Why was this $14.4 million Leica so Expensive?!?
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- Опубліковано 5 лип 2024
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Leica is hosting their 20th Anniversary Photographica Auction this month. The star of the show is Oskar Barnack's personal 0-Series Prototype. This camera is about as rare as it gets. You can check out the auction online or live if you're in Wetzlar on June 11, 2022.
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Ted Forbes
The Art of Photography
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Since I made this video, Oskar Barnack's "105" camera has been sold at the auction. It ended up fetching €14.4 million (including auction fees)!
Thank you so much for this video. You taught me more in 10 minutes about the history of photography than I’ve known for the last 50 years!
Amazing! Such an interesting video.
Can you do a video on the famous photos made using a 50mm lens, as well as the history surrounding the 50mm lens? Please and thank! I am a staff photojournalist in New Mexico and I love your vids. I have been on staff for 8-9 months. I am 23 and have been watching your videos since I was a teenager with a dream of becoming a photojournalist
I was going to suggest the same thing. So yes please, I second a video on the 50mm lens
best of luck for ur career dude! what a cool job
I was fortunate to work as the sole staffer/freelancer for a small Florida weekly newspaper that was heavily into photography. I was 50 years old in 1998 when I started with the paper and lasted till the demise of the paper in 2012. It was what I consider one of the most fun jobs I held during my working life. I am now retired but still shooting and giving away photos to my subjects on the street.
I also wish you luck in your chosen profession. My one suggestion is to try and get to know people in your area and not just the movers and shakers. Get to know the kids that are growing up because they may come back and remember you. A kid that was a senior the year I started is now the athletic director at the school where he played. While I am no longer there, I do keep in touch with some of the players from those days.
Keep up! Can I ask, do you make street journalism or covers events ?
@@tompanoname3579 I do everything the newspaper assigns me as a photographer
The following goes back to the Ur-Leica…. I have been working in selling of pro-photoequipment for more than 50 years in Denmark. Years ago I also visited the Leica HQ in Wetzlar. Back in those days the sales manager was a Dane - Kaj Andersen. He opened the huge vault, and handed me the original Ur-Leica - a very holy moment in my life. He told me that back at the start Oscar Barnack had two Ur-Leica cameras produced but the one sadly disappeared. He also told me that Oscar Barnacks idea was not to produce a camera but more a “lightmeter testing device”. Oscar Barnack was a moviefilm maker, and he wanted to make sure his exposure was correct. So his idea was to make a small camera with a stripe of moviefilm (35mm that he would quickly develope) where he could shoot test photos at different F-stops to make sure he exposed his movie film correctly. An assistent then for fun made an enlargement of one of these testshots, and got surprised by the quality of this small negative. Pretty exiting Leica history in my opinion, and I don’t think many knows this backdrop story behind the Leica camera.
I feel very torn between "Gear doesn't matter" and "I really want a Leica."
sorry i'm kinda late but i want to say: "gear doesn't matter" in terms of the actual result but photography as a hobby is more about process than the result and using leica or hasselblad (even tho i haven't even held hass cameras ever) feels supreme to using something like nikon zfc even tho all three are great cameras and while results are way far from identical it's not like one photo is superior to another, they are just different
Recently got a Model II Barnack, and it has quickly become one of my favorite film cameras. 1938 serial number, and it runs flawlessly. Such a wonderful shooter.
Gotta say I’m more of a 35mm focal length guy though.
Though I appreciate the need to do camera reviews of modern stock to pay the bills, I absolutely love it when you make films like this Ted, you are a master at it. A marvellous throw back to what you used to do in years gone by and what got me hooked. Great video. Hope you are well.
Really appreciate the way you choose to educate about photography. Camera-reviews you can get everywhere around on UA-cam but I like how you teach about composition, but also about the importance of the photography-history weather it is by showing the work of famous photographers or by videos like that
Hi Ted, I had the pleasure of spending some time with Phil Blenkinsop in Nepal in 2004, who is an amazing photographer who moved from Australia to Thailand and had to sell everything he owned to buy 2 Leica cameras. He spent a lot of time in war zones and in the jungles of Asia, and he just carried the Leica's with 35mm lenses. His photos are amazing and he was so passionate about what he photographed that he was almost bought to tears explaining to me the story of the Hmong Tribe which he photographed for Time magazine. He would be very interesting to discuss in a video as his style is very unique and he has always used Leica film cameras.
