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119-445: The nucleus of the system was a series of compact bodies divided into an advanced series and a later consumer-oriented series. The first model was the all-mechanical M-1 which, after pressure from Leica (which already had an M1 model), was renamed OM-1. At the same time the M system was renamed OM System. The camera included a full-aperture TTL Cadmium-sulphide (CdS) exposure meter, and a bayonet lens mount of relatively large diameter. By

238-425: A focal-plane shutter ( FPS ) is a type of photographic shutter that is positioned immediately in front of the focal plane of the camera, that is, right in front of the photographic film or image sensor . The traditional type of focal-plane shutter in 35 mm cameras, pioneered by Leitz for use in its Leica cameras , uses two shutter curtains, made of opaque rubberised fabric, that run horizontally across

357-639: A 1.7 mm slit). The Nikon FE2 (Japan) had a 3.3 ms (at 7.3 m/s) curtain travel time and an X-sync speed of 1/250 s in 1983. The top speed remained 1/4000 s (with a 1.8 mm slit). The fastest focal-plane shutter ever used in a film camera was the 1.8 ms curtain travel time (at 13.3 m/s) duralumin and carbon fiber bladed one introduced by the Minolta Maxxum 9xi (named Dynax 9xi in Europe, α-9xi in Japan) in 1992. It provided

476-589: A 40 mm slit to allow for variance gives 1/50 s ⅓ stop slow). Some horizontal FP shutters exceeded these limits by narrowing the slit or increasing curtain velocity beyond the norm; however, these tended to be ultra-high-precision models used in expensive professional-level cameras. The first such shutter was to be found in the Konica F , released in February 1960. Called the Hi-Synchro, this shutter reached

595-508: A Zeiss Tessar on his early prototype camera, but because the Tessar was designed for the 18×24 mm cine format, it inadequately covered the Leica's 24×36mm negative. Barnack resorted to a Leitz Mikro-Summar 1:4.5/42 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 lens

714-489: A fast 1/1000 s shutter speed, and various iterations of the III (a,b,c,d,f,&g) series became the flagship models and best sellers into the late 1950s. Further iterations of models I and II were offered but did not sell well. Prior to WWII , Leica and competing Contax cameras from Zeiss Ikon were considered to be the finest 35 mm cameras, but post-WWII the companies had competition from Soviet and Japanese copies. During

833-411: A few years later, Leitz again demanded the construction of a tall building. After the planning of Jean Schmidt, contractor Robert Schneider built a four-story building in 1911. The basement building was made of reinforced concrete with brick stairs. Again, the original plan, which provided a horizontal structure of the building through the cornucopia, was abandoned in favor of a simpler façade design. In

952-516: A fixed slit width. In the Kodak Cirkut (1907, US) and Globus Globuscope (1981, US) cameras, the entire camera and lens revolved as the film was pulled past the slit in the opposite direction. The Globuscope produced a 360° angle of view image in a 24×160 mm frame on 135 film with a 25 mm lens and had an adjustable slit width with a constant rotation speed. Revolving FP shutters produce images with unusual distortion where

1071-554: A graduated linear LCD for the shutter speed at the bottom of the viewfinder to precisely indicate its readings versus the actual camera settings. In 1986 the OM-4 was improved to a tougher OM-4Ti (OM-4T in USA) version, with titanium top and bottom plates, improved weatherproofing and high-speed flash sync. This last version was discontinued in 2002. The OM-10 hit the markets in June 1979 at

1190-477: A horizontal cloth focal plane shutter with a speed range of 240s (in auto mode) to 1/2000s plus bulb , and flash X-sync of 1/60s. The OM-4 featured a built-in spot meter [of a narrow acceptance angle, see Canon FTb] (2% of view; 3.3˚ with 50 mm lens) and was the first camera capable of measuring eight individual areas and averaging them. The light meter used a dual-concentric segmented silicon photo-diode to provide spot or centerweighted readings. It used

1309-416: A maximum 1/12,000 s (with 1.1 mm slit) and 1/300 s X-sync. A later version of this shutter, spec'ed for 100,000 actuations, was used in the Minolta Maxxum 9  [ de ] (named Dynax 9 in Europe, α-9 in Japan) in 1998 and Minolta Maxxum 9Ti (named Dynax 9Ti in Europe, α-9Ti in Japan) in 1999. A parallel development to faster speed FP shutters was electronic shutter control. In 1966,

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1428-400: A medium-wide lens encapsulated in a drum with a rear vertical slit. As the entire drum is horizontally pivoted on the lens's rear nodal point, the slit wipes an extra-wide-aspect image onto film held against a curved focal plane. The Widelux produced a 140° wide image in a 24×59 mm frame on 135 film with a Lux 26 mm f/2.8 lens and controlled shutter speed by varying rotation speed on

1547-494: A normal lens there were lights in the view finder to help the user with manual focusing. When used with a motor drive or winder unit and the M-In Focus Trigger cord, the lens could be pre-focused on a specific point. As soon as an object moved into that focus zone the camera would trigger a shot. A special motorised 35-70mm autofocus lens was also available at the time, but is now very rare. A further refinement of

1666-456: A photograph of the Tank Man during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests . Following censorship of the Leica brand on Sina Weibo , Leica revoked the commercial and sought to distance themselves from it, claiming the company did not sanction its production. In September 2022, Leica announced Cine 1, a laser projector, for release in 2023. The model is Leica's return to digital projectors, which

