Older Leitz Cameras

[ogrove]

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Hi My name is Colin this is my first time on the forum ,I have been collecting Leica cameras ,lenses ,etc for 50 years since 1958 ( still have every one) .Two that I have recently found are 13x18 cm plate cameras built around 1880-1900 with name plates on Ernst Leitz Wetzlar , they are approx 1 meter long ,when fully extended ,have built in shutters but no lenses ,do any members no the type of lenses they would use ,or have any information on these cameras ?

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[wizard]

Hi Colin,

 

welcome to this forum. That sounds like a well sorted collection of Leica gear you have! I am sorry, can't answer your specific question, but try to post questions in the customer forum or in the film forum, you are more likely to get answers there. This part of the forum where you have posted is meant to deal with issues of the forum itself, i.e. organization etc.

 

Cheers,

 

Andy

[abrewer]

Not to worry, Colin.

 

I moved you to the right place here in the Customer Forum.

 

Good luck in finding out about your cameras.

 

And welcome to the Forum!

 

Thanks.

 

Allan

[john_f]

Hi My name is Colin this is my first time on the forum ,I have been collecting Leica cameras ,lenses ,etc for 50 years since 1958 ( still have every one) .Two that I have recently found are 13x18 cm plate cameras built around 1880-1900 with name plates on Ernst Leitz Wetzlar , they are approx 1 meter long ,when fully extended ,have built in shutters but no lenses ,do any members no the type of lenses they would use ,or have any information on these cameras ?

 

Colin,

 

Welcome to the Leica forum. Your plate camera is most intriguing! Could it be possible to post a picture of it.

 

Ernst Leitz I was hired at Karl Kellner's Optical Institute as a junior engineer in 1865. In 1869, at the death of the Institute's owner, F.C. Belthle, Leitz became sole proprietor and renamed the company Optisches Institut von Ernst Leitz. It was much later, in 1887, that Ernst Leitz hired Carl Metz to design lenses based on mathematical principles, a first in the industry (in those days, Leitz was the market leader ...). In the late 1890's, Leitz's specialty was mostly microscopes, binoculars and specialty projectors. It was Ernst Leitz I's son, Ludwig Leitz, who first developed photomicrography at Wetzlar (probably what your plate camera was intended for). Sadly, Ludwig Leitz was killed in a riding accident in 1898. His younger brother Ernst Leitz II inherited the business and further developed it as the camera maker we know today.

 

Have a look at this link: Microscopy-UK Micscape Microscopy and Microscopes Magazine Does your plate camera look like any of these cameras ?

 

In 1930, Ernst Leitz K.G., Wetzlar amalgamated with associated companies to become Ernst Leitz G.m.b.G., Wetzlar (and later Ernst Leitz Wetzlar GmbH). Could you also post a picture of a close-up of the "Leitz" name on your camera? Thank you.

 

Best regards,

 

John F.

[TimF]

What a fascinating link John.

 

Colin, I hope you manage to find the answer to your question. Like John, I'd love to see a picture of these beasties.

[ogrove]

Hi Thanks for the information havent been able to put a photo on yet could e mail you some ? They dont look like the ones in the article , There is 2 plates on each with the Leitz Wetzlar also there is a plate with Typ MAI 6196 and the second one Typ 6057 .

Colin