Bob White looks at the earliest days of press photography and describes the sort of gear the professional cameraman would have had in his hands in the first half of the 20th century.

First day with the new Leica Q and what to do? Fortunately there's always something to do in London Town. So I donned my best grubby mac and headed down to Hyde Park where I promised Quentin the Leica a sight of a strange collection of birthday-suited eccentrics on bikes. Today was the annual London Naked Bike Ride and eco-minded cyclists had gathered from all four corners of Britain to demonstrate en masse, preferably wearing as little clothing as possible. Quite by chance, I discovered that at least half the spectators (all with cameras) were Chinese. "Why?", I asked a couple. "Because it isn't allowed in China." Good enough reason.

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A quiet Friday lunch in central London and in came a call from Vijay Sebastian at Leica Store Mayfair: My review camera, the new Leica Q, had arrived from Germany. This was somewhat unexpected since it is barely two days since I attended the press launch in the conference room opposite the store. Of course I had to do a quick scuttle in the direction of Bruton Place.

One of Britain's oldest independent camera dealers and certainly the oldest Leica agency, R.G.Lewis, will put up the shutters for the last time on Saturday. The closure brings to an end one of the most remarkable chapters (or, perhaps, books would be a more accurate description) in photographic history.