PS, I believe there a more expensive camera, which would have to be the Apollo 11 Hasselblad's which are still on the moon! (some day they'll be returned to earth and will be worth their weight in gold!)
Thanks for the video and cheers from New Zealand.
Gee, and I thought I broke the bank with my M11 and M6 purchases! Thanks Ted, not gotten all the history about that camera and never knew about that location in Wetzlar where the first shot was taken. Fascinating the see the OG 35mm camera used by the man himself. Can't wait to hear what the final bid will be.
Life magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt also used Leica extensively.
What a great video. Such great photos, Ted! I love the history lesson of the 35mm format!
Really enjoyed this. And your curation of famous Leica photos toward the end was great.
I know many people talk about the size of the Leica and other rangefinder style cameras (I shoot with a Fuji X-Pro2 with the XF 35mm f2 WR lens as my setup) being able to blend into the background. That used to be the case. I had a guy on a recent cruise that looked at my camera and said that it was unusual. I thought he meant it "looked" like a Leica. He said that wasn't what he meant and explained that in general there are very few people carrying cameras these days other than their phones. I have become known around my town square because I carry my camera and I know it makes me more noticeable.
But being old school from the film era, I will continue to carry a camera (either my Fuji or my Yashica Electro35 GS) with me when I am out and about or traveling.
Exactly. I can't blend with either of my cameras (Fuji X100S, Leica MP240, Leica M4-P, Fuji X-Pro 2, it doesn't matter) because it's a camera and it draws attention, despite not being huge (D)SLRs. People nowadays use phones. If Cartier-Bresson was alive, his best chance to get candid photos would be getting a top-of-line smartphone instead of using a Leica.
Love this kind of a historical video about a camera or a brand, really good work
Fascinating history of a remarkable camera. Thanks for sharing!
Oh man I can't wait until you do a series on the wild story of the Leitz train too. Great episode bud. Been listening since the first iTunes Podcasts :D
Can’t tell you how much I’ve been waiting for this video since you mentioned this leica in a past video
Shutter speed, aperture and guestimate focus. Perfect.
This was a fun deep dive. Thank you for making this!
Amazing vision and history of Leica. The innovation of 35mm film was such a pinnacle moment.
I love this video's direction. I have a number of barnack Leicas. What a treat
3:33 An alternative story states, that he wanted to make a little apparatus to test movie film for its ASA-Rating by making a 3-5 picture aperture bracketing. To get the exact film sensitivity.
That's the version I got at wetzlar.. was at the leica dealers school there for 2 weeks when the m6 was launched.
LOVE this filming space. Bravo. Great video as always of course, but yeah.
Before I got to DSLR's I got a Leica from my dad and it was such a nice experience. Not needing a freaking battery, doing everything yourself and then being exited, waiting if you got the shots you wanted and then you actually had quality. It really helped me being a better photographer, no more automatic shooting, going fully manual. I am still wondering where I left it.
What a fantastic story, thank you for sharing this information. I would love a video after it sells
A great tribute to a great camera and of course designer /developer - Oskar Barnack .
Interesting video. Thank you. I was fortunate enough to buy a Leica 0 (Null) series camera when they reintroduced them back in 2001. Difficult to use because of the process of steps involved but very rewarding.
Excellent vid mate. That camera would have to be the Holy Grail for Leica collectors.
Great video and very informative. I do love my Leicas. Wondering if Leica, the company, will bid on this camera to keep it as part of their history.
I also have a Leica Ia just like yours, it's a joy to use and to just hold and wonder what it has 'seen' over the years.
Thanks for a great presentation. My favorite Leica is still the M2. Just elegant, all one needs.
Thanks for this history, I learn every day.
I really enjoyed your informative video. It will be interesting to hear what happens with the sale of the camera. Thanks for posting. v
Ted this was really excellent. As much as I have been a fan of Leica cameras, I love the 50mm focal length even more. You mentioned a while ago you were working on a video with Ralph Gibson for your Artist Series. Any update on that?
Thanks for the motivation Ted, I need to dust off my IIIf red-dial and shoot some 50mm Leica :-)
Fascinating! You had me the whole video. Where is the best place to buy these really old film cameras?
Thanks for this informative video. I really enjoy many of yours. Only a small thing: Endre Friedman used a Leica III at the beginning of his career only, but short after he changed that for Contax II. Most of his famous pics was shot with that. Endre Friedman, (Robert Capa) Capa= shark. That was his nickname back in Hungary.
