By José Manuel Serrano Esparza
In 1932, seven years after the introduction by Ernst Leitz Wetzlar of the Leica 1 (Model A), first 35 mm photographic camera manufactured in series, during the Leipzig Spring Fair of 1925, the German photographic firm launched into market the Leica II (Model D), first screwmount model featuring a built-in rangefinder which was automatically coupled by turning the focusing ring of the lens until the two images coincided.
This camera meant a true milestone in the history of Leica, because though not being a rangefinder combined with the viewfinder (there were two eyepieces located 37 mm apart, one for focusing and the other one for framing), it enabled a much more accurate and faster focusing than with the previous 24 x 36 mm format Leitz screwmount models of cameras, apart from being able to accept a slew of interchangeable standardized lenses.
The Leica II (Model D) was a dream come true for Oskar Barnack, a true genius of miniaturized mechanics and industrial engineering, who had been paving the way for its birth since the inception of the Ur-Leica prototype eighteen years before, in 1914.
Barnack devised the first real chances of getting production Leica cameras accepting interchangeable lenses with the Leica 1 (Model C Non Standard Mount) produced in 1930 and 1931, though lenses were matched to individual cameras as the lens mount flange to film distance varied with each camera.
A year later, in 1931, Barnack managed to finally attain his goal, creating the Leica 1 (Model C Standard Mount) camera, produced between 1931-1933, and first Leica camera ever in which lenses could be readily interchanged, not being necessary to match individual lenses to a particular camera body any more, since the lens mounting flange to film plane distance was fixed at 28.8 mm and all lenses were manufactured to this specification.
But the Leica II (Model D) manufactured between 1932 and 1948 became a turning point in the history of the German photographic firm, because aside from being able to attach a raft of top-notch Leitz lenses, it pioneered a built-in rangefinder, avoiding guesswork in focusing and the obtaining of blurred pictures, as sometimes happened with previous models lacking RF inside the camera body and using an external tubular viewfinder placed near the rewinding knob and external rangefinders wich were inserted within the accessory shoe.
Barnack proved his tremendous mechanical prowess and expertise, being able to fit the rangefinder of the Leica II (Model D) in the exceedingly small available space within the camera, a true technological feat for the time.
In addition, it boasted a built-in 50 mm finder and shutter speeds between 1/20 s and 1/500 s.
The upshot of it was that all of these traits turned the Leica II (Model D) into the company´s first real camera system.
On the other hand, in 1932 there were already seven lenses available for the Leica II (Model D) : the Elmar 35 mm f/3.5, the Elmar 50 mm f/3.5, the Hektor 50 mm f/2.5, the Hektor 73 mm f/1.9, the fat Elmar 90 mm f/4, the Elmar 105 mm f/6.3 and the Elmar 135 mm f/4.5, making up a very comprehensive photographic system for the time and consolidating a flawless symbiosis between the outstanding mechanical exploits accomplished by Oskar Barnack and the remarkable ingenuity of Professor Max Berek, Head of the Ernst Leitz Wetzlar Optical Department and designer of every photographic lens of the firm since the creation of the first five elements Anastigmats 50 mm f/3.5 and Elmax 50 mm f/3.5 ( with identical optical formula and mechanical scheme, but with a different name) in 1923.
Anyway, the jewel of the crown of the Leitz assortment of photographic lenses in 1932 was the four elements in three groups Elmar 50 mm f/3.5 yielding amazing resolving power for the time and being the third best lens in the world in 1932, only beaten by the 7 elements in 3 groups Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 5 cm f/1.5 and the Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 5 cm f/1.5 designed by Ludwig Bertele, whose optical performance was on a par but were much more luminous, though bigger and heavier than the exceedingly small and light Leitz Elmar 50 mm f/3.5, which made a virtually unbeatable combo with the Leica II (Model D) in terms of compactness and comfortably shooting handheld from very near distances to the core of the action,
because of its tiny dimensions (32 mm extended and 10 mm collapsed and 36 mm of front outer mount diameter)
and a very low weight of 111 g.
This was a time when standard 50 mm lenses were the all-around photojournalistic ones par excellence, so it dawned on both Oskar Barnack and Professor Max Berek that the Leica II (Model D) camera with the Leitz Elmar 50 mm f/3.5 lens was a pretty efficient photographic tool, epitomizing the " small negatives, great pictures " keynote set forth by Barnack in 1914 and definitely gaining international celebrity in 1932
with the famous picture of two lions in the Frankfurt am Main zoo made by Wilhelm Schack, wich was enlarged to a size of 60 x 80 cm on photographic paper, preserving stunning image quality thanks to the resolving power of the lens and the acutance enhanced by the Agfa Rodinal developer, proving the true capabilities of the Leica II (Model D) coupled to a Leitz Elmar 50 mm f/3.5.
