In the 1930s, Argus created a line of cheap Leica knockoffs that were quite popular, selling millions over a few decades. Agfa got into the 35mm game fairly ear

In the 1930s, Argus created a line of cheap Leica knockoffs that were quite popular, selling millions over a few decades. Agfa got into the 35mm game fairly early. 120 cameras tended to be either cheap instamatic-type cameras, or high end pro cameras like Rolleiflexes. Japanese makers like Nikon and Konica introduced high quality 35mm rangefinders pretty soon after they could scale up the postwar manufacturing.