Tag Archives: Wetzlar

a Johnny come lately

Toronto. Introduced in 1924, the Leica by Leitz was a flat out success. Two years later, in 1926, its competitor, Zeiss formed the Zeiss-Ikon group to rationalize the German photographic Industry. By 1932, the first Zeiss Contax reached market – … Continue reading

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you can call me Max

Toronto. As you know, a camera needs a lens to capture an image. Leitz had just such a lens designer. In 1912 according to Dr Kingslake in his 1989 book, “A History of the Photographic Lens“, a young Dr Max … Continue reading

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an Oscar for design

Toronto. In 1914, a young German visited NYC. He brought along a tiny experimental ‘device’ that looked nothing like the cameras of the day. He took photos like the one at left with the people on the street oblivious to … Continue reading

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brave new camera

Toronto. In the 1920s after losing the great war (WW1), Germany suffered a massive bout of inflation and depression. The Ernst Leitz optical house in Wetzlar had mainly made microscopes, objectives, eye pieces, accessories, and the occasional other optical item … Continue reading

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Automat? What about a Lordomat 35mm lens?

Toronto. If you like watching old movies, you have likely seen the famous Automat cafeteria in NYC. These automated restaurants were threatened and often ‘ate’ up by by the growth of fast food outlets. Sadly our camera industry was no … Continue reading

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Leica in Peace and War

Toronto. Before and for awhile after the second world war, the Leica was the most popular high-end 35mm camera sold. As many readers know, before WW2, the German camera industry was the undisputed world leader. During WW2, German technology was … Continue reading

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a new day dawns…

Toronto. In 1958 Leitz Wetzlar began to make and market a new massive focoslide OOZAB (some references list the code name as OOGAN) for its Reprovit series of professional copy stands. It had a smooth rectangular shape and a new … Continue reading

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Outta da ooze

Toronto. Willard Morgan’s nifty Sliding Focusing Stage must have been selling well because in 1938 Leitz Wetzlar began to make and market the accessory which by this time had a spring-loaded clamping bar to hold the camera both in the … Continue reading

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When Freddie bought the Farm..

Toronto. … and Ernie bought the business. In the early to mid 1800s, most of my ancestors were still in England in the villages around London. The horse was the main mode of transportation, aside from ships for those daring enough … Continue reading

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