# Leica Camera
**Leica Camera** is a German manufacturer of cameras, lenses, and sports optics headquartered in Wetzlar, Germany, best known for the Leica, the compact 35 mm camera introduced in 1925 that established the 24 × 36 mm small format and made photography mobile.[1](https://leica-camera.com/en-US/photography/100-years/the-history-of-the-leica-I) • [2](https://leica-camera.com/en-int/corporate) The name Leica is a contraction of **Leitz Camera**, after the [Ernst Leitz](https://www.edgepedia.org/ernst-leitz) optical works where the camera was developed.[3](https://timeline.leica-camera.com/en-US/years/1914)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Company origins | Optical Institute founded by Carl Kellner in Wetzlar in 1849; Ernst Leitz joined in 1864 and ran it under his own name from 1865[1](https://leica-camera.com/en-US/photography/100-years/the-history-of-the-leica-I) |
| Defining product | Leica I, the first 35 mm camera to be successfully mass-produced, using 35 mm cinema film in landscape format; presented at the Leipzig Spring Fair in 1925[1](https://leica-camera.com/en-US/photography/100-years/the-history-of-the-leica-I) |
| Image format | 24 × 36 mm negative on 35 mm perforated film, the format that defined the small-film "miniature" camera[4](https://www.cameramuseum.ch/en/discover/permanent-exhibition/the-century-of-the-film/lleica-small-negatives-large-photographs/) |
| Production volume | Around 57,000 Leica I units manufactured between 1925 and 1930[1](https://leica-camera.com/en-US/photography/100-years/the-history-of-the-leica-I) |
| M-System | Leica M3, launched at Photokina in 1954, introduced the bayonet M-mount still used on current digital M cameras[5](https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/cameras/rangefinder-cameras/the-leica-m-camera-refused-to-change-for-seven-decades-and-that-might-be-its-greatest-strength) |
| Manufacturing | Headquarters and production in Wetzlar; second production site in Vila Nova de Famalicão, Portugal, operating since 1973[2](https://leica-camera.com/en-int/corporate) • [6](https://leica-camera.com/sites/default/files/2023-09/press_release-_50_years_of_leica_in_portugal.pdf) |
| Scale | Revenue of €596 million for the 2024/25 financial year, the highest in company history; around 2,300 employees worldwide[7](https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/cameras/mirrorless-cameras/leica-appoints-andreas-voll-as-new-ceo-of-the-luxury-camera-brand-as-it-targets-global-growth-while-kaufmann-plans-to-remain-in-the-company) |
## Origins: the Optical Institute and Oskar Barnack
The company traces its history to 1849, when Carl Kellner founded an Optical Institute in Wetzlar, a Hessian town on the river Lahn whose water was suited to lens polishing. Ernst Leitz joined in 1864, took over the firm in 1865, and within a few years pushed it to the front rank of the global microscope industry; from 1907 it also made binoculars.[1](https://leica-camera.com/en-US/photography/100-years/the-history-of-the-leica-I) • [8](https://elpais.com/cultura/2025-07-19/cien-anos-de-la-camara-compacta-leica-el-clic-que-revoluciono-la-fotografia.html)
**Oskar Barnack** (1879–1936), a precision mechanic, joined Leitz in 1911 and became head of development for cinema and measuring technology.[1](https://leica-camera.com/en-US/photography/100-years/the-history-of-the-leica-I) An amateur photographer with asthma, he found the large plate cameras of the day too heavy to carry, and set out to build a small camera with equally high image quality. In 1913/14 he completed the **Ur-Leica**, which he nicknamed "Liliput": the first camera to use 35 mm cinema film in landscape orientation, rotating the vertical motion-picture frame into a 24 × 36 mm still negative.[1](https://leica-camera.com/en-US/photography/100-years/the-history-of-the-leica-I) • [3](https://timeline.leica-camera.com/en-US/years/1914) Barnack used the prototype from 1914 for reportage photography; his series on the Wetzlar floods of 1920 is now considered the first reportage shot with a 35 mm still film camera.[9](https://www.leica-oskar-barnack-award.com/en/information/oskar-barnack.html)
## The Leica I and the 35 mm revolution
Series production was not automatic. Leitz built a small pilot run, the **0 series** (Nullserie), to test the camera under real conditions; one account records 25 cameras, serial numbered 101 through 125, loaned to managers, distributors, and professional photographers, whose evaluations were unenthusiastic, finding the format too small and the controls fiddly.[10](https://opticaorgdev.blob.core.windows.net/media/optica/media/osa.history/century_of_optics/pre-1940/31.pdf) Many managers and engineers remained skeptical of series production in 1924, and Ernst Leitz II ended the debate with the statement "I hereby decide: we will take the risk."[1](https://leica-camera.com/en-US/photography/100-years/the-history-of-the-leica-I)