1785-519: A publicly owned company. In 1998, the Leica group was divided into two independent units: Leica Microsystems and Leica Geosystems . On 1 October 2012, Leica Camera AG was delisted from the Frankfurt Stock Exchange after Lisa Germany Holding GmbH acquired the remaining minority shares stock resulting in the company being owned privately. On 26 November 2013, Leica Camera AG announced the purchase of Sinar Photography AG , Zurich,

1904-498: A rare 1923 Leica camera for 2.6 million euros ($ 2.8 million) at an auction in Vienna. Notably, Leica cameras with military markings are highly valued; this started a market for refurbished Soviet copies with fake markings. The earliest Leica prototypes were developed by the company Ernst Leitz GmbH during the first years of the 20th century, but marketing did not commence until the mid-1920s. The Leicas were innovative, by orienting

2023-644: 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

2142-460: A round metal plate with a sector cutout in front of the film. In theory, rotary shutters can control their speeds by narrowing or widening the sector cutout (by using two overlapping plates and varying the overlap) and/or by spinning the plate faster or slower. However, most cameras' rotary shutters have fixed cutouts and can be varied in their spinning speed. The Olympus Pen F and Pen FT (1963 and 1966, both from Japan) half-frame 35 mm SLRs spun

2261-437: A rubberised silk cloth curtain (also called a blind ) with one or more width slit cutouts wound around two parallel drums and using springs to pull a slit from one drum to the other. The spring tension and the slit width can be adjusted. In 1883, Ottomar Anschütz (Germany) patented a camera with an internal roller blind shutter mechanism, just in front of the photographic plate. Thus, the focal-plane shutter in its modern form

2380-450: A second drum after a clockwork escapement timed delay (imagine two overlapping window shades) and moving at one speed (technically, the curtains are still accelerating slightly) across the film gate. Faster shutter speeds are provided by timing the second shutter curtain to close sooner after the first curtain opens and narrowing the slit, wiping the film. Dual curtain FP shutters are self-capping;

2499-417: A semicircular titanium plate to 1/500 s. Semicircular rotary shutters have unlimited X-sync speed, but all rotary FP shutters have the bulk required for the plate spin. The Univex Mercury (1938, US) half-frame 35 mm camera had a very large dome protruding out the top of the main body to accommodate its 1/1000 s rotary shutter. They also produce unusual distortion at very high speed because of

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2618-485: A separate viewfinder (showing a reduced image) and 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. 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

2737-452: A slit cutout mounted on rails in front of the camera lens that gravity dropped at a controlled rate. As the slit passed the lens, it "wiped" the exposure onto the photographic plate. With rubber bands to increase the drop speed, a 1/500 or 1/1000 s shutter speed could be reached. Eadweard Muybridge used shutters of this type in his trotting horse studies. By the 1880s, lens front-mounted accessory shutter boxes were available, containing

2856-460: A speed of 1/2000 s and made possible flash synchronization at 1/125 s. In 1960, the Konica F (Japan) 35 mm SLR began a long term incremental increase in maximum shutter speeds with its "High Synchro" FP shutter. This shutter greatly improved efficiency over the typical Leica shutter by using stronger metal blade sheaves that were "fanned" much faster, vertically along the minor axis of

2975-459: A speed range of 1/10 to 1/1000 second. In 1925, the Leica A (Germany) 35 mm camera was introduced with a dual-cloth-curtain, horizontal-travelling-slit, focal-plane shutter. A dual curtain FP shutter does not have precut slits and the spring tension is not adjustable. The exposure slit is formed by drawing open the first curtain onto one drum and then pulling closed the second curtain off

3094-500: A system, Olympus made numerous accessories for professional portrait , photo journalism , sport photography and scientific photography. Leica Camera Leica Camera AG ( / ˈ l aɪ k ə / ) is a German company that manufactures cameras , optical lenses , photographic lenses , binoculars , and rifle scopes . The company was founded by Ernst Leitz in 1869 ( Ernst Leitz Wetzlar ), in Wetzlar , Germany . The name Leica

3213-579: A vertical travel FP shutter with dual brass-slatted roller blinds with adjustable spring tension and slit width and a top speed of 1/1000 s (the Contax II of 1936 had a claimed 1/1250 s top speed). Although the Square shutter improved the FP shutter, it still limited maximum flash X-sync speed to 1/125 s (unless using special long-burn FP flash bulbs that burn throughout the slit wipe, making slit width irrelevant ). Some leaf shutters from

3332-408: Is considered the first FP shutter of any kind. If the lens on a single curtain FP shutter camera has its lens cap off when the shutter is cocked, the film will be double exposed when the blind's cutout re-passes the film gate. A camera-mounted FP shutter can use a very narrow slit to have a 1/1000 second shutter speed—although the available contemporaneous ISO 1 to 3 equivalent speed emulsions limited

3451-451: Is derived from the first three letters of the founder's surname (Leitz) and the first two of the word camera: lei-ca (LEItz CAmera). In 1986, the Leitz company changed its name to Leica and moved its factory from Wetzlar to the nearby town of Solms . Leica Camera AG is 55% owned by Austrian investment firm ACM Projektentwicklung GmbH and 45% owned by The Blackstone Group which licenses

3570-415: Is divided into six groups of windows, each of which has three windows. Narrow wall patterns and lightly embedded parapets summarize the three lowest floors. The fourth floor is visually separated from the lower part of the building by a very distant cornice. On either side of the central building there was a hip roof with high ceilings. The mansard's floor expanded as production and workers also increased. Only

