March 2018, a new world record has just been set at the WestLicht camera auction in Vienna.

A Leica Null-series - one of only 25 pre-production cameras - has sold for a staggering €2.4 million.

So why do people get so excited about Leica? Well, it started in 1925 when the company launched its first camera, the Leica I.

At the time most cameras used roll film or sheet film and, as a result, were both heavy and bulky. Many were unusable without a tripod.

Leica recognised the need for smaller, more user-friendly equipment. To achieve this they developed a camera using the perforated 35mm film stock popular in contemporary movie cameras. The 18x24mm image size used by movie cameras proved too small to meet quality requirements and so Leica doubled it to 24x36mm – the standard still used today by both film and digital cameras.

Leica’s first 35mm camera set the standard for all to follow. This is where photojournalism, as we know it today, started. And where popular photography, accessible to all, is rooted.