Book review: Ernst Leitz III
Book review: Ernst Leitz III
November 1, 2019
In 1960, Ernst Leitz GmbH entered the 8mm cine film market with the Double 8 movie camera, Leicina 8
During the Ernst Leitz III era, a number of decisions were made and events took place that had great significance for the development of the company and its products. In aid of the production of the Leica, the Leitz factory built the first optical precision instrument to control the tools used for production. This caught the interest of other manufacturers, and in 1931, led to the establishment of a new business department for Optical Precision Instruments. There the development of two-coordinate measurement technology was carried out for over four decades, until it was replaced by three-coordinate measurement technology. Other chapters of the book are dedicated to the establishment of a branch in Ontario, Canada, and the foundation of a glass laboratory in Wetzlar in 1954. The opening of a branch in Vila Nova de Famalicão, Portugal, in 1974, also belonged to the Ernst Leitz III era.
Within the photography department, the first thing to mention must be the introduction of the M-Leica. As of 1954, the Leica with a rangefinder began to replace the screw-Leica, and remains to this day one of the most important cameras in the manufacturer’s programme. There was also the long and complex development of the first aspherical lenses: starting in 1966 and over a period of nine years, only 1700 units of the Noctilux 1:1.2/50 were produced. It was hardly a commercial success. However, following a manufacturing breakthrough in the early nineties, Leica was able to draw on know-how gained in the past, with the result that ever since, aspherical lenses have become an essential part of any number of lens designs.
The book does not only focus on questions of technology and company policies, but also on the Leitz factory during the Second World War and the post-war era. The use of forced labour is discussed at length. The picture painted of Ernst Leitz III is that of an enterprising personality of the 20th century, who was active in local and state politics, and who reaffirmed the Leitz family’s generational predilection for rowing, as Chairman of the Wetzlar Rowing Society 1880 e.V., from 1947 to 1973.
(Bernd Luxa)
Ernst Leitz III – Die Leica stets im Blick. Asphärentechnologie und Glasforschung – die Basis für legendäre Objektive;(Ernst Leitz III – An eye always on the Leica. Aspheric technology and glass research – the basis for legendary lenses). 272 pages, 22.2 x 28.7 cm, around 200 coeval black and white images. German. Heel Verlag
In 1960, Ernst Leitz GmbH entered the 8mm cine film market with the Double 8 movie camera, Leicina 8
The Leitz GmbH was a forerunner of the computerisation of German industry: a Zuse Z5 computer was acquired in 1953. It was guided by perforated tape made of 35mm raw cine film
The 1973 Leica CL: developed in collaboration with Minolta and equipped with an M bayonet – here with a Summicron-C 1:2/40