It's a tiny camera, so small that it fits in a jacket pocket that captured many of the great moments of the 20th century.

A couple's passionate kiss in Times Square in New York after the end of World War II.

Or American soldiers who stalked through the fields during the Vietnam War.

Sarah Huemer

Editor in the "Money & More" section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

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With the invention of the 35mm camera, photographers were able to immerse themselves directly in the action for the first time.

It's handy enough to take with you wherever you go, pull it out at the right moment and press the shutter button.

You don't have to be a professional photographer to be carried away by the fascination with Leica cameras. They were the first serially produced 35mm cameras. Today collectors spend thousands, hundreds of thousands of euros on an old Leica - sometimes even more: a buyer paid 1.2 million euros at an auction in November for a rare Leica MP 55 from 1957. The prices for the old Leicas are rising Year after year. So is it a profitable investment?

"Cool investment decisions are not, you have to have a heart for them," says Lars Netopil, a collector and trader himself.

In a brown jacket and frameless glasses he sits cross-legged in a leather armchair in his small photo shop in Wetzlar.

This is the city where it all began.

The city where a hobby photographer invented the Leica in 1914.

But more on that later.

A Leica as a status symbol

Netopil started collecting Leica cameras at the age of 16.

As a student he traveled from one collectors' meeting to the next, carefully studying the models and prices of the Leicas.

Whenever he spotted a supposedly cheap model in the window of a photo shop, he bought it - knowing that he could sell it on at a higher price.

It was a somewhat unusual student job. But very lucrative.

Now, 37 years later, he is one of the world's most sought-after experts and dealers for valuable cameras.

Customers flock to him from Europe, the USA and Asia, but above all from China.

European luxury products are particularly popular in China.

They are a status symbol.

Often the collectors are wealthy amateur photographers, says Netopil.

Although he also sells new models in his shop - after all, Leica still produces today - Netopil sees itself as an antique dealer.

Three quarters of its sales come from buying and selling old cameras.

And recently he started holding an auction once a year.

Auctions are particularly popular with collectors to get hold of new treasures.

The Leica Camera AG subsidiary, Leica Camera Classics, also organizes auctions twice a year - in terms of turnover, these are the largest in the world, one in Vienna and one in Wetzlar.

“Many collectors even have their own bidder number, they are more or less part of the Leica family,” says Alexander Sedlak, Managing Director of Leica Camera Classics.