Leica Camera AG

Leica Camera AG is the German camera maker that created 35mm photography. Its roots lie in the Wetzlar optical works founded by Carl Kellner in 1849 and led by Ernst Leitz from 1869; Leitz engineer Oskar Barnack built the first Ur-Leica prototype in 1913, and the Leica I launched at the Leipzig spring fair in 1925, making small-format photography practical for the first time. Today the company builds the M rangefinder system, the SL mirrorless system, the Q fixed-lens compacts, and the S medium-format line at its Leitz-Park headquarters in Wetzlar.

Product families

• M System (rangefinder)
• SL System (mirrorless)
• Q Series (fixed-lens compact)
• S System (medium format)

Milestones

• 1849Carl Kellner founds the optical institute in Wetzlar that becomes Ernst Leitz Optische Werke
• 1913Oskar Barnack builds the Ur-Leica, the first 35mm still-camera prototype
• 1925The Leica I launches at the Leipzig spring fair, beginning series production of the 35mm camera
• 1932The Leica II introduces the first built-in rangefinder on a 35mm camera
• 1954The Leica M3 debuts the M bayonet mount and combined rangefinder-viewfinder
• 1986Leitz bundles its camera activities into Leica GmbH, the predecessor of Leica Camera AG