Oskar Barnack

Oskar Barnack ( born 1 November 1879 in Lynow, Nuthe- glacial valley; † January 16, 1936 in Bad Nauheim ) was a German precision mechanic. Barnack is considered the inventor of the 35- mm still camera.

Oskar Barnack worked as development manager of the company Leitz in Wetzlar in the department of film cameras. He invented a compact mini camera, could be exposed to the small strip of the movie to test the correct exposure for the taking, without having to open the big main magazine. In his spare time Barnack dealt with nature photography, but was not because of his asthma able to transport large and heavy plates and large format cameras. He developed into private work in the years 1913/14, a small camera that could also work with drawn on small rolls 35mm film in a recording format of 24 mm × 36 mm (so-called small format ) - the first miniature camera. The First World War delayed the further development, so that the first Leica (Leitz Camera) was produced from 1924 series; they came 1925 on the market. Instead of the standard film strip plates were used in the Leica and their predecessors. For use came the then widespread 35mm cinema film. This compact enclosure designs were possible. The use of 35 mm film is still standard in analog reportage photography.

In the birthplace Lynow, part of the municipality Nuthe- glacial valley in Brandenburg, there is a Oskar Barnack Museum.