100 years Null-Serie

[willeica]

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On 6/26/2023 at 11:42 AM, Roland Zwiers said:

William,
I fully agree that myth and legend are commonplace in Leica lterature, both pre-war and post-war.
So we have to dive in a sea of confusing data so as to sort out the mess.
But after this has been done it is important to agree on a conclusion; otherwise the legends will persist as 'common knowledge'. 

• Your opinion in these matters carries weight!
• What is your judgement after having been presented the available evidence?
• What information is missing for you to make up your mind?

Page 31 of the delivery book 'Kamera' is new to me.
Thank you!
For my research it is important to know what happened to the cameras that are mentioned in the Leitz engravings list for 1924, 1925 and 1926.

This applies to the Nrs. 126-2066.
And especially to the Nrs. 126-637, that is the first batch of 512 cameras that was engraved in November-December 1924.

Capi Nijmegen (Nr. 553 and 558) is the Dutch importer. 
Capi is mentioned as such in the first Dutch Leica reviews of April 1925.
Very interesting that these two cameras initially had the same order number: 375.

On the other hand, Nrs. 553 and 558 have been delivered in June 1925.
The Dutch reviews are from April 1925 and already refer to Capi.
That implies that the Dutch importer must have ordered Leicas before April 1925,
possibly during the March 1925 fair in Leipzig.

 

Roland  

 

 

 

 

 

Roland, you are much better placed than I am to determine issues related to German language and culture. I trust your findings in those respects.

The following material is from the Leica UK Catalogue for 1931. You may find some of the material here useful, particularly the feedback from scientific parties and entities. Leitz liked to get feedback from scientific and engineering sources. The entry about enlarging on the top of the last page from someone in Vienna may be of particular interest to you. 

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[Roland Zwiers]

William,

Thank you for your trust!
For me it is sufficient that you trust me as a serious researcher who tries to sort out a sea of confusing data.

It is not sufficient to differentiate between primary pre-war and secondary post-war sources.
Pre-war primary sources (Otto Perutz, Oskar Barnack, Max Berek, Dr Paul Wolff) may have a strong bias as well.
This bias usually serves the purpose of

• exaggerating one's own pre-war achievements,
• hiding pre-war mistakes, and
• ignoring the contribution of other innovators. 

For sorting out the confusing data one has to compare as many pre-war primary sources as possible.
At the same time it is important to make use of empirical data, e.g. the observations by Ottmar Michaely.

Following this approach one can hope to combine more pieces of the puzzle so as to arrive at a more plausible storyline.
But in my opinion this is always work in progress, based on current information.
When you, Alan, Ed, Oscar or Ulf can find 'new' pages from Oskar Barnack's work notes,  the story line may have to be adapted again.

It strikes me that in Leica literature 'common knowledge' is frequently presented as facts, but without much proof.
It would be better to follow a scientific approach and to work with hypotheses.

For example one can formulate the following set of hypotheses:

• Dr Paul Wolff won a Leica in 1926
• Dr Paul Wolff did not make use of a Leica before 1925 or 1926 
• Dr Paul Wolff is mentioned twice in the 1926 Leitz delivery register 'Kamera'. 
• Dr Paul Wolff started to take Leica photography seriously after 1926 

When one works in this way then it is possible to formulate a set of alternative hypotheses:

• Dr Paul Wolff did not win a Leica in 1926
• Dr Paul Wolff is not mentioned in the 1926 Leitz delivery register 'Kamera'
• Dr Paul Wolff made use of a test series Leica in 1923 or 1924
• Dr Paul Wolff obtained (instead of borrowed) his first Leica in the first months of 1925

In this way one can write an article in which the two sets of hypotheses are confronted with the available evidence.
This would be a neutral scientific approach; accusations of speculation or heresy would be entirely beside the point. 
Note that such a scientific appoach will not lead to 'the truth' either.
After 100 years we simply miss too many pieces of the puzzle.
It would already mark progress if we can conclude that with current information one set of hypotheses is more plausible than the other.

Roland

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[derleicaman]

I have been following this thread with great interest. I think there will be an article here for Viewfinder about Dr. Wolff!

