The new generation of Leicas, the M type, resilient in the concept of rangefinder cameras, followed in a position of honor in the photographic scene, very much used and respected by great masters, but the single lens reflex concept proved to be the best adapted to the new photographer emerging as we enter the 1970s.
Brands like Canon, Olympus, Pentax, Minolta, were the winners of professionals and also the most dedicated amateurs. The image seen through the lens that takes the picture, the small size of the camera and automatic exposure with more powerful built in light-meters, made cameras like the Nikon F the standard equipment for photojournalism. It was the boom of SLRs, Europeans first, like Exakta and Contaflex, and right after the Japaneses. We may see that as an exemplary case of perseverance and adaptability of humans beings.īut even with the concept of 35 mm rangefinder, brought to perfection by Leicas, when we reach the end of the 1950s and early 1960s, this would give way to an old idea that had been updated, miniaturized, also using 135 film in frames of 24 x 36 mm, and took the lead in the gesture and way to capture the moment. We have to admire him not only for his work in itself, by his many images, so raw, about life in Manhattan streets, but also by his ability to use a Speed Graphic 4×5″ like a point and shoot. We have to admire photographers like Weegee, born in Ukraine, immigrated to the United States where he worked as a photojournalist in the 30s and 40s (photo on the left, source Wikipedia). The Leicas were decisive in providing means and standards for this new conception of photography to become fully established. The photo of Cartier Bresson on the left side is a perfect example of this inversion.
It can be said that at first we were seeing to shoot and with the introduction of compact cameras, faster and better quality it was possible to reverse the formula and from then on we started shooting to see. Leicas and folding cameras like the Retinas, from Kodak, or the TLR Rolleiflex, were important steps in this direction of the camera as an extension of a restless look, a look that was already zapping quickly, no longer contemplative as it was in the first generations of photography. Very famous photos as the one on the cover of the book written by Clément Chéroux, about Henri Cartier Bresson, embody precisely that spirit that would be difficult to express with a large format camera, due to the complexity of operation, and also with a box camera, due to the lack of optical quality. The Leicas are closely linked to the emergency of street photography, spontaneity, the capturing at the decisive moment. There came lenses as Summar, Summarex, Summarit, Elmar, among others, that surprised by the quality they delivered in the final copy. This forced the Ernst Leitz to design and launch special lenses for the new line of cameras, because he aimed to position it in the premium segment, for demanding photographers. In the case of images on film 135, the sharpness expected for a negative that will be enlarged, easily 10 times, rises the required lens quality too a next level. The 120 film was also gaining popularity, first with box cameras cameras and later with folding cameras, and was suitable for both: contact print or enlargements.Ī contact print requires less of a camera lens as in this process the negative will not have its shortcomings enlarged. This was at a time when much of the prints were made by contact with negative plates measuring 9 x 12, 13 x 18 cm and larger. The basic idea of the photograph in 135 film was to use the negative for enlargements.
LEICA DRP E LEITZ WETZLAR GERMANY MOVIE
The Leicas used the 135 film, originally made for cinema, and instead of 18 x 24 mm format, typical of when the film is transported vertically like in movie cameras and projectors, Oskar Barnack designed his camera for 18 x 36 mm frames, with the film transported horizontally. After the Leica IIIg came the M line with bayonet lenses and a complete redesign. Leica IIIf is one of the latest models, the penultimate in fact, of a line and a design that began in 1913, designed by Oskar Barnack, and commercially launched in 1924 by Ernst Leitz Optische Werke in Wetzlar, Germany. – Leica III f – Ernest Leitz GmbH Wetzlar, Germany – 1951 –