3689-550: Is fully open and usable only for flash exposure up to 1/60 s, while vertical FP shutters are usually limited to 1/125 s. At higher speeds, a normal 1 millisecond electronic flash burst would expose only the part open to the slit. In 1986, the Olympus OM-4 T (Japan) introduced a system that could synchronize an Olympus F280 Full Synchro electronic flash to pulse its light at a 20 kilohertz rate for up to 40 ms to illuminate its horizontal FP shutter's slit as it crossed

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3808-452: Is on the right side. Figure 2: The first shutter curtain begins to move to the left allowing the exposure to be made. Because the exposure requires a very fast shutter speed, the second curtain begins to move across at a set distance from the first one. Figure 3: The first shutter curtain continues to travel across the frame aperture followed by the second curtain. It would be pointless to use an electronic flash with this shutter speed as

3927-540: Is pre-tensioned to traverse the 36 millimeter wide film gate in 18 milliseconds (at 2 meters per second) and supports slit widths for a speed range of 1 to 1/1000 s. A minimum 2 mm wide slit produces a maximum 1/1000 s effective shutter speed. The dual curtain FP shutter has the same fast-speed distortion problems as the single curtain type. FP shutters were also common in medium-format 120 roll film cameras. Horizontal cloth FP shutters are normally limited to 1/1000 s maximum speed because of

4046-491: Is upstream from the slope of Kalsmunt and forms a structurally attractive graduation from the skyscrapers to the ruins of Kalsmunt Castle. In the last decades of the 19th century, Ernst Leitz moved its production facilities to the slopes of Kalsmunt with sufficient residential buildings and workshops on the Laufdorfer Weg. At the turn of the century, the production of optical devices expanded so much that it originated

4165-482: The Rolling shutter article. A large relative difference between a slow wipe speed and a narrow curtain slit results in distortion because one side of the frame is exposed at a noticeably later instant than the other and the object's interim movement is imaged. For a horizontal Leica-type FP shutter, the image is stretched if the object moves in the same direction as the shutter curtains, and compressed if travelling in

4284-682: The Micro Four Thirds mount, including the 12 mm f /1.4 Summilux, 15 mm f /1.7 Summilux and 25 mm f /1.4 Summilux prime lenses, and zooms including a 12–60 mm f /2.8–4 and 100–400 mm f /4–6.3 . Leica and Minolta signed a technical cooperation agreement in June 1972. In 2020, Leica entered a strategic partnership with Insta360 to help produce the ONE R 1-Inch Edition. Since then, ONE R has been recognised as one of TIME magazine's best inventions of 2020. Since 2016, Leica has established partnership with

4403-563: The Nikon D1 digital SLR . The D1 used electronic assist from its sensor for the 1/16,000 s speed and its 15.6×23.7 mm "APS-size" sensor was smaller than 35 mm film and therefore easier to cross quickly for 1/500 s X-sync. However, with very limited need for such extremely fast speeds, FP shutters retreated to 1/8000 s in 2003 (and 1/250 s X-sync in 2006)—even in professional level cameras. In addition, since no specialised timers are needed for extremely slow speeds,

4522-573: The Olympus OM-4 (both Japan) reached 240 s in 1983. The Pentax LX (Japan, 1980) and Canon New F-1 (Japan, 1981) had hybrid electromechanical FP shutters that timed their fast speeds mechanically, but used electronics only to extend the slow speed range; the LX to 125 s and the F-1N to 8 s. Electronics are also responsible for pushing the focal-plane shutter's X-sync speed beyond its mechanical limits. A horizontal FP shutter for 35 mm cameras

4641-456: The 1/500 second of the typical leaf shutter . While the concept of a travelling slit shutter is simple, a modern FP shutter is a computerised microsecond accurate timer, governing sub-gram masses of exotic materials, subjected to hundreds of gs acceleration, moving with micron precision, choreographed with other camera systems for 100,000+ cycles. This is why FP shutters are seldom seen in compact or point-and-shoot cameras. In addition,

4760-416: The 18×24 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

4879-450: The 1925 Leipzig Spring Fair as the Leica I (for Leitz camera ). The focal plane 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

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4998-499: The 1950s Japanese quality and innovation, along with low pricing, devastated the European camera industry. Leica became an expensive type of camera bought largely by professional or serious photographers. However, the advent of reflex camera technology made rangefinders somewhat obsolete, leaving Leica the main product of a diminishing market segment. Leica has remained a notable tradename into the 21st Century. The original producer of

5117-574: The 1960s could achieve at least 1/500 s flash sync. Copal collaborated with Nippon Kogaku to change the Compact Square shutter for the Nikon FM2 (Japan) of 1982 to using a honeycomb pattern-etched titanium foil for its blade sheaves. This permitted cutting shutter-curtain travel time by nearly half to 3.6 ms (at 6.7 m/s) and allowed 1/200 s flash X-sync speed. It also has a distortionless top speed of up to 1/4000 s (with

5236-762: The 1970s. The most notable were the Copal Compact Shutter (CCS), introduced by the Konica Autoreflex TC in 1976, and the Seiko Metal Focal-Plane Compact (MFC), first used in the Pentax ME in 1977. The Leica Camera (originally E. Leitz) switched to a vertical metal FP shutter in 2006 for its first digital rangefinder (RF) camera, the Leica M8 (Germany). The Contax (Germany) 35 mm RF camera of 1932 had

5355-427: The 19th century, as one increased-sensitivity process replaced another and larger aperture lenses became available, exposure times shortened to seconds and then to fractions of a second. Exposure timing control mechanisms became a necessary accessory and then a standard camera feature. The earliest manufactured shutter was the drop shutter of the 1870s. This was an accessory guillotine -like device—a wooden panel with