Anyway, there was a further decisive factor in which Barnack had been strenuously toiling for many years : the mechanical horizontal travelling focal plane shutter with rubberized silk curtains of the screwmount Leitz cameras that he had unabatedly been improving with unbridled enthusiasm since 1923.
Barnack knew that Zeiss Ikon was the main rival firm of Leitz and had thouroughly studied the shutter of the Contax I rangefinder camera, realizing that it was a breakthrough vertically travelling with metal blades design, but unreliable, consisting of a very complex structure of gears as core of an intricate overall mechanism.
This Contax I shutter, though being techonologically very advanced and able to even beat Leica in top shutter speeds, reaching 1/1000 s, had been rushed to market because top priority for Zeiss Ikon was to compete with Leica.
And Oskar Barnack was cognizant that a pivotal trait for the success of a 24 x 36 mm format camera with interchangeable lenses was the reliability of the shutter under the hardest conditions, because professional photographers would often use the cameras in highly stressful contexts where they would be continuously put through their paces.
And staying true to that rationale stood him in good stead.
He did know that going beyond a maximum shutter speed of 1/500 s would significantly increase the complexity of any shutter, so he opted for keeping that top speed and unflinchingly tune up a number of other mechanical aspects to make the shutter of the Leica II (Model D) more and more robust and reliable, and in this regard, the full-fledged
Leitz horizontally travelling focal plane shutter with rubberized silk curtains was far better than the Contax I one.
Always fighting to go beyond himself, Oskar Barnack made a lot of tests between 1932 and 1936, getting pictures of the arriving trains at the Wetzlar Railway Station with a Leica II (Model D) at different shutter speeds, while his darkroom man Julius Huisgen made the same thing with a Contax I, subsequently comparing results.
Barnack was perfectly aware that wars were one of the scopes where Leica LTM39 cameras would be intensively used and that´s why he managed to develop the excellent for the time Leitz mechanical shutter sporting commendable reliability and sturdiness and gaining the upper hand of the photographic market in this regard, because the Contax I was bigger, heavier, nearly 50 % more expensive, noisier and less dependable.
And apart from its pretty trustworthy mechanical shutter, the Leica II (Model D) boasted another asset which had been introduced in this camera by Oskar Barnack in 1932, turning it into a real workhorse and building up its reliability even more : the very sturdy and narrower pull-up rewind knob to improve rewinding efficiency in a seamless manner.
Five years later, in 1937, the city of Bilbao (Spain) under air raids by the German and Italian aircraft from Francoist aviation during the Spanish Civil War would reveal the visionary character of the master mechanic and Development Head at Ernst Leitz Wetzlar firm, who envisaged the use of screwmount Leica rangefinder cameras and lenses in war photography, leveraging a revolutionary design for the standards of the time, sporting very small size and weight, amazing quietness of operation and handcraftedly made with great precision.
Id est, a simple yet inspired design resulting in a praiseworthy reliability, to such an extent that even now, it is rare to find a pre-war Leica that has suffered a major mechanical failure.
BILBAO, MAY OF 1937, ROBERT CAPA IN ACTION
Robert Capa had arrived in Spain, accompanied by Gerda Taro, to cover the Spanish Civil War in mid August of 1936, firstly reaching Barcelona, and subsequently visiting the Aragón Front, Madrid, Toledo, Almadén and Córdoba province during the summer of 1936, returning to France and coming back to Madrid between November 18 and December 5 of that year, and returning to France until early January, when he was sent to Madrid, but everything was standstill, so after a few days getting some pictures he came back to Paris.
But in mid February of 1937, he was sent to Spain again along with Gerda Taro by Regards magazine and headed to Almería and Murcia, where they photographed the refugees of Málaga, who had fled that city just before being captured by Francoist troops, making a five day trek of more than 150 km.
Three months later, on May 4, 1937, Capa went from Paris to Biarritz by train and flew from there to Bilbao in a small French plane, credited by Ce Soir, making pictures of the Battle of Mount Sollube, near Bilbao, on May 7.
But between May 9 and 11 he got pictures inside Bilbao downtown, particularly of citizens running for shelter during air raids made by the German and Italian planes of Francoist aviation.
Three of these pictures, made with a Leica II (Model D) and a Leitz Elmar 50 mm f/3.5 lens are specially relevant and answer a significant question :
Why Leica ?
