Leica II

Last updated
Leica II
Leica-135mm-IMG 0247.jpg
Overview
Type 35 mm rangefinder camera
Lens
Lens mount M39 lens mount
Focusing
Focus manual
Exposure/Metering
Exposure manual
Flash
Flash cold shoe

The Leica II is a rangefinder camera introduced by Leica in 1932. They were the first Leica cameras with a built-in rangefinder. Several models were produced over the years, in parallel with the Leica III series from 1933.

Rangefinder camera camera fitted with a rangefinder

A rangefinder camera is a camera fitted with a rangefinder, typically a split-image rangefinder: a range-finding focusing mechanism allowing the photographer to measure the subject distance and take photographs that are in sharp focus. Most varieties of rangefinder show two images of the same subject, one of which moves when a calibrated wheel is turned; when the two images coincide and fuse into one, the distance can be read off the wheel. Older, non-coupled rangefinder cameras display the focusing distance and require the photographer to transfer the value to the lens focus ring; cameras without built-in rangefinders could have an external rangefinder fitted into the accessory shoe. Earlier cameras of this type had separate viewfinder and rangefinder windows; later the rangefinder was incorporated into the viewfinder. More modern designs have rangefinders coupled to the focusing mechanism, so that the lens is focused correctly when the rangefinder images fuse; compare with the focusing screen in non-autofocus SLRs.

Leica Camera German optics company

Leica Camera AG is a German company that manufactures cameras, lenses, binoculars, rifle scopes, microscopes and ophthalmic lenses. The company was founded by Ernst Leitz in 1914. The name Leica is derived from the first three letters of his surname (Leitz) and the first two of the word camera: lei-ca.

Leica III

The Leica III is a rangefinder camera introduced by Leica in 1933, and produced in parallel with the Leica II series. Several models were produced over the years, with significant improvements.

Contents

The Leica II uses a coupled rangefinder distinct from the viewfinder. The viewfinder is set for a 50 mm lens; use of shorter or longer lenses requires installing an alternate viewfinder on the accessory socket. [n 1]

Viewfinder system through which the photographer looks to compose and focus the picture

In photography, a viewfinder is what the photographer looks through to compose, and, in many cases, to focus the picture. Most viewfinders are separate, and suffer parallax, while the single-lens reflex camera lets the viewfinder use the main optical system. Viewfinders are used in many cameras of different types: still and movie, film, analog and digital. A zoom camera usually zooms its finder in sync with its lens, one exception being rangefinder cameras. And it’s also expensive.

A mere four copies of the gold-plated Leica Luxus II were made. In 2013, one sold at auction in Hong Kong for $HK4 million, after featuring on the BBC's Antiques Roadshow programme. [1] [2] The whereabouts of the other three models are not recorded. [2]

Hong Kong East Asian city

Hong Kong, officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China and commonly abbreviated as HK, is a special administrative region on the eastern side of the Pearl River estuary in southern China. With over 7.4 million people of various nationalities in a 1,104-square-kilometre (426 sq mi) territory, Hong Kong is the world's fourth most densely populated region.

<i>Antiques Roadshow</i> British television show

Antiques Roadshow is a British television programme in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom to appraise antiques brought in by local people. It has been running since 1979, based on a 1977 documentary programme. The programme has spawned versions in other countries with the same TV format, including Canada and the United States. As of 2019 it is in its 41st series and is currently presented by Fiona Bruce.

The popular Soviet camera, the FED 1, was a clone of the Leica II.

Soviet Union 1922–1991 country in Europe and Asia

The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. Nominally a union of multiple national Soviet republics, its government and economy were highly centralized. The country was a one-party state, governed by the Communist Party with Moscow as its capital in its largest republic, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. Other major urban centres were Leningrad, Kiev, Minsk, Alma-Ata, and Novosibirsk. It spanned over 10,000 kilometres east to west across 11 time zones, and over 7,200 kilometres north to south. It had five climate zones: tundra, taiga, steppes, desert and mountains.

FED (camera) business

The FED is a Soviet rangefinder camera, mass-produced from 1934 until around 1996, and also the name of the factory that made it.

