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Cheat-sheet for Leica lenses?


deekay

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I'm new to the Leica world. Is there a cheat-sheet for what all the various lens nomenclatures mean? For example, Summicron vs Summilux, SL vs TL etc etc etc?  Right now I am comparing a Summilux-TL and a Summilux-SL lens (35 mm). They have rather different price points as well as other differences. Thanks in advance...

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The name can refer to the max aperture. Summilux is f/1.4, Summicron is f/2. Elmarit is f/2.8. Noctilux varies from 0.95 to - I think - 1.2 for the 75mm M mount. The TL and SL you mention refer the the mount. I know nothing about any of the mounts except M, so maybe someone else can shed some light on those.

You can also find useful information in the wiki (link in the top menu bar).

There was also a poster of all M mount lenses ever made available some time ago. I'll see if I can dig out a link.

edit: here's the link to the poster but it looks like it's sold out. You can send him an email, he's a very nice man, I bought my 35mm Summaron f/2.8 from him. http://affiche.simplesite.com/ 

Edited by ianman
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It's a type of correction. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apochromat

You'll also see some ASPH, which means aspheric correction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspheric_lens

Some lenses are both APO and ASPH, such as the current 90mm Summicron, and 50mm Summicron (M Mount). You will probably come across people mentioning "pre-asph", which refers to older lenses of a type of which later versions are ASPH.

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By your posts you seem to be interested in modern lenses, but when you go into vintage lenses you will find yourself lost in trying to make sense eg a Hektor can be a 28mm f6.3, a 50mm f2.5 , a 73mm f1.9 or a 135mm f4.5, all LTM, or a 125mm f 2.5 for Visoflex. There were also some Hektor lenses for projectors. Legend has it that the original Hektor was Max Berek's dog.

William

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Mounts:

LTM (Leica thread mount) or screw-mount or M39 mount. The original mount Leica used between 1931 and 1960. For rangefinder cameras. LTM lenses can be adapted with a simple 1mm ring to work on M cameras (right up to today's) - but M-mount lenses cannot be adapted to LTM cameras. Canon and several others made use of the M39 mount as well.

M-Mount - the four-flange bayonet introduced in 1954 and still used today on the M cameras.

The original compact-Leica "CL" for film used the M mount, but its kit-lenses (40mm and 90mm), while fitting and functioning, are slightly different mechanically and designated "-C."

R-mount - the three-flange bayonet used for Leica's film SLR system 1964-2007. These come in several "flavors" that have to do with the communication between lens and camera (analog levers and cams - and later electrical contacts). Original was 2-cam. Upgrade about 1968 was to 3-cam. Downgraded or simplified in the 1980s for the normal kit lens 50 Summicron to save money and listed as "R-Only" (= 1 cam). In the 1990s, silicon chips with electric contacts were added - these are called ROM lenses (for their read-only-memory chips). R-mount lenses of most types can be adapted to TL, SL or M cameras these days, as well as Canon, Sony, Fuji (and with some work Nikon) mounts.

TL-mount -  A mount for the cropped or APS or "half-frame" digital sensor (24mm x 16mm) - e.g. the Leica T for which it is named, but also the CL digital camera.

SL-mount - interchangeable with the TL mount (usually) but covers a full 24x36mm sensor. Thus SL lenses are more valuable and costlier. TL lenses on an SL camera will not allow full use of the sensor, but otherwise work normally. SL lenses can definitely be used on TL cameras. but will be cropped to a smaller image area.

S-mount - the mount for the Leica S medium-format camera series

Lens names not already covered:

Anastigmat and Elmax- 50mm f/3.5 lenses for the first year of Leica production 1924-25 - replaced by first 50mm Elmar f/3.5

Summar - Leica's first f/2 lens - a 50mm

Summitar - a revised 50mm f/2, preceding the first Summicron

Summarit - a name used four times for different things. Originally, the 50mm f/1.5 in LTM or M mount, that preceded the 50mm Summiluxes, post-WW2 though the 1950s. Name recycled in the 1990s for a fixed 40mm f/2.4 lens on a compact film P&S camera (Leica Minilux). Now used for a budget line of f/2.4 (originally f/2.5) M-mount lenses of lengths 35, 50, 75 and 90mm, and for the far-from-budget f/2.4 lenses for the medium-format S-Mount.

(No-one says Leica has been perfectly consistent in lens naming over the decades ;) ).

Xenon - pre-1950 name for the Summarit 50 f/1.5 - Schneider trademark for this Schneider-designed lens.

Summaron - 28mm or 35mm M-mount and LTM wide-angle lenses of the 1950s, with apertures from f/5.6 to f/2.8. 28mm f/5.6 Summaron recently revived for "retro" pictures.

