Whole bookcases of books have been written about Leitz and the creation of the Leica, so we will only briefly outline it here, but it's with good reason the marque attracts so much attention to this day. The manufacturer, Leitz based in Wetzlar, had been making microscopes from 1869 for which they had an enviable reputation, creating some 50,000 by 1899. They also made a smaller number of plate cameras from 1885 but these were considered average by the standard of the day. Around 1910 an ex Zeiss employee, Emil Mechau, joined Leitz in Wetzlar and not long after poached one of his Zeiss colleagues to join him there. Initially reluctant citing health reasons, he relented and took up a position which saw him become director of microscope development within a year. That man was Oskar Barnack. Photography was becoming more widespread at this time, helped along by the first roll film cameras, but convention still had it that a good picture could only come from a large negative. Barnack was a keen amateur photographer and had experimented with smaller image areas using his own plate camera, considering the results poor, but really sought the lightness, immediacy and portability of a smaller camera. During his time at Leitz he was tasked with the design of a new movie camera and as a result became convinced that the 35mm film used could produce a good still image if sufficient area of it was used. As used in a movie camera the film ran vertically producing a negative around 24x18mm, Barnack proposed to run it sideways for a still image of 24x36mm and believing that good quality enlargements could be made from such an area, proposed the idea to his employer. The result of this was a basic prototype camera used to test the idea. It adopted the format and a focal plane shutter with a fixed slit, two speeds were available using spring tension. Two further prototypes followed and a lens designed in house was created. The date was 1914 and the first World War was about to erupt, so there the story stalled until 1924. Leitz then revisited the idea producing thirty pre-production cameras to test reaction, several of which had self capping shutters with variable slits. Following a promising response, the first production Leica was presented at the Leipzig fair in 1925 and the Leica legend was born.

That first model was a viewfinder only camera and just shy of 59,000 were built until replaced by the Leica Standard in 1932. Also that year the Leica II arrived - the subject of this museum entry. The Leica II incorporated a coupled rangefinder so that the image could be focussed precisely. The viewfinder was a separate window to the rangefinder, but the result was still a considerable improvement. Since the housing for the rangefinder made it awkward to rewind the film, the logical choice of making the rewind knob extendable was also built in. The build quality was excellent as ever, this being a major part of the camera's success. The main shell consists of an aluminium, open ended and flattened tube with machined channels for pressure plate and springs. Capped top and bottom by brass pressings, the bottom forming the removable base, the top becomes the top plate to which the shutter mechanism box is mounted. The entire mechanism lifts out in one functioning piece. The shutter itself is a sealed cloth, classic two curtain affair with variable slit governed by a lift and turn knob on the top housing. The speed needs to be read off when the shutter is cocked. The action of advancing the next frame also cocks the shutter. Many cameras of this era required a red window to correctly set the next frame, the use of sprocketed 35mm meant that the film transport could be measured by the number of rotations performed by the sprocket wheel, meaning that the next frame could be brought into use very quickly and automatically, a major benefit of this setup. The early examples were painted with a tough black enamel finish with nickle plated bright parts giving way to chrome plated top housings and bright parts by the mid 1930s and setting a camera style trend that lasted for fifty years. The painted ones are prone to having the finish worn off at the corners revealing the brass metal beneath, a condition popularly known as brassing. Finding pristine examples is hard, but a casual search of a well known internet auction site generally throws up several examples. Caution should be exercised here as the both the nickle plate finish and black paint aren't that hard to replicate these days. If the camera has nickle bright parts, it should also have a nickle plated lens barrel. The appearance is subtle until you see them side by side, nickle has a yellow hue, whilst chrome has a blue hue. The camera body is wrapped with a textured vulcanite material, this becomes brittle with age, so a certain degree of care is needed when handling them now.

Leitz created a reloadable film cannister for use with the Leica, this predates the Kodak 135 (1934) cannister with the felt seal so familiar today. The Leitz cannister would be loaded in a dark room and closed with a length of film protruding. The base plate of the bottom loading Leicas has an ingenious arrangement, pressing the base plate on engages a spike that backs off the Leitz cannister's closure lock and when the camera's baseplate lock is rotated this action opens the cannister inside, allowing the film to exit unhindered. The cannister is automatically closed when the baseplate is removed. It's a lovely solution allowing the camera to be reloaded in daylight, even if the cannister itself has to be loaded in the dark.

This particular Leica II dates from 1932, the first year of production, and joined the Living Image in 2025 as a gift from Claire Saunders in memory of her brother Stephen. As donated it had an incorrect lens barrel with chrome plate, this turned out to be the original lens supplied to our Leica III, itself donated by Stephen years before. A correct nickle barreled Elmar was sourced to display with this Leica II and the camera went into the workshop in September 2025. The shutter was running slow, the second curtain being very hesitant. The primary cause was a piece of sheared film stuck in the mechanism, not uncommon with bottom loading Leicas (or the numerous copies) and the grease on the speed mechanism was dry and sticky. No other issues were found and after a good clean it's ready to have another film through it. Finish wise, it was left as it was in keeping with museum policy. Neglect and misuse are undone, functionality is repaired but evidence of normal use is preserved.

Body No. 78911 (1932)
Shutter, cloth blind - focal plane, B, 20, 30, 40, 60, 100, 200, & 500th sec.
Lens, Leitz Elmar 5cm 1:3.5, serial 201134 (1934)

View other rangefinder cameras in this collection.