5474-610: The 200 mm f /4.5 Telyt Lens. This date is significant because it places Leica among the 35 mm SLR pioneers. Until the 1964 introduction of the Leicaflex, the PLOOT and Visoflex were Leica's only SLR offerings. A redesigned PLOOT was introduced by Leica in 1951 as the Visoflex I. This was followed by a much more compact Visoflex II in 1960 (which was the only Visoflex version available in both LTM screwmount and M-bayonet), and

5593-470: The 24×36 mm frame. As perfected in 1965 by Copal, the Copal Square's slit traversed the 24 mm high film gate in 7 ms (3.4 m/s). This doubled the flash X-sync speed to 1/125 s. In addition, a minimum 1.7 mm wide slit would double the top shutter speed to a maximum of 1/2000 s. Most Squares were derated to 1/1000 s in the interest of reliability. Squares came from

5712-621: The Chinese telecommunications company Huawei , and Leica cameras will be co-engineered into Huawei smartphones , including the P series and Mate series . The first smartphone to be co-engineered with a Leica camera was the Huawei P9 . The partnership ended with the Huawei P50 series in 2021. In 2021, Leica has established technology partnership with Sharp Corporation , and Leica cameras will be co-engineered into Sharp smartphones for

5831-523: The Focorapid and Televit, that could replace certain lenses' helicoid mounts for sports and natural-life telephotography. In 1986, the Leitz company changed its name to Leica (LEItz CAmera), due to the fame of the Leica tradename. At this time, Leica relocated its factory from Wetzlar (Germany) to the nearby town of Solms (Germany). In 1996, Leica Camera separated from the Leica Group and became

5950-638: The Japanese market only. The first smartphone to be co-engineered with a Leica camera was the AQUOS R6 with 1-inch-sensor camera. Then Leica with the SoftBank introduced the smartphone Leitz Phone 1 which have same specifications as AQUOS R6 but different design. In 2022, Leica entered a strategic partnership with Xiaomi to jointly develop Leica cameras to be used in Xiaomi flagship smartphones, succeeding

6069-517: The L-mount platform. The three companies would form a strategic and technical alliance, yet remain independent. Leica-branded lenses, such as some Nocticron , Elmarit and Summilux lenses, have been used on many Panasonic (Matsushita) digital cameras ( Lumix ) and video recorders since 1995. Panasonic/Leica models were the first to incorporate optical image stabilization in their digital cameras. Several Panasonic/Leica lenses have been produced for

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6188-488: The Leica brand name from the Danaher Corporation -owned Leica Microsystems GmbH. From the year 1907 to the 1950s, the buildings that formed Leica factory were built on Ernst Leitz Street in Wetzlar , and remained until 1986, when the factory was moved to the city of Solms . The Wetzlar factory was located on the opposite side of the administrative building of 1957 and formed a special urban architecture; it

6307-516: 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. Professor Berek had two dogs, Hektor and Rex. The first of these, Hektor, gave his name to a series of Leica lenses, and

6426-574: The OM-20 with features that were more of interest to serious photographers. It had a lighter, slightly more modern and ergonomic body design. It also had an early form of matrix metering, and a mirror lock-up facility. This was activated when the self-timer was switched on, a feature still rarely found in non-high-end cameras. Also known in some markets as the OM-PC, the OM-40 had a program mode that automated

6545-635: The OM-3 was discontinued, the OM-3Ti was released. It shared the improvements over the OM-3 that the OM-4Ti held over the OM-4. The Olympus OM-4, an improved version of the OM-2, was manufactured from 1983 to 1987. It was introduced at a US$ 685 list price for the body alone. It was a battery-powered, electromechanically controlled, manual focus SLR with manual exposure control or aperture priority autoexposure. It used

6664-467: The OM-4) in addition to the centre-weighted metering of the earlier body. It also featured an LCD similar to the OM-4 which could be illuminated in low light. Its main advantage over the OM-4 was its ability to operate without batteries due to its mechanical design. Batteries were only needed for the exposure meter and LCD. It lacked a self-timer and mirror lock-up functions, however. In 1995, nine years after

6783-522: The Olympus OM-2 was a semi-automatic, aperture-priority camera featuring an electronically controlled shutter. It was based on the OM-1 body, and retained compatibility with OM-1 accessories and lenses. It boasted automatic through-the-lens (TTL) off-the-film (OTF) metering, and exposure was considered very accurate. This was calculated by the measured light reflected off the surface of the shutter, and/or

6902-678: The Rangefinder Leicas and the SLR Leicas was the Leica Visoflex System , a mirror reflex box that attached to the lens mount of Leica rangefinders (separate versions were made for the screwmount and M series bodies) and accepted lenses made especially for the Visoflex System. Rather than using the camera's rangefinder, focusing was via a groundglass screen. A coupling released both mirror and shutter to make

7021-462: The Swiss manufacturer of view cameras. In May 2014, Leica Camera AG finished building a new factory at Leitz Park 1 in the new industrial part of Wetzlar and relocated back to the city where it started. In April 2019, a television commercial for Leica titled " The Hunt " was released online. The commercial depicts photojournalists in war-torn and politically unstable environments; one of whom takes

7140-489: The Thambar 90 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. 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. The Leica II was first produced in 1932, with a built in rangefinder coupled to the lens focusing mechanism. This model has

