The Leica II is a

Barnack Barnack is a village and civil parish in the Peterborough unitary authority of the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England and the historic county of Northamptonshire. Barnack is in the north-west of the unitary authority, south-east of ...

rangefinder camera A rangefinder camera is a camera fitted with a rangefinder, typically a split-image rangefinder: a range-finding focusing mechanism allowing the photographer to measure the subject distance and take photographs that are in sharp focus. Most v ...

introduced by

Leica Leica may refer to: Companies * Ernst Leitz GmbH, later divided into: ** Leica Biosystems GmbH, a cancer diagnostics company ** Leica Camera AG, a German camera and optics manufacturer ** Leica Geosystems AG, a Swiss manufacturer of surveying and ...

in 1932. They were the first Leica cameras with a built-in rangefinder. Several models were produced over the years, in parallel with the

Leica III The Leica III is a Barnack model rangefinder camera introduced by Leica in 1933, and produced in parallel with the Leica II series. Several models were produced over the years, with significant improvements. The Leica III uses a coupled rangefin ...

series from 1933. The Leica II uses a coupled rangefinder distinct from the

viewfinder In photography, a viewfinder is a device on a camera that a photographer uses to determine exactly where the camera is pointed, and approximately how much of that view will be photographed. A viewfinder can be mechanical (indicating only direct ...

. The viewfinder is set for a 50 mm lens; use of shorter or longer lenses requires installing an alternate viewfinder on the accessory socket.Unification of the rangefinder and the viewfinder occurred with the introduction of the

Leica M3 The Leica M3 is a 135 film, 35 mm rangefinder camera by Ernst Leitz GmbH (now Leica Camera, Leica Camera AG), introduced in 1954. It was a new starting point for Leitz, which until then had only produced screw-mount Leica cameras that were increm ...

, allowing quick framing and focusing in a single operation. The M3 viewfinder is also able to display viewlines for 50, 90 and 135 mm lenses A mere four copies of the gold-plated Leica Luxus II were made. In 2013, one sold at auction in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

for $HK4 million, after featuring on the BBC's ''

Antiques Roadshow ''Antiques Roadshow'' is a British television programme broadcast by the BBC in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom (and occasionally in other countries) to appraise antiques brought in by local people ( ...

'' programme.

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

, 29 December 2013 The whereabouts of the other three models are not recorded. The popular

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Notes

References

External links