Leica Cameras

Even though I did not own any cameras, I developed a strong prejudice that a camera has to be a Leica. Interestingly, one of those guys was showing off his camera looking like a Leica, but made in Russia. He said he was in Pyongyang when Soviet troops came to Korea's northern half after World War II. He claimed further he stole his Soviet-made Leica from a Soviet army officer before coming to the South (it is more likely that his father bought this camera for him from the Soviet officer) . Many Koreans moved from the North to South during the period (1945-48) because they disliked the communist government being set up there.

Because of him, my curiosity in Leica became intensified. Since then, I had a dream of owning one of those Soviet-made Leica cameras.

Koreans are not the only ones crazy about Leica. Japanese and Russians attempted to produce their own Leica clones. Let us look at some of their products.

Canon P. In 1959, Korea was still a very poor country. My parents were eager to visit their son studying in the United States, but only one of them could come. My father came with a gift from my mother. The gift was a Japanese camera modeled after Germany's Leica. It was called Canon P with lenses interchangeable with Leica lenses. My mother was greedy, and she thought the camera quality was judged by its lens size. The lens size of my Canon was 1.2/50, and its diameter was as large as the height of the camera (the lens shown in this brochure is 1.8/50mm). I was a graduate student at that time, and my camera was admired by my classmates.
It had a detachable light meter without battery. It was powered by the photo-electric current generated by incident light. This kind of light meter had been around for sometime, but it was a new idea to couple it the camera.
I used this camera to take many photos until 1967 when its film advance mechanism broke down. Even in the 1960s, Japanese products were not completely reliable. Canon was not Leica.
During the the 60s, there appeared another Japanese camera in the American market. It was called Nikon's single-lens reflex. Its photomic version had a light meter coupled to the camera's speed adjust system, but it required a small battery (very strange at that time). I bought one of them and used to take some pictures. But, in 1970, I sold it to someone because it was not a Leica. Instead, I bought a reflex version of Leica with Summicron 1.8/50 lens.
LeicaFlex In April of 1970, I bought a LeicaFlex camera from New York's Willoughby-Peerless, which was regarded as the most prestigious camera store in the world. The list price was $750, but I paid $485. Here is the guarantee from Leitz, Inc. It was one of the happiest moments in my life. The only problem was that it was so valuable to me that I kept it in my closet and seldom used it.
Alas, in May of 1977, a burglar came into my house and took away all of my photographic instruments, including this LeicaFlex. During this seven-year period since 1970, the price of this camera became more than doubled, and my insurance company, after a critical review, paid me $1,074. This amount includes replacement costs for other devices (including a spring-driven movie camera), but they were obsolete and I wanted to get rid of them. Leica seems to be a good investment. These days, it costs as much as $10,000 to own a genuine Leica camera.
Canon AE1 Program. After losing my LeicaFlex, I was looking for a more practical alternative. In 1975, Canon started marketing computer-controlled cameras. Its first model was AE-1. Its chip controls the aperture for a given shutter speed. I bought one of them and used it for two or three years. Canon later came up with "Canon AE-1 Program" whose chip controls both speed and aperture. Indeed, Canon produced more than three-million copies of the Canon-AE1 series and established itself as the camera company for both experts and non-experts.
With my "AE-1 Program," I took many photos including some of historical significance.
1. Actress Brooke Shields in her graduation gown at Princeton University (1987).
2. Murray Gell-Mann talking to Eugene Wigner and John Bardeen at the University of Maryland (1988). All three of them are Nobel Laureates.
3. Eugene Wigner with Mrs. Wigner at his home in Princeton (1991).
4. Black/white Photo. In 1981, black/white photos were acceptable, and some of them were quite respectable. This photo still has its distinction.
I do not use this camera very often these digital days, but it is still my favorite reflex camera. I always keep it in proper working condition.
Zenit Russian Camera In 1996, while I was attending a conference in Minsk (Belarus), I asked my Russian friends what they produce in their city. They said they produce excellent cameras. They then added their engineering tradition came from Germany's Leica camera. I went to one of their camera stores and asked their best camera. The store lady could not speak English well, but she understood what I had in mind. She showed me two models of the Zenit camera, one costing about $40 and the other about $60. I took the $60 camera.
This is a reflex camera like the LeicaFlex I once had, and its mechanism was somewhat strange to me. It has a lens called Helios 6, with 2.0/55. Indeed, it is an excellent lens. The body is heavy and somewhat inconvenient to me, but it is very strong. This camera is still in excellent condition. I took some interesting photos with this camera.
1. Deer crossing the Street, Greenbelt, Maryland.
2. Lake and Trees. See the trees and leaves.
3. Two Comedians at a Renaissance festival near Annapolis, Maryland.
4. Myself at the ground of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
  Myself at a restaurant in Annapolis (1996).
Yes, this camera could serve as a substitute for my lost LeicaFlex, but did not look like the Soviet Leica my high school friend was showing off in 1950. I then asked my Russian friends whether Zenit was making cameras before 1945. They said No, and said Russians were making Leica-clones at a factory named FED, and FED comes from the initials of a prominent communist named "Felix Edmundovich Dzerjinski" who was the first organizer of Russian secret police which later became known as KGB. This person did not know anything about cameras, but the camera factory was built within the ground of the youth rehabilitation center built and operated by this distinguished communist.
FED-5b Soviet Camera I then concluded that the cameras Soviet soldiers brought with them to North Korea must have been of FED type. I thus bought a FED camera when I was visiting Budapest (Hungary) in 1998. I paid $40 for its model FED-5b, equipped with Industar-61 lens 2.8/53. The internal mechanism of this camera was like that of old Leica cameras. For curiosity, I took many photos using this camera, and we can see the following results.
1. Color Resolution. This image will show how accurately and beautifully its lens produces colors.
2. Sharpness. This is a photo of myself with my wife. You can see how sharp the people and environment are.
3. Koreans from the North. Those Koreans who were in Northern part of Korea in 1945 had a chance to greet Soviet soldiers. They know that Soviet soldiers had magic cameras. I went to one of their meetings with this FED camera in order to impress them. I of course took pictures.
4. Time Resolution. For indoor photos at the meeting, I used a Canon flash light, which was not properly synchronized with my FED. As a result, I ended up with a partial flash exposure for each frame. The flash stops exactly at the same place for all the pictures, as you can see from the two photos shown here.
Chinese FED/Leica. I bought this camera when I visited China's Shanxi Province (west of Beijing and closer to the ancient capital city of Xian) in 1995. The camera body was rather shabby, but it produces great pictures. Here are some photos I took while in China.
1. Mountain-top Temple. This Buddhist temple has a history, but I am not able to elaborate.
2. Wall Engravings. These are more than 1200 years old.
3. Town Center in country side. The big Chinese characters say "Public Telephone." Apparently not every house in this area has a telephone. It is a very peaceful town, and the occasional appearance of this camel makes people happy. The camel rider was telling me something, but I could not understand.
4. Chinese Children at their elementary school in Beijing. Two of them are wearing red bands, and they seem to have a special assignment.
I did not know at that time. But, after I bought the FED-5b camera in 1998, I developed a suspicion that this camera could be a Chinese clone of the FED camera, which was a Soviet clone of Germany's Leica. Its appearance is very similar to that of FED-5b. This Chinese Leica also has an excellent lens producing super photos.
Look at its trademarks . The camera's body has two identical Chinese characters separated by a figure of phoenix. In fact, The Chinese character means "phoenix." However, its lens has its trademark "phenix" in English. I do not know whether this misspelling was intentional or due to carelessness. In either case, this camera could be an excellent item for camera collectors.
Indeed, you do not need a Leica if you have a Soviet FED. The only problem with my FED-5b is that it does not look like a Leica or the FED camera my high-school friend was showing off as a Soviet Leica in 1950.

