Editing Leica Camera (section)

=== Before WWII ===
[[file:1930s Leica advert in Time magazine.jpg|thumb|left|upright|An advert in Time magazine for Leica's new Summar lens, March 5, 1934]]
[[file:2015-08-13 - Leica I, 1927 - lange Fassung mit Musik.webm|thumb|Leica I, 1927 (video)]]
[[file:Thambar.jpg|thumb|Very rare Leica soft-focus Thambar lens from the 1930s with original leather case. In front, left to right: Rear cap, special dot filter, lens shade, front cap]]
[[file:Ur Leica.jpg|thumb|Ur-Leica ("original Leica"), from 1914]]
[[file:LEI0060 186 Leica I Sn.5193 1927 Originalzustand Front-2 FS-15.jpg|thumb|Leica I, 1927]]
[[file:LEI0060 186 Leica I Sn.5193 1927 Originalzustand Top liegend-FS 5581.jpg|thumb|Leica I, from 1927, with collapsible Leitz Elmar 1:3,5 F=5&nbsp;cm lens]]
[[file:Ur-Leica IMG 0259.JPG|thumb|Reproduction of the Leica Prototype, 1913, 1:3,5]]

The first 35&nbsp;mm film Leica prototypes were built by [[Oskar Barnack]] at Ernst Leitz Optische Werke, [[Wetzlar]], in 1913. Some say the original Leica was intended as a [[compact camera]] for [[landscape photography]], particularly during mountain hikes, but other sources indicate the camera was intended for test exposures with 35mm motion picture film.<ref>Wade, John. [https://www.shutterbug.com/content/leica-i-camera-change-photography The Leica I: The Camera that Changed Photography.] Shutterbug, Jul 13, 2015.</ref> The Leica was the first practical [[135 film|35 mm]] camera that used standard cinema [[35mm movie film|35 mm film]]. The Leica transports the film horizontally, extending the frame size to 24×36mm with a 2:3 [[aspect ratio (image)|aspect ratio]], instead of the 18×24&nbsp;mm of cinema cameras, which transport the film vertically.

The Leica had several model iterations, and in 1923, Barnack convinced his boss, [[Ernst Leitz II]], to make a preproduction series of 31 cameras for the factory and outside photographers to test. Though the prototypes received mixed reception, Ernst Leitz decided in 1924 to produce the camera. It was an immediate success when introduced at the 1925 [[Leipzig]] Spring Fair as the Leica I (for ''Leitz camera''). The focal plane [[Shutter (photography)#Focal-plane shutter|shutter]] has a range from 1/20 to 1/500 second, in addition to a ''Z'' for ''Zeit'' (time) position.

Barnack conceived the Leica as a small camera that produced a small negative. To make large photos by enlargement, (the "small negative, large picture" concept) requires that the camera have high quality lenses that could create well-defined negatives. Barnack tried a Zeiss [[Tessar]] on his early prototype camera, but because the Tessar was designed for the 18×24&nbsp;mm cine format, it inadequately covered the Leica's 24×36mm negative. Barnack resorted to a Leitz Mikro-Summar 1:4.5/42&nbsp;mm lens for the prototype, but to achieve resolution necessary for satisfactory enlargement, the 24x36 mm format needed a lens designed specially for it. The first Leica [[Photographic lens|lens]] was a 50&nbsp;mm {{f/|3.5}} design based on the [[Cooke triplet]] of 1893, adapted by Max Berek at Leitz. The lens has five elements in three groups—the third group being three cemented elements—and was initially named the Leitz Anastigmat. Unlike other triplets, the Leitz Anastigmat has the diaphragm between the first and second elements. When the Leica was first vended, this lens was renamed the ELMAX, for E Leitz and Max Berek. By 1925, the Leitz laboratories had produced glasses with improved optical properties, and Professor Berek designed an improved version of the ELMAX named the ELMAR that had four elements in three groups. The third group was simplified to two cemented elements, which was easier and cheaper to make.<ref>Die Leica. 1933 No. 6. "Was ist eigentlich "Elmar"?</ref> Professor Berek had two dogs, Hektor and Rex. The first of these, Hektor, gave his name to a series of Leica lenses, and the name of the second appeared in the SummaREX.<ref>''Leica: The First Sixty Years''. Gianni Rogliatti. Hove Collectors Books, 1985. {{ISBN|1-874707-02-2}}</ref>

In 1930, the ''Leica I Schraubgewinde'' was first produced. It had an exchangeable lens system based on a 39mm diameter screw thread, often referred to as the Leica Thread Mount or [[M39 lens mount|LTM]]. In addition to the 50&nbsp;mm [[normal lens]], a 35&nbsp;mm [[wide-angle lens|wide angle]] and a 135&nbsp;mm [[telephoto lens]] were initially available. During the mid-1930s, a legendary [[soft-focus]] lens, the Thambar 90&nbsp;mm {{f/|2.2}} was designed, and made in small numbers between 1935 and 1949, no more than 3000 units. It is now a rare collector's item.<ref>[http://www.shutterbug.com/content/leitz-thambar-90mm-f22brwhy-it-considered-legendary-portrait-lens The Leitz Thambar 90 mm {{f/|2.2}} Why Is It Considered A Legendary Portrait Lens?] By Roger W. Hicks, [[Shutterbug (company)|Shutterbug]] Posted: April 1, 2005</ref> In 2017, a new version was produced, costing $6,495. A lens from the original series can fetch between $3,000 and $8,000, depending on condition.<ref>"[http://www.overgaard.dk/leica-90mm-Summarit-M-f-25.html Technical data on the Leitz Thambar f/2.2]", Thorsten Overgaard.</ref>

The [[Leica II]] was first produced in 1932, with a built in [[Rangefinder camera|rangefinder]] coupled to the lens focusing mechanism. This model has a separate viewfinder (showing a reduced image) and [[Rangefinder camera|rangefinder]]. In 1932, the flange to filmplane was standardised to 28.8mm, first implemented on Leica model C, and the [[Leica Standard]] the next year.<ref>Leica Collectors Guide, Dennis Delaney, Hove Collectors Books, Hove 1992, {{ISBN|1-874707-00-6}}</ref>

The [[Leica III]] added slow shutter speeds down to 1 second, and the model IIIa added the 1/1000 second shutter speed. The IIIa is the last model made before Barnack's death, and therefore the last model for which he was wholly responsible. Leitz continued to refine the original design through to 1957. The final version, the IIIg, includes a large viewfinder with several framelines. These models all have a functional combination of circular dials and square windows.

Early Leica cameras bear the initials D.R.P., which stands for Deutsches Reichspatent, the name for German patents before May 1945. This is probably a reference to German patent No. 384071 "Rollfilmkamera" granted to Ernst Leitz, Optische Werke in Wetzlar, on November 3, 1923.

The company had always had progressive labor policies which encouraged the retention of skilled workers, many of whom were Jewish. [[Ernst Leitz II]], who began managing the company in 1920, responded to the election of [[Hitler]] in 1933 by helping Jews to leave Germany, by "assigning" hundreds (even if they were not actually employees) to overseas sales offices where they were helped to find jobs. The effort intensified after [[Kristallnacht]] in 1938, until the borders were closed in September 1939. The extent of what came to be known as the "[[Leica Freedom Train]]" only became public after his death, well after the war.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}