A previously unknown prototype of the compact Leica CL 35mm rangefinder camera has surprisingly appeared at an Austrian vintage camera store, Photo Arsenal Worldwide, and is available for purchase.
The original Leica CL camera first hit the market in early 1973 and was developed in collaboration with Minolta, but Photo Arsenal Worldwide thinks its newfound prototype is from 1970. The store believes that the prototype is one-of-a-kind, as no camera like it has ever been found before.
The prototype lacks some essential features found in the retail Leica CL, including an optical viewfinder and rangefinder. The heavily modified body includes a central hot shoe on which a 28mm viewfinder can be affixed.
The included M-Rokkor 28mm f/2.8 lens is also notable because the CL was typically paired with a 40mm f/2 Summicron lens. Of course, given that it features an M-mount, the camera also worked alongside other Leica lenses and the retail CL had 50mm and 90mm framing options.
Photo Arsenal Worldwide’s operator, Boris Jamchtchik, tells Kosmo Foto that Leica likely sold the prototype camera to Thai collector and photographer Surat Osathanugrah. Before Osathanugrah passed away in 2008, the camera was sold to a European collector before making its way to Photo Arsenal for sale.
While the camera lacks a viewfinder and rangefinder, it is said to be in “very good working condition.” Interested parties can purchase the camera directly from Photo Arsenal Worldwide’s website or the store’s eBay page. It is available for 60,000 euros, or approximately $65,000.
It’s not the only Leica prototype camera available from the Austrian store. It is also selling a Leica MC prototype with an Elmarit-C 40mm f/2.8 lens for 110,000 euros ($119,180).
A Leica CL Prototype 2 with a 50mm f/2 lens was also up for auction at the 42nd Leitz Photographica Auction last June. This experimental CL body includes a built-in viewfinder and started at 100,000 euros ($108,350). It ultimately went unsold but could reappear at another Leitz Photographica Auction.
Leica reportedly made 65,000 units of the original CL. The company also revived the branding in 2017 with an APS-C mirrorless Leica CL camera, although it was unceremoniously put to pasture in 2022.
Image credits: Photo Arsenal Worldwide