How it began
Oskar Barnack joined the Leitz company in Wetzlar in 1911, first as a precision mechanic and soon as head of development for cinema and measuring technology. He was an amateur photographer but, because of asthma, could not carry the large and heavy cameras of the time. In 1913 and 1914 he developed a smaller, lighter camera, later called the Ur-Leica, which he named Liliput. In 1923 he persuaded Ernst Leitz II to make a pre-production series, and the Leica I was shown at the Leipzig Spring Fair in 1925.
How it works
The Ur-Leica was the first camera to use 35 mm cinema film in landscape format. Barnack transported the perforated film horizontally, which extended the frame to 24 x 36 mm with a 2:3 aspect ratio, instead of the 18 x 24 mm of cameras that ran the film vertically. The small negatives were enlarged to make prints, so the camera needed a specially designed, high-quality lens. The first suitable lens was a 50 mm f/3.5 design.
Who pushed back
Series production carried serious economic risk. The market was uncertain, production costs were high, and the prototypes received a mixed reception. According to Leica, there was internal resistance and many managers and engineers were skeptical in 1924. Ernst Leitz II ended the discussion with the statement, "I hereby decide: we will take the risk."
What changed first
The Leica I entered production at the end of 1924, and about 57,000 units were made between 1925 and 1930. Barnack himself took what is described as the first news picture made with a 35 mm camera, showing a flood of the Lahn River in Wetzlar. The compact, fast camera let photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Capa work in a more spontaneous way. The Leica I established 35 mm film as the global standard and laid foundations for reportage and street photography. The 24 x 36 mm frame is the format now called full-frame 35 mm.
