Leica I (aka model A), 1925 Old Cassic Model

Leica I (aka model A), 1925

This is the camera that really put 35mm photography at the forefront. The Leica was not the first 35mm still camera, and it wasn’t even the first to employ the 24x36mm format, but it was the first high-quality 35mm camera to be mass-produced, and it established the basic shape and control layout of 35mm cameras and the viability of the 35mm format. Its exquisitely compact, magnificently integrated, supremely ergonomic design had something to do with its success, but its fine performance as a picture taker was equally important. Its features include a self-capping, horizontal-travel cloth focal-plane shutter with speeds of 1/20-1/500 sec plus T, a non-interchangeable, scale-focusing, collapsible, 4-element, 3-group 50mm f/3.5 Elmar lens, a film-wind-knob with concentric frame counter, a rewind knob, a small optical viewfinder on the top, and bottom loading by means of a removable base plate. One of the Leica I’s best-loved features was automatic blank- and double-exposure prevention—state-of-the-art in 1925. Today, the Leica I is the sine qua non of well-heeled Leica collectors.