The development of the
first Leica, from the onset with the original prototype, the Ur-Leica, to the first marketed Leica, the Leica I or Model A, including the preproduction
models, called 0-Series cameras, has been thoroughly described time and time again. However, one of these prototype versions is virtually unknown.
This camera is thoroughly
described in the Book “Barnacks Erste Leica” (Barnack’s First Leica), written
by Dr. Günter Kisselbach. I did get
permission from Dr. Kisselbach to use some of the pictures from the book
It is a large, very
well-illustrated book by the very personable Dr. Günter Kisselbach, an
ear-nose-and-throat specialist in Wetzlar, who is the younger son of Theo
Kisselbach, the former director of the original "Leica Schule" (Leica
School). Dr. Kisselbach’s older brother
Wolfgang Kisselbach was the overall manager of the construction of the new
factory buildings and museum at Leitz Park in Wetzlar.
The book is entitled
"BARNACKS ERSTE LEICA" (“Barnack’s first Leica"), and it
features a camera in great detail that is very similar to the 0-series camera
with the same optical finder, except that it is all brass with brown leather
covering and has a different flat dial between the viewfinder and the rewind
knob for setting the slit width (in mm) of the focal plane shutter. Evidently Theo
Kisselbach kept that camera when he retired and his son Günter inherited
it. He thoroughly studied it and had it
disassembled and adapted for picture taking by expert repairman Ottmar Michaeli
. All of this is beautifully illustrated
in the aforementioned book.
By "First
Leica", Günter Kisselbach means Barnack's first practical camera (still
not named 'Leica'!) after the Ur-Leica. On page 187 of that outstanding book
there is a photo of "Prototyp Nr.3" in what is left of the Leica
museum, which was plundered for sales when the company was about to go
bankrupt. That camera has no lens mount, a folding, recessed open frame
viewfinder frame on top and an exposure counter on the front of the camera.
There is no rewind knob, and the accessory shoe is located where that knob
would be.”
Barnacks Handmuster
(Sample)
Top of 0-Series Leica for
comparison
Since this camera is so
very close to the 0-series cameras, one must assume that the so-called
prototype Nr. 3 was made prior to it and I feel it is not wrong to refer to it
as the second (not third) prototype.
However, since no date for this camera has ever been established, this
is simply conjecture on my part. What I
can say with certainty at this point is that two other prototypes exist from
the time prior to the 0-series cameras.
The development of the Leica from the Ur-Leica to the Leica 1
Ur-Leica from 1913
Socalled Leica Prototype 3
Special Leica Prototype owned by Theo Kisselbach
Leica 0-Series camera with folding viewfinder
Leica 0-Series camera with optical viewfinder
Laeica Model 1 or Model A
The first Leica marketed in 1925
For more information on
Barnacks Handmuster (Sample) camera go to:
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