First of all, truth is that Robert Capa was a photographer not particularly infatuated with any specific photographic brand, and his favourite cameras during his lifetime were not Leicas, but models from two other firms :
- The Contax II from 1936 designed by Hubert Nerwin, a far better camera than any of the screwmount Leica rangefinder models of the time, thanks to its state-of-the-art rangefinder integrated within the viewfinder and a huge RF baselength of 90 mm, with a magnification of 0.75x and an effective baselength of 67.5 mm enabling the photographer to focus more quickly, particularly at the widest apertures.
- The 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 medium format Rolleiflex Old Standard Twin Reflex camera with Carl Zeiss Jena 75 mm f/3.8 lens, whose four times larger negatives than 24 x 36 mm format yielded better image quality than any LTM39 Leica and made possible to do selective reframings without quality loss, something very useful for the picture editors of the illustrated magazines and newspapers of the time.
Capa simply tried to always get the best photographic gear he could for the specific sort of work he did, applying a practical approach.
Anyway, for the kind of photojournalistic pictures made by Capa shooting handheld, top image quality and technical perfection were not the key factors, but to approach as much as possible to his subjects, to be at the right place at the adequate moment, the sense of anticipation, to move as fast as possible, to press the shutter release button at the precise moment to capture decisive instants and to go unnoticed.
He excelled in every and each of those sides, and undoubtedly,
the smallest, lightest and most convenient camera/lens combo for that aim ever used by him was the Leica II (Model D) with the tiny Leitz Elmar 50 mm f/3.5 lens, always understanding that it is the photographer and not the camera who creates the images :
a)
Capa gets a great picture in the midst of an air raid of German and Italian aircraft from Francoist aviation on Bilbao city during the second week of May 1937, highlighting the three persons nearer him : two women and a man who are running fidgety to seek shelter.
It is a very fast and instinctive shot, in which the timing on pressing the shutter release button of his camera by Capa is incredibly accurate, capturing the woman on the middle right half of the image in full sprint, with both of her legs in the air: the right one at very few centimeters from the ground and the left one utterly stretched, with the tip of the foot in a vertical position on the floor.
Simultaneously, Capa, always paying heed to the small details making a difference, has captured the woman wearing the white skirt also running, but in more difficult circumstances, because she is advancing with her right foot at very few centimeters from the border of the sidewalk and the left one on the last centimeters of floor before the pavement, which gives an impression of unstable balance, because she is clearly striving upon not falling down on the ground, as is indicated by the position and gesture of her left hand.
The running pace of this second woman is apparently slower than the one advancing beside her, because in addition, she is holding a coat with her right hand.
The immediately coterminous area to the sidewalk border is soaked with water, so this woman can slip at any moment, something that could also happen with the woman running next to her, whose feet are about to lean on some oil stains, while one of the tracks of the streetcar crossing through this area of Bilbao is visible on the lower right area of the photograph.
Moreover, Capa has very skillfully managed to capture the running man on top left of the image like flying, with both of his feet in the air, not touching the floor and wide open, while smoking a cigarette with his left hand.
The epicenter of the action is made up by these three people running towards the left of the image, through whom Capa conveys a highly intense feeling of motion to any observer of the picture, as well as masterfully show the fear and anguish experienced by them.
But there´s more, much more.
In a very quick way, Capa has created a composition introducing eight more people in the frame making a striking contrast with the three main characters of the picture :
- The two women near the upper left corner of the image. Both of them are walking at a normal pace, id est, they are not running at all, as indicated by the position of the left hand of the woman whose head is near the running man´s face in the picture.
- The slightly blurred man wearing glasses and a long raincoat, who is quietly getting out of his home portal, holding a newspaper with his right hand.
- The three persons looking through the shop window of a store: all of them are watching different articles on sale, completely standstill and alien to what is happening and the danger brought about by the planes dropping their bombs on Bilbao downtown.
- The two old women on top right of the image. They´re walking as fast as they can, but evidently, their advancing pace is much slower than the three main characters of the picture, as shown by the position of the hands of the woman visible near the right border of the photograph, which are relaxed on her belly area, while the other woman next to her, the oldest one, is trudging, needing much more effort to go on, as revealed by the position of her strenuously raised left arm trying to keep balance while walking quickly.
Capa has also realized that this woman has been surprised by the air raid as she was making food, as indicated by the clear apron tied to her hips.
From an overall viewpoint, this photograph captures a defining instant, the true atmosphere of the place during an air raid, and how each human being reacts in different ways under a dangerous context like this in which the chance of being reached by a bomb is not small, since the German and Italian aircraft are flying over their heads.
