Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/11/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 02:43 PM 11/17/1999 -0600, Glen M. Robinson wrote: > >Also, how did the Exakta fit into the evolution of the SLR? The Russian "Sport" was the first SLR, followed closely by the initial Exakta models. But both lacked a prism and you viewed the camera as you would a Hasselblad or Rolleiflex TLR with their WLF's. In that since, the Russians deserve the credit for the first SLR of ANY kind. Hubert Nerwin, Chief Designer at Zeiss Ikon, was the first to conceive of an SLR with a penta-prism to allow horizontal viewing with a properly aligned image. He thought this up around 1937, but the Contax S, due to the War, did not appear 'til '49, after Nerwin had moved to the US and was finishing work on that "Contax on Steroids", the Combat Graphic 70. Marc msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!