35mmSummicron Posted February 12, 2010 Share #1 Posted February 12, 2010 Advertisement (gone after registration) Just curious to know who designs(ed) which lenses (I've done a Google search, but looking for a general consensus to be sure) Leica M 28mm F2 Summicron ASPH - Michael Heiden? Leica M 35mm F2 Summicron ASPH - Peter Karbe? Can our resident lens experts help verify/correct? thx Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted February 12, 2010 Posted February 12, 2010 Hi 35mmSummicron, Take a look here Identifying Lens Designers > Lenses. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
wizard Posted February 12, 2010 Share #2 Posted February 12, 2010 The Summicron 35 asph. was designed by a woman, as far as I know. I do not recall her name, however. She was/is part of Leica's optical design team. Andy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BigSplash Posted February 12, 2010 Share #3 Posted February 12, 2010 Is this sort of information something that should be and remain " Leica confidential" . I am very keen on open discussion and constructive critique of Leica but I think IMHO it not helpful to Leica ...a company I hope we all support to advertsie the names of their best designers! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
35mmSummicron Posted February 12, 2010 Author Share #4 Posted February 12, 2010 ??? Its not like I'm asking for a step-by-step on how to make Leica lenses. I was just curious about who designed the current 28mm F2, 35mm F2. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted February 12, 2010 Share #5 Posted February 12, 2010 35mm, just ignore him. You'll find it better for your blood pressure. It's an interesting question. Of course in the good old days, lens designers were feted, nowadays I suspect the names will be those of the team leaders who led the design teams Regards, Bill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LUF Admin Posted February 12, 2010 Share #6 Posted February 12, 2010 Hi, please do me a favour and do not discuss the names of Leica employees in public without their agreement. Some of them (like Stefan Daniel and Peter Karbe) are well known to the public and live with that burden. But all other Leica staff members have a right of privacy protection. But I don't share the worries of BigSplash: The names of them are well known to the competitors - optic designers know each other by personal relationship from university or professional associations. I for an example know a lot of them (including the Summicron woman) as I'm also an photo engineer as many of them Andreas Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
UliWer Posted February 12, 2010 Share #7 Posted February 12, 2010 Advertisement (gone after registration) I think the most influential Leica Lens Designer since about 1970 was a certain Mrs. or Mr. COMO. This ist the name of a software developed by Leica to correct optical systems. There is quite an interesting article about it by Wolfgang Vollradt who was at Leitz since 1979 and from 1981 to 1994 chief of the optical design department of Leitz and Leica. He is now at Leica Microsystems, the independant second branch of the the former Leitz Gmbh. His article appeared in the book "Max Berek - Schöpfer der ersten Leica Objektive, Pionier der Mikroskopie, edited by Knut Kühn-Leitz, Lindemanns Verlag 2009 (I fear there is no English translation). Reading this book about Max Berek one will easily learn that even in the "heroical" times of lens design, the names we still know today were never alone with their tasks but members and leaders of teams. Even Columbus didn't discover America as a single-handed sailor. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
giordano Posted February 12, 2010 Share #8 Posted February 12, 2010 Reading this book about Max Berek one will easily learn that even in the "heroical" times of lens design, the names we still know today were never alone with their tasks but members and leaders of teams. Even Columbus didn't discover America as a single-handed sailor. I suspect the team was even more important in the days when all the calculations had to be done by people. Partly because the team needed to include not just optical geniuses but also people to help with the grunt calculational work ("computer" was a job title in those days), but also because insights into both optics and computational shortcuts were more important than they are with today's computing power. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
35mmSummicron Posted February 13, 2010 Author Share #9 Posted February 13, 2010 Yikes! Honestly its not my intention to invade any kind of privacy of Leica employees or the like. I always thought it was somewhat common knowledge amongst discerning Leica users/historians. I own modern ASPH Leica lenses that I absolutely LOVE. Whomever is responsible for designing my lenses at Leica, I hold them in tremendous high regard. My hat's off to them. Was just curious is all..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoppyman Posted February 14, 2010 Share #10 Posted February 14, 2010 Perfectly understandable! The higher profile folks are often mentioned here and in print of course. I never occurred to me that people at designer level might remain anonymous. Naturally the designs involve teams and of course we must respect privacy as Andreas has told us. When I got to visit Solms last Forum gathering, I respectfully came to attention and delivered my best salute to the fine folks who were assembling lenses as well. I got a grin from a group who were industriously rotating the focus rings on a selection of lenses. Personally I'd take them all out for lunch and I'd marry Peter Karbe Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marknorton Posted February 14, 2010 Share #11 Posted February 14, 2010 Geoff, I'm sure they'd be happy to accept your first invitation but the prospect of the second might not go down so well... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marknorton Posted February 14, 2010 Share #12 Posted February 14, 2010 It's an interesting question though. I'd be surprised if you can carve up lens design - you do the front, I'll do the back - without ending up with something like an Pantomine Horse - which suggests the actual lens design is done by one person following their intuition and spending countless hours at a computer. Might even have a university research type culture where the team leader points the designer in a direction to try but lets them get on with it. Other aspects of bringing the lens to production - the mechanical design and messy business of actually making the thing on time and within budget may well require different skills. I can imagine a lens design which is fine in theory but impossible to make in practice and there might be liaison throughout the design process and a handover of the design to the manufacturing specialists. No idea though, never done it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff S Posted February 14, 2010 Share #13 Posted February 14, 2010 This interview with Peter Karbe in Shutterbug speaks to some of the comments above...design teams, time involved (10 years in one case), etc...Shutterbug: The Leica Lens Saga The reference to Dr. Mandler, at the end, suggests an earlier time when individuals involved were perhaps more widely known. Jeff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marknorton Posted February 14, 2010 Share #14 Posted February 14, 2010 You have to love these articles. The lens pictured on the first page isn't the 50mm Summilux ASPH they're talking about, it's the rebodied pre-ASPH Summilux. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
giordano Posted February 14, 2010 Share #15 Posted February 14, 2010 I can imagine a lens design which is fine in theory but impossible to make in practice. Me too. How about one with negative space between elements? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff S Posted February 15, 2010 Share #16 Posted February 15, 2010 You have to love these articles. The lens pictured on the first page isn't the 50mm Summilux ASPH they're talking about, it's the rebodied pre-ASPH Summilux. Good catch. I had to look at mine to affirm. You, on the other hand, know it inside and out...quite literally, I'm sure. Hope they got the comments from Karbe correct. Erwin Puts has an excellent article on this lens, which provides a lot more detail and interesting history...Summilux1.4/50 asph Jeff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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