Phillip Mason wrote: > The first SLR's I was aware of were Pentax S series in the mid sixties. > > Ernst Lietz invented 35mm photography and the "miniature" camera, > the Lieca . > > Who invented the SLR ?.
That depends on what you consider the first true SLR. The first offerings by companies that made cameras like the Praktiflex and the Alpa did not use an instant return mirror and you had to keep pressure on the shutter release during the whole exposure or the mirror wouldn't swing out of the way fast enough. The first instances of an instant return mirror were documented on the Hungarian Gamma Duflex, and more commonly available on the Asahiflex IIB of 1954. And the Asahiflex had a waist level finder, not a pentaprism. The first combining the pentaprism with the instant return mirror was the Asahi Pentax of 1955. Possibly some of the other list subscribers have more information on the actual non-disputed inventor of the SLR mirror design. I know records were poor back then and a few claim to be the first. The fact that the SLR technology didn't share a common name until the mid fifties doesn't help us with this history now either. Dave Cohen Photographer [EMAIL PROTECTED] --> SPORRS: Serious Photographers of Railroad Related Subjects
