The Real "Poor Mans Leica." [A Brief History of the Leica R]

Today, I talk a little bit about an SLR camera with a special place in my heart, the Leica R series of camera bodies. Produced from 1964-2009, with the most popular cameras of the lineup being the Leica R4 and the Leicaflex SL, this series of camera bodies can get you into some of the very best lenses in the world without bankrupting you with the camera body price alone. So sit back, relax, and let’s look back at the history of the Leica R series.

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There are a few things that come to mind when people think about Leica cameras. One of those things is image quality, yes, but one of the more popular topics of discussion when it comes to this over-century year old glass and camera manufacturer is its extraordinary price tag. The Leica M3 still sells online today, over 70 years after its initial production, for upwards of $1000; and if you want a modern Leica, you better be ready to spend at least 5k on a full setup if you’re lucky.

But within all the glitters, there is still some real gold. You see, Leica didn’t just produce rangefinders for war photojournalists and hipsters, they also took a real swing at the SLR game starting back in the mid-1960s. In 1964, Leica released its first-ever single-lens reflex camera, the Leicaflex, a fully manual and mechanical SLR with no frills, but as sleek in design and compact as they come. While the Leicaflex was a great camera, it never really gained the spotlight thanks to its Japanese competitors—canon, Nikon, Pentax, overtaking Leica in their electronics and undercutting Leica’s prices.

Enter Minolta: Minolta was making some badass film SLR cameras for cheap, I mean like, super cheap and accessible to a far broader audience than Leica, and they had been dabbling in the single-lens reflex game since 1958. Remember, Leica didn’t produce their first SLR until 1964, and Minolta had fully capitalized on that gap, putting themselves in a substantially better position for the direction photography was taking at that time, than good ole Leica.

So naturally, as you do when you’re two amazing camera manufacturers with strengths in different areas, Minolta and Leica partnered up, sharing their patents with each other and ultimately creating the Leica R3, Leica’s first electronically-controlled shutter including, TTL center-weighted metering, big, bad, SLR. Nowadays, The r bodies themselves are not that much money, so if you want to get into Leica glass, but you don’t want to spend your life savings on your camera body before you even buy any lenses, you might also consider the r3, or possibly an r6, if you want to spend a bit more to get that sleeker body design, and the 1/2000th of a second shutter speed that comes with the r6.2.

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Go to: https://nuun.dev/ to see more of my work or get in contact for a project.

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Personal Instagram:   / alecjlangton  

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Current Fav Film Camera: Rollei 6008 Integral
Current Fav Film Lens: Leica 100mm f/2.8 APO
Fav Digital Cam: Canon EOS R
Fav Digital Lens: Canon RF 24-70mm f/2.8L IS USM

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Used for this video:
Leica R3 Electronic
Leica 100mm APO Macro Elmarit-R
Leica Summicron-R 50mm f/1.8
iPhone 11 Pro Max
Moment 1.33 Anamorphic Lens
DJI Osmo 3 Mobile Gimbal
Canon EOS RP
EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5
Rode Videomic Pro
Zoom H5 Audio Recorder
Saramonic UwMic 15 Wireless Lavalier System

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Music Credits:
Dj Quads
Track Name: "It's Near"
Music By: Dj Quads @   / aka-dj-quads  
Original upload HERE -    • Видео