1996

Leica Camera AG

From the Iron Market to the Stock Market

Leica’s IPO in Frankfurt underscores its dedication to uncompromising quality and its ongoing pursuit of innovation. The new Leica R8 is also unveiled on this occasion, serving as a testament to the company’s ambition.

Image of an original Leica five-mark share from 1996

Leica Share

Leica R8

A Highly Flexible Powerhouse

The Leica R8 is considered a reinvention of the analogue SLR: ergonomically optimised, featuring precise exposure metering from EV -4 to +20 and TTL flash control. With its radical new design – eschewing the Minolta collaboration and embracing digital interfaces – the Leica R8 stands as a forerunner to the Leica S.

Polar bears feast on large chunks of meat, encircled by seagulls, as the golden light of the evening sun casts long shadows across the black-sand beach.

Polar bear and cub surrounded by gulls at a whalebone place on the coast of Alaska 1999, Norbert Rosing

Norbert Rosing

Artistic portrait of a lady, made up to resemble a porcelain figure, with gold detailing in her eyebrows and mouth, and her nose concealed by black feathers.

Fantasy in Black, Maik Scharfscheer

Maik Scharfscheer

Close-up photograph of a snail with a coral-coloured shell, extending its delicate tentacles along a vibrant green plant branch.

Beautiful Little World: Banded Snail 2000, Marcel Chassot

Marcel Chassot

Claudia Schiffer, dressed and styled to resemble the Barbie doll she holds with both hands in front of her chest – her voluminous blonde hair, earrings and make-up echo the doll’s iconic look in a striking, playful homage.

Claudia Schiffer – The real Barbie for Vogue Italia 1994, Ellen von Unwerth

Staged Utopias vs Lived Reality

Caught Between Barbie and Cigarettes

How are the children? An ordinary question becomes a pivotal moment of truth within a social setting. A society’s true measure lies in how it nurtures and values its children. During the 1980s and 1990s, children across the globe become absorbed in emerging worlds of consumerism, plastic toys and imaginative fantasy. Or so you might think. Because in reality, children’s lives around the world are often marked by complexity and extremes: From eleven-year-olds smoking in affluent nations, to childhoods shaped by Barbie dolls and action figures, to idealised, romanticised upbringings in poorer regions – this is a journey that serves as a sobering reality check.

Black and white image of two girls in a paddling pool – one child seated in the water, the other standing and smoking a cigarette, exhaling smoke directly towards the camera.

Amanda and Her Cousin Amy, Valdese, North Carolina 1990, Mary Ellen Mark

A mother and child photographed through a car window, their faces pressed close as they peer in from the monsoon rain

During the monsoon, a mother and child beg for help at a car window, Mumbai, India. 1993, Steve McCurry

A striking interplay of light and shadow: on the left, a man obscures his face with a book, its pages catching the glow; on the right, a couple are entwined in a moment of intimacy; and at the centre, framed by an arc of light, stands the silhouette of a father cradling his daughter.

Nuevo Laredo, Mexico 1996, Alex Webb

Black and white image showing the busts of three men and a boy, all dressed in black suits. The child gazes directly into the camera with a confident expression.

From the series Wind Upon the Face of Waters, Priego de Córdoba, Andalusia, Spain 1996, Johan Willner

An image of children in a public square in Mexico, where blue and white tones prevail, with a boy in the foreground spinning a ball on his finger.

Children playing in a courtyard, Tehuantepec, Mexico 1985, Alex Webb

A science fiction-like image of children wearing virtual reality helmets, lined up like robots on tiered seats.

Virtual reality helmets at the Tokyo Motor Show 1999, Christopher Steele-Perkins

A street scene shaped by dramatic contrasts of light and shadow: a child hides inside a cardboard box and peers out with one eye.

León, Mexico 1987, Alex Webb

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Leica S1

Progress in Unfamiliar Territory

The Leica S1 was Leica’s first digital camera – a high-resolution scan camera featuring Kodak CCD technology. Though only suitable for stationary subjects, it is nonetheless ideal for museums, reproductions and scientific photography.

Turning Necessity into the Future

A spontaneously captured telephone call and its aftermath: in 1997, Apple is threatened with bankruptcy. Steve Jobs reaches out for help – and unexpectedly calls his competitor. Bill Gates responds and rescues his rival with 150 million dollars. This fragile pact, this moment, signifies more than a simple lifeline. It becomes the catalyst and cornerstone of the computer and internet age as we know it today, transforming how we communicate, work, listen to music and take photographs.

Cover of Time magazine featuring a black and white image of Steve Jobs, dressed in black and crouching before a stark white wall, speaking on a mobile phone.

Steve Jobs, Time magazine 1997, Diana Walker

”Bill, thank you. The world’s a better place.“

– Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs 1997, Diana Walker

Lying on the floor after a long day, Jobs strikes a deal over the phone with Bill Gates for Microsoft to purchase $150 million worth of Apple stock.

Black and white image of Bill Gates addressing the press amid the hustle and bustle of a crowded corridor.

Bill Gates 1992, Doug Menuez

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