Does anyone know about the Leica IV prototype?

[alfie wang]

Granted, I was reading Brian Bower's Leica M Photography book (wonderful it is) and saw a B and W photo of the fabled Leica IV (note yet it's a LEICA IV AKA FOUR) prototype which wasn't made during WWII. It looked kinda funny to be honest but a logical step from the Leica IIIg with bigger viewfinders and rangefinders I think.

 

<p>

 

Does anyone have the lowdown on the fabled Leica IV camera? Is it a Leica M prototype? I wonder where you can dig up one of these cool beans... :)

[charles barcellona www.bl]

Leica IV aka Voightlander Bessa R(2)?

[rp_johnson]

Bower's discussion is about the extent of the readily available

information, although James Lager's books may have some additional

information.

 

<p>

 

As to where you can "dig up" one of these, I imagine that the Leica

museum in Solms is your best bet. I can't tell you what the price

might be, but if you buy the Leica company (and you wouldn't need to

be as rich as Bill Gates to do that) you could probably just take it

out of the display case and start using it.

[hoyin_lee1]

Hi Alfie! I happened to be reading the Japanese magazine <i>Leica

Tsushin No. 6: Mechanism and Prototype</i> (Tokyo: Ei Publishing Co.

Ltd., 2002) which has an article about the Leica IV prototype (I

don't read Japanese, but there's enough illustrations and Chinese

characters in the text to figure out what the article is saying).

Essentially, as I understand, the Leica IV prototype was designed to

tackle two shortcomings in the Leica screw-mount body, namely, the

cumbersome seperate viewfinder and focusing finder, and the fiddly

film-loading method. This 1936 prototype has a combined view/focus

finder like the M3, but the design is in the form of an inter-

changeable viewfinder that couples to the camera's focusing

mechanism. It also has a hinged back that is similar to that on the

M body. The war interrupted its development, but, in the event, it

became the basis of the M3. In this regard, it can be considered as

the prototype for the M3 camera.

[giles_poilu]

Alfie, if you like experimental Leica's - here's a couple

more:<p><center>

<img src="http://www.monpoilu.icom43.net/lei1.JPG">

<p><img src="http://www.monpoilu.icom43.net/lei2.JPG"><p>

</center><p>

[albert knapp md]

The Leica H that Giles illustrated was developed at the same

time as the Leica IV by another group of engineers in Wetzlar in

the mid-1930s. It went head to head with the Leica IV and lost. I

suspect that the only prototypes extant are in the Solm's

museum. Keep accumulating that Microsoft stock.

[tod_hart]

Speaking of <a

href="http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/cassidy/leica-h/">Leica H</a>

prototypes...

[hoyin_lee1]

LOL! Tod, thanks for the Leica-H link!

[dennis_couvillion]

Tod:

 

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I'm selling my M7 (or, at least, I WILL as soon as it arrives) to

buy a Leica H. Should I get silver or black? Can I use my

Voigtlander lenses on it? Thanks.

 

<p>

 

Dennis

[tod_hart]

Sorry, since this is a medium format camera your 35mm Voigtländer

lenses won't work. But an authorized Leitz repair shop should have no

difficulty replacing the original 60mm lens with a 75mm Skopar

salvaged from an old Voigtländer Brilliant TLR. The budget-minded

could use the 75mm Kodet lens from an old Kodak Duaflex. That should

drive the used prices of those old cameras up considerably. As to the

body color - I have it on good authority (my neighbor's second

cousin's brother-in-law runs a cafe where one of the Leitz Engineer's

barber ate lunch last Tuesday) that the camera will be supplied from

the factory only in black. But it will be sold with a tube of

aluminum-colored model airplane paint so the user can change it to a

chrome model if desired. Of course this raises the issue of whether or

not to paint over the red dot.

[andy_piper2]

How come the Leica-H in Tod's post looks more akin to the "Leica Box"

in the pictures?

[jacek_witold_chmielewski]

Yes. I know. It is in Photo Museum in Gdansk, Poland. Now it is closed bot the web page remains where you can find some german prototypes. This is the Leica IV prototype: http://www.gdansk.pl/fotomuzeum/muzeum/specjalne/045.jpg<div></div>

[jacek_witold_chmielewski]

They have some other prototypses too. Contax I: http://www.gdansk.pl/fotomuzeum/muzeum/specjalne/036.jpg Zeiss Ikon Tessar: http://www.gdansk.pl/fotomuzeum/muzeum/specjalne/038.jpg As the museum says: There are unique cameras, special ones and genuine prototypes of well-known cameras from the German "Zeiss Ikon" company.

[jacek_witold_chmielewski]

Of course there is more sophisticated one in Hungary (?) http://fotomuveszet.elender.hu/0212/nagykepek/jpg_kepek_021217/nagykep_02121701.html

[jacek_witold_chmielewski]

The Leica IV prototype was later continued as Zorki 3 and 4 more than Leica M3 I think. I wait for your opinions guys.