As far as his residence being in Wetzlar or Frankfurt am Main, I think it is very well documented his living in Frankfurt during the period in the 30's and then to the point of his home being bombed and destroyed during the war. I am sure Ed Schwartzreich can provide the exact dates. After Dr. Wolff lost his home in Frankfurt, he moved to the vicinity of Wetzlar, specifically to Braunfels. He was relocated there through the efforts of Henri Dumur, one of the managing directors at Leitz. On my last visit to Braunfels, I asked one of the guides at the Schloss where Dr. Wolff was living at that time. He showed us the door way to his rooms at the Schloss, very near the gate. During the time Dr. Wolff was living in Braunfels, my dad was introduced to  him as someone who could possibly get him some Leica cameras or lenses. My dad was with the US Occupation at this time in 1946. He was serving as a photographer in the US Signal Corps documenting the destruction of surplus US military equipment so it would not fall into the hands of the Russians if they invaded Germany. My dad was born in Germany in 1927, and our family left for the States in 1929. He went into the service when he turned 18 as the war was winding down in 1945. Being a native German speaker served him well in his quest to get a Leica camera and lenses. At some point in time, he also went to Haus Friedwart to try and get a camera there, and Elsie Kuhn-Leitz yelled down from the second floor to go away, they had no Leicas! I had a fun time recounting this to Knut Kuhn-Leitz as he gave us a tour of Haus Friedwart in 2019. My dad never got past the front door, and we had visited Wetzlar several times in the 70's and 80's.

My dad told me many times about his encounter with Dr. Wolff. He described as being in poor health, but very anxious to get tobacco or cigarettes, as most Germans were in that time period. My dad traded him some cigarettes for a 9cm Elmar, which I still have to this day. My dad recalled that Dr. Wolff had told him that the lens was especially picked out as being of the highest optical quality from lenses that were available to Dr. Wolff. Years later, my dad felt some guilt about getting this lens for just some cigarettes, but I always felt that the exchange was made openly and that if Dr. Wolff was happy with the trade, then don't feel guilty.

Dr. Wolff came from the area of Alsace-Lorraine, which after WWI was ceded to France. He considered himself a German, not French. Life was made very difficult there by the "New French Bosses" after the war for native Germans. He was also in fact a medical doctor. His title of Dr. Paul Wolff was not honorary. He served as a doctor in the German military in WWI, and Ed Schwartzreich has written about this extensively for Viewfinder. We have published pictures of him in the hospital with some of the German war wounded that he had treated and cared for. The bottom line is that the situation in Alsace-Lorraine after the war made it impossible for him to continue there as a medical doctor. That is when he left and began his career in photography of which we are all familiar, as well as his early involvement with the Leica. He earned the title Pioneer of the Leica, having played a big part in the success of the tiny wonder that Barnack had created. The fact that he was self-promoting to a large degree should not be held against him. Life was not easy in those times in Germany, and Dr. Wolff did what he needed to do to earn a living, when he was denied being able to practice in the field of medicine in his native land after the French occupation.

[derleicaman]

Here is a picture of Dr. Paul Wolff during WWI, with wounded German soldiers, in the hospital under his care.

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[derleicaman]

Here is a picture of my dad in his office in Germany. This picture was taken in 1946 I believe, when he was 19 years old. The pictures he is reviewing were of a wedding he had shot at the officer's club, at Kronberg Castle, outside of Frankfurt. This was the home of the ruling family of Hesse. It later became famous when the US officers in charge of the club stole the state crown jewels which were hidden in the castle. They were subsequently caught and prosecuted back in the States. They made a movie about this several years ago.

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[willeica]

5 hours ago, derleicaman said:

I have been following this thread with great interest. I think there will be an article here for Viewfinder about Dr. Wolff!

As far as his residence being in Wetzlar or Frankfurt am Main, I think it is very well documented his living in Frankfurt during the period in the 30's and then to the point of his home being bombed and destroyed during the war. I am sure Ed Schwartzreich can provide the exact dates. After Dr. Wolff lost his home in Frankfurt, he moved to the vicinity of Wetzlar, specifically to Braunfels. He was relocated there through the efforts of Henri Dumur, one of the managing directors at Leitz. On my last visit to Braunfels, I asked one of the guides at the Schloss where Dr. Wolff was living at that time. He showed us the door way to his rooms at the Schloss, very near the gate. During the time Dr. Wolff was living in Braunfels, my dad was introduced to  him as someone who could possibly get him some Leica cameras or lenses. My dad was with the US Occupation at this time in 1946. He was serving as a photographer in the US Signal Corps documenting the destruction of surplus US military equipment so it would not fall into the hands of the Russians if they invaded Germany. My dad was born in Germany in 1927, and our family left for the States in 1929. He went into the service when he turned 18 as the war was winding down in 1945. Being a native German speaker served him well in his quest to get a Leica camera and lenses. At some point in time, he also went to Haus Friedwart to try and get a camera there, and Elsie Kuhn-Leitz yelled down from the second floor to go away, they had no Leicas! I had a fun time recounting this to Knut Kuhn-Leitz as he gave us a tour of Haus Friedwart in 2019. My dad never got past the front door, and we had visited Wetzlar several times in the 70's and 80's.