FED-3 Soviet Leica. Thus, I googled around for earlier versions the FED camera. Indeed, many FED cameras are available through ebay trade. I bought (August 2007) this FED-3 camera from a dealer in Severodonetsk (Ukraine). The price was very reasonable. First of all, it looks like the Soviet Leica I saw in 1950. This camera was produced from 1961 to 1979 at the FED factory in Ukraine, and more than two million copies were made. This is why they are still available in the market.
This camera is not exactly the same as the Soviet Leica my friend was showing off 1950, but looks like it. Close enough! The question is whether it produces good pictures. I took some photos with this camera and obtained the following result.
1. Indoor Photo without Flash. I took several shots inside a shopping mall. This is the best of them.
2. Campus Scene. Outdoor photos are also great.
3. Close-up Photo. I took this photo of Queen Nofretete in a show window. Great!
4. Trees and Leaves. See also bricks for the camera's resolving power.
5. New Houses built in a suburban community.
I think I could take professional-quality photos if I become more familiar with this old machine. This camera costed me $70 including the air-freight cost from Ukraine. It is highly unlikely that I will use this FED any practical purposes in this digital age. Yet, this antique machine will make this webpage much richer and elevate my image as a person who takes his own life very seriously.

Leica Cameras in Digital Age

The shutter mechanism is no longer mechanical. It is controlled electronically. Furthermore, it is coupled to the light meter system. The technology on this front is constantly developing. Thus, one has to buy a new camera every year. Leica body's untimate virtue of durability has no meaning to informed camera people.

How about Leica's lens system. Each Leica lens was hand-made by skilled craftsmen. This procedure is no longer acceptable. It is still essential for a human being to design lenses, but they now have to be mass-poduced by computer-controlled robots.

