Kym
02-02-2014, 10:13am
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/jan/31/leica-100-birthday-photographers-messages
Now that we all carry cameraphones in our pockets, it's hard to imagine that the biggest breakthrough in photography (http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/photography) actually happened back in 1914 – when Oskar Barnack invented the Leica (http://uk.leica-camera.com/culture/history/).
Suddenly, photographers could throw away their heavy tripods and exploding flashguns, and step out of their studios to walk the streets and take photographs with this new mobile camera.
Barnack, a German optical engineer who specialised in microscope research, was also a keen amateur photographer, but his health was poor and he couldn't carry the heavy cameras of the time. He quickly turned his prototype Ur-Leica (http://uk.leica-camera.com/culture/history/leica_products/) into a lasting success. By 1932, there were 90,000 cameras. By 1961, a million cameras were in use.
Now that we all carry cameraphones in our pockets, it's hard to imagine that the biggest breakthrough in photography (http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/photography) actually happened back in 1914 – when Oskar Barnack invented the Leica (http://uk.leica-camera.com/culture/history/).
Suddenly, photographers could throw away their heavy tripods and exploding flashguns, and step out of their studios to walk the streets and take photographs with this new mobile camera.
Barnack, a German optical engineer who specialised in microscope research, was also a keen amateur photographer, but his health was poor and he couldn't carry the heavy cameras of the time. He quickly turned his prototype Ur-Leica (http://uk.leica-camera.com/culture/history/leica_products/) into a lasting success. By 1932, there were 90,000 cameras. By 1961, a million cameras were in use.