7259-716: The United States as the OM-G) was essentially a refinement of the OM-10, replacing that model's rather tricky mode switch with one that was easier to use. The OM-20 also had a built-in shutter-speed dial, a mode display in the view finder and a much stronger winding mechanism which permitted it to be used at 5 frames per second on the OM Motor Drive 2. The shutter magnet and release system had other minor design improvements. Essentially an OM-20 with auto-focus capability. With

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7378-1052: The VEB Pentacon Praktica electronic (East Germany) was the first SLR with an electronically controlled FP shutter. It used electronic circuitry to time its shutter instead of the traditional spring/gear/lever clockwork mechanisms. In 1971, the Asahi Pentax Electro Spotmatic (Japan; name shortened to Asahi Pentax ES in 1972; called Honeywell Pentax ES in US) tied its electronically controlled shutter to its exposure control light meter to provide electronic aperture-priority autoexposure. The traditional 1/1000 s and 1/2000 s top speeds of horizontal and vertical FP shutters are often 1 ⁄ 4 stop too slow, even in ultra-high-quality models. Spring powered geartrains reliably time any higher accelerations and shocks. For example, some highly tensioned FP shutters could suffer from "shutter curtain bounce". If

7497-479: The Visoflex III with instant-return mirror in 1964. Leica lenses for the Visoflex system included focal lengths of 65, 180 (rare), 200, 280, 400, 560, and 800mm. In addition, the optical groups of many rangefinder lenses could be removed and attached to the Visoflex via a system of adapters. The Visoflex system was discontinued in 1984. The leica M6, the top model in the company's M 35mm rangefinder camera line at

7616-572: The angular sweep of the exposure wipe. Bulk can be reduced by substituting blade sheaves for the plate, but then the rotary FP shutter essentially becomes a regular bladed FP shutter. The revolving drum is an unusual FP shutter that has been used in several specialised panoramic cameras such as the Panon Widelux (1959, Japan) and KMZ Horizont (1968, Soviet Union). Instead of using an extremely short focal length ( wide-angle ) lens to achieve an extra-wide field of view , these cameras have

7735-622: The basis of the OM system in 1972. At first called the Olympus M-1, Leica disputed this designation and it was changed to OM-1. It was designed by a team led by Yoshihisa Maitani with a through-the-lens exposure meter controlling a needle visible in the viewfinder. It was noted for its reduction of size, weight and noise. One feature unique to the OM-1, compared to the rest of the OM system, was its mirror lock-up facility which made it ideal for astrophotography and macrophotography. Introduced in 1975,

7854-645: 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. After the war, Leitz continued to produce the late versions of the Leica II and the Leica III through the 1950s. However, in 1954, Leitz introduced the Leica M3 , with the new Leica M mount , a bayonet-like lens mount . The new camera also combined

7973-450: The building, the planning of the district government was initially rejected because of a simple and unsatisfactory exterior design. Even so, the building was built in 1938 between the two oldest skyscrapers. In 1950, west of the skyscraper of 1911, a skyscraper of similar construction with nine floors was added. The first 35 mm film Leica prototypes were built by Oskar Barnack at Ernst Leitz Optische Werke, Wetzlar , in 1913. Some say

8092-595: The button was placed on the camera body. The OM lens was designed to sit 46 mm (measured from the lens mounting ring, or flange) from the film plane. The combination of on-lens aperture control and the generous ' flange focal distance ' make OM lenses adaptable (with limited functionality) to a variety of other camera systems – including Canon EOS models – by using a mount-specific adapter. (L39,Y48, O56) Screw-in [6–4] [5–4] Screw-in Screw-in Manual Zuiko lenses that were never marketed: Being

8211-481: The cameras, Ernst Leitz GmbH , is now three independent companies: Leica Camera AG, Leica Geosystems AG, and Leica Microsystems GmbH, which manufacture cameras, geo survey equipment, and microscopes , respectively. Leica Microsystems GmbH owns the Leica brand and licenses its use to the other two companies. During the 2018 Photokina in Cologne, Leica announced that Sigma and Panasonic had become licensed for

8330-625: The company produced under the Pradovit brand. Leica cameras are particularly associated with street photography , especially in the latter twentieth century; they were used by photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Sebastião Salgado . Leica cameras, lenses, accessories and sales literature are collectible. There are dozens of Leica books and collector's guides, notably the three-volume Leica, an Illustrated History by James L. Lager. Early or rare cameras and accessories can sell for very high prices. For instance, an anonymous buyer bought

8449-404: The curtains are designed to overlap as the shutter is cocked to prevent double exposure. Although self-capping dual curtain FP shutters date back to the late 19th century, the Leica design made them popular and virtually all FP shutters introduced since 1925 are dual curtain models. As revised in the 1954 Leica M3 (West Germany), a typical Leica-type horizontal FP shutter for 35 mm cameras

8568-460: The curtains are not properly braked after crossing the film gate, they might crash and bounce; reopening the shutter and causing double exposure ghosting bands on the image edge. Even the Nikon F2 's ultra-high precision shutter suffered from this as an early production teething problem. At first, electromagnets controlled by analogue resistor/capacitor timers were used to govern the release of

8687-404: The difficulties in precisely timing extremely narrow slits and the unacceptable distortion resulting from a relatively slow wipe speed. Their maximum flash synchronization speed is also limited because the slit is fully open only to the film gate (36 mm wide or wider) and able to be flash exposed up to 1/60 s X-synchronization (nominal; 18 ms = 1/55 s actual maximum; in reality,