My dad told me many times about his encounter with Dr. Wolff. He described as being in poor health, but very anxious to get tobacco or cigarettes, as most Germans were in that time period. My dad traded him some cigarettes for a 9cm Elmar, which I still have to this day. My dad recalled that Dr. Wolff had told him that the lens was especially picked out as being of the highest optical quality from lenses that were available to Dr. Wolff. Years later, my dad felt some guilt about getting this lens for just some cigarettes, but I always felt that the exchange was made openly and that if Dr. Wolff was happy with the trade, then don't feel guilty.

Dr. Wolff came from the area of Alsace-Lorraine, which after WWI was ceded to France. He considered himself a German, not French. Life was made very difficult there by the "New French Bosses" after the war for native Germans. He was also in fact a medical doctor. His title of Dr. Paul Wolff was not honorary. He served as a doctor in the German military in WWI, and Ed Schwartzreich has written about this extensively for Viewfinder. We have published pictures of him in the hospital with some of the German war wounded that he had treated and cared for. The bottom line is that the situation in Alsace-Lorraine after the war made it impossible for him to continue there as a medical doctor. That is when he left and began his career in photography of which we are all familiar, as well as his early involvement with the Leica. He earned the title Pioneer of the Leica, having played a big part in the success of the tiny wonder that Barnack had created. The fact that he was self-promoting to a large degree should not be held against him. Life was not easy in those times in Germany, and Dr. Wolff did what he needed to do to earn a living, when he was denied being able to practice in the field of medicine in his native land after the French occupation.

Great history, Bill. Would I be right in thinking that Wolff's main contribution was in regard to the use of film and film development rather than the design of the Leica camera? I think that Barnack was on record as saying that some of his friends could not really get decent images from a Leica camera until those issues had been resolved. Some people give a lot of credit to Wolff for solving some of those issues. That image of Elsie Kuhn-Leitz yelling that they had no more Leicas has stuck in my head for some years. It is quite a turn and a steep climb to get up to the front door of the villa these days. There had been a tunnel connecting the villa to the factory, but we were told that was irreparably damaged during the war. I kept thinking of your Dad walking up the driveway while I was there. There was very little evidence of a camera business there except in the study, but there were pianos everywhere in the house.

Attached are some photos I took in and of the house while I was there a few weeks ago. It truly is a massive edifice and it was the original 'Leitz Hotel'. We were told that everyone who was anyone stayed there, including HCB. The last photo shows your friend Ebi explaining the boss's study to the folks from Leitz Auction. The study had a modest selection of Leicas on a shelf. The Ur Leica is a replica.

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[Roland Zwiers]

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Hello Bill and William,

Thank you for your positive replies.

Dr Paul Wolff is a fascinating figure for many reasons.
Last year Ed Schwartzreich and me had an extensive discussion on how painful his expuslion from Alsace-Lorraine must have been for him.

His subsequent settlement in Frankfurt a/M was probably not coincidental.
In that city was a scientific institute for the re-settled people of Alsace-Lorraine.
Dr Paul Wolff was a member and provided (Leica?) pictures for the 1926 annual report.

There is a lot of literature on the artistic aspects of the work of Dr Paul Wolff's Leica photography. 
His contributions to eliminating the technical bottlenecks for Leica photography are equally important, but misunderstood.
This part has my special interest and it overlaps with my discussion on 100 years Null-Serie.

One can see that Dr Paul Wolff used several generations of 35mm cine negative film.
When he made use of a test series Leica (1923 and/or 1924) he used low speed, lowly orthochromatic coarse-grain film. 
His later comment: 'it was a cross' must refer to this period.
{The Leica reviews of March-May 1925 make clear that this criticism did not apply anymore to the then available Leica films!]

