Seven decades of advertising the same idea: put the camera in your hands and get out of the way.
For a century, Leica cameras have shaped how photographers see the world. What began as an engineer's side project to test cine film has grown into one of the most storied names in photography — a lineage of screw-mount originals, the M-mount rangefinders that followed, and the digital cameras carrying that design forward today. This site walks through that lineage: the man who built the first Leica, the cameras that followed, the oddities collectors chase, and the photographers who made the system famous.
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Oskar Barnack and Leica
The engineer behind the Ur-Leica, and how a 35mm cine-film test rig became a camera.
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Screw Mount Cameras
The Leica I through the IIIg — three decades of the original 39mm thread mount.
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Film M Cameras
M3 to M-A: the bayonet-mount rangefinders that defined the Leica system.
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Digital M Cameras
M8 to M11: the rangefinder goes digital without giving up the M-mount.
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Special Cameras
Black paint originals, military-issue bodies, and limited editions collectors chase.
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Renowned Users
The photographers whose Leica work became some of the century's defining images.