[Leica] Cameras of the Century

[Mike Johnston <michaeljohnston@ameritech.net>]

Cameras of the Century
___________________

    ....and only off the top of my head (I picture Marc salivating,
ready to pounce <g>)*

1900-1940s:  View and stand cameras, including the Graflexes

1930s-1950s: Rollei TLR and copies

1952 to maybe early- or mid-'60s**: Leica M rangefinders

1960s-1990s: All Nikons and the accompanying raft of other Japanese SLRs

1990s-2000: three letters: EOS

1980s-2000: the hordes of nameless unidentifiable blobby-black
point-and-shoots  :-(


I can see the reasoning behind giving Leica the title of the camera of
the century, but it's more likely that it has to do with the fact that
it was the first practical 35mm camera in regular production, and the
fact that, with only minor variations, its two major incarnations
(Barnack LTM cameras and M3-to-6) stayed in production for so long with
so little change of character. It can also stand up to the title when
considering great practitioners who used it, IMHO. (That's more
arguable, but since I'm preaching to the faithful, what the hell. <g>)

- --Mike


* Not that I don't appreciate your factual policing, Marc, I do. It's
just that I seldom encounter anyone who's better at it than I am...and
you are. <s>

** Why 1952 instead of the year of the M3's introduction, 1953? Because
it was the publication date of Henri Cartier-Bresson's _The Decisive
Moment_, which set the stage in world culture for the ascendancy of
35mm. That eloquent book and the coming of the M3 are inextricably
intertwined in importance, to my reading of history.