In 1925-1931 or so Dr Paul Wolff likely used the Perutz Grünsiegelfilm (AKA Leicafilm) and later the Perutz Spezial Fliegerfilm (AKA  Leica Spezialfilm).
At the end of this period he made the chance discovery 'overexpose - underdevelop'. 
Many pictures in his 1934 book 'Meine Erfahrungen mit der Leica' are from this period.

After his chance discovery he starts using fast orthochromatic and panchromatic films.
This is the period 1931-1934.
These fast films had by nature a much coarser grain than the Perutz Leica Spezialfilm.
But by overexposure and underdevelopment he managed to suppress the grain.
At the same time the new procedure enabled him to bridge extreme contrasts between dark and light.
His 1934 book 'Meine Erfahrungen mit der Leica' also show many examples of this technique.

A third period to consider is 1934-1939 or 1934-1945.
This requires a long explanation.
This period also has to deal with Dr Paul Wolffs contributions to colour photography with a Leica camera.

All this is to show that the technical contributions of Dr Paul Wolff are worthy of separate analysis.
These is some overlap with '100 year Null-Serie', but not much.
 

Roland

 

 

 

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[Roland Zwiers]

Hello Bill and William,

Another reply has to do with the original purpose of this thread '100 years Null-Serie'.

My aim is to 'make chocolate' of the sea of data surrounding the 'Null-Serie', 'second-test series', and 'beginning of regular series production".
And at the same time to link these post-war concepts to early Leica photographers like:

• Anton Baumann (who told Oskar Barnack to improve the Null-Serie with a self capping shutter)
• Curt Emmermann (who received a test Leica as late as February 1925 (new information, courtesy Alan)  
• Dr Paul Wolff (who published a Leica picture that he made in 1924)

In Leica literature the said post-war concepts and early Leica photographers are not logically connected.
The added value of my research is to combine the available information for a plaubible (but still hypothetical) storyline.
In this storyline there are no hard borderlines between the Null-Serie of 1923, the second test series of 1924 and the beginning of regular series production in 1924-1925.
In this way I can find a logical places for the three early Leica photographers.

Curt Emmermann received his test camera in early February 1925.  
This was a test Leica ('zur Begutachtung'), but one can well argue that it also was an early series produced Leica.
Dr Paul Wolff must have borrowed a test series Leica in 1924 and may have obtained (instead of borrowed) a test series Leica in early 1925, much like Curt Emmermann.
Anton Baumann is not mentioned on page 115 of Oskar Barnack's 1923 work notes, but did receive the early series produced Leicas Nr. 127 and 133.
But he likely borrowed a 1923 'Null-Serie' Leica as well:  how could he otherwise have recommended to Oskar Barnack  to redesign the shutter?
Note that several photographers who are metioned in the column 'cameras on loan' in Oskar Barnack's work notes are mentioned as recipients in the 1925 delivery book "Kamera'.
Anton Baumann likely made a similar promotion.

So for an article in Viewfinder I would like to preserve this integrated approach.

Now I can predict the following criticism:
Dr Paul Wolff cannot have used a Leica in 1924 since he won his first Leica only in 1926.
In Leica literature this is regarded as common knowledge.
William reminded me of this in an earlier research meeting of the PCCGB.

So what am I to do?
In order to rescue my main analysis I have to add a discussion on whether or not Dr Paul Wolff could have used a Leica before 1926.
This discussion may be the subject for a separate article in Viewfinder.
But in my opinion it should not come in the place of the main storyline.

Roland

 

 

 

 

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[pedaes]

47 minutes ago, Roland Zwiers said:

Dr Paul Wolff cannot have used a Leica in 1924 since he won his first Leica only in 1926.

It is said Dr. Wolff acquired HIS first Leica in early 1926, presumably meaning his personal camera. This description/?fact does not preclude the option of his using a loaned camera prior to this. Indeed  who knows, he may have used a borrowed Leica to take the image that won him his own Leica. 

Have you been in contact with Hans-Michael Koetzle who edited the book 'Dr.Paul Wolff and Tritschler' on behalf of the Ernst Leitz Museum?

[Roland Zwiers]

8 hours ago, pedaes said:

It is said Dr. Wolff acquired HIS first Leica in early 1926, presumably meaning his personal camera. This description/?fact does not preclude the option of his using a loaned camera prior to this. Indeed  who knows, he may have used a borrowed Leica to take the image that won him his own Leica. 

Have you been in contact with Hans-Michael Koetzle who edited the book 'Dr.Paul Wolff and Tritschler' on behalf of the Ernst Leitz Museum?

