What would Oscar Barnack, "the ingenious inventor of the Leica", make of today's cameras? Barnack was an innovator. He was an asthmatic and wanted a camera to take hiking. It had to be small and pocketable, but also a precision tool. A system camera. Famously, he laid his metal rule on the camera's top-plate and decreed its maximum dimensions - probably he would have resisted those extra 2mm in height for the M6TTL and M7. The last camera he worked on before his death in 1936 was the Leica IV prototype, a forerunner of the M3. What would Oscar think of photography today? I think he would be amazed by film quality. I think he would welcome technology, and be impressed by today's point-and-shoots, while lamenting the loss of craftsmanship and the over-all throwaway feel of many modern products. What would he make of digital and the Internet? And which would be his favourite Leica? M7? Minilux zoom? Digilux? Or would he prefer a Canon or Nikon lightweight SLR, Contax G2 or a superzoom P/S? I'm not sure, but I think he'd still have good reason to look back at the original Leica and reckon he'd done a damn good job.

-- David Killick (dalex@inet.net.nz), May 16, 2002

Answers

He would be most delighted to see, that his O-series camera is still around, at least as (so far) unsold replicas in the shops. The others are dumped directly into safes and cupbords after they where bought. This he would not understand IMO.

He would certainly like the appreciation his products still fetches today and he would have used this internet-medium to answer questions on his LEICA ...

He was a modern minded man and he would have liked the M7. Maybe he had wanted a shutter with more mechanical speeds though.

Best regards

-- K. G. Wolf (k.g.wolf@web.de), May 16, 2002.

If Oscar Barnack were alive today, he'd turn in his grave!

-- Ray Moth (ray_moth@yahoo.com), May 16, 2002.

Ray, you're certainly correct ;-)

Wherever Oscar Barnack's soul is now, he's probably amazed how many Leicas are bought for collecting only, never to be used. And he wouldn't like an F5 or EOS 1v; he'd rather get an ELPH (Ixus in Europe)!

ziiipp [poster gets into his Nomex suit]

Barnack wouldn't like a P&S at all IMHO, neither a digital one, due to shutter lag. Ermanoxes, Kodaks, etc.--not to mention the antecessors of Sinars, Wisners, et al.--opened the shutter the very moment you pressed the button, and the compact camera he envisaged should be considerably faster in all aspects of handling.

Extremely small cameras were available in Barnack's days ("detective cameras"). What he really wanted was not just small dimensions but also fast operating. So if he were alive today, he might cooperate with many gifted engineers to design an extremely fast digital camera.

Dreaming of a 6 Mp Foveon X3 sensor, shutter lag 6 ms, spot metering, interchangeable lenses, 1:1.4/90mm equivalent (size à la current 50 'cron) available...

-- -- (Oliver.Schrinner@campus.lmu.de), May 16, 2002.

OK, I bite: If Oscar, an innovator, was alive today he would have laughed at the M7, a new camera implementing a 30 year old technology...

-- Xavier C. (xcolmant@powerir.com), May 16, 2002.

OK, I bite, too. If Oskar Barnack was alive, he would marvel at the permanence of his invention, and he would be delighted by the fact that it succeeded in implementing a thirty year old technology in a new camera while sacrificing almost nothing of the genius of the first designs. He would understand right away that this "old" technology is the only useful one that could be implemented in a Leica RF while keeping it a Leica RF. And he would definitely wonder why no one has yet succeded in implementing his own seventy year old technology, that even people who laugh at the thirty year old one don't question.

-- Olivier (olreiche@videotron.ca), May 16, 2002.

He'd probably head over to Munich for ein mass of Oktoberfest, with his brand new M7/50 Elmar in tow. I little bit larger, sure, but goodness, IT HAS A BUILD IN METER AND AUTOMATIC SHUTTER!!!. Such a creation he would relish for sure. Then he would begin to wonder who was responsible for allowing the use of plastic in an E. Leitz product?!?!? And what the heck is "Leica" anyway?

