First 35mm SLR? Leica?

I know that Leica produced the first ever 35mm camera in Wetzler in 1913 but was the Leicaflex Std the first 35 SLR? SR

This doesn't directly answer your question, but I think technically

the M3 could be considered the first SLR because of the Visoflex

attachment.

The first 35mm SLR with a pentaprism as we know today, was the 1949 Zeiss Ikon VEB Contax S camera made in Dresden, Germany.

The Leicaflex did not come along until 1964 and the M3 was introduced

in 1953. Back in 1935 Leica introduced the PLOOT reflex housing along

with a 200mm f4.5 lens. This, when used with a camera :-), is

considered the first 35mm SLR. The PLOOT used a vertical finder with

the image inverted horizontally (no pentaprism). The Visoflex 3 reflex

housing and lenses (direct decendants of the PLOOT) for the M cameras

were discontinued in 1984. Leica was not the first camera to use

motion picture film (which we now call 35mm film) nor was it the first

camera with the now standard 24mm x 35mm format; however, it was the

camera that popularized both. This is a garbage sentence so all of the

previou

The first SLR using the 24x36 format was the Kine-Exakta, launched in

1936.

 

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Paul Perron

Boy! It sure took a long time to get THERE, didn't it! :-) (I'm

agreeing with the Exacta.)

The (Ihagee) Exacta, I always thought...

I have a couple of old German pre and post war camera store catalogs.

Two things stand out

 

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1) How many innovative configurations were available-a far cry from

today's standardized camera offerings.

 

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2) How luxuriously well produced the catalogs were.

This is quoted from page 18 of Ivor Matanle's <i>Collecting Classic

Cameras</i> (New York: Thames & Hudsons, 1986):

 

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</p>"In 1936, Ihagee of Dresden, which had since 1934 been

manufacturing its VP Exakta single-lens reflexes designed for 127

size film (eight exposures) launched what is usually credited with

being the world's first 35mm single-lens reflex, a major landmark in

camera development. According to a 1984 editorial in the British

magazine <i>Amateur Photographer</i>, the Kine-Exakta, as it was then

known to distinguish it from the rolfilm cameras, was not actually

first, having been just preceded by a Russian camera known as

the 'Sport'. However, recent (1994) research by the Exakta Circle, a

specialist group within the Photographic Collectors Club of Great

Britain has confirmed to most collectors' satisfaction that the Kine-

Exacta was indeed the first 35mm SLR. The Knie-Exakta, available

only with waist-level finder (the advent of the pentaprism had to

await the Contax S of 1984), developed an enthusiatic following which

continues to this day."

 

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</p>If I'm not wrong, Leica did not enter the SLR-market fray until

relatively recently, with the 1964 Leicaflex (sometimes referred to

as the Leicaflex I).

Erratum; part of the above quote from Ivor Mantanle's book should

read: ". . . (the advent of the pentaprism had to await the Contax S

of <b>1948</b>) . . . ." Sorry for the typo.

The first 35mm SLR was not Exakta. It was a 1935 Russian SLR camera.

If your talking about "viewing through the lens" not an actual

SLR,then it really is the original large-format glass plate cameras

from last centuary.

Nice point, but they were neither 35mm nor SLReflex. I thought it had

been the Ihagee Exak(IMHO)ta, the one my father used and loved - and,

boy, not only the manuals were well made and solid - but what about the

Russian one, any name, photos of that one available?

Oops, just noticed that this one is a last centuries thread... Will

anybody follow it? Hello...?! Anybody out there...? ;o)

Lutz: I'm here.

 

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The Russian camera, which continued into the early forties, was the

C*opt (Sport). I can't find any pictures on the web yet. As to

whether it actually preceded the Exakta, I have no evidence either -

very contemporary with it in any case.

 

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1st SUCCESSFUL 35mm S(ingle) L(ens) R(eflex) - Exakta; 1936.

Wait-level viewing, no instant return mirror, manual aperture.

"Reflex" refers to a viewing system with a mirror in the light path to

make the focusing/viewing image upright and horizontal.

 

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1st eye-level (pentaprism) 35mm SLR - Contax S, 1948-ish. Still had a

mirror that stayed up (a la Hasselblad) after exposure until film was

wound.

 

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1st instant-return mirror: 1955-ish Asahiflex.