This picture proves that the very small and light rangefinder cameras like the Leica II (Model D) meant a revolution in the development of photojournalism, shooting handheld with remarkable comfort and unfettered freedom of movements, according to the visionary insight of Oskar Barnack, unlike the previous bulky, very heavy and cumbersome large format and medium format cameras that often needed the use of a tripod and much longer exposure times, which frequently made virtually impossible to shoot hand and wrist without getting blurred images.
Therefore, to all intents and purposes, the photographic camera is a working tool for Capa, irrespective of the brand.
But it isn´t less true that the exceedingly small size and weight of the Leica II (Model D) and the tiny Leitz Elmar 50 mm f/3.5 attached to it were very useful to get the picture, because this was the most comfortable combination to shoot handheld in a highly stressful contexts like this from very near distances to subjects.
Needless to say that Capa, who used Eastman Kodak Nitrate Panchromatic Black and White Film made in Rochester and featuring a sensitivity of Weston 32 (roughly equivalent to ISO 40) to get this picture, confirms the efficiency of Barnack´s fundamental photography tenets, unobtrusively getting a picture of this impressive fleeting split second, shooting handheld with great speed and making it everlasting, also with the invaluable help of the whispering almost imperceptible noise brought about by the Leica II (Model D) mechanical shutter on being released.
On the other hand, the picture exhibits a great depth of field from the tram track to the glass of the shop window, since the picture was probably made at f/11 and with a slow shutter speed between 1/15 s and 1/45 s, possible thanks to the lack of swivelling mirror inherent to RF cameras, whereas reflex cameras have difficulties to get sharp pictures with 50 mm and longer focal lengths primes shooting handheld at shutter speeds under 1/60 s.
And this reveals a very important aspect related to the way in which Capa got pictures with his Leica II (Model D) rangefinder camera (something that he would later fulfill with his Contax II) : though the Leica II featured a built-in rangefinder and a specific window to do the focusing with very good accuracy, Capa only used it when it was necessary to make photographs at the widest apertures.
But most times, he used the fastest autofocus in existence then and now : the zone focusing method getting very acceptable sharpness based on the hyperfocal distance (that´s to say, the calculated focusing point depending on the focal length of the lens, the aperture used and the needed depth of field).
Capa usually selected f/8 or f/11 to get maximum possible depth of field and sharpness to get the pictures in a very fast way, without needing to turn the focusing knob of the Leitz Elmar 50 mm f/3.5 to obtain precise focus.
Therefore, Capa got pictures at full throttle, raising the camera to his eyes height and shooting at lightning speed, because for him the most important thing was to get the picture and capture the most meaningful instants.
That´s why some of his best photographs made in the four continents where he got pictures between 1932 and 1954 were slightly out of focus
b)
Once more, Capa shows his huge talent and stunning timing accuracy on pressing the shutter release button of his camera to capture defining instants, but now he opts for making a vertical framing with a composition highlighting the four running people (probably the complete family) advancing towards the left of the image :
All of them have masterfully been captured conveying a tremendous perception of motion, danger and distress for any beholder of the picture :
- The running man is depicted flying in the air during his sprint, with both feet over the ground, without touching it.
The position of his arms (particularly the left one) and hands appearing tremulous (in the same way as his feet) clearly indicates that he is darting into a safe place, in the same way as his wife and two sons running with him.
His legs are very separated (the left one parallel to the floor), and the front lower area of his trousers near his left shoe appears utterly stretched forwards because of the speed, providing the image with an awesome sensation of movement.
But Capa discerns that unlike the rest of persons appearing in the scene, there is something unique in the behaviour of this man : He is looking at the sky while rushing through the street, with his eyes distinctly staring at the Francoist bombers attacking the city and advancing in opposite direction.
On the other hand, just before starting his scurry, the fear experienced by this man was so big that he didn´t even think of unfastening the buttons of his garment.
- The running man´s wife clad in clear skirt and jacket along with dark shirt is also running and has been captured by Capa with his left leg and foot in the air and the tip of her right shoe leaned on the floor, likewise transmitting a vivid feeling of motion to any observer of the picture, enhanced by her left leg, shoe, lower area of her skirt and right hand rendered blurred.
But though running, because of her protective instinct as a mother, she slows her pace a bit (as indicated by the position of her left hand near her chest and the right one stuck to her hip and her legs much less separated than his husband´s ones) to match the advance of her two sons behind her who are also spurting forward, though not so fast, because they´re still children and don´t grasp the risk for their lives with the same intentisity than the adult ones.