8806-460: The end of the 1970s it was joined by the semi-automatic OM-2 and consumer-oriented OM-10. Olympus continued the naming pattern with the 'professional' OM-3 and OM-4, and the consumer-level OM-20, OM-30 and OM-40. The cameras were accompanied by a series of Zuiko-branded lenses, as well as a generous selection of accessories. The majority of OM bodies and lenses were manual-focus only; the OM-707 of 1986

8925-636: The entire film gate—in effect, simulating long-burn FP flashbulbs —allowing flash exposure at shutter speeds as fast as 1/2000 s. There is a concomitant loss of flash range. Extended "FP flash" sync speeds began appearing in many high-end 35 mm SLRs in the mid-1990s, and reached 1/12,000 s in the Minolta Maxxum 9  [ de ] (Japan; called Dynax 9 in Europe, Alpha 9 in Japan) of 1998. They are still offered in some digital SLRs to 1/8000 s. Leaf shutter cameras are not affected by this issue. Focal-plane shutter top speed peaked at 1/16,000 s (and 1/500 s X-sync) in 1999 with

9044-419: The exposure is made. It is currently covered by the first shutter curtain, shown in red. The second shutter curtain shown in green is on the right side. Figure 2: The first shutter curtain moves fully to the left allowing the exposure to be made. At this point, the flash is made to fire if one is attached and ready to do so. Figure 3: After the required amount of exposure the second shutter curtain moves to

9163-469: The exposure. Camera rangefinders are inherently limited in their ability to accurately focus long focal-length lenses; the mirror reflex box permitted much longer length lenses. Throughout its history, Leitz has been responsible for numerous optical innovations, such as aspherical production lenses, multicoated lenses, and rare earth lenses. The earliest Leica reflex housing was the PLOOT (Leitz's five letter code for its products), announced in 1935, along with

9282-407: The film plane. For slower shutter speeds, the first curtain opens (usually) from right to left, and after the required time with the shutter open, the second curtain closes the aperture in the same direction. When the shutter is cocked again the shutter curtains are moved back to their starting positions, ready to be released. Figure 1: The black rectangle represents the frame aperture through which

9401-455: The film surface during the actual exposure. The camera also offered a manual-exposure mode, as in the OM-1. It also introduced the integration of electronic flash into the exposure system using the TTL exposure system. The OM-3 was an updated version of the OM-1, a manual camera without automatic exposure modes, and an entirely mechanical shutter. It featured a multi-spot metering system (shared with

9520-502: The first skyscrapers in the city of Wetzlar. The oldest part of this row of tall buildings is now hidden by a new building at the Schützenstraße. The first plans of the architect Jean Schmidt in 1907 show a brick building on a stone base, which was covered by a sloping roof and a slate roof. However, in the same year, it was decided to use the new construction of concrete skeletons and a simpler façade design. The four-story building

9639-414: The flash will also interfere. These cameras are often used for photographing large groups of people (e.g., the 'school' photograph). The subjects may be arranged in a shortened semicircle with the camera at the centre such that all the subjects are the same distance from the camera and facing the camera. Once the exposure is made and processed, the panoramic print shows everyone in a straight line facing in

9758-417: The ground floor and that are fitted between a long strip of windows with excessive pilasters. The general design shows a mixture of very graphic elements and remains of curved Modernist forms that recall the buildings by Joseph Maria Olbrich at Mathildenhöhe of Darmstadt. In 1936, the architect presented a completely revised plan. The plan was now made up of eight floors for Leica production. The building

9877-410: The image center seems to bulge toward the viewer, while the periphery appears to curve away because the lens's field of view changes as it swivels. This distortion will disappear if the photograph is mounted on a circularly curved support and viewed with the eye at the center. Revolving shutters that do not rotate smoothly may create uneven exposure that will result in vertical banding in the image. Using

9996-408: The image frame sideways for the 35 mm film as opposed to the cine-camera tradition of across the film strip. The cameras were compact with collapsible lenses, for hiking and biking. The rangefinder feature was added to the Leica II in 1932, and that year both rangefinder and viewfinder cameras became available with interchangeable lenses. In 1933 the Leica III offered slow-speed shutter controls and

10115-596: The image sensor, replacing the traditional mechanical leaf shutter with delicate moving parts that can wear out, used by film-based point-and-shoot units. Something similar is also occurring with digital cameras that, in the past, would have used focal-plane shutters. For example, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3 (2011, Japan) interchangeable lens digital camera has an FP shutter, but in its 20 frames per second SH Burst mode, it locks its mechanical shutter open and electronically scans its digital sensor, although with

10234-958: The initials DBP, standing for Deutsches Bundespatent (Federal German Patent), instead of the DRP (Deutsches Reich patent) found on pre-war models. A number of camera companies have built models based on the Leica rangefinder design. These include the Leotax , Nicca and early Canon models in Japan , the Kardon in USA , the Reid in England and the FED and Zorki in the USSR . In the 1970s, Walter Mandler introduced computer aided design in optical engineering. Until at least

10353-468: The late 1980s. Minimizing mechanical moving parts also helped to prevent inertial shock vibration problems. A spring-wound clockwork escapement must completely unwind fairly quickly and limit the longest speed—generally to one full second, although the Kine Exakta (Germany) offered 12 s in 1936. The Olympus OM-2 's electronically timed horizontal FP shutter could reach 60 s in 1975 and

10472-427: The left to cover the frame aperture. When the shutter is recocked the shutter curtains are wound back to the right-hand side ready for the next exposure. This is a graphical representation only; the actual mechanisms are much more complex. For example, the shutter curtains actually roll on and off spools at either side of the frame aperture so as to use as little space as possible. Faster shutter speeds are achieved by

