"pre-existing condition":  Ernst Leitz II agreed to pay the extra freight,
>and the rest is history.  It is NOT true that Barnack attempted to hawk the
>original Leica to ICA:  Barnack was MOST unhappy at being transferred by
>Zeiss to ICA, as he had little interest in working on cameras.)
>
>Marc
>
>msmall@roanoke.infi.net  FAX:  +540/343-7315
>Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!
>