100 years of Leica

[Troll]

<p>It's nearly 2013, and the first Leica prototype was made by Oskar Banack in 1913. I wonder what, if anything, the Leica Company is planning for us? </p>

[astral]

<p>Good question. They will probably produce another replica of something that is pretty unusable as a camera, but looks good behind glass. Maybe even something in titanium or black paint with kitsch leather and commemorative engraving for double the price of a regular camera. Or how about one hundred 24k gold plated MPs (with matching lenses of course), for only Eur24k?</p>

<p>Rather than the commemorative collectors' editions that Leica have traditionally produced I would like to see a sensible money off offer for a new camera and/or lens that <em>real</em> Leica users would buy. Alternatively, for poor Leica users like me, a <em>good qualit</em>y, limited edition Oscar Barnack coffee mug for $10-20 or thereabouts . . .</p>

<p> </p>

[mukul_dube]

<p>Pity if Barnack's work is remembered through a commodity with fetish value.</p>

[starvy]

I think Leica wishes to remain exclusive so little chance of discounts.

[richard_g]

What about an M10J in black?

[funkag]

<p>An M9 covered with genetically-recreated Godzilla hide, adamantium top and base plate, and kryptonite-infused glass over the lcd? </p>

<p>Seriously, though, I'd settle for a really spiffy coffee table book that's less than $100 - classic photos and pretty cameras, please... </p>

[aplumpton]

<p>An exact replica of Barnack's protoype is the obvious commemoration piece.</p>

<p>However, if Leica wanted to make it a useful instrument as well, it could cleverly integrate a digital sensor into the Ur body without affecting the appearance and one would get images typical of the first lens and shutter speed posibilities. The monitor could be hidden behind a false back and one possibility might be that the monitor would be made to show only a small histogram, allowing exposure correction, and forcing the user to download and view the result on a computer screen. </p>

<p>I bet that an APS sensor and software and the Ur style body could be made to sell for $2000 or less and the lens could be discretely made LTM mount to take other lenses if the user wishes. </p>

[GlennS]

Arthur, that would be an interesting

camera indeed. Have always had a

love hate relationship with Barnacks.

Loved the small size but hated the

quirks. A lot of my early travels were

with either a 3g or 3f. Like a dope I sold

all my LTM gear in the mid 90s,

something I came to regret as it was

going to cost way more for CLA than I'd

paid for the cameras in the first place.

Nostalgia hit a few years back so again

have a 3f system to keep the M4s

company. For my present trip here in

India it was a tough choice 3f or M4,

the M4 won out mainly because it was

the same camera I used 42 years ago

on my first India trip. One thing you can

say for Leicas, they last and don't get

obsolete in a couple years, at least the

film ones don't. What will the coming

years bring from Leica? Who knows, I

personally think they're going to have

to finally step into the 21st century and

start innovating like Fuji has with the

X100. The hybrid viewfinder of the

X100 is amazingly good and opens the

door to using zoom lenses rather than

just primes. Perhaps forget using

contrast detect AF and use a low

power IR laser rangefinder instead of

opto-mechanical rangefinder? Leitz

has had this technology for quite a

while and it's extremely accurate.

Whatever happens it's going to be

interesting times for photography.

Hope I've got a few more years to

wander this earth listening for the

sound of ONE shutter clicking.

Enough for now, time to load some Tri-

X in the M4 and go wander around the

bazaar.

[robert_hooper1]

<p>I would like to see the late run Leica M3 <strong>exactly</strong> reproduced.</p>

[bms]

<p>It's obvious...... an M10 (=10 decades) for $9999 and a X2 (=2nd century) with interchangeable lenses for $3999.....</p>

[rossb]

<p> Probably a commerative model of some sort. Something that the collectors would want. </p>

[john_layton]

<p>M10 - same form factor - same old rangefinder mechanism...but also with live view (w/pop up magnifying hood), a couple of T/S (28 and 50?) lenses, a good 60 macro, a compact 180 f/4 (and maybe a zoom? But I digress!) - and a factory switchable sensor, with options of 15, 30, or 45 megapixel sensors to start (for low light PJ, mixed use, and hi res for great 30X40 landscapes/still lifes)...plus future upgrades. In short, the best of all worlds! A user switchable sensor would be amazing - but maybe not possible?</p>

 

[mukul_dube]

<p>I find it more than faintly absurd when business houses observe anniversaries. They are family-owned or corporate bodies motivated by profit: they are not in any sense institutions. The company's manufacturing operations have moved repeatedly and its ownership has changed. Present-day Leica cameras have little in common with Leicas made before 1954 except the name. Anniversaries presuppose continuity. The very name "Leica" did not exist in 1913 when the prototype was made.</p>