Its really interesting to see how influential it was, I'm curious if anything to come can hold the same gravity.
I think the only thing that would come close would be Steve Jobs first iPod
I have one didn’t know it’s that expensive :-) Thank you 🙏
Interesting history, thanks :)
I reading some history, Thomas Edison, in East Orange, New Jersey, was making movies in his "Black Mariah" studio. For testing new deliveries of motion picture film, he built a small still camera for the purpose of making test exposures in 35mm motion picture film. This happened before 1900. I often wonder if Oscar Barack knew this.
The Elliott Erwitt picture (the woman's ankles and the chihuahua) was actually a crop from a 120 image
as a sidebar , would love for Ted to get 1 mil sub before the end of the year
BUT….does it have IBIS?
Great video, I’ve subscribed!
I bet it can still take great photos!
I'll never own a Leica, but interested to hear this history as Leica is so important to photographic history.
I would have thought this camera would be better remaining with Leica...
I so missed your videos.
Barnarck's Barnack, WOW!
To some extent the price is in part due to the Cantillon effect. If we had a sound monetary system that number would in my opinion be quite different (less).
Just a heads up, there's a very faint high pitch in the audio. In any case, great video!
It’s become de rigeur to poopoo on Leica for being expensive products for dentists and lawyers to use once and then put in their closet, and a company with their noses so far up in the air they could use them to catch birds, and truthfully some of that ire and scorn is earned. But it’s also very easy to forget or dismiss the contributions Leica has made to photography as a whole, whether it’s for the standardization of 35mm film as an industry staple, or swappable lenses, or rangefinder cameras, or whatever.
How many Leica clones did Japan create after WW2 that helped spur and kickstart their entire camera industry and culture? Would we still have Canon, Nikon and others without Leica setting the stage? Maybe. But you can’t argue that Leica didn’t clear a path for them first.
Regarding Robert Capa:
Most of his photos where shot with a Contax II(A?) series camera.
Sorry to burst your Leica-bubble,
but Contax II and III(A) where superior to Leicas offerings,
except perhaps for size.
I've owned both, and to this day I only regret selling my IIIA.
Also, I am somewhat sceptical about "the accident" that resulted in only 11 of Robert Capas D-day photos surviving.
11 seems a VERY odd number.
I believe the US military did not want the "home-front" to see what a slaughter-house D-day was, especially Omaha Beach.
Hey Ted, I really like your videos and I've been an avid follower for years, but I have a major disagreement: I say that a lot of iconic shots and photographs were taken on a 50mm lens not because of the focal length's inherent quality, but simply for an economic reason: The simplicity and ubiquity of the older 50mm designs. The lenses were just easy to manufacture from the industrial side and compact and pocketful enough to be handy for the photographers' side. But, had the physics and engineering of say 35mm production been more forgiving, it would have surpassed 50mm.
It's the same reason why the original 135 camera was created as you state above: it was simple, economic, and easy to convert already existing 135 motion-picture film and put it in a smaller form factor rather than the bulky 120 film.
Anyway that's just my 2-cents worth. :)
Wow, interesting. Are you saying wider lens were more expensive, since harder to produce? Did they have lower image quality? I'm not really sure about that. Leica introduced 35mm lens in the early 30s. Many photographers used wider lenses. I believe the main reason might be that 50mm is the most multipurpose, and when choosing one lens this will likely be one of the top priorities
That viewfinder looks like its gonna poke me in the eye
hello from Cuba
I think they really missed an opportunity when naming the camera: why not Barnack-Leitz, Barnacle.
can you please do a video reviewing the first Leica model? I know it's not that useful since photography hasn't changed that much but the Leica 1 is just the camera for me, if I needed to choose a camera to use for the rest of my life that would be it... I am now using a Kodak Retina 1 that is close to that experience but I just love the Leica 1, I think that the Q series is the spiritual successor of the Leica ! itself, if Leica will ever make a Leica Q with a 50mm f1.4 that would be the perfect instrument.
Amazing. I'll take three.
This is interesting! Thanks so much Ted...For a new Leica owner like myself #SL2 :D Now I want to get my hand on one of those twelve cameras. How??
Awesome video
I have a black robot star 2 camera & apparently it was made by Leica. It’s the weirdest camera I’ve ever seen with two small viewfinders, one being on the side. The small vintage store I bought it from said $250 and I paid $40 because I just wanted the glass. Anyways, does anyone know how I can get parts for this or to get some kind of valuation on it?
