A Week in Wetzlar with Leica

Every year, Leica hosts talented creatives and professionals from the photography field at Leitz-Park, their global headquarters in Wetzlar, Germany for a special event known as the Celebration of Photography. Its purpose is to collectively celebrate the medium of photography and the people who make it special. Over the course of three days, Leica’s guests were given exclusive access inside their German factory, an archive tour, hosted at numerous panels and discussions with talented photographers, presented with complimentary refreshments at Café Leitz, and afforded plenty of free time to forge new friendships.
 

While there is some overlap between making watches and cameras – clean rooms, automated lathes, and diagnostic tools, for example – seeing a Leica camera built from scratch was something else entirely. Every employee we saw on the tour was diligent in their work, focused on the task they were performing, and incredibly courteous towards each other.
 

Pictured above is Monica , who is polishing by hand the external circumference of a lens element (one of about eight pieces of glass inside a camera lens). This polishing is done by hand not because it makes for good PR, but because even the most sophisticated machine could not be sufficiently delicate with the materials, nor adjust so easily on the fly as Monica can. She has dedicated 35 years of her life to this one craft, and when you watch her meticulous movements, it shows.
 

In addition to highly skilled artisans, Leica uses state-of-the-art technology to reach new levels of accuracy and precision for their products. Here, the surface of an individual lens element is depicted with a topographical visual at a microscopic level. This allows Leica’s engineers to further smooth out the surface to a mind-blowing level of accuracy (down to the micron!). With such an uncompromising degree of precision, it’s easy to understand why Leica is known around the world as the ne plus ultra when it comes to optics.
 

At the very end of our tour, we were delighted with a visit to their prototyping lab, which is exactly what it sounds like – a space where Leica tests new materials and designs. Pictured below is a Leica SL made with a clear resin using a 3D printer, which was used to test button configurations and ergonomics. This is just one of the numerous ways Leica finds ways to accelerate their R&D, make products easier to use, produce better images, and ultimately feel more like an extension of the body.
 

On the last day of our trip, myself and most of the U.S. contingent went for a photo walk around Wetzlar’s Old Town, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Old Town is a charming part of Wetzlar that has been settled for centuries, with the oldest building having been built in 1356.
 

Old Town Wetzlar is also where German inventor and photographer Oskar Barnack took the first picture with the first 35mm camera. Barnack would end up working for Leica and this camera would later become known as the Ur-Leica. This important location in photography history is marked with a commemorative plaque.