What kind of cameras were there before Leica?
Many people wonder what prompted Leica’s immediate success. Its launch at the Leipzig fair in 1925 surprised everyone, even the executives at Leitz itself. I believe that a good starting point for understanding what the little camera ultimately brought is to examine what was available on the market. What did professional and amateur photographers find on the camera market at that time?
The 1920s were a time of strong market consolidation. So we don’t need to look much further than the giant Zeiss Ikon to get a very complete picture of what one could find in specialized stores.
Zeiss Ikon, a German company, in its latest wave of consolidation was the result of the merger of four already large and very traditional companies in the optics, camera and photo accessories industry. They were: Ica and Ernemann from Dresden, Goerz from Berlin and Contessa-Nettel from Stuttgart. It is important to note that Zeiss Ikon, a camera manufacturer, was a separate company from Carl Zeiss, a manufacturer of lenses and optical instruments. There was a shareholding relationship but Zeiss Ikon ceased production in 1972 while Carl Zeiss still exists today.
For this summary of the photographic industry’s portfolio in the 1920s, I’m going to use a 1928 Zeiss Ikon catalog for the French market, the cover of which I’ve reproduced below.
It is available at this link. The aim is obviously to make an inventory of camera “categories” rather than specific models. Through the categories, as they were organized by Zeiss Ikon itself, we can get an idea of the type of photography or photographer that was targeted at those times. I’m going to follow the sequence of the catalog itself, as I believe this says a lot about a certain hierarchy of supply.
1- Shutters
To begin with, four shutter models are introduced in ascending order of features, i.e. precision and available time settings. The simplest, the Derval, has no delay mechanism and only a spring determines the exposure speeds. The most sophisticated is the Compur. It has an escapement mechanism, present in watches, which resists the force of the mainspring and thus delays the shutter closing and in this way offers times up to 1 second.
These shutters, in various sizes depending on the aperture (size) of the lens, were used in the Zeiss Ikon cameras shown below in the catalog.
2- Optical
Here are the various lenses that fitted the cameras. The simplest, the Frontar, is just a meniscus, and is like a reading glasses lens. One side is concave and the other convex. The most sophisticated is the Double Protar, which has a concept with 8 elements in 2 groups. It’s very difficult to center and glue 4 elements in a single group. It’s a perfectly usable lens today. See more about the Protar at this link.
3- Box-type cameras
These are very simple cameras that take advantage of roll film, allowing one to take several photos without having to reload. The iconic brand in this segment is Kodak and perhaps the most famous box camera is its Brownie No. 2, for which the company launched 120 format film, which still exists today.
The Box Tengor above has had several versions and has been a success. The viewfinder doesn’t allow for much aesthetic pretension on the part of the photographer. There are two very small windows. One for portraits and one for landscapes. It’s hard to see what’s around the edges. The best strategy is to always place the subject in the center.
The Zeiss Ikon catalog features three models of this type. Above is the Erni with a wire frame viewfinder, also known as a sports viewfinder. The name undoubtedly indicates that it was a model brought to Zeiss Ikon by Ernemann. From the flap on the back left, you can see that the Erni was for glass plates or film packs.
About the category:
We’re really talking about entry-level cameras here. Advertisements often mention children and it was in this vein that George Eastman launched his Brownies, a name that clearly appealed to children. This type of camera brought a new and large audience to photography. That’s when the photographic industry started offering photofinishing services. By adopting this kind of camera, at once, the photographer could dispense with the tripod, the black cloth and the darkroom. The price to pay was the loss of the variety of photographable situations and the images quality. These are cameras for those who are already happy if they can recognize who was in the picture. They’re for those who want to have fun taking pictures outdoors on clear days.
4- Cameras for film
Although most of the box cameras were also for film (rather than glass), the catalog created this category(appareils à pellicules). There are no less than 20 models, all of which are for roll film and all with bellows. They are basically variations of optics, formats and shutters that gradually add the flexibility absent in box cameras.
This is an Ikonette No. 504/12. in the miniature format of 4.5 x 6 cm for the time. You can see that the lens is very simple, a meniscus with an f/9 aperture, and so is the shutter. Compared to box cameras, it only has the advantage of being foldable, so it can fit better in a pocket or bag. This is the Vest Pocket concept , an expression often used by Kodak.
Another system for extending the bellows is this pantographic arrangement. This is a Piccolette de Luxe f/6.8, which already has a well-corrected lens, an anastigmat, and also makes 4.5 x 6 cm.
In this category we even see very sophisticated cameras like the Nixe, above. It could be bought with a Tessar lens or even a Double Protar and all with a Compur shutter. It’s a hybrid camera because it accepts both roll film and glass plates by swapping a sliding bottom on the back. The format goes up to 8 x 14 cm and at the time there was roll film for this size. Finally, it allows for some lens movements to correct perspective or focus, as long as you use film plates and the ground glass for framing and focusing.