The first series version, the **Leica I**, entered production at the end of 1924 and was presented to the public at the Spring Trade Fair in Leipzig in 1925, on 1 March according to press accounts of the centenary.[1](https://leica-camera.com/en-US/photography/100-years/the-history-of-the-leica-I) • [8](https://elpais.com/cultura/2025-07-19/cien-anos-de-la-camara-compacta-leica-el-clic-que-revoluciono-la-fotografia.html) It was the first 35 mm camera to be successfully mass-produced on cinema film, and its compact, portable format, roughly 400 grams, removed the need for a studio or tripod and is credited with opening the way to modern photojournalism.[1](https://leica-camera.com/en-US/photography/100-years/the-history-of-the-leica-I) • [11](https://cadenaser.com/nacional/2025/09/09/un-siglo-de-leica-400-gramos-que-democratizaron-la-fotografia-cadena-ser/) Around 1,000 cameras were sold in the first year, 16,000 were made in 1929, and about 57,000 units in various designs were built between 1925 and 1930.[8](https://elpais.com/cultura/2025-07-19/cien-anos-de-la-camara-compacta-leica-el-clic-que-revoluciono-la-fotografia.html) • [1](https://leica-camera.com/en-US/photography/100-years/the-history-of-the-leica-I) The early cameras carried a 50 mm Elmax lens designed by Professor Max Berek.[4](https://www.cameramuseum.ch/en/discover/permanent-exhibition/the-century-of-the-film/lleica-small-negatives-large-photographs/)
The 24 × 36 mm frame the Leica fixed became the standard small format, and the camera was widely imitated; one Spanish camera dealer counts up to 300 copies by competitors.[4](https://www.cameramuseum.ch/en/discover/permanent-exhibition/the-century-of-the-film/lleica-small-negatives-large-photographs/) • [8](https://elpais.com/cultura/2025-07-19/cien-anos-de-la-camara-compacta-leica-el-clic-que-revoluciono-la-fotografia.html) The success prompted Zeiss Ikon of Dresden to answer with the Contax in 1932, and Kodak's Retina of 1934 introduced the 35 mm daylight-loading film magazine that became the industry standard.[10](https://opticaorgdev.blob.core.windows.net/media/optica/media/osa.history/century_of_optics/pre-1940/31.pdf)
## The M-System
In 1954 Leica launched the **M3** at Photokina, the camera that established the M-System. It introduced the bayonet M-mount and combined the viewfinder and rangefinder into a single window, a design that has remained essentially unchanged for seven decades; Leica notes that an M lens from 1954 can still be mounted on its latest digital M bodies.[5](https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/cameras/rangefinder-cameras/the-leica-m-camera-refused-to-change-for-seven-decades-and-that-might-be-its-greatest-strength) The M line continues in digital form, including the M11 Monochrom with a black-and-white sensor and the M11-P, which the company describes as the world's first camera with built-in Content Credentials for verifying the authenticity of digital images.[12](https://leica-camera.com/sites/default/files/2024-11/Press-Release-Leica-Camera-achieved-in-FY23_24-the-best-result-in-the-history-of-the-company.pdf)
## Manufacturing and the company today
Rising German production costs from the mid-1960s led Leitz to look for supplementary locations in Europe, and in June 1973 a plant opened in [Vila Nova de Famalicão](https://www.edgepedia.org/vila-nova-de-famalicao) in northern Portugal, initially making microscope and camera components, later binoculars and the assembly of cameras including the Leica R3 and pre-assembly of the M6.[6](https://leica-camera.com/sites/default/files/2023-09/press_release-_50_years_of_leica_in_portugal.pdf) The current Portuguese complex, inaugurated on 21 March 2013 after a €23 million investment, covers 52,400 m², and more than 800 employees there produce essential components for the product range, including handcrafted sport optics.[6](https://leica-camera.com/sites/default/files/2023-09/press_release-_50_years_of_leica_in_portugal.pdf)
