Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Leica I (Model B) Compur

Ernst Leitz Β· Fixed lens Β· 24Γ—36mm on perforated 35mm cine film, 36 exposures Β· 1926

Also known as: Leica Compur Β· Compur Leica Β· Leica I Model B Β· Leica B Β· ラむカIεž‹B

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Dial-set Compur Leica fixed 1926–1929 β€” 638 cameras (Leica Wiki)
Rim-set Compur Leica fixed 1928–1941 β€” 1,072 cameras (Leica Wiki)
  1. A third figure for the rim-set. Mike Eckman puts the two runs at 638 dial-set and 969 rim-set, both described as estimates, while agreeing with the Leica Wiki's rough total of about 1,650. His pair sums to 1,607, the Wiki's model page to 1,710 and the Wiki's own serial list to 1,651. Three counts, no reconciliation.
  2. Period prices, from Eckman: an unnamed British retailer listed the Model B at Β£15 against Β£22 for the Model A, and a December 1930 advertisement in American Photography offered the camera with a Leitz FODIS rangefinder and leather case for $89.40, where the same package around the focal-plane camera was $108. The leaf-shutter Leica was the cheaper of the two.
  3. Eckman weighs the body at 378 g and describes the fixed lens as an uncoated 5cm f/3.5 Elmar, four elements in three groups, set into the Compur.
  4. Auction result: a dial-set of 1928, serial 6143 β€” inside the 5701–6300 block given here β€” catalogued as original and never restored or upgraded, sold for €4,800 including the 24% buyer's premium at Leitz Photographica Auction 43, lot 10, from a €4,000 start and against an estimate of €8,000–9,000. It made well under the low estimate.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • A leaf shutter between the lens elements, not a focal-plane shutter behind them β€” the only Leica ever built this way
  • No shutter-speed dial on the top plate, because the speeds are set on the lens
  • Aluminium body, black-lacquered brass top and base, nickel-plated knobs

Dial-set Compur:

  • Speeds set on a small dial standing proud of the shutter housing, above the lens
  • Serial blocks 5701–6300 and part of 13101–13300

Rim-set Compur:

  • Speeds set on a knurled ring around the shutter barrel
  • Serial blocks 21479–21810, 34451–34802, and scattered numbers from 50572 onward

Serial-range notes

13101–13300
The Leica Wiki's list prints this 1929 block twice, once as Compur Camera and once as dial-set plus rim-set. It is the block where the two types overlap.
13384
Noted on the same list as a ring-set camera, outside the blocks given for either type.
460001–460300
A separate 1938 block of 300 numbers for the Compur 5cm f/3.5 LENS, not for cameras. The lens was numbered in the Leitz lens sequence though it was fixed to the body.

Specifications

Format
24Γ—36mm on perforated 35mm cine film, 36 exposures
Finder
Optical viewfinder, no rangefinder Β· no rangefinder image
Shutter
Deckel Compur leaf shutter, between the lens elements Β· 1s – 1/300 and B, T, depending on the Compur fitted
Designed by
Oskar Barnack β€” camera
Dimensions
133 Γ— 65 Γ— 30 mm
Country
Germany
Original price
Β£15 (UK, 1931); $89.40 for the camera with FODIS rangefinder and case (US, December 1930)

Figures we worked out rather than found: 638 + 1,072 = 1,710 β€” the two shutter types sum to a total the page does not print Β· The serial list totals 1,651, which is 59 fewer Β· Both types together account for roughly 1 camera in 35 of the Model A's run

Where sources disagree

Total production
  • 1,710 cameras β€” 638 dial-set plus 1,072 rim-set (Leica Wiki, model page)
  • 1,651 serial numbers assigned (Leica Wiki, its own serial list)

Better supported: Neither figure is safe

59 apart, and the list is not clean: one 200-camera block is printed twice, and its final row gives no starting serial at all, only 157 cameras attributed to Pacific Rim Camera for the whole decade 1931–1941.

Last year of production
  • 1941 (Leica Wiki serial list)
  • 1930, in the sense that regular production had stopped (implied by the serial blocks, which are dense to 1930 and scattered after)

The camera was superseded by the Model C in 1930. What the list records after that is a trickle of assemblies from remaining parts, not a production run.

What reviewers say

History

The Model B is the Leica that went the other way. Where every other Barnack camera puts a cloth focal-plane shutter behind the lens, this one carries a Deckel Compur leaf shutter between the lens elements, which is why collectors call it the Compur Leica and why it is the only Leica of its kind. The reasons for building it were sound in 1926: a leaf shutter is quieter, it synchronises with flash at any speed, and it does not distort a moving subject the way a travelling slit does. The reason it stopped being built is equally plain β€” a shutter that lives inside the lens cannot be left behind when the lens is unscrewed, and in 1930 the Model C made unscrewing the lens the point of owning a Leica.

Two versions exist and they are told apart by where the speeds are set. The earlier dial-set Compur has a small dial standing up on its own plate above the lens; the rim-set that followed has a knurled ring around the shutter barrel, which is how Deckel’s shutters were made from the late 1920s on. The Leica Wiki gives 638 dial-set cameras against 1,072 rim-set β€” together about one camera for every thirty-five Model As.

The record thins out after 1930. The serial list is dense through the four blocks that run to 1930 and then gives up: its last row has no starting number at all, only 157 cameras credited to Pacific Rim Camera and spread across 1931 to 1941. Those are almost certainly assemblies from parts on hand rather than production in any real sense, and the 1941 date should be read as the last time a body was finished rather than the last time anyone was selling one. A separate block of 300 numbers in 1938 belongs to the Compur 5cm f/3.5 lens rather than to cameras: the lens carried a number in the Leitz lens sequence even though it was fixed to a body.

Anyone counting these cameras is counting twice somewhere. The two shutter types sum to 1,710; the serial list totals 1,651; one 200-camera block appears in the list twice. Fifty-nine cameras separate the two figures and nothing published reconciles them.

Expand Collapse

This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap β€” but no human wrote these sentences.

Example photos

Sample photo wanted β€” shot with a Leica I (Model B) Compur? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, EUR: a median of €12,500 across 3 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half €5,500–€12,500). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 2 days: unchanged from €12,500.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11€12,500€5,500–€12,5003
2026-09-06€12,500€5,500–€12,5003

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

eBay links are affiliate links. If you buy through one, Glass Bodies earns a small commission from eBay at no cost to you. It does not change which listings appear, their prices or their order β€” those come from the search and the sort described above.

Listings updated 2026-09-11. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Leica I (Model A)

Sources (5)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this camera, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me β€” corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.