Summarex - an 85mm f/1.5 lens, 1943-1960

Elmar - a lens of f/3.5 or slower (although there were also two 50mm f/2.8 Elmars) - the "Elmarit" name for f/2.8 was not introduced until 1960

Elcan or ELCAN - various lenses made strictly for Cold War military use by Ernst Leitz Canada in Ontario - 50, 66, 75, 180mm focal lengths (at least). in M- or R-mount. The 180 was eventually release to the public as the 180 APO-Telyt f/3.4, Leica's first APO-designated lens.

Thambar - a 90mm f/2.2 soft-focus portrait lens in LTM mount - recently revived as a "retro" design in M-Mount. Name from the Greek word thambos, meaning "amazement" or "wonder."

Tele- - as a prefix, for three M lenses of 90 or 135mm, that had tele-photo construction - lenses very compact for their nominal focal lengths. e.g. 90mm Tele-Elmarit f/2.8 or 135 Tele-Elmar f/4. And one rare early 180mm Tele-Elmarit f/2.8 for the Visoflex viewing device.

Telyt - used for long lenses, 135, 180, 250, 280......800mm. Sometimes APO-Telyt. Only for the SLR "R-mount" cameras, except for the current M-mount 135mm APO-Telyt

Super-Angulon - three specific 21mm super-wide-angles for M or R mount, 1960-ish to 1980, designed by Schneider-Kreuznach, not Leitz.  And one 28mm perspective-adjusting lens in R-Mount. Super-Angulon is a Schneider trademark.

Hologon - Zeiss trademark for a 15mm ultra-wide-angle lens, of which a few were made in M-mount ("für Leica") around 1968.

Velostigmat - non-Leica lenses contracted out to Wollensak by Leitz New York, while Leica lenses were unobtainable during and after WW2. In LTM-mount.

Vario- - as a prefix = zoom lenses

Put them all together and one gets, for example, Vario-Elmarit-SL-ASPH 24-90 f/2.8-f/4. Translated =  Vario (zoom-lens) -Elmarit (f/2.8 at least at one focal length) -SL (for SL-mount cameras) -ASPH (with at least one aspheric element).

 

Edited by adan
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Just to polish off.

There was a time when Leitz/Leica lens names often had some connection to the optical design.

For example, the "Hektor design" was always 3 groups totalling 4-6 elements. Throughout the focal-length range 28/50/73/125/135. Elmars were usually 4-element Tessar-type designs. And coincidentally, the first three Summicrons 50/35/90 were double-gauss arrangements - ELCAN's designer Dr. Walter Mandler was an expert in the twiddling of DGs and wrote his graduate thesis on them.

Presumably this had something to do with the era of slow manual calculations before digital computers arrived. One could take the existing and already-calculated 50mm "Hektor" design, and just modify the math a bit to get a 73 "Hektor," or a 28 "Hektor", or a 125mm.

It was with the introduction of the name Elmarit (nearly coincident with the first lens-design software) around 1960 that the modern meaning of name-equals-max-aperture became the standard (mostly).

By 1980, we get the new, compact 90mm f/2.0. It is no longer a double-gauss - it is a tele-photo much smaller and lighter than the DG 90 Summicrons. As a telephoto, it perhaps should have been named a "Tele-Something-or-other" in keeping with the Tele-Elmarits and Tele-Elmars - but Leitz just decided to quit using the "Tele-" prefix altogether. From that point on, a Summicron was an f/2.0 lens, and any f/2.0 lens was a Summicron, pure and simple.

But.....

The Telyt name was still used for lenses with apertures from f/2.8 to f/6.8, and a broad variety of internal optical arrangements, from 2 elements (400 f/6.8 Telyt-R) to 12 (400mm f/2.8 APO-Telyt-R), telephoto and non-telephoto - so long as they were long focal lengths. Figure that one out.

 

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13 hours ago, adan said:

Mounts:

LTM (Leica thread mount) or screw-mount or M39 mount. The original mount Leica used between 1931 and 1960. For rangefinder cameras. LTM lenses can be adapted with a simple 1mm ring to work on M cameras (right up to today's) - but M-mount lenses cannot be adapted to LTM cameras. Canon and several others made use of the M39 mount as well.

M-Mount - the four-flange bayonet introduced in 1954 and still used today on the M cameras.

The original compact-Leica "CL" for film used the M mount, but its kit-lenses (40mm and 90mm), while fitting and functioning, are slightly different mechanically and designated "-C."

R-mount - the three-flange bayonet used for Leica's film SLR system 1964-2007. These come in several "flavors" that have to do with the communication between lens and camera (analog levers and cams - and later electrical contacts). Original was 2-cam. Upgrade about 1968 was to 3-cam. Downgraded or simplified in the 1980s for the normal kit lens 50 Summicron to save money and listed as "R-Only" (= 1 cam). In the 1990s, silicon chips with electric contacts were added - these are called ROM lenses (for their read-