Today Leica Camera AG is a premium manufacturer of cameras, lenses, and sports optics, with over 150 years of company history behind the brand, and has expanded into mobile imaging, eyeglass lenses, watches, and home-cinema projectors.[2](https://leica-camera.com/en-int/corporate) It sells through a global network of its own sales companies with over 120 Leica Stores and around 30 Leica Galleries, and runs the Leica Oskar Barnack Award.[2](https://leica-camera.com/en-int/corporate) The company reported record revenue of €554 million for fiscal 2023/24, up 14% from €485 million, driven notably by the Leica Q3 compact full-frame camera, and €596 million for 2024/25, a 7.6% increase and again a company record.[12](https://leica-camera.com/sites/default/files/2024-11/Press-Release-Leica-Camera-achieved-in-FY23_24-the-best-result-in-the-history-of-the-company.pdf) • [7](https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/cameras/mirrorless-cameras/leica-appoints-andreas-voll-as-new-ceo-of-the-luxury-camera-brand-as-it-targets-global-growth-while-kaufmann-plans-to-remain-in-the-company) [Ownership](https://www.edgepedia.org/ownership) rests largely with the Kaufmann family through ACM Projektentwicklung, which holds 55%, with the financial investor [Blackstone](https://www.edgepedia.org/blackstone) holding the remaining 45%.[7](https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/cameras/mirrorless-cameras/leica-appoints-andreas-voll-as-new-ceo-of-the-luxury-camera-brand-as-it-targets-global-growth-while-kaufmann-plans-to-remain-in-the-company)
## Collectibility and cultural standing
Early Leicas are among the most valuable cameras in existence. In 2022 a 0-series prototype said to have been Oskar Barnack's own sold for €14,400,000 at an auction in Wetzlar, reported as the world's most expensive camera.[13](https://www.overgaard.dk/leica_history.html) In June 2025, during the centenary celebrations at the company's Wetzlar headquarters, a 1923 Leica I prototype sold by telephone for €7.2 million.[8](https://elpais.com/cultura/2025-07-19/cien-anos-de-la-camara-compacta-leica-el-clic-que-revoluciono-la-fotografia.html) The camera's cultural reach extends beyond collectors: many defining photographs of the twentieth century, including work by [Robert Capa](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-capa), Henri Cartier-Bresson, and [André Kertész](https://www.edgepedia.org/andre-kertesz), were taken with Leicas, and in 2010 [Steve Jobs](https://www.edgepedia.org/steve-jobs) introduced the iPhone 4 by comparing it to "a beautiful old Leica camera."[8](https://elpais.com/cultura/2025-07-19/cien-anos-de-la-camara-compacta-leica-el-clic-que-revoluciono-la-fotografia.html)
## References
1. [The History of the Leica I, Leica Camera AG](https://leica-camera.com/en-US/photography/100-years/the-history-of-the-leica-I)
2. [Corporate, Leica Camera AG](https://leica-camera.com/en-int/corporate)
3. [Leica Century Time Travel: 1914, Leica Camera AG](https://timeline.leica-camera.com/en-US/years/1914)
4. [Leica: "small negatives, large photographs", Camera Museum, Vevey](https://www.cameramuseum.ch/en/discover/permanent-exhibition/the-century-of-the-film/lleica-small-negatives-large-photographs/)
5. [The Leica M camera refused to change for seven decades, Digital Camera World](https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/cameras/rangefinder-cameras/the-leica-m-camera-refused-to-change-for-seven-decades-and-that-might-be-its-greatest-strength)
6. [From Famalicão to the World: 50 Years of Leica in Portugal, Leica Camera AG press release (2023)](https://leica-camera.com/sites/default/files/2023-09/press_release-_50_years_of_leica_in_portugal.pdf)
7. [Leica appoints Andreas Voll as new CEO, Digital Camera World](https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/cameras/mirrorless-cameras/leica-appoints-andreas-voll-as-new-ceo-of-the-luxury-camera-brand-as-it-targets-global-growth-while-kaufmann-plans-to-remain-in-the-company)
8. [Cien años de la cámara compacta Leica, El País (2025)](https://elpais.com/cultura/2025-07-19/cien-anos-de-la-camara-compacta-leica-el-clic-que-revoluciono-la-fotografia.html)
9. [Oskar Barnack, the inventor of the Ur-Leica, Leica Oskar Barnack Award](https://www.leica-oskar-barnack-award.com/en/information/oskar-barnack.html)
10. [Camera History 1900 to 1940, Century of Optics, Optical Society of America](https://opticaorgdev.blob.core.windows.net/media/optica/media/osa.history/century_of_optics/pre-1940/31.pdf)
11. [Un siglo de Leica: 400 gramos que democratizaron la fotografía, Cadena SER (2025)](https://cadenaser.com/nacional/2025/09/09/un-siglo-de-leica-400-gramos-que-democratizaron-la-fotografia-cadena-ser/)
12. [Leica Camera achieved in FY23/24 the best result in the history of the company, Leica Camera AG press release (2024)](https://leica-camera.com/sites/default/files/2024-11/Press-Release-Leica-Camera-achieved-in-FY23_24-the-best-result-in-the-history-of-the-company.pdf)
13. [The Leica History and Heritage, Thorsten Overgaard](https://www.overgaard.dk/leica_history.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Physical world and mathematics › Physics › Classical physics › Waves and optics › Optical technologies and instruments › Optical instrumentation › Optical instrument industry and history*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026 · Last review: Oct 15, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license