- The approximately seven or eight years old boy running on the right of his mother has masterfully been captured by Capa completely in the air. Neither his right leg and shoe or his left one (the latter protruding beneath the lower area of the mother´s skirt) are touching the floor.
The position of his left arm and particularly his tremulous left hand convey a powerful feeling of motion.
- The second boy (a bit older than the one running next to his mother) can be partially glimpsed beyond his running father, with his blurred left shoe, left leg, left arm and left ear being visible.
This boy is bent forward while running, which strengthens the motion feeling.
To get this picture with a vertical frame was something of extreme difficulty and requiring to shoot very fast and with incredible precision, because Capa chose to make a composition whose main characters were the four people running, but simultaneously introducing within the frame the war posters stuck on the left background and the main metallic façade of a hotel, together with four more persons appearing on the middle right area of the image : a man looking at one of the posters, a young man and an old man looking at something beyond the road, a little boy of whom only his blurred head can be distinguished looking beyond the right middle border of the picture, and a young man of whom only his right shoe, trouser, right hand and right arm can be discerned.
As happened in the previous photograph, Capa depicts the striking contrast between the running people looking for their saftey in the middle of an air raid, with risk of being hit by bombs dropped or injured by the shrapnel, and other people who are standstill and react in different ways, aside from also getting the tram track into the lower area of the frame, to hint that it is a downtown and highly populated area of the city.
c)
This third picture is different, because there aren´t any people running and six of the nine persons appearing in the image are looking at the German and Italian aircraft from Francoist aviation flying in the sky of Bilbao over their heads.
The most important characters in the picture are the mother and her little daughter walking on the right half of the photograph.
The mother is taking her daughter with her right hand and has an anxious countenance while staring at the fighting aircraft in the sky.
Her facial expression reveals fear about the security of her child and tries to get her to safety as soon as possible.
But Capa, always paying attention down to the most minute details making a difference, has realized that because of the haste on beginning the escape, the mother has badly fastened the buttons of her daughter´s coat, whose left part protrudes excessively downward, under her left knee and simultaneously touches the right lower area of her mother´s dark long coat, reinforcing the sense of indissoluble bond between both of them.
The photographer captures a defining instant with great contrast between the fully aware of the danger mother with her open mouth and clenching teeth and the little girl advancing absent-minded with her mouth closed, alien to the risk of being hit by any of the bombs dropped by the Francoist aviation.
In addition, there are two further details significantly increasing the intensity of the nerve-racking scene :
a) The mother is very strongly clutching her left hand daughter´s fingers, appearing very tight and surrounded by the thumb and little finger of her mother, almost touching each other.
b) The fingers of the mother´s left hand are very tense and almost in claw position, while the thumb is utterly stretched.
This woman is clearly in survival mode and overstressed, with only one thing inside her mind : to protect her daughter from the air raid and take her to a safe place as soon as possible.
The picture shows a very extensive depth of field, with sharpness from the lower zone of the image to the building in the far background, so probably Capa made the photograph at f/11 or even f/16, which has made possible to perfectly read the letters of the advertisement behind the left shoulder of the mother and discern the parked car next to it, along with the standing man behind the vehicle also looking at the aircraft in the sky over Bibao city.
On the other hand, the left half of the picture is occupied by six standing people.
Three of them are looking at the sky, where the planes are flying.
The man with a walking stick in his right hand is staring at the attacking aircraft while trying to relax smoking a cigarette held in his left hand.
He could be a convalescent injured Republican soldier (there had been land combats in Biscay since late March 1937), because of his special cap and that he seems to be a man in his thirties.
Therer are two women behind him. Both of them are also looking at the attacking aircraft, while another woman clad in white apparel walks engrossed in her thoughts towards the left of the image, as indicated by the tip of her left shoe protruding beside the lower area of the left part of the little daughter´s coat.
This woman seems to be taking a dark garment in her right hand.
Meanwhile, an old man wearing a long raincoat and beret is standing on far left of the image watching the German and Italian planes during their attack on Bilbao.
Capa has realized that this man is very tall and unlike the rest of adult people appearing in the image, he appears relatively calm, with his left arm and hand quietly leaned on his body and his right hand inside the right pocket of his dark jacket.
From a compositive way, Capa creates a very powerful diagonal line made up by the heads of the two men and the little girl´s mother looking at the planes in the sky greatly defining the image and conveying a feeling of fear and danger, enhanced by the two women in the left background likewise staring at the attacking aircraft.
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