Oskar Barnack
(1 November 1879 – 16 January 1936) was a German inventor and
photographer who built, in 1913, what would later become the first
commercially successful 35mm still-camera, subsequently called
Ur-Leica at Ernst Leitz Optische Werke (the Leitz factory) in
Wetzlar, Germany.
Barnack was an
engineer at the Leitz company and suffered from asthma, so he
proposed reducing the size and weight of cameras in order to be able
to take photographs in his travels. In 1924 the camera was named
Leica, an acronym obtained from Leitz Camera. It
was released at the Leipzig Fair in 1925.
Leica
I, this one built 1927, invented by Oskar Barnack
Between 1913 and 1914,
Barnack adapted 35 mm cinematic film for still-camera use with a
larger negative than other 35mm cameras. The pronged-film rollers
holding the perforated film allowed more precision than typical
paper-backed roll film. His design was revolutionary because he
transported the film horizontally, allowing an extended frame size to
24×36 mm with a 2:3 aspect ratio, instead of the 18x24 mm of
cameras that carried the film vertically. Negatives in this small
format could be enlarged to obtain sharper positive images. For this
to be effective, the camera also needed a high-quality lens capable
of producing the larger format film's quality.
First
image taken from the Ur-Leica by Oskar Barnack 1914, Eisenmarkt,
Wetzlar, Germany
(BTW: CO fio4ever was born about 80 m from this
spot)
Barnack tried various
types of lenses, trying to find the best quality images. At the time,
lenses for existing 35mm cameras covered the 18×24 mm frame
format, so the larger Leica frame size was only partially covered.
Existing Leitz and competing Zeiss lenses were either too large for
the camera or would not cover the 24x36 frame. To achieve the
necessary resolution for a satisfactory enlargement, the 24x36 mm
format needed a specially designed lens. Leica's first suitable lens
was a 50 mm f/3.5 design based on the "Cooke triplet"; this
would later evolve into the famous Leica Elmar series of lenses.
In 1923 Barnack
convinced his boss, Ernst
Leitz II,
to make a series of 31 pre-production cameras for the factory and for
outdoor photographers. Although the prototypes received a mixed
reception, Ernst Leitz decided in 1924 to produce the camera. It was
a success when presented at the Spring Fair of Leipzig
in 1925 as the Leica
I (Leitz
camera).
Flood
in Wetzlar, Photo by Oskar Barnack 1920
Barnack was also one
of the first photographers to create news images in which people's
relationship to their surroundings could be seen. In this style, he
made the first news image made with a 35 mm camera, showing the flood
caused by the Lahn River in Wetzlar.
Source:
Wikipedia
Some
words to the watermill, where the geocache is hidden:
The
construction of the stone watermill follows the typical construction
of all simple Cretan watermills. At its base, there is the main room
of the mill and above it the stone pipe leading water to the mill
wheel. Because the area has limited water springs, the water was
collected in a cistern and was released after it was filled. The door
bears an inscription from the year 1902.
Source:
www.cretanbeaches.com
For the Rules of this Open series
and the current List of caches see the GC
Open #01 listing.