10591-481: The market for manual-focus SLR cameras had declined greatly in favour of autofocus SLRs. The consumer line returned in 1997 with the Cosina-sourced OM-2000 model. Professional and advanced-amateur demand for the high-end models continued, and they were produced until 2002, along with the consumer-grade OM-2000. The Olympus OM-1 was a manually-operated 35 mm single-lens reflex camera forming

10710-680: The mid-1950s, Leitz offered factory upgrades of earlier Leica cameras to the current model's specifications. The upgraded cameras retained their original serial number. From 1964, Leica produced a series of single-lens reflex cameras, beginning with the Leicaflex , followed by the Leicaflex SL, the Leicaflex SL2 , and then the R series from R3 to R7, made in collaboration with the Minolta Corporation . The Leica R8

10829-547: The name of the second appeared in the SummaREX. 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 LTM . In addition to the 50 mm normal lens , a 35 mm wide angle and a 135 mm telephoto lens were initially available. During the mid-1930s, a legendary soft-focus lens,

10948-404: The opportunities to use the high speeds. Folmer and Schwing (US) were the most famous proponents of single curtain FP shutters, with their large format sheet film Graflex single-lens reflex and Graphic press cameras using them from 1905 to 1973. Their most common 4×5 inch shutters had four slit widths ranging from 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 to 1 ⁄ 8 inch and up to six spring tensions for

11067-521: The opposite direction of them. For a downward-firing vertical Square-type FP shutter, the top of the image leans forward. The use of leaning to give the impression of speed in illustration is a caricature of the distortion caused by the slow-wiping vertical FP shutters of large format cameras from the first half of the 20th century. Instead of using relatively slow-moving mechanical shutter curtains, electro-optic devices such as Pockels cells can be employed as shutters. While not commonly used, they avoid

11186-427: 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. The Leica was the first practical 35 mm camera that used standard cinema 35 mm film . The Leica transports the film horizontally, extending the frame size to 24×36mm with a 2:3 aspect ratio , instead of

11305-534: The partnership between Huawei and Leica. The first flagship smartphones under this new partnership were the Xiaomi 12S Ultra and Xiaomi MIX Fold 2 , launched in July and August 2022, respectively. In 2014, to commemorate Leica camera's 100th anniversary, they partnered with Swiss watch manufacture Valbray to develop a limited edition chronograph wristwatch with Valbray's signature Leica aperture inspired dial. Leica

11424-401: The problems associated with travelling-curtain shutters such as flash synchronisation limitations and image distortions when the object is moving. Besides the horizontal Leica and vertical Square FP shutters, other types of FP shutters exist. The most prominent is the rotary or sector FP shutter. The rotary disc shutter is common in film and movie cameras, but rare in still cameras. These spin

11543-582: The rangefinder and viewfinder into one large, bright viewfinder with a brighter double image in the center. This system also introduced a system of parallax compensation and a new rubberized, reliable, focal-plane shutter. Leica continues to refine this model (the latest versions being the MP and MA, both of which have framelines for 28, 35, 50, 75, 90, and 135 mm lenses, which show automatically upon mounting). In 1952, Günther Leitz decided to establish Ernst Leitz Canada at Midland, Ontario . Post-war models bear

11662-437: The same direction. The distortion present in the background betrays the technique. The earliest daguerreotype , invented in 1839, did not have shutters, because the lack of sensitivity of the process and the small apertures of available lenses meant that exposure times were measured in many minutes. A photographer could easily control exposure time by removing and returning the camera lens' lens cap or plug. However, during

11781-529: The same time as the OM-2N. The camera was a 35mm focal-plane shutter aperture priority AE SLR camera with an electronic shutter. Only aperture-priority AE was available with the camera unless the optional manual exposure adapter was installed. This allowed the setting of shutter speeds between 1s and 1/1000s, (bulb mode was also available). The camera was equipped with a fixed pentaprism viewfinder which contained an LED exposure indicator. The finder coverage

11900-421: The same way as the horizontal shutters, with a shorter distance for the shutter blades to travel, only 24 mm as opposed to 36 mm. Focal-plane shutters can be built into the body of a camera that accepts interchangeable lenses, eliminating the need for each lens to have a central shutter built into it. Their fastest speeds are either 1/4000 second, 1/8000 second, or 1/12000 second; much higher than

12019-475: The second curtain closing before the first one has fully opened; this results in a vertical slit that travels horizontally across the film. Faster shutter speeds simply require a narrower slit, as the speed of travel of the shutter curtains is not normally varied. Figure 1: The black rectangle represents the frame aperture through which the exposure is made. It is currently covered by the first shutter curtain, shown in red. The second shutter curtain shown in green

12138-596: The second shutter curtain (though still operated by spring power). In 1979, the Yashica Contax 139 Quartz (Japan) introduced digital piezoelectric quartz (shortly followed by ceramic) oscillator circuits (ultimately under digital microprocessor control) to time and sequence its entire exposure cycle, including its vertical FP shutter. Electric "coreless" micromotors, with near instantaneous on/off capability and relatively high power for their size, would drive both curtains and other camera systems replacing springs in

12257-502: The selection of both the aperture and the shutter speed. An Olympus model made by Cosina , the OM-2000 was not considered by Olympus 'die-hard fans' to be a 'true OM' camera. The OM-2000 had a mechanical, vertical-running shutter in contrast to the traditional OM cameras with their horizontal-running shutter. This allowed the OM-2000 to synchronize an electronic flash at 1/125s. Many photographers found this capability an advantage for