Leica II models
Model nameManufacturing datesFeatures or improvements
Leica D (Leica II)1932–1948like III but without slow speeds on frontal dial LEI0150 198 Leica II schwarz - Sn. 67777 1931-M39 front view Umbau von Ic-0.jpg
Leica IIc1948–1951 Die-cast body like the IIIc
Leica 250 DD –Leica II-based Leica 250 Reporter
Leica IIf1951–1956Similar to the IIIf, without the slow speed dial Old Leica.jpg

Notes

  1. ↑ Unification of the rangefinder and the viewfinder occurred with the introduction of the Leica M3, allowing quick framing and focusing in a single operation. The M3 viewfinder is also able to display viewlines for 50, 90 and 135 mm lenses

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Cosina

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Contax camera brand

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Leica M3 35 mm rangefinder camera by Ernst Leitz GmbH, introduced in 1954

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Leica CL 35 mm rangefinder camera by Leica AG

The Leica CL is a 35 mm compact rangefinder camera with interchangeable lenses in the Leica M-mount. It was developed in collaboration with Minolta who manufactured it. It first appeared in April 1973 and was released in the Japanese market in November 1973 as the Leitz Minolta CL. Both the Leica CL and Leitz Minolta CL were manufactured in a new Minolta factory in Osaka. In 2017, Leica announced a new digital mirrorless camera, again named Leica CL.

Canon II

The Canon rangefinders of the late 1940s and early 1950s are Leica-compatible screw-mount cameras. Many were brought to the U.S. by servicemen who bought them while visiting Japan during the Korean War. Typically they were mounted with a 50mm Serenar lens.

Leica M2 35 mm rangefinder camera by Leica AG

The Leica M2 is a 35 mm rangefinder camera by Ernst Leitz GmbH of Wetzlar, Germany, introduced in 1957. Around 82,000 M2s were produced between 1957 and 1968. Around 1500 M2s were produced by Ernst Leitz Canada, but most of these are not marked as such on the top plate.

Konica Hexar RF 35 mm rangefinder camera

The Konica Hexar RF is a 35 mm rangefinder camera which was sold by Konica. It was introduced to the market on 13 October 1999. and subsequently discontinued some time before the end of 2003. The camera used the "Bayonet Konica KM-mount", a copy of the Leica M-mount, thus sharing interchangeable lenses with those designed for Leica cameras and others compatible with them. The Hexar RF has a combined rangefinder/viewfinder modeled on that of Leica cameras, a similar body shape and size - and so is similar to Leica M-mount cameras in many aspects of operation.

35mm Bessa family of cameras is manufactured by Cosina

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Leica M1 35 mm rangefinder camera by Leica AG

The Leica M1 is a 35 mm camera by Leica Camera AG, introduced in 1959. The M1 has a parallax-corrected viewfinder with frames for 35 and 50mm permanently displayed. 9431 were made.

Leica M4 35 mm rangefinder camera by Leica AG

The Leica M4 is a 35 mm rangefinder camera produced by Ernst Leitz GmbH.

Leica M5 35 mm rangefinder camera by Leica AG

The Leica M5 is a 35 mm camera by Leica Camera AG, introduced in 1971. It was the first Leica rangefinder camera to feature through-the-lens (TTL) metering and the last to be made entirely in Wetzlar by hand using the traditional "adjust and fit" method.

Kodak 35 Rangefinder

The Kodak 35 Rangefinder is an improved version of the Kodak 35 that was launched by the Eastman Kodak Company in 1938 as their first 35mm camera manufactured in the USA. After some two years, the Company presented this improved Kodak 35 camera, with a new superstructure housing containing a viewfinder and a separate rangefinder, but without any addition to the identifying inscription on the body. It is generally referred to as the Kodak 35 Rangefinder model.

Leica Standard

The Leica Standard, Model E was the fourth version of the original 35 mm Leica camera to be launched from Ernst Leitz in Wetzlar, Germany. The concept was conceived by their employee Oskar Barnack in 1913. Production of the camera began in 1925 but it was not until the end of the decade that it was perfected and full-scale production was established.

Leica copies

The Leica copies originate from the Leica camera that was launched by Ernst Leitz, Wetzlar in 1925, using the Leica 39mm screw mount of 25 threads per inch, and the standard 35mm film. The design was carried out by Oskar Barnack, beginning in 1913 by building a camera for 24×36 mm negatives that by now is called the Ur-Leica; but Ernst Leitz did not decide to manufacture it until 1924. Once started, the Leica production volume doubled each year; in 1929, some 16.000 cameras were produced. In 1930, an improved model with interchangeable lens was introduced, followed a year later by the fully developed Leica II with standardized film to lens flange distance, and in 1932 the basic Leica Standard; the Leica concept was established. This camera's features are the basis for defining a Leica copy.

References

  1. ↑ Antiques Roadshow, BBC One, 29 December 2013
  2. 1 2 "Rare Leica camera fails to set record at Hong Kong auction". BBC Online . 2013-11-22. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
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