Manufacturers of Photographic Equipment (L)

In 1925 the first polarising microscope was made, and in 1931 the first comparative macroscope for criminological applications. In 1932, Leitz pioneered a fluorescent microscope, and three years later a photometer developed by Professor Max Berek.

In 1930, the Leica I screw thread was first produced. It had an exchangeable lens system based on a 39mm diameter screw thread, often referred to as ” Leica Thread Mount” or LTM. In addition to the 50 mm normal lens, a 35 mm wide angle and a 135 mm telephoto lens were initially available.  

The Leica II was first produced in 1932, with a built in rangefinder coupled to the lens focusing mechanism. This model has a separate viewfinder (showing a reduced image) and rangefinder.

The company had always had progressive labour policies which encouraged the retention of skilled workers, many of whom were Jewish. Ernst Leitz II, who began managing the company in 1920, responded to the election of Hitler in 1933 by helping Jews to leave Germany, by “assigning” hundreds (even if they were not actually employees) to overseas sales offices where they were helped to find jobs. The effort intensified after Kristallnacht in 1938, until the borders were closed in September 1939. The extent of what came to be known as the “Leica Freedom Train” only became public after his death, well after the war.