Recommended New Feast Day

[ho_co]

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I recommend the addition of Leitz Midland Celebration Day to the photographic lectionary.

 

As a reminder: When the M5 didn't fly, Wetzlar terminated the M series, intending to run with the SL alone.

 

Thanks be to Barnack, someone at the Midland Ontario plant decided to put the M4 back into production.

 

At the time, there weren't full production drawings for the camera because, in a true corporate memory, the German M staff carried the knowledge in their blood and muscles. Therefore the design specs Wetzlar sent to Midland were incomplete, and the M4-2 had teething problems.

 

But the upshot is: Only because someone (anyone know who?) in Canada couldn't bear to see the rangefinder line killed is it--and the company--still around today.

 

There should be a commemorative celebration and at least a plaque to celebrate the foresight of the person and company branch that kept the M alive.

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[aesop]

At the time, there weren't full production drawings for the camera because, in a true corporate memory, the German M staff carried the knowledge in their blood and muscles. Therefore the design specs Wetzlar sent to Midland were incomplete, and the M4-2 had teething problems.

 

 

...Howard, is this true? If so, then it was truly a staggering feat, notwithstanding the issues with the M4-2. Does anyone have additional verifiable information on this matter?

 

 

.

[ho_co]

aes--

Some of the technical drawings didn't exist any longer, because the technicians knew the camera by rote. ("Blood and muscles" may be a bit overblown, but fits the tone. )

 

Maybe they had been tossed when Leitz introduced the M5 (why keep instructions for last year's model?), maybe when Wetzlar decided to drop the M. Or maybe they had simply been lost over time, since the cameras were so seldom modified.

 

Or, of course, I may be wrong. But this is what I heard from our sales manager. (I worked for Leitz Rockleigh for about ten years, starting about this time.)

 

It's a chapter in Leitz's history that I'd like to have clarified as well.

 

If it's true, it seems important that Leica had written off the M and was planning to move forward only with the reflex. Now they've discontinued the line they thought was going to be the future. If it's true, we've got to be thankful to whoever decided to put the M back into production.

[Shootist]

Not sure about the original drawing of the M line but there are, and I have one, workshop repair manuals that detail the complete disassembly and reassembly of all the M cameras including the rangefinder. The one I have covers the M3. About the only thing that has changed from the M3, later models, to current models is the rangefinder. I can't believe that Leica has thrown out any drawings of any model, M/SL/R/S1, including the first concept drawing to the final working drawings of all the parts needed to make anyone of there cameras.

[imported_peter_m]

Howard,

That is the story I read somewhere, can't remember where, night have been on the German forum. If it wouldn't have been for that one person in the Midland plant there would be no M no more.

If I remember correct he convinced Wezlar he could build and sell XX many M4 in a year and they let him do it. He sold almost twice as many m's as anticipated that first year and the M kept going.

Peter

[laboone]

The Rangefinderforum had a post about a year ago that described how Walter Kluck at Midland saved the M-series:

 

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1035039

[ho_co]

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Peter--

That jibes with my recollection!

 

 

lab--

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out. I see it's by Rolf Fricke, so it should be authoritative.

 

 

Thank goodness for the collective wisdom of this forum!

 

What worries me about all this is that you can't predict the future. I think Leica is right to drop the R; they can never be competitive in the dSLR marketplace.

 

But at one time, Wetzlar decided the M had no future, and one man decided he could sell Canadian-made M cameras and kept the proposition going.

 

I think the S2 will fly, and I think Leica is brilliant to try it and even to be first to market with it!

 

But there's this niggling question in my brain of whether they've done the right thing.

 

Whatever happens, there should be a memorial celebration of Walter Kluck, if that's who it was. IMHO, he's clearly the guy who kept the camera division in business up to today.

 

We're right to honor Karbe, Mandler, Berek and others, but without both Barnack and Kluck, there'd be nothing to put their lenses on.

 

And, hey! We could use a Kluck Sonderedition M9, don't you think?

[lct]

The Rangefinderforum had a post about a year ago that described how Walter Kluck at Midland saved the M-s...

The LUF as well but thanks to Howard for his insider's memories.

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-sammler-historica/61471-querverweis-walter-kluck-man-who-saved.html

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-collectors-historica/61612-walter-kluck-man-who-saved-leica.html#post635986

[ho_co]

Great, lct! Thanks for the additional links.

 

I guess I'm just tuned in to last year's Zeitgeist!

[NZDavid]

It just goes to show that passionate Leica enthusiasts can make a difference. And that the Leica spirit is international.

 

But how to celebrate a Leica feast day? How to honor the pantheon of Leica saints? St. Barnack, St. Mandler, and now St. Kluck, St.Kaufmann, et al. Suggestions?

[spylaw4]

Sounds like a cue for another competition.

How about:

Restricted to Midland products/designs. Cameras, and/or lenses - either would be ok to keep the appeal wider.

Photographs to be shot on 26th November only. Submit one photograph for judging.

[bill]

Sounds like a cue for another competition.

How about:

Restricted to Midland products/designs. Cameras, and/or lenses - either would be ok to keep the appeal wider.

Photographs to be shot on 26th November only. Submit one photograph for judging.

 

Liking this...

 

Regards,

 

Bill

[ho_co]

I asked Erwin Puts for some insight in regard to my initial post, and he was gracious enough to reply. He says I was wrong. It is true that Walter Kluck saved the M camera, but the problem with the initial Canadian Ms was not lack of information, but lack of experience.

 

Erwin agrees with Ed above: Wetzlar did have complete diagrams and instructions for the M4, and made them available to Midland. That's where I was in error.

 

The somewhat spotty initial performance record of the M4-2 arose from the fact that the folks in Midland were new to this camera. Where the experienced German workers could tell by feel whether, say, a screw had been tightened properly, the Canadians were working from specifications. It took a bit for them to develop the "Fingerspitzengefühl" that the Wetzlar M4 technicians had long had.

 

So my tale was the salesman's exaggeration, partly mine, maybe also partly from my sales manager. The accurate side of it was that the workers on the new Midland M production line didn't have that hewn-in sense of accuracy that comes only from long experience.

 

Thanks to everyone for the feedback; I'm glad to find out this story was already available, and that we've got another name to put in the list of the people, from Ernst Leitz II forward, lucky enough to have been in the right place and to have made the decisions that gave us the Leica.

 

 

OT: Next, someone needs to research Conrad Stenton's life story. He was in the Midland lens design department at about this time, and the most capable person I've met in regard to explaining optical concepts to us lay persons. Very well rounded designer. Besides lenses, he even did designs for radar guns for police departments (something we road warriors didn't take kindly to).