Alfred Eisenstaedt used a Leica IIIa camera for his V-J Day in Times Square photograph.
The German-born American photojournalist made the image during the spontaneous celebrations in Manhattan on August 14, 1945. The compact Leica IIIa was a 35mm rangefinder camera, a type widely valued by photojournalists for portability and rapid operation. Its small size suited Eisenstaedt's work as he moved through a crowded Times Square scene.
Eisenstaedt later recalled taking exactly four pictures of the sailor and the woman during the brief encounter. He was working quickly and did not have time to obtain their names or other details. That lack of documentation helped create decades of disagreement over the subjects' identities.
The camera detail is easy to confuse with the photograph's publication history. Life magazine printed the image in its August 27, 1945 issue, but the camera itself was a Leica IIIa. Another photographer, Victor Jorgensen, captured a related view with a different camera while serving as a Navy photographer.