Legend of SLR cameras-A 50-year brilliant way to a canon SLR camera (14 consecutive years)

14: M3-the shock of Leica
Introduction: at the International Photographic Equipment Exhibition held in Cologne, Germany in April 1954, Leica m3 was released, which shocked the whole world and made those camera manufacturing plants stunned by the war, as a representative of German cameras, M3 has left almost all Japanese rivals desperate ......

Many people think that Leica m3 is the most classic camera in history. In many Leica books, people often praise Leica M3 with "epoch significance, the Leica m3, which was released in April 1954, can be coupled with the mounted lens with a viewfinder, and combine the viewfinder window and focus frame into one, with four stunning seats. Luigi colani (1970-), creator of the Design Tide revolution in the 1928 s, was asked about the shape design of Leica M series cameras represented by Leica m3, he just said, "God, please do not make any changes! ".

Leica m3 is hailed as the most classic camera ever

Prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, the R & D and design of the company's new small camera started. However, due to the impact of the war, the company had to give up its new camera launch plan, however, Leica designers have tried every means to avoid military monitoring and quietly develop new small cameras.

As mentioned above, due to the defeat of Germany, a large number of camera design drawings of the company were taken away, and most of the camera patents became waste paper. Many countries have publicly copied Leica cameras, various conditions are even more urgent to require the company to produce a revolutionary new camera, a variety of design and technology needs to be completely separated from the previous Leica camera.

Leica m3, both in design, performance and technology, represents the highest level at that time

After the war, the company's factory started to invest in production and declared to the outside world that it was mainly using IIIC as the main model (iiif production began in 1950 ), however, we have to face the competition of many Leica-like cameras including Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the former Soviet Union. The leiz company with strong technical strength and camera design and manufacturing experience will be willing to give up from 1948, they focus on the development of new cameras, which are secretly being bred by Leica m3.

On October 18, 1953, Japanese Crown Prince mingren (Emperor mingren today) visited the former Federal Republic of Germany, accompanied by representatives of Japanese industry leaders. The delegation proposed to visit the Leica factory in wyzler, in fact, at that time, Leica M3 had been secretly assembled and began testing in various aspects. However, to prevent the Japanese delegation from perceiving it, the company carefully suspended the Leica m3 assembly project, lock all related machines in the bathroom and assemble Leica iiif on the production line originally assembled Leica m3 to prevent the Japanese delegation from perceiving it. It can be seen that the Germans were still very wary of the Japanese at that time.

The design of the new camera has changed many design and thinking habits. At the 4th International Photographic Equipment Exhibition (today's photokina) held in Cologne, Germany in April 1954, Leica m3 was released, which shocked the whole world, the camera manufacturing plants that were able to copy Leica for war were stunned.

The emergence of Leica m3 left behind all the cameras at that time.

The metal body of M3 is not only strong, but also skillful. The specifications and parameters in all aspects were the top level at that time, and it was a perfect camera. M3 first innovated the bayonet system. The lens bayonet was changed from the L39 screw port to the m port of the insert knife type. The camera was inserted into the seat at the aligning position and rotated 30 degrees clockwise, this greatly accelerates the process of lens replacement. The new tilting back enables you to easily change the film. M3 is the first Leica camera to combine the scene window and focus frame. The brightness of the camera is greatly improved, and the magnification is as high as 0.91 times. Three scene frames are designed, corresponding to the range of 50mm, 90mm mm, and 135mm mm lenses, the camera is automatically adjusted after the camera is installed. This function was unique at that time; the rolling method is also changed from the original knob to a more direct dial type (later models also combine the winding process with the shutter ). This series of changes completely overturned the previous design of the Side-axis camera, leaving all Leica-like camera manufacturers far behind.

Leica m3 has been produced for up to 14 years, with a total output of more than 0.22 million units.

Leica m3 was produced until 1968, with more than 0.22 million units, of which nearly 1955 units were produced in 50 thousand. (compare the output of Canon IV s B2 in the previous article, it is not difficult to see how huge the gap is.) its historical position is self-evident.

The so-called success and failure. Leica m3 has been standing at the top of its 35mm-axis camera for a long time. On the one hand, it has won the highest position in the industry, making it difficult for almost all side-axis camera manufacturers (whether in Europe and America or Japan) to look back, we had to avoid this. On the other hand, the M3 was so successful that the company had been indulging in it that it had never launched a model with more influence than the M3, moreover, due to mistakes and neglect of the Development of SLR cameras, coupled with high labor costs, they were eventually surpassed by Japanese cameras and are in operational difficulties until today.

Nikon S2, the first 24x36-piece camera launched by Nikon at the end of 1954

Back to the topic, after the launch of Japanese optics m3, the new models to be released were urgently improved. In December of that year, the first 24 x 36mm-piece camera Nikon S2 was launched, the price for a 50mm f/2 lens is 68,500 yen. Nikon S2 has a viewfinder with a magnification of 1 times, and is designed with innovative design such as a roll-back dial and a quick-pass lever, which has indeed attracted a lot of attention. Although design and manufacturing were already the highest level of Japanese optics at that time, objectively speaking, they were much more novel than canon IV s B2, but they were far from m3's rival. Yu shouxianyi is expected to "defeat Leica", but the emergence of M3 clearly makes canon farther away from the target.

Nikon S2 represents the highest level of the Japanese side axis camera at that time, but it is still far from Leica m3's opponent

Yu shouxianyi realized that by imitating and constantly improving on the basis of imitation, he could achieve instant success. However, once others have made innovations, they will eventually fall behind others. However, in the face of the strength of M3, Canon cannot compete first, so they have invested in the development of new models. The same is true for Japanese optics. It also needs to develop more powerful models than Nikon S2 and fight back against German rivals.

When future generations analyze the development history of Japan's economy ~ In 1973, the term "high-speed growth period" was defined as the so-called "Economic Miracle ". Since 1955, the demand in the Japanese local camera market has also begun to grow rapidly, and the competition in the 35mm camera market has become increasingly fierce.

Ricolet, the first 35mm camera launched by Li Yan Optics

Because the focal plane shutter 35mm camera, represented by Canon and daylight, is highly positioned, complex to operate, and expensive, since the 1950 s, the market for low-price inter-mirror shutter 35mm cameras is growing rapidly. In October 1953, Li Yan Optical Industry Co., Ltd. launched its first 35mm camera ricolet, a cheap and popular 35mm camera. Li Yan optics is mainly used to produce ultra-small and dual-camera cameras. After joining the 35mm camera in the melee mode, the model is usually positioned low.

Fuji's first 35mm-inch camera, Fuji 35 m

Fuji, which was originally dominated by frame-painting cameras and high-performance dual-reverse cameras in production, launched the first 1957 camera, Fuji 35 m, in 35mm. In addition to the original manufacturers such as qianda, Sisi 6th, and Olympus, the 35mm camera market is booming. However, the highest level of 35mm cameras is undoubtedly Leica m3, rather than Japanese Canon or Nikon.

Competition in China and abroad has led Japanese camera manufacturers with lofty aspirations to seek new development directions. Please pay attention to the next section of serialization-transformation-from the side axis to the SLR.

End of serialization section 14th