[aplumpton]

<p>Mukul, all that is true, but unfortunately unavoidable over that long period if an organisation like Leitz wanted to survive (economics) and improve its products (for all the beauty of the III series, its predecessors, and the IIIg attempt at improvement, the minscule finder and/or separate VF-RF windows had to give way). It would be nice if a possible Ernst Leitz IV would still be in charge of the old company (a company that you know was absorbed by others and became a new company with wider interests than just Lei(tz)ca(meras)), but that was not to be.</p>

<p>What we should celebrate, whether there is an institution or not, is the personal farsightedness displayed by Oscar Barnack (and of Ernst Leitz I and II) in 1913 and then again in 1923, and the small camera innovation (of course, Zeiss was not far behind, and eventually ahead in one aspect, the coupled RF). I guess they could produce another 1920s "O" camera for a commemoration, a useable and collector film camera prototype, but the idea of a mixed brass and black 1913 Ur with its Zeiss Tessar lens and a digital interior might reach a greater audience than just Leicaphiles, and make the commemoration more universally recognised. Just my few pennies worth as suggestion.</p>

[Bill Blackwell Images]

 

 

<blockquote>

<p>It's nearly 2013, and the first Leica prototype was made by Oskar Banack in 1913. I wonder what, if anything, the Leica Company is planning for us?</p>

</blockquote>

 

 

<p>Leica recognizes its beginnings in 1914 with the introduction of the Ur-Leica - not 1913, as the OP suggests. So I would not look for any 100-year anniversary products or celebration(s) until 2014. </p>

<p>Regardless, the introduction of the M10 is imminent and will include live-preview and HD video (same RF).</p>

 

 

[pc_b]

<p>Robert, take a trip to Japan! You will see M3s sitting in shop windows by the hundreds. They will be in (truly) excellent shape and definately pricey but still way less than half of what a commemorative M3 would cost.</p>

[Troll]

<p>*The prototype (which was later to be known as the UR-LEICA) was built by Barnack in 1913; to be exact, two such prototypes were built, one of which was used by Barnack himself, and the second by Ernst Leitz II, who took it with hm on his trip to America in the spring of 1914, certainly the first Leicaman in his own right.<br>

*Leica -the first sixty years, G. Rogliatti, HOVE Photo Books, 1985, p.11.</p>

[Sanford]

<p>You're talking about the Leica Centenary form Taiwan at Leicarumors.com</p>

[Bill Blackwell Images]

<p>Look here:</p>

<p><a href="http://us.leica-camera.com/culture/history/">http://us.leica-camera.com/culture/history/</a></p>

<p>You'd think they would know. ...</p>

[richard_stirling]

<blockquote>

<p>"Leica could cleverly integrate a digital sensor into the Ur body..."</p>

</blockquote>

<p><a href="http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/.a/6a00df351e888f88340133f3f3fbe9970b-popup">It wouldn't be the first time they put a digital body into a historic form factor...</a></p>

<p>(brand new here; couldn't resist)</p>

[Alex_Es]

<p>Here is a totally weird thought. Ready? In 2013 Leica will bring out the M10. It will be a film camera with the latest technology derived from digital photography, much like Nikon F6. It will be Leica's final film camera but won't replace the M7 or (heaven forbid) the MP. </p>

<p> </p>

[aplumpton]

<p>The historical photos show that Barnack was an excellent photographer (the Coln bridge, a few lovely portraits, various shots of Medieval streets). The image of the Ur camera on the Leica site shows something as attractive to the eye as any SL-2, MP or M9P. Form follows function. I'm not a collector (my wife might debate that) but if Leica was to produce a close visual copy of that brass and black prototype and make it useable (yes, I know it was limited in shutter speed to 1/40 second, so a few compromises would be neeeded) with either film or digital capture, and include some reproductions of Barnack's photos of 1914 with the purchase, I would think about acquiring one for use, and I bet a digital Ur would be great marketing (especially to current non-Leica users) for the company that made the first commercially successful miniature camera. An opportunity to speak to the world about that.</p>

[anthony_brookes5]

<p>I should like to see Leica introduce a stereo camera. In the 1930s Leica produced attachments which split the negative and then a viewer. But why not a stereo camera with digital output for a monitor. ?</p>

[Robin Smith]

<p>I agree they'll be new Leica(s) this year. I hope they can compete with all the excellent mirrorless cameras out there now. I can't see the appeal of a digital Ur-Leica myself.</p>

[Troll]

<p>I was ready to buy a UR-Leica replica until I read the user report in "<em>The Viewfinder</em>." But I'd snap up a new Leica A in an instant (film OR digital)!</p>