Photographer Franziska Stuenkel likes to take spontaneous urban shots, so she needs a nimble camera that is ready to go when inspiration strikes: her German-made Leica M11.
“I have to be very quick and discreet,” said the Berlin-based artist who captures reflections of people walking past windows, their contours merging with the shapes behind the glass.
Stuenkel’s compact Leica is the perfect camera for the job, the 51-year-old told AFP.
Photo: AFP 照片：法新社
Famous for its pocket-sized and retro-style devices, the Leica brand is celebrating a milestone as it marks 100 years since its first commercial camera was presented to the public.
The Leica company was founded in 1869 by the entrepreneur Ernst Leitz in the city of Wetzlar in western Germany, originally manufacturing optical lenses and microscopes.
But it was not until 1925 that the Leica 1 camera was introduced at the Leipzig Spring Fair.
Photo: AFP 照片：法新社
Leica cameras went on to become the tool of choice for prominent photographers for years to come, including legendary photojournalists Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Bresson.
Even today, the nifty camera with a red dot still holds its own in a market dominated by Japanese giants such as Sony, Canon and Nikon.
“BETTER PHOTOGRAPHER”
Photo: AFP 照片：法新社
Working with a Leica “makes you a better photographer,” said British artist Alan Schaller, who uses a monochrome version of the M11 — a digital camera with manual controls.
Schaller has got so used to adjusting the aperture, shutter speed and light sensitivity manually that he said he can now do it “faster than any automatic device.”
One hundred years on, Leica cameras are still assembled by hand in a factory in Wetzlar, north of Frankfurt.
Photo: AFP 照片：法新社
In the dust-free assembly room, 70 workers equipped with precision screwdrivers and anti-static tweezers build the devices by hand from more than 600 parts.
It’s a painstaking job “that requires a lot of experience,” said Peter Schreiner, head of camera assembly.
In another room nearby, lenses are polished to within 0.1 millionth of a meter before they are glued and lacquered.
After a difficult decade in the 2000s, Leica has turned its fortunes around by fully embracing digital cameras, which now account for the vast majority of sales.
The company still makes a handful of analogue devices — including the M6, a cousin of the M11.
Leica’s chief executive Matthias Harsch said sales are projected to have reached a record 600 million euros (US$660 million) in 2024/25, with annual growth close to 10 percent.
LEITZ PHONE
Total global sales of digital cameras grew by only four percent last year, to 6.8 billion euros, according to Germany’s GfK consumer institute.
Innovation remains at the heart of the brand, with a research budget of “more than 10 percent of sales,” according to Harsch.
Beyond cameras, Leica has diversified into watches and laser projectors for home cinema, as well as cameras for smartphones.
Leica lenses can now be found in smartphones made by the Chinese company Xiaomi as well as in the Leitz Phone, designed by Leica with Sharp for the Japanese market.
But new technology can never replace the romance of the Leica camera, according to Harsch.
“With a phone, you take snapshots. Everything else is photography,” he said, insisting that the two strands of the company’s work enjoy a “peaceful coexistence.”
Leica’s phone cameras and its traditional models are also worlds apart when it comes to price — the M11 costs upwards of 9,000 euros, plus a few thousand euros extra for a lens.
North America represents around 20 percent of Leica’s total sales and the company is “assessing the impact” of tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump, Harsch said.
Leica operates more than 120 of its own stores worldwide, including in the United States, with more openings planned this year.
(AFP)
攝影師法蘭西絲卡．施通克爾喜歡興之所至拍攝城市風景，因此需要一台靈巧的相機：德國製Leica（徠卡）M11，讓她可以隨時隨地抓住靈感。
「我動作得要很快、很小心」，這位柏林藝術家說道，她捕捉人們走過窗戶的倒影，他們的身形與玻璃後面的形狀融為一體。
51歲的施通克爾對法新社表示，她的便攜型徠卡相機是完成這任務的完美選擇。
徠卡品牌以其袖珍尺寸及復古風格的相機而聞名，徠卡現正慶祝該公司第一個相機產品問世100週年，這是個里程碑。
徠卡公司由企業家恩斯特．徠茲1869年在德國西部城市威茲拉爾創立，最初是生產光學鏡頭和顯微鏡。
但一直要到1925年，徠卡1型相機才在萊比錫春季博覽會上推出。
徠卡相機後來成為著名攝影師多年來的首選裝備，包括傳奇攝影記者羅伯特．卡帕，以及亨利．卡蒂埃—布列松。
即便在今日，帶有紅點商標的漂亮相機仍然在索尼、佳能和尼康等日本巨頭主導的相機市場中佔有一席之地。
「更好的攝影師」
英國藝術家艾倫．沙勒表示，使用徠卡相機「可以讓你成為更好的攝影師」，他用的是徠卡M11黑白相機——M11是一款帶有手動控制功能的數位相機。
沙勒已習慣了手動調整光圈、快門速度和感光度，他說現在他可以快速完成這些調整，「比任何自動相機都快」。
一百年過去了，徠卡相機仍是在德國法蘭克福以北威茲拉爾的工廠手工組裝。
在無塵組裝室內，70名工人以精密螺絲起子和防靜電鑷子，將600多個零件手工組裝成相機。
相機組裝部門主管彼得．施萊納表示，這是一項很費功夫的工作，「需要豐富的經驗」。
在附近的另一個房間裡，鏡片被拋光至百萬分之一公尺的精度，然後進行黏合及上亮漆。
在經歷2000年代艱困的10年後，徠卡全面進軍數位相機領域，扭轉了命運，目前數位相機佔據徠卡相機銷量的絕大部分。
該公司仍在生產少量底片相機，包括M6（M11的近親）。
徠卡執行長馬蒂亞斯．哈施表示，預計2024/25年銷售額將達到創紀錄的6億歐元（6.6億美元），年成長率近10%。
徠卡智慧型手機Leitz Phone
根據德國GfK捷孚凱消費市場研究公司的數據顯示，去年全球數位相機總銷售額僅成長4%，為68億歐元。
哈施表示，創新仍是徠卡品牌的核心，研發預算「佔銷售額的10%以上」。
除了相機之外，徠卡還涉足手錶、家庭劇院雷射投影機，以及智慧型手機相機等領域。
如今，中國小米公司生產的智慧型手機以及徠卡與夏普為日本市場設計的徠卡手機，都配備了徠卡鏡頭。
但哈施表示，新科技永遠無法取代徠卡相機的浪漫氣息。
「用手機拍的是快照，其餘一切皆是攝影」，他說道，並堅稱公司業務的這兩大支柱是「和平共處」。
徠卡的手機相機及其傳統機型在價格方面也有很大的差別—M11的價格高達9,000歐元，外加數千歐元的鏡頭費用。
哈施表示，北美約佔徠卡總銷售額的20%，該公司正在「評估美國總統川普宣布的關稅的影響」。
徠卡在全球擁有逾120家直營店，其中包括美國，今年也計劃開設更多專賣店。
（台北時報林俐凱編譯）
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