12376-524: The short duration flash would expose only a very small amount of the frame as the rest is covered by either the first or second shutter curtain. Figure 4: The first shutter curtain finishes moving, followed closely by the second curtain which is now covering the frame aperture completely. When the shutter is recocked both shutter curtains are wound back to the right-hand side ready for the next exposure. Most modern 35 mm and digital SLR cameras now use vertical travel metal blade shutters. These work in

12495-428: The slowest speed setting is usually 30 s. Instead, over the last twenty years, most effort has gone into improving durability and reliability. Whereas the best mechanically controlled shutters were rated for 150,000 cycles and had an accuracy of ±¼ stop from nominal value (more typically 50,000 cycles at ±½ stop). In the last few years, digital point-and-shoot cameras have been using timed electronic sampling of

12614-436: The supplier as complete drop-in modules. Square-type FP shutters were originally bulky in size and noisy in operation, limiting their popularity in the 1960s. Although Konica and Nikkormat and Topcon (D-1) were major users of the Copal Square. It moved from three-axis to four-axis designs (one control axis for each curtain drum axis instead of one control for both drums). New compact and quieter Square designs were introduced in

12733-416: The ten-axis building, similar to the oldest skyscraper, the lower levels are grouped by pilasters. The space between the two skyscrapers (which originally had been provided with subsequent buildings) had to be closed by another building in the early 1930s. Once again, it was Jean Schmidt, who prepared the plans for a first seven-story skyscraper. The still existing façade drawings show the columns with arches on

12852-655: The time, served as the model for this one. Leica offered a wide range of accessories. For instance, LTM (screwmount) lenses could be used on M cameras via an adapter. Similarly, Visoflex lenses could be used on the Leicaflex and R cameras with an adapter. Furthermore, certain LTM and M rangefinder lenses featured removable optical groups that could mount via adapters on the Visoflex system, thus making them usable as rangefinder or SLR lenses for Visoflex-equipped Screwmount and M rangefinder cameras, as well as being usable on Leicaflex and R cameras. Leica also offered focusing systems, such as

12971-635: The typical focal-plane shutter has flash synchronization speeds that are slower than the typical leaf shutter's 1/500 s, because the first curtain has to open fully and the second curtain must not start to close until the flash has fired. In other words, the very narrow slits of fast speeds will not be properly flash exposed. The fastest X-sync speed on a 35 mm camera is traditionally 1/60 s for horizontal Leica-type FP shutters and 1/125 s for vertical Square-type FP shutters. Focal-plane shutters may also produce image distortion of very fast-moving objects or when panned rapidly, as described in

13090-563: The use of "fill flash" in daylight. During development, the Olympus design team led by Yoshihisa Maitani worked on a completely modular set of units called the MDN (Maitani-Darkbox-Normal), which resembled a 35 mm Hasselblad. This camera was built as a prototype, and is sometimes referred to as the OM-X. A more conventional camera which integrated the shutter, film transport, mirror and viewfinder

13209-558: Was a 50 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,

13328-572: Was built with a concrete construction modeled from the production halls of Opel in Rüsselsheim , Zeiss in Jena and Wernerwerk in Berlin . It was possible to access all the floors through two stairs. The government of the city and the district finally approved a construction of eight floors with a loggia-like ninth floor, that later was closed. Due to the urban landscape that characterized the size of

13447-486: Was called the MDS (Maitani-Darkbox-Simple). The MDS developed into what became the OM-1. The OM Series lenses had the aperture control ring located at the front of the lens barrel. This was done to move it away from the shutter speed control, which was a ring on the camera body concentric with the lens mount. OM lenses also featured a depth-of-field preview button on the lens, in contrast to most other SLR camera systems, in which

13566-484: Was created. Goerz manufactured the Anschütz Camera as the first production FP shutter camera in 1890. Francis Blake invented a type of focal plane shutter camera in 1889 that achieved shutter speeds of 1/2000 second, and exhibited numerous stop-action photographs. A drop shutter-like mechanism with an adjustable slit was used at the focal plane of an apparently one-off William England camera in 1861 and this

13685-575: Was entirely designed and manufactured by Leica. The final model was the Leica R9 , which could be fitted with the Digital Module back. Leica was slow to produce an auto-exposure model, and never made a Leica R model that included auto-focusing. In 2009 the R-series was discontinued, citing new camera developments that had caused a massive loss of Leica sales. Conceptually intermediate between

13804-459: Was measured to be 93%. Exposure control was aperture priority AE using center-weighted light metering . Film speeds of the camera range from ASA 25 to ASA 1600. Film winding was done by using the film-wind lever located on the top right of the camera. Film rewinding was done manually using the film-rewind crank located at the top left. The camera body measured 136 × 83 × 50 mm and weighed approximately 430 grams (15 oz). The OM-20 (sold in

13923-444: Was the only true autofocus model. Olympus produced a wide variety of OM camera models over the years. These were divided into two distinct series. Cameras with single-digit model numbers were the 'professional' series, optimized for more advanced features and durability. Two-digit (or more) model numbers, or letters, meant a 'consumer' camera designed for ease of use. All the consumer-grade models were discontinued after 1992, since

14042-520: Was traded as LCA1 on the Frankfurt stock exchange until October 2012. Digital types: M = Professional | ME = Entry level | MM = Monochrom | MD = No display MR = Increased resolution   CCD sensor   |   CMOS sensor   | Video capabilities Mechanical |  Mechanical TTL   |   Electronic Controlled Shutter TTL   Collaboration with Minolta Focal-plane shutter In camera design,

14161-455: 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

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