German 135 film SLR - the complete statistics
It was in 1936 when Ihagee's Kine Exakta appeared: The very first 135 film SLR. At least since the '50ies, this camera type is considered the ultimate form of photo technology. At some point each camera manufacturer with some reputation had one or more models in his program. It started out in Dresden and the German camera industry used innovations in particular related to SLR to maintain its leading technology position. As we know today the Japanese learned quickly how to build good cameras and lenses. Starting in the mid '60ies, especially by the example of 135 film SLR's they showed the Germans how to do it better ( and cheaper).
It was in 1936 when Ihagee's Kine Exakta appeared: The very first 135 film SLR. At least since the '50ies, this camera type is considered the ultimate form of photo technology. At some point each camera manufacturer with some reputation had one or more models in his program. It started out in Dresden and the German camera industry used innovations in particular related to SLR to maintain its leading technology position. As we know today the Japanese learned quickly how to build good cameras and lenses. Starting in the mid '60ies, especially by the example of 135 film SLR's they showed the Germans how to do it better ( and cheaper).
 |
| 135 film SLR production in Germany [accumulated quantities per year]. |
Just recently I realized that the Praktica L-series was by far the most successful German SLR. By production numbers it can even compete with many successful Japanese models. Anyhow, my interest was piqued to compile an overview, how many 135 film SLR cameras ever have been built in Germany. The answer is: about 12.3 million, the majority of 10.1 million in East Germany (most of them in Dresden!) and 2.2 million in West Germany. Not included are about 770,000 SLRs, which were produced abroad by the German companies Leitz and Rollei (in Portugal and Singapore, respectively), as well as countless models that were built by Japanese contract manufacturers or partners using former German brand names (for example, Contax, Voigtlander Bessa Flex, Exakta). Also not taken into account were SLR's with a different film format, such as Kodak's Instamatic Reflex for 126 cartridge.
 |
| Ranking of all German 135 film SLR series. Praktia L series includes Exakta RTL1000. Edixa Reflex, Icarex, Ambiflex and Regula Reflex are estimates. Sources for all others see below. |
Looking at the German SLR production over the important 45 years (from 1949 to 1994, before and after camera production numbers can be almost neglected) easily over 210 different models can be counted. To simplify my project, I combined them into 21 camera series. A series defines itself by common design elements and details. Most were produced on the same tools, even when the technical features of the individual models changed within a series over time or variances were used for price discrimination.
 |
| East German SLR series, accumulated number of units per year, the vast majority of cameras came from Dresden. |
The quality of the information varies. I have used many different websites and books and tried to check for plausibility when applicable. In particular, while the East German camera production as well as Leitz and Zeiss Ikon are fairly well documented (see sources below), I could only guess some other production numbers. Wirgin's Edixa Reflex series I have estimated based on known serial numbers and production figures of direct competitors to be about 400,000. Similarly, for Agfa's Ambiflex I have found nothing and simply stated 50,000. The same goes for 20,000 Icarex. But these are the biggest unknown figures, and even if an error of up to 100% for these is assumed, the total error within the 12.3 million is less than 5%. If somebody finds an error in my numbers or have a better estimate with some proof, I'm happy to correct it here. Please send an e-mail to knippsen@icloud.com or post a comment below.
Within a series, I even went down to the model level and distributed the total production number in a meaningful manner across the particular production period. Where no details were available I've used a typical product cycle distribution: a short phase for the launch, a peak period and a drop at the end of the product life cycle. Anybody who wants to see details can post me a comment below.
 |
| West German SLR series, accumulated number of units per year. Except for Leitz and Rollei 1971 was the final year of production. |
I think the graphics speak for themselves. After its heyday in the early 60ies the West German camera industry more or less collectively slipped into bankruptcy in the beginning of the 70ies, details can be read here. The East German camera industry, however, acted a) in the protected socialist economic area with its own laws and b) had from the beginning the better technical concept (focal plane shutter) to assert itself. In addition, the introduction of the assembly line production process at Pentacon in Dresden in 1965 can clearly be recognized in the graphics. Without this the success of the Praktica L-series in the 70s and 80s would not have been possible. The last produced SLR in Germany was called Praktica SLR BX20S and was discontinued in 2001.
Sources: 1) Dresdner-Kameras 2) Lausch41 3) wirgin.info, anusf.anu.edu.au 4) praktica-collector.de
5) designundphoto.de 6) Taunusreiter 7) Kodak-König 8) Leica-Camera-Forum 9) RType 10) Praktina.com 11) Agfa-Ambiflex 12) Retinarescue 13) Taunusreiter 14) Lausch41 15) Rolleiclub 16) Pacificrimcamera.com 17) UKCamera
18) Braun-Paxette 19) Wctatel 20) RegulaReflex 21) Taunusreiter
5) designundphoto.de 6) Taunusreiter 7) Kodak-König 8) Leica-Camera-Forum 9) RType 10) Praktina.com 11) Agfa-Ambiflex 12) Retinarescue 13) Taunusreiter 14) Lausch41 15) Rolleiclub 16) Pacificrimcamera.com 17) UKCamera
18) Braun-Paxette 19) Wctatel 20) RegulaReflex 21) Taunusreiter
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen