A SUPERB SCREWMOUNT 2F CAMERA CIRCA 1953, LEICA
5.5 in (14 cm) long, 2.5 in (6.4 cm) high
A classic Leica screw mount camera, model 2F made in 1953. It comes with a matched Leica Elmar 5cm:3.5 black scale lens. The camera comes with two instruction booklets, both from 1953. Also included in this lot is a copy of the Leica Collector's Guide, a book which features this camera.
Before the Leica, cameras were cumbersome contraptions that involved hauling tripods that held the device steady during long exposure times and replacing plates over and over again. Not to mention, draping the requisite black cloth over one's head to focus on the image. But Oskar Barnack changed that.
Barnack , an engineer and precision mechanic at an optical institute in Wetzlar, Germany, invented the first, fully functional prototype of a still picture camera in 1914. This small piece, with a full metal body and collapsible lens, was called the Ur-Leica. Barnack was an avid photographer himself, but his asthmatic health prevented him using the heavy and awkward cameras of his time, driving him to tinker with the medium.
The Ur Leica and Leica cameras introduced the "35 mm film" strip to still photography. High quality pictures could be produced by exposing a small area of film to create a negative, and then enlarging the image in a darkroom. World War I put a stop to all manufacturing activities in its immediate advent. But a decade later, Ernst Leitz II, who owned the optical institute, took a gamble and produced a 1,000 of these small cameras. Ironed out of all kinks, the improved "Leica I" was introduced at the Leipzig Spring Fair in 1925.
Today, the iconic Leica-a combination of "Leitz" and "camera"-has become synonymous with immortalizing significant moments in history. One of the best known photographs is "V-J Day in Times Square" shot with a Leica, by Alfred Eisenstaedt. The image of an exuberant American sailor kissing a nurse in New York City, on August 14, 1945, as the Second World War came to an end, is a vital piece of photography history.
But no photographer is more associated with the Leica than Henri Cartier-Bresson, who taught the world about "the decisive moment" in photography. He captured candid moments from ordinary street life, usually with a Leica 35 mm rangefinder camera fitted with a 50 mm lens. The unobtrusive camera, which he called "an optical extension of the eye", gave him the anonymity he needed to blend into his surroundings and photograph his subjects in their natural element.
The Leica IIf was introduced in 1951 to replace the Leica IIC. Between 1951 and 1956, a total of 23,648 Leica IIf cameras were manufactured in three different versions-Black Dial, Red Dial and Red Dial (RD) with faster shutter speed.
The present lot, Leica IIf Black Dial, was a rarer model, with only 8,400 bodies produced between 1951 and 1952. With black dials, that were discontinued in the later models, this version also has different shutter speeds: 1/30,1/40, 1/60, 1/100, 1/200, 1/500 and B.
5.5 in (14 cm) long, 2.5 in (6.4 cm) high
A classic Leica screw mount camera, model 2F made in 1953. It comes with a matched Leica Elmar 5cm:3.5 black scale lens. The camera comes with two instruction booklets, both from 1953. Also included in this lot is a copy of the Leica Collector's Guide, a book which features this camera.
Before the Leica, cameras were cumbersome contraptions that involved hauling tripods that held the device steady during long exposure times and replacing plates over and over again. Not to mention, draping the requisite black cloth over one's head to focus on the image. But Oskar Barnack changed that.
Barnack , an engineer and precision mechanic at an optical institute in Wetzlar, Germany, invented the first, fully functional prototype of a still picture camera in 1914. This small piece, with a full metal body and collapsible lens, was called the Ur-Leica. Barnack was an avid photographer himself, but his asthmatic health prevented him using the heavy and awkward cameras of his time, driving him to tinker with the medium.
The Ur Leica and Leica cameras introduced the "35 mm film" strip to still photography. High quality pictures could be produced by exposing a small area of film to create a negative, and then enlarging the image in a darkroom. World War I put a stop to all manufacturing activities in its immediate advent. But a decade later, Ernst Leitz II, who owned the optical institute, took a gamble and produced a 1,000 of these small cameras. Ironed out of all kinks, the improved "Leica I" was introduced at the Leipzig Spring Fair in 1925.
Today, the iconic Leica-a combination of "Leitz" and "camera"-has become synonymous with immortalizing significant moments in history. One of the best known photographs is "V-J Day in Times Square" shot with a Leica, by Alfred Eisenstaedt. The image of an exuberant American sailor kissing a nurse in New York City, on August 14, 1945, as the Second World War came to an end, is a vital piece of photography history.
But no photographer is more associated with the Leica than Henri Cartier-Bresson, who taught the world about "the decisive moment" in photography. He captured candid moments from ordinary street life, usually with a Leica 35 mm rangefinder camera fitted with a 50 mm lens. The unobtrusive camera, which he called "an optical extension of the eye", gave him the anonymity he needed to blend into his surroundings and photograph his subjects in their natural element.
The Leica IIf was introduced in 1951 to replace the Leica IIC. Between 1951 and 1956, a total of 23,648 Leica IIf cameras were manufactured in three different versions-Black Dial, Red Dial and Red Dial (RD) with faster shutter speed.
The present lot, Leica IIf Black Dial, was a rarer model, with only 8,400 bodies produced between 1951 and 1952. With black dials, that were discontinued in the later models, this version also has different shutter speeds: 1/30,1/40, 1/60, 1/100, 1/200, 1/500 and B.