Thank you for your reply.
Dr Paul Wolff himself states that he obtained HIS Leica in 1925.

„1925 was the first Leica year, it also gave me the Leica, after having met Oskar Barnack two years earlier at the Leitz factory,
who showed me one of the first Leicas with the problematic question what I thought of it”.

The German text leaves open the possibility that this Leica was presented to him
('[1925] bescherte auch mir die Leica (...)"] ,
possibly by Ernst Leitz, possibly in the same way that Curt Emmermann obtained his Leica in early February 1925.

Yes, I have tried to contact Hans-Michael Koetzle several times.
He has not replied.
Then I contacted his secretary, who promised to forward my e-mail to him.
Still no reply.
I hope this thread will convince him to get in touch after all.

Roland

 

 

[Roland Zwiers]

11 hours ago, Roland Zwiers said:

Hello Bill and William,

Thank you for your positive replies.

Dr Paul Wolff is a fascinating figure for many reasons.
Last year Ed Schwartzreich and me had an extensive discussion on how painful his expuslion from Alsace-Lorraine must have been for him.

His subsequent settlement in Frankfurt a/M was probably not coincidental.
In that city was a scientific institute for the re-settled people of Alsace-Lorraine.
Dr Paul Wolff was a member and provided (Leica?) pictures for the 1926 annual report.

There is a lot of literature on the artistic aspects of the work of Dr Paul Wolff's Leica photography. 
His contributions to eliminating the technical bottlenecks for Leica photography are equally important, but misunderstood.
This part has my special interest and it overlaps with my discussion on 100 years Null-Serie.

One can see that Dr Paul Wolff used several generations of 35mm cine negative film.
When he made use of a test series Leica (1923 and/or 1924) he used low speed, lowly orthochromatic coarse-grain film. 
His later comment: 'it was a cross' must refer to this period.
{The Leica reviews of March-May 1925 make clear that this criticism did not apply anymore to the then available Leica films!]

In 1925-1931 or so Dr Paul Wolff likely used the Perutz Grünsiegelfilm (AKA Leicafilm) and later the Perutz Spezial Fliegerfilm (AKA  Leica Spezialfilm).
At the end of this period he made the chance discovery 'overexpose - underdevelop'. 
Many pictures in his 1934 book 'Meine Erfahrungen mit der Leica' are from this period.

After his chance discovery he starts using fast orthochromatic and panchromatic films.
This is the period 1931-1934.
These fast films had by nature a much coarser grain than the Perutz Leica Spezialfilm.
But by overexposure and underdevelopment he managed to suppress the grain.
At the same time the new procedure enabled him to bridge extreme contrasts between dark and light.
His 1934 book 'Meine Erfahrungen mit der Leica' also show many examples of this technique.

A third period to consider is 1934-1939 or 1934-1945.
This requires a long explanation.
This period also has to deal with Dr Paul Wolffs contributions to colour photography with a Leica camera.

All this is to show that the technical contributions of Dr Paul Wolff are worthy of separate analysis.
These is some overlap with '100 year Null-Serie', but not much.
 

Roland

 

 

 

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This is the timeline (work in progress!) that presents the progress of Dr Paul Wolff in the form of technological stepping stones.
The overlap with the Null-Serie is in the third column (Period 0, 1923-1924).

The table makes use of the three periods (I, II, III) that Dr Paul Wolff distinguishes in his book Meine Erfahrungen mit der Leica (1934).
These periods are combined with technological developments that I have found in other pre-war sources.

The attatchment has the pdf-version, which allows for better reading.

Roland

 

 

 

Stepping stones Dr Paul Wolff 1923-1934-versie 5 steps-subperiods-p1.pdf

[willeica]

I can't remember if I posted these before, but these are the entries for two cameras distributed in 1926 to Herrn Wolff Wetzlar on 8.3.26 (1181)

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and Wolff, Wetzlar on 1.8.26 (1776)

As I mentioned before, I am leaving the interpretation of these entries to Roland as he knows far more than I do about Paul Wolff and also about German modes of address. 

I own No 1783 which is just 7 numbers after No 1776. It was sent to a dealer in Bingen on the Rhine opposite Rudesheim, which is not far from Wetzlar, on 6.8.26, but on 9.8.27 1927 it was returned to Herr Barnack

I am posting these here as they are entries made in the Leica delivery book in 1926 and, therefore, constitute contemporary records about what is being discussed here. How we interpret these is a different matter, of course.