-- Dan Brown (brpatent@swbell.net), May 16, 2002.

Come to think of it, I guess the Minox 35 would get a lot of (if not the most) approval from Oscar. He wouldn't mind the plasic/polycarbonate/fibre glass/whatever as long as it's sturdy enough. After all, he aimed for a small and light camera while designing the Leica.

Other possible candidates (with lens-interchangeability) are the Olympus Pen F and the Pentax 110 SLR. They are way more viable with present film technology. A pity there ain't no more 110 film. The APS format won't last for long, either

-- Andrew (mazurka@rocketmail.com), May 16, 2002.

as an inventor, the guy would have invented a Leica G2, more quite, internal AF lenses, much better viewfinder a long time ago

-- pat (modlabs@yahoo.com), May 16, 2002.

Good point, Pat. Whether that would go into production and how much it would cost, are quite questionable though....unless Leitz/Leica has someone else produce it, like Kyocera making the Contax cameras.

-- Andrew (mazurka@rocketmail.com), May 16, 2002.

Barnack Spirit ?

Quite difficult to answer, because making the dead people speak is a tricky thing…

Barnack was an innovator, something many people here seem to forget. But he was obviously someone who preferred to use only tried and true innovations.

The rest is what we can speculate on…

I think he would probably have stood with the 35mm film and would probably be already in process to use digital but on a strictly experimental way pending the quality be equal to what is obtainable with the silver based film.

He would probably have stood with the rangefinder concept and manual focusing just because AF is something which doesn’t work well with short focal length and is still inferior to a good old rangefinder in dim light low contrast situation. But I don’t think he would have hesitated to go with electronics, on the contrary of what a number of people believe here (he would probably have laughed at the battery dependence argument and proceed to devise a battery emplacement protected from cold for low temp operations).

He would have been infuriated in seeing the present Leica plant using manufacturing technologies way behind the current state of the art and a marketing department more concerned with special edition series than to give the real photographer an appropriately priced tool.

He would have certainly addressed to the degradation of the manufacturing standards, but probably not the way many of us think… As an innovator, he would have recognized the advantage of using quality high standard modern composite materials (but not cheap plastics) when they are cheaper, more appropriate and durable than traditional ones.

And, finally, IMHO, he would have succeeded in restoring the place of Leica as the prime choice for Press and snap shot photography his original camera and its developments up to the M5 had gained.

Barnack was not afraid in anyway by a sound application of progress…

François P. WEILL

-- François P. WEILL (frpawe@wanadoo.fr), May 16, 2002.

The only thing that can be said for sure, is that Barnack would be very unhappy at people trying to add credence to their own opinions by using his name.

-- Joe Buechler (jbuechler@toad.net), May 16, 2002.

My, oh my, Joe, is yours a silly remark! What is your problem with tghe name Barnack ? IIs it so sacred to you that one can't quote it without being accused of... of what, by the way?

-- Olivier (olreiche@videotron.ca), May 16, 2002.

I'll bet he'd like the CL. Small, light, and pocketable, in keeping with his original concept, yet more advanced.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), May 16, 2002.

Agree Oscar would welcome some new technology, don't think he'd mind being asked his opionion at all Joe, some good points Francois - would he strive so hard for Leica to be the premier press and snapshot camera? - what's so wrong with producing a niche market camera? For many pro purposes, the M6 or M7 would be better than a D1 or whatever, but perhaps Leica does not bother to promote itself enough in what it considers "established" markets. But it's interesting that no-one disputed rangefinders being "up to snuff", especially in low light, that there is anything wrong with today's Leica lenses, or that the modern Leica is the wrong size, big or small, or that it is not reliable enough - so Leica must be doing something right. I don't think Oscar would worry too much, in fact I reckon fact he would be delighted the company was still going after so many other German camera companies folded. Thanks to everyone who replied.

-- David Killick (dalex@inet.net.nz), May 18, 2002.