Rolex Watches are expensive, but they are still mechanical and cannot be more accurate than quarts watches costing less than $10.00. Yet, Rolex seems to stay in the market, because Rolex advertises very heavily in order to entertain the vanity of people. Thanks to internet technology, it is very easy to be close to a Rolex watch without buying it.
Skagen Titanium. However, in order to distinguish myself from ordinary people, I have to wear a special watch. I am wearing all-titanium watches these days. Titanium is a light metal used for space-crafts. Pilots wear titanium watches.

In order to survive in the consumer market, Leica had to switch to electronics. Instead of starting from zero, Leica decided to cooperate with an established electronics company in Japan, called Matsushita. This company markets its electronic products with a tradename "Panasonic."

Leica and Panasonic decided to produce a brand named "Lumix" with lens carrying the Leica mark, with a new technology called "image stabilizer." I do not know how it works. I like to know.

Lumix LC40 (Leica Summicron Lens). This is one of the earliest Lumix cameras with a Leica lens and a Panasonic body. Because it was bulky and ugly, this model could not compete in the U.S. market dominated by Canon and Nikon, although it did well in Japan. The name "Leica" does not mean much to cost-conscious
I bought this Lumix at a clearance sale (half price) because it has a Leica's Summicron lens. Leica markets its lenses with two popular tradenames, namely Elmarit and Summicron. Most of the Leica cameras carry Elmarit lenses, and "Summicron" sounds somewhat superior, but I do not have enough expertise to tell the difference. In addition, this camera has a very strong stobe.
Lumix FX6 (with Leica Elmarit Lens). One major advantage of digital camera is that its size can be made small. I bought this pocket-sized Lumix camera for $220. This small machine does a great job for my webpage photos. I do not need more than 2 mega pixels for web photos, while most of the digital cameras these days offer more than 7 megs. This camera
However, I have to buy a new Lumix soon because it now has a technology of detecting human faces and adjusting its exposure to those faces. One drawback of this camera is that it does not have optical view finder, and I always have to depend on its monitor. This is very inconvenient in bright daylight.
Leica V-Lux (with Leica Elmarit Lens). Let us stop fooling around. Electronic Leicas are affordable. This V-Lux model looks like and operates like an single-lens reflex. But this model does not have a moving mirror, thanks to new electronic technology. Like all other Leica cameras, this Leica gives photos without spherical distortion.
You can buy this camera with accessories for less than $1,000. The price may go down in the future.

Contax Cameras

Contax. This is the contax camera I almost bought, but did not. I like contax cameras because they carry lenses made by Carl Zeiss. Zeiss lenses are still regarded as better than those for Leica cameras. Thus, contax owners used to bragg about their cameras. Yet, I did not buy it for the following reason.
By 1990, camera industry started producing auto-focusing pocket cameras. They were inexpensive and easy to carry around. They were very convenient for travellers. On the other hand, Leica was not producing those inexpensive cameras.
On the other hand, Contax was cooperating Japan's Kyocera company which used to produce Yashica cameras. I bought one of those Yashica cameras and took many photos while travelling in Europe. Indeed, many of the photos on my web site were taken with this my Yashica aim-and-shoot camera. Alas, Contax and Kyocera broke up after cameras became digital.
Sony Cyber-shot. Sony was somewhat late in camera industry. It needed a prestigious name for its lenses. It decided to equip their digital with Carl Zeiss lenses which used to be on Contax cameras.
I bought this Sony camera because, in addition to its Carl Zeiss lens, it could be powered by two AA batteries. Even in 2005, rechargeable batteries did not last long. Thus, for extended trips, I had to carry this camera which accepts batteries locally available. In addition, it has an optical view finder.
In 2005, I carried this camera when I went to the Russian city of Kaliningrad in order to study Einstein's philosophical background. I created a webpage based on the photos I took there. You are invited to this page.
Yashica. For about 15 years, Contax was marketing Contax cameras through Japan's Kyocera company. Kyocera used to make its own brand called Yashica. Yashica did not reach the level of Canon or Nikon in the camera market, but it used to produce fine practical cameras. I used to bring this Yashica camera whenever I traveled to foreign countries until 2001. My website contains many photos I took with this Yashica camera.

What is so special about being consistently interested in photography. I have been taking photos for nearly fifty years. Let us see what we can do with those photos?

During the 19th Century, French artists painted pictures of affluent life style of Parisians. These days, the United States is a very affluent country. Let us see whether we can represent this abstract concept of affluence with a set of photos collected over the years. Click here to see what I am talking about.

My interest in cameras comes not only from photography but also my stronger interest in machines. Unfortunately, I cannot collect all of them. Here are the items I like but cannot have in my house.

Electronics. I also like electronics.

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