![]() In the 1930s, the Soviet Union declared that they wanted their own Leica copy and challenged three different Soviet factories to build their own versions of the Leica II rangefinder and put it into production. The Geodeziya FAG was a Soviet made copy of the Leica II that was produced between 1934-35. To make a fake Rolex or Coach handbag, you must create the fake from scratch, but to make a fake Leica, you just need to modify something that is already pretty close. ![]() One thing that makes screw mount Leicas so easy to fake is that there were a large number of camera manufacturers who made their own Leica copies that ranged from nearly identical to vague replicas. If you prefer a shorter version of this guide that only shows you the bare minimum amount of information, I created a condensed version that’s less than 600 words you might prefer. TL:DR Warning: This article is comprehensive, giving a bit of history to fake Leicas along with detailed instructions on what to look for. Leitz has continued to make M-series film and digital cameras ever since, but those cameras are much harder to counterfeit, so for the remainder of this article, whenever I mention an original or fake Leica, I am only referring to the screw mount cameras. ![]() Screw mount Leicas are easy targets as they are very popular and were in production by Ernst Leitz GmbH from 1925 through 1960. Only one of the above five cameras is a Leica, the rest are various Japanese and Soviet “copies”, some of which do not stray much from the original formula, others that have considerable changes. To the casual observer, a counterfeit Leica looks very close to the real thing, but once you know what to look for, they can be very easy to spot. For cameras, the most commonly imitated examples are screw mount Leica rangefinders. There’s a saying that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and when it comes to prestige products like handbags, watches, and cameras, there are whole industries of companies looking to counterfeit those products and sell them as the real thing.
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