Are you gonna be at the auction in Wetzlar?
How much did you have to put up for collateral to get this camera for the purposes of the video?
Zero, it's his camera and it's different from the one being auctioned. Watch at 0:43 again.
@@douglasdrumond thank you kind stranger
I just wish someone would make a compact fixed lens camera with a 50mm f2. A 45mm would be close. But it would have to look appropriately retro (the opposite look of the GR series) and have manual rings and dials. Tilt screen of some not too complex design as well. $1000 for a 20-24mp sensor version, $2000 for45-50mp. I can dream right?
You forgot to mention Joel Meyerowitz
A few moments later…. 12 million! That was the final bid at the auction today.
It ended up at 14.4 Mio Euro including tax and everything.
Here's the story I heard, and I've no idea whether or not it's true, but I hope it is. Barnack was working for Leitz testing new cine camera lenses. He was frustrated that he had to use several tens of feet of film to photograph a lens test chart at each aperture while testing a lens with a cine camera. He reasoned that they only needed one frame and if a test camera that exposed single frames could be fitted with the test lenses this would be possible and far more economic. The idea to produce a pocket still camera that used 35mm film came to him when he saw the quality of the images from this piece of "test equipment".
Like I say I've no proof that this is true. But wouldn't it be cool if one of the most important developments in camera technology was effectively a "happy accident".
I have read a very similar story.
I guess it will return to a vault somewhere?
This camera better have an undeveloped photo of Abraham Lincoln's killer inside it in order to be this "expensive". In which it don't.
1a and sunny 16. Point and shoot
The final bid was 12 million euros! 😯
Capra ditched the Leica around 1939 in favor of the Contax II
I've had them both and ditched them both (as well as Nikon, rollei, Kowa, Mamiya 6 x 7) for digital...there is still $10,000.00 worth of darkroom equipment taking up space in my attic. I use a high end Canon w/ a 16-35 mm variable after using fixed focal 24mm....get wise, carry extra batteries, no film. I've had to smuggle B&W film thru many borders, may as well have been diamonds, heroin or dynamite. the hell w/ film.
It’s 14.4 million now
I’d love a Leica but, for me, they’ve ventured into Rolex territory with their pricing over the years. For the price of a new M11, you could buy a Nikon Z7II, a 24-70mm and a 70-200mm.
Exactly! They have gotten really expensive over the years. And it's funny cuz you see more hipsters and famous "wearing," Leicas instead of actual photographers
@@Sebastian_Astudillo They’re a luxury. Absolutely lovely engineering and picture quality but you could buy half a dozen Fuji X100 series cameras for the price of one and it would be hard to tell which camera took which image.
@@Dreyno exactly! Or even some soviet era cameras! I own 3 of them and the pics are really good
Mechanic beats digital. Even on my digitals i always use M, and set up focus manually. Cos auto focus just can't know what I want to shoot.
Very welll done.
Not needing electricity is very handy for photography.
I love it
Does it do 4K 120?
Only in cropped mode, sadly.
@@Supperconductor Always with the cripple hammer.....
I wish I could own a Leica maybe one day
Masterworks sounds like Openseas but with a real item that you still don't own.
The leica you owne is basically a rollei 35 t or 35 original.
had the same and sold it last year for 600€, i needed money ...
It was sold for 14.400.000 Euros! Just in case you wonder..
Wonder what Barnack would think of Leica today.
"Money laundry" has nothing to do with quality of art
If that is the purest form, what is a view camera?
wouldn't a camera in its purest form be something like a Holga 120?
Interesting background story and as with most rare objects "it's worth whatever people are willing to pay".
For example if people are willing to pay millions for a pair of dirty socks than that's what it's worth. 😉
man rayyy
A $ 3 million all manual, no automation film camera? And especially no built-in rangefinder?
If I was a bloody rich collector, definitely would by that.
Until them, I'm happy enough with my IIIF. Anyway after searching on eBay, the IF (which also has no built-in RF) is way more affordable. Time to get one, I guess :D
This looks like a range finder not a viewfinder camera because not ‘through the lens’ viewing
It's so expensive because they are able to make somebody buy it and get a free couple of millions , that's why :D
I have a prototype lens for sale at the auction. Maybe I’ll get $50k.
Correction $12,000,000 + fees now it has been sold
Because someone has the money to put this iconic piece of (non)working equipment on an nice shelf in his home to admire it or show off to friends
the word literally is literally worn out..
ANSWER - Because someone is willing to pay that much