William 

[alan mcfall]

A great topic. I appreciate the "stock/flow" chart and realize how much effort goes into such a creation. I allows some possible timing of two of my cameras. #226 may have been scheduled for producton in Aug.-Nov. 1924, engraved in Nov., assembeled in early 1925. I note that in post 15, that camera 225 was delivered to London in late Jan. 1925. If anyone has the delivery information for 226, I would appreciate it. If "regular" production started at 126, than maybe this is the 100/101st of the series. (I know deliveries can be out of order with serials). My camera 656 was assigned for production in Mar. 1925, engraved in june/july and finished later that year. Again, any specific information as to the delivery would be interesting.

As to the early wood enlargers with the fixed 64mm lens. I have 3, one with no serial, #483 and #2566. I do not know if they were serialized from the beginning, starting with 100?  They were sold for several years, up to 1929 or so. As noted, those early model A owners would have been logical customers. I believe mine are all FILAR code. The metal FILES variable enlarger was available in 1926, but mine are not serialized, so the ratio of sales of wood fixed vs. metal variable enlargers seems unknown. Any factory data of 64mm enlarger lens production would be of interest.

[beoon]

3 hours ago, alan mcfall said:

A great topic. I appreciate the "stock/flow" chart and realize how much effort goes into such a creation. I allows some possible timing of two of my cameras. #226 may have been scheduled for producton in Aug.-Nov. 1924, engraved in Nov., assembeled in early 1925. I note that in post 15, that camera 225 was delivered to London in late Jan. 1925. If anyone has the delivery information for 226, I would appreciate it.

Hello Alan,

Serial number 226 was delivered to Hilgers, Bonn (delivery number 40) on 19/2/25.

I shall upload a photo tonight, the writing is faint and especially the delivery date.

regards

Alan

[willeica]

On 7/4/2023 at 7:23 AM, Roland Zwiers said:

 

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This is the timeline (work in progress!) that presents the progress of Dr Paul Wolff in the form of technological stepping stones.
The overlap with the Null-Serie is in the third column (Period 0, 1923-1924).

The table makes use of the three periods (I, II, III) that Dr Paul Wolff distinguishes in his book Meine Erfahrungen mit der Leica (1934).
These periods are combined with technological developments that I have found in other pre-war sources.

The attatchment has the pdf-version, which allows for better reading.

Roland

 

 

 

Stepping stones Dr Paul Wolff 1923-1934-versie 5 steps-subperiods-p1.pdf 666.69 kB · 4 downloads

This is the area where Wolff probably made his greatest contribution, particularly as regards film types and development etc. Do we have any evidence as to how this may have fed into Leitz and influenced the developments of Leitz products, particularly cameras and lenses. We have internal documents which show continual factory testing including the determination of actual focal lengths with the addition of code numbers behind the distance scale. Do we have anything similar for Wolff's tests, particularly how Leitz may have disseminated those results to Leica users in the early years, say from 1925 to 1932?

3 hours ago, alan mcfall said:

A great topic. I appreciate the "stock/flow" chart and realize how much effort goes into such a creation. I allows some possible timing of two of my cameras. #226 may have been scheduled for producton in Aug.-Nov. 1924, engraved in Nov., assembeled in early 1925. I note that in post 15, that camera 225 was delivered to London in late Jan. 1925. If anyone has the delivery information for 226, I would appreciate it. If "regular" production started at 126, than maybe this is the 100/101st of the series. (I know deliveries can be out of order with serials). My camera 656 was assigned for production in Mar. 1925, engraved in june/july and finished later that year. Again, any specific information as to the delivery would be interesting.

As to the early wood enlargers with the fixed 64mm lens. I have 3, one with no serial, #483 and #2566. I do not know if they were serialized from the beginning, starting with 100?  They were sold for several years, up to 1929 or so. As noted, those early model A owners would have been logical customers. I believe mine are all FILAR code. The metal FILES variable enlarger was available in 1926, but mine are not serialized, so the ratio of sales of wood fixed vs. metal variable enlargers seems unknown. Any factory data of 64mm enlarger lens production would be of interest.