About the category:
In this category of bellows and roll film cameras, you can find anything from something as basic as a small or medium format box camera to very sophisticated cameras with the best lenses and shutters. The common denominator is the way the camera is carried. They are made for handheld photography, but the focus is set by estimating the distance and manually adjusting it. The shutter is cocked and the film advanced in independent operations. This leads to a slowness that still induces posed shots. The brilliant finder, which inverts right/left, leads to centered and orthogonal compositions. There’s even a bubble level as an aid to this “correct way” of shooting. These are cameras that responded to the appeal of the instant photo, but when they added improvements to the lenses, shutters or focusing devices, they adopted the systems of the old large format cameras.
5- Plate cameras
The catalog divides this category into three: single, double and triple extension. Like the roll film cameras, these are all of the drop bed type , i.e. the front of the camera drops like a drawbridge and the lens moves forward on a rail. With just one rail, it’s a single extension, with one or two overlapping rails, double or triple. These are very sophisticated cameras and basically improvements on the wooden view cameras of the 19th century. The novelty was that they offered smaller formats, usually starting at 6.5 x 9 cm.
The framing system is ground glass, as they usually have lens movements. But most of them also offer a brilliant finder and a sports viewfinder.
A top representative of this category is the Ideal (above). It is a double extension, you can see a second rail advancing over a first one in the illustration above. In addition to the possibility of macro photography, all this variation in lens/plate distance often also allowed lenses to be changed. The Ideal was offered in 4 formats: 6.5 x 9 cm, 9 x 12 cm, 10 x 15 cm and 13 x 18 cm.
Some of these cameras even allowed photography without a tripod. But all the features they offered ended up making them heavy and so, for those who wanted to take pictures handheld, they weren’t the best option.
This one, for example, is a 13x18cm Bijou Universel that was sold with top-of-the-range lenses that covered more than just the plate format and allowed for all these movements. They were an optimization, with new materials and technologies, of the old studio or travel cameras of the 19th century.
About the category:
Here we get into something for the professional or very advanced amateur, and in both cases linked to a very static type of photography. The whole operation of these cameras is very slow and to take advantage of all their features you have to embrace this slowness as part of the process.
6- Focal plane shutter cameras
With the development of gelatine-based emulsions and the desire to freeze the action, curtain shutters were launched. Instead of opening the lens all the way, one or two curtains make a gap, which can be very small, run close to the film, thus producing exposure speeds of 1/500 or even 1/1000 of a second. An important side effect is that these shutters are independent of the lens and allow the lens to be changed at will, as long as the focal length is compatible with the camera body.
These cameras are characterized by the buttons on the right-hand side of the housing. They are used to cock the shutter and adjust the tension of the spring and thus the exposure time. Above is the famous Ermanox with an Ernostar f/1.8 lens, very bright for its time and even today. It was offered in 4.5 x 6 cm and 6.5 x 9 cm formats. Focusing is done by estimating the distance and acting on a helicoid in the lens. Note the direct optical viewfinder for framing on the top of the camera.
This is the Nettel Tropical, offered from 6.5 x 9 cm up to 13 x 18 cm. Focusing is done by pressing the top button on the right-hand side of the camera. But it’s still by estimating the distance. The lens moves forward or backward via the pantograph frame.
About the category:
An Ermanox already allows photographs to be taken with the viewfinder at eye level and this is very important because it equates the act of photographing with the act of seeing. It also allows you to shoot in low light conditions, thanks to its very bright lens. But it’s still a camera for plates and slow operation. There were adapters for roll film, but even then each shot involved advancing the film (or changing the plate holder), estimating the shutter speed and aperture, then cocking the shutter and adjusting the iris, estimating the distance, adjusting the focus and finally shooting. Despite the optical viewfinder, they usually still had a ground glass because it was synonymous with serious photography.
7- Cameras with mirrors
The concept had been around since at least the beginning of the 20th century. Very famous were the large format Graflex monoreflex. This is an Ermanox Reflex offered in 4.5 x 6 cm and 6.5 x 9 cm for plates. Instead of ground glass taking the place of film, a 45º mirror throws the image onto a ground glass at the top of the camera.
Framing and focusing can be done in real time and when the shutter button is pressed, the mirror flaps up and opens the way to the lens projected image hits the film plane. The focal plane shutter is then triggered and exposure is made. This category combines focus control with instantaneity: a very desirable feature for portraitists.
Engineering has become very complicated for this type of camera. Above an Artiste Pliant, offered in 6.5 x 9 cm, 9 x 12 cm and 10 x 15 cm. The angled mirror greatly reduced the camera’s ability to shrink when closed. Acrobatic solutions like the Artiste were often expensive and prone to failure. But the concept of a focal plane shutter with a mirror for real-time focusing and framing was worth the effort.
