Leicaflex SL2
 |
|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Type | 35 mm SLR camera |
| Lens | |
| Lens mount | Leica R-mount |
| Focusing | |
| Focus | manual |
| Exposure/Metering | |
| Exposure | manual |
| Flash | |
| Flash | hot shoe |
 |
|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Type | 35 mm SLR camera |
| Lens | |
| Lens mount | Leica R bayonet |
| Focusing | |
| Focus | manual |
| Exposure/Metering | |
| Exposure | manual |
| Flash | |
| Flash | cold shoe |
| Shutter | |
| Frame rate | 3fps with motor (SL Mot) |
 |
|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Type | 35 mm SLR camera |
| Lens | |
| Lens mount | Leica R-mount |
| Focusing | |
| Focus | manual |
| Exposure/Metering | |
| Exposure | manual |
| Flash | |
| Flash | hot shoe |
The Leicaflex was the first series of 35mm single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras manufactured by Leitz. The Leicaflexes were fully mechanical cameras marketed between 1964 and 1976, in response to the rapid increase in popularity and usability of SLRs during this period. Their appeal was limited by their failure to keep pace with the state of the art in SLR design, their somewhat limited selection of accessories, and their extremely high price in comparison with their Japanese competitors. They were ultimately replaced by the R series Leicas developed by Leitz with the assistance of Minolta under a cooperation agreement between the two companies.
Leitz was a reluctant entrant into the SLR market. At the beginning of the 1960s, the only still cameras manufactured by Leitz were 35mm rangefinders, a camera design that its Japanese competitors, most notably Nippon Kōgaku (Nikon), were beginning to abandon in favor of SLR designs. The company's management continued to believe in the inherent advantages of the rangefinder design over the SLR, but in view of the steady shift in market share from rangefinders to SLRs such as the Nikon F, the Asahi Pentax and the SR-series Minolta in the early 1960s, and the increasing prominence of high quality SLR cameras among professional photographers, it had little choice but to offer an SLR of its own. To compete in this market Leitz introduced an expensive SLR, called Leicaflex. Nowadays, this first Leicaflex model is generally referred to as the Original Leicaflex or Leicaflex Standard to distinguish it from the models that followed. Colloquially it was referred to early on as the 'diesel Leica'.
The Leicaflex lacked a few features present in the most advanced products of its time. It has been much criticized for omitting a through the lens (TTL) exposure meter of the type which had previously been incorporated into the Topcon RE Super and the Asahi Pentax Spotmatic, and which would soon appear in the Nikon F Photomic T, Canon Pellix and a number of other reflex cameras. It also lacked the interchangeable viewfinders offered for the Miranda, Canon Canonflex, and Nikon F. Finally, the original Leicaflex featured a finder which, while offering a very bright aerial image, was not full focusing, offering only a small focusing zone at the center. The Leicaflex did offer mirror lock-up, and shutter speeds up to 1/2000 visible in the finder.
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Wikipedia