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O series Leica in a 2018
Westlicht auction

Toronto. In a recent Digital Camera World article, it was announced that Leica Camera AG had its best  (in revenue) year ever – this on the 100th anniversary of the first sale of Leicas ever.

Like many firms in Europe, the E Leitz Optical House began as a family affair. After the death of the founder, the new owner brought in Ernst Leitz to standardize and optimize the manufacture of microscopes – the company’s primary line of products.

Ernst Leitz eventually took over the facility and renamed it after himself (Ernst Leitz Optische Werke). Around the beginning of the 20th century, Leitz made some photographic lenses and cameras.  Barely into that century Leitz hired Oskar Barnack.  Amongst other things, Barnack  had an idea for a tiny camera using movie film.

In the great depression of the 1930s, the Leitz firm decided to build and sell the tiny camera to hold on to its technical craftsmen. The camera became known as the Leica (LEItz CAmera). The well built and utilitarian little camera was the first commercially successful 35mm camera. It caught the mighty Zeiss/Zeiss-Ikon conglomerate flat footed. It took a few years before the awesome Contax hit the market with its vertically running metal strips shutter and wide range of lenses.

During WW2, the firm began designing a replacement for the screw mount Leica, and in less than a decade afterWW2, the famous M3 was placed on the market, once again revolutionizing photography.

With the inroads of Japanese cameras, the company struggled. A SLR line was introduced. Some rangefinder models were made in Japan by Minolta and Panasonic. Finally, the Leicas and a few other consumer products were sold off and the Leica seemed to be destined to disappear. The cameras became an expensive niche product celebrating various anniversaries/organizations  and stepped up the targeting of collectors.

When digital technology took off, the Leica design and its excellent lenses (both very expensive) slowly began to increase sales. And today, as noted in the DCW article, the camera is once more very profitable. Happy anniversary little guy!

PS. Visit our 2025 events – you are bound to find a Leica there. Next upon October 19th is our fabulous fall fair. Check out this site for details (poster pinned to first page until the 19th).

PPS. The post title is a riff on the spiritual song “Amazing Grace“.