Alan, I can get the delivery details for 656 for you. Beoon has just posted the details for 226 above. The early deliveries are not in books like the later ones, but are on loose pages kept in plastic folders. Only camera deliveries are recorded. Lens information tends to be in batches and, of course, lens serial numbers did not exist before late 1931. The lens on a camera, as delivered, is indicated in the form of the alphabetic code used in the delivery register. As regards accessories, Leitz was using serial numbers for items like the FODIS/FODUA rangefinder early on, but then they dropped the practice. I have never seen delivery details for accessories. I can ask about that, but I would not be hopeful that they still exist or are accessible.

William   

[Roland Zwiers]

This must be the same Hilgers, Bonn that received Nr. 131 on 29 january 1925.

For calibrating the stock/flow chart it is indeed important to have access to all the early pages of the delivery book 'Kamera'in the period 1925-1927.

Now we depend on bits and pieces of information.

Why are these primary sources (Oskar Barnack's work notes, the delivery book 'Kamera' not made available to researchers? 

This would help us to get a more overall perspective.

 

Roland

 

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[Roland Zwiers]

4 hours ago, alan mcfall said:

A great topic. I appreciate the "stock/flow" chart and realize how much effort goes into such a creation. I allows some possible timing of two of my cameras. #226 may have been scheduled for producton in Aug.-Nov. 1924, engraved in Nov., assembeled in early 1925. I note that in post 15, that camera 225 was delivered to London in late Jan. 1925. If anyone has the delivery information for 226, I would appreciate it. If "regular" production started at 126, than maybe this is the 100/101st of the series. (I know deliveries can be out of order with serials). My camera 656 was assigned for production in Mar. 1925, engraved in june/july and finished later that year. Again, any specific information as to the delivery would be interesting.

As to the early wood enlargers with the fixed 64mm lens. I have 3, one with no serial, #483 and #2566. I do not know if they were serialized from the beginning, starting with 100?  They were sold for several years, up to 1929 or so. As noted, those early model A owners would have been logical customers. I believe mine are all FILAR code. The metal FILES variable enlarger was available in 1926, but mine are not serialized, so the ratio of sales of wood fixed vs. metal variable enlargers seems unknown. Any factory data of 64mm enlarger lens production would be of interest.

Hello Alan,

The stock/flow chart can indeed be used as some kind of benchmark for the timing of individual cameras.
Still, the chart implicitely assumes that engraved cameras were assembled in numerical order.
This was not the case as the cameras of batch one were assembled at various tables.
And during the assembly of batch one cameras of later batches were placed on the same assembly tables.

In this way cameras that were engraved at an earlier stage may have been kept waiting for final assembly.
The same would have happened with batches of Anastigmats/ Elmax/ Elmar lenses.
In this way many combinations must have been possible.

It would be fascinating if we could follow the cameras with known engravings dates (1924-1926) over time.
The stock/flow chart has an inplicit numerical benchmark, but I would like to compare this to the empirical information of the delivery book 'Kamera'. 
In this way we could examine how big the differences are between the 'numerical' sequence and the actual outcomes.
We could also better understand 'outliers' such as a camera that was engraved in 1924 and that was still combined with an Elmar lens.

 

Roland

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[beoon]

7 hours ago, beoon said:

Hello Alan,

Serial number 226 was delivered to Hilgers, Bonn (delivery number 40) on 19/2/25.

I shall upload a photo tonight, the writing is faint and especially the delivery date.

regards

Alan

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[derleicaman]

Wonderful replies here, everyone!

Let's see if we can get together in Wetzlar in Ocotber during the LSI annual meeting. I can see about setting up a meeting with Tim Pullmann in the Archiv, to see if we can get access to some of these records.

Let me know who is interested.

 

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[Roland Zwiers]

1 hour ago, beoon said:

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The experience of the Numbers 220-234 is a good confrontation of the numerical and the (empirical) delivery sequence.
According to the Leitz engravings register all these cameras (Nr. 127-236) were engraved on the same day (27/11/1924).
After that they were assembled, combined with lenses, put in storage and then delivered.
The delivery dates for these 15 cameras already vary from 24 January 1925 (Nr. 225) to 4 March 1925 (Nr. 229).
Nr. 220 seems to have been originally delivered on 25 March 1925, but this is hard to read.

The order of delivery already shows that the lowest number (220) was delivered rather late.
Nr. 233 has a higher number but was delivered one month earlier.

If we have more information like this, then one can infer how much time it took to assemble a camera in the period up to the March 1925 Leipzig fair.
And at what stage assembly time could be shortened because of increased capacity and/or efficiency gains (more hands, more skillful hands, economies of scale).

 

Roland