>Nikon cloned it, then replaced the viewfinder with Single Lens Reflex system As far as I know Nikon started off making Contax clones, not Leica clones. Canon

>Nikon cloned it, then replaced the viewfinder with Single Lens Reflex system As far as I know Nikon started off making Contax clones, not Leica clones. Canon did Leica clones, though. Keep in mind that Leicas up until the M3 didn't have a combined viewfinder/rangefinder. That was an innovation from Zeiss first used in the Contax II. And there's been quite a few SLRs before the Nikon F, it was just Nikon that made it so solid and efficient that made professional photographers switch from using a rangefinder to SLR.