One hundred years of Leica photography:
the milestones


1849 - The optician Carl Kellner founds his Optical Institute in Wetzlar for the development of optical instruments and microscopes.

1869 - Ernst Leitz takes over the management.

1907 - Manufacturing of Leitz binoculars begins under the management of Max Berek.

1914 - Oskar Barnack, an employee of the Leitz-Werke Wetzlar and a pioneer of photography, constructs the first still picture camera for the 35 mm film format (24 × 36 mm). The construction of this ‘Ur-Leica’ marks the birth of convenient 35 mm photography with vastly increased creative scope, affording the photographer countless new forms of expression.

1924 - Ernst Leitz II decides to mass-produce the Leitz Kleinbildkamera (Leitz 35 mm Camera).

1925 - The first appearance of the Leica I with a permanently mounted lens. The first year already saw the production of 1,000 cameras.

1930 - The first Leica camera with a screw mount for interchangeable lenses enters the market and is sold with three lenses.

The Lehr-Atelier teaching studio is established at the Optischen Werken Ernst Leitz in Wetzlar to familiarise researchers, technicians, journalists and scientists with the theory and practice of 35 mm photography. This later became the Leica Akademie.

1932 - The Leica II is released and features an integrated, coupled rangefinder and a built-in viewfinder.

More lenses appear on the market. In the meantime, Leica photographers have a choice of seven interchangeable lenses with a standardised screw mount.

The Leica II with the serial number 100,000 rolls off the production line.

1934 - The Leica 250 Reporter features a magazine for ten metres of film and allows 250 exposures without reloading. Used in combination with a motor drive, this is the preferred aerial camera for use in reconnaissance aircraft of the German Luftwaffe.

1936 - The year of Oskar Barnack’s death.

1949 - The Leitz glass research laboratory is founded to develop new types of glass and techniques for the construction of particularly fast lenses with exceptional imaging qualities.

1952 - Leica opens new production facilities in Canada.

1954 - The Leica M3, with a bayonet lens mount and a combined bright-line viewfinder/rangefinder, rings in the end of the era of screw-mount cameras. Film transport is made much faster and easier thanks to a wind-on lever.

1956 - Ernst Leitz III takes over the management of the company following the death of his father. German Chancellor Dr Konrad Adenauer is presented with a Leica with the serial number 800,000.

1957 - The Leica IIIg appears as the last in the line of Leica screw-mount cameras.

1961 - Total serial production figures pass the 1,000,000 mark.

1965 - The Leicaflex, the first Leica SLR, goes into production.

One year later, it is followed by the Leica Noctilux-M 50 mm f/1.2, the first lens with an aspherical element.

1967 - The Leica M4, with simplified film loading and a new rewind lever, enters the market.

1968 - The Leicaflex SL is the world’s first camera with selective (spot) metering through the lens.

1971 - The Leica M5 is the world’s first rangefinder camera with selective (spot) metering through the lens.

1973 - Leica opens a factory in Vila Nova de Famalicão in Portugal.

The Leica CL compact rangefinder camera is launched.

1975 - Newly formulated glasses enable the construction of the extremely fast Leica Noctilux-M 50 mm f/1.0 lens.

1976 - The Leica R3 is the first electronic Leica and features spot and centre-weighted integral metering.

1980 - The Leica R4 enters the market.

1984 - Leica presents the Leica M6, with selective (spot) metering through the lens and an LED display in the viewfinder.

1986 - Founding of Leica GmbH to focus the company’s activities in the photographic market.

1987 - Ernst Leitz Wetzlar GmbH and Wild Heerbrugg AG merge to form the Wild Leitz Group. The new company has a workforce of 9,000 employees.

The Leica R5 appears on the market.

1988 - Leica moves into the new factory in Solms, near Wetzlar.

The company presents the Leica R6 with a mechanically controlled shutter.

1989 - The first Leica compact camera appears on the market: the Leica AF-C1.

1990 - Wild Leitz Holding AG merges with the Cambridge Instrument Company plc under the new name of the Leica Holding B.V.

1994 - The first digitally controlled Leica enters the market: the Leica R7.

1996 - Leica presents the Leica S1, the first high-performance scanning digital camera.

The company presents the microprocessor-controlled Leica R8 SLR camera.

On 25 July, Leica Camera GmbH is changed to a public limited company and subsequently operates as Leica Camera AG.

1998 - Leica introduces the Leica M6 TTL, a rangefinder camera with TTL flash metering.

The Leica Digilux appears as the first digital Leica compact camera.

1999 - The Leica C1 begins a new design line for Leica compact cameras.

2002 - The Leica M7 enters the market, featuring aperture priority automatic exposure and digital display of the automatically determined shutter speeds in the viewfinder.

The Leica R9 is introduced as a lighter SLR camera with extended flash control features.

2003 - Leica presents the Digital Modul-R, a digital back for the Leica R9.

2005 - Headed by Dr Andreas Kaufmann, ACM Projektentwicklung GmbH from Salzburg, Austria, buys into Leica and successively acquires a majority holding of 97 per cent by 2006.

The Digital-Modul-R is delivered and transforms R8/R9 film cameras into digital SLR cameras.

2006 - The market launch of the first digital Leica rangefinder camera: the Leica M8.

2008 - The Leica S2 medium-format digital camera for professional photography is launched.

2009 - The Leica M9 appears as the brand’s first full-frame, 35 mm format, digital rangefinder camera. The M9 and the S2 soon become enormously successful. Parallel to this, Leica introduces the Leica X1, the first digital compact camera to bear the prestigious ‘made in Germany’ label.

2011 - Leica Camera AG experiences a turnaround and reports record revenues of 248.8 million euros for the previous financial year (2010/2011). The operating result (EBIT) increases sixfold to 41.6 million euros.

The Blackstone Group joins Leica as a strategic partner and minority shareholder.

2012 - The go-ahead is given for the relocation of Leica Camera AG from Solms to the new company headquarters in the Leitz Park in Wetzlar.

In May, Leica launches the world’s first ever digital camera made exclusively for black-and-white 35 mm photography, the Leica M Monochrom. The company presents the next generation of the digital Leica compact camera ‘made in Germany’, the Leica X2.

In September, Leica premieres the Leica M at photokina in Cologne. This new milestone in the history of Leica camera is equipped for the first time with a newly designed and constructed CMOS sensor and features such as Live View and full-HD video.

As a logical advance, the new Leica S has further improved imaging quality and sensor sensitivity and also features predictive autofocus, higher speed and improved handling.

Since October, Lisa Germany Holding GmbH, formerly the holder of 97.58% of the Leica shares, is now the sole stockholder of the company. The ‘squeeze out’ process, the transfer of the shares from minority shareholders to the main shareholder against appropriate cash compensation is now completed and legally binding.

2013 - With the Leica X Vario, the company adds a new digital compact camera to the Leica X family – the first to feature a zoom lens and full-HD
video capability.

The Leica C is launched as the first model of a new line of Leica digital compact cameras.

2014 - The move to the new Leica company headquarters in the Leitz Park in Wetzlar begins.