About the category:
These cameras were expensive and complicated. Compared to what followed, if we consider them the grandparents of the mono-reflexes that invaded photography from the 1960s onwards, we can say that they were on the right track but the execution still needed a lot of improvement. They were adopted mostly by press photographers.
Stereoscopic cameras
Three-dimensional photography using some kind of stereo apparatus was very popular. Anyone who has seen it knows that it is an extremely seductive effect. What’s surprising, is the contrast between its simplicity and its illusionistic capacity. The cameras were basically built in such a way as to take two simultaneous photos with lenses separated by the same average distance that separates the eyes of human beings.
This is a Stereo Nettel in 10×15 format that also allows panoramic shots. In this Zeiss Ikon catalog alone, 10 different stereo cameras are presented. Even among non-stereo cameras, it was common until the 1960s for manufacturers to offer accessories to split the image and thus generate stereoscopes. Leitz launched its Stereolyte for Leica in 1930.
8- Cameras using cine film
Surprise at the end of the catalog! Cameras that used cine film for up to 24 frames, in 22 x 33 mm format, for enlargements of up to 10 x 15 cm.
Three models on offer, Unette (above), a very simple box camera.
But also the much more sophisticated Bobette II, which could even come with an Ermanox f/2 lens with a 42 mm focal length.
The film used was cine film, but it was not perforated, i.e. a 35mm wide strip. So it could only be used with a backing paper, like all roll film and not perforated.
About the category:
I don’t even know if it’s worth separating these cameras as a “category”. They were brought over from Ermanox and continued in production after the merger that formed Zeiss Ikon. As a concept, they are old acquaintances, a box camera and a folding camera, but the interesting thing is that, perhaps in response to the success of Leica in its 1925 launch, Zeiss Ikon saw appropriate to draw attention to the fact that they also had cameras for use with cine film, as was the idea behind Leica in the first place.
So… that was it.
This concludes the catalog of cameras. There are also 3 for cinema, film and accessories. But, roughly speaking, it was with these types of camera that the photographer of the 1920s had to decide which type to buy for the type of photography he wanted to do.
Of course, there were many other manufacturers besides Zeiss Ikon, but they offered practically the same types of cameras. Take for example, on the other side of the Atlantic, this 1928 Kodak catalog. With the exception of a few niches and experiments by smaller manufacturers, the bulk of the market boils down to the options we’ve seen so far. Adding up the different models, without multiplying them by format, we’ve covered 80 different devices! Of which 10 are for stereoscopy and 3 for cinema.
In summary, if we look at the types of cameras x number of models, we get the following picture:
| Zeiss Ikon 1928 | models |
| Leaf shutters | 4 |
| Lenses | 4 |
| Box cameras | 3 |
| Roll film cameras | 20 |
| Cameras for simple extension, plates | 8 |
| Cameras for dual extension, plates | 12 |
| Cameras for triple extension, plates | 2 |
| Focal plane shutter cameras | 5 |
| Reflex cameras | 6 |
| Stereoscopic cameras | 10 |
| Cine film cameras (not perforated) | 3 |
| Cinema cameras | 3 |
| 80 |
It’s interesting to note the strong presence of glass plate photography, with 22 different models, at a time when flexible film was more than 30 years old. Reflex cameras and cameras with focal plane shutters, which as we know would still have a great future in photography, totaled only 6 and 5 models respectively and were more expensive cameras.
As for formats, we have the following occurrences:
This graph was made by counting how many times the same format appeared in the catalog. Cinema cameras and stereoscopic cameras were not included. But as several cameras were sold in different formats, the 67 models gave rise to 102 different cameras. So, for example, we have 18 9×12 cm cameras and 17 6.5×9 cm cameras. These are the most common formats, followed by 4.5×6 cm.
We can see that the right-hand side of the graph, where the medium to large formats are, is more populated. This must have been due to the fact that in these sizes a contact print already generated an image that was pleasant to look at and ready to place it in an album. Smaller formats required enlargements and then the photographer had to have a darkroom equipped with an enlarger. Or would have to use an external photofinishing. As we know, this was the path the whole industry took. Another factor was perhaps the share of dedicated professionals and amateurs, which was still significant compared to the general public, who certainly sent their films away for processing.
Unfortunately I don’t have actual sales figures, but it is reasonable to assume that the cluster where a greater number of models were offered must have represented the bulk of the photographic market.
I was very impressed by the extensive range of cameras that the Zeiss Ikon conglomerate made available to the public. No matter how much they rationalized the sharing of lenses, shutters, perhaps bellows, the fact remains that only in cameras x lenses x format x shutters could the photographer choose from hundreds of possibilities. It’s even more impressive to think that at that time, with all this on offer, a category was still missing that was destined to be a revolution in the world of photography. That’s what the Leica came for.
If you are in the themed circuit The Leica Revolution, use the buttons below to navigate through the rooms.