Leica copy
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| Leotax D IV image by David Sides (Image rights) |
Leica copy is a term that's often used for 35mm viewfinder or rangefinder cameras. But only half of the cases of so-called Leica copies reveal the real ambition of camera makers to make true copies of Leica's sophisticated camera constructions. This half, the true Leica copies, is divided in 3 classes:
1. Counterfeited Leica rangefinder cameras, sold on the black market as real Leicas or as good copies.
2. Copies of mainly the Leica rangefinder cameras, having been made by renowned camera makers as OEM products or bearing the makers' own brands.
3. Camera twins resulting from cooperations of Leica Camera company with other camera makers, differing in a few details from their Leica relatives.
- samples: Leica R3 twin Minolta XE, Leica Digilux 3 twin Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1
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| 1938 FED image by Geoff Harrisson (Image rights) |
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| Shanghai 58 image by jeckzuki500 (Image rights) |
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| 1947 Canon S-II image by Geoff Harrisson (Image rights) |
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| Leica IIIc copies by the renowned makers Nicca (OEM for Sears), Tanaka and Reid & Sigrist. image by Rick Soloway |
The other half is also divided in three classes:
1. Old rangefinder cameras overemphasized as Leica copies (resembling a Leica's styling but not being a copy). Many so-called Leica copies are not copies of Leicas but of such distinctly different models.
- sample (quite near to Leica design): Canon II/III/IV (difference to Leica: superimposed rangefinder)
- samples (no Leica design): Japanese Yamato Pax 35, Italian Wega
2. Fake Leicas which look like originals but can't be called true copies due to lousy quality of optics and mechanics.
3. Other rangefinder and viewfinder cameras which have nothing to do with Leica's camera designs. Then the term is used by vendors of old cameras to achieve attention by collectors, or by vendors who just know that Leicas were renowned 35mm cameras and think erroneously that all 35mm cameras are leica-like.
Miniature models of Leica cameras form a class in its own right.
- sample: Digital Classic Camera Leica M3
Bibliography
- "300 Leica Copies" Pont, P.-H., and Princelle, J.-L. Neuilly: Fotosaga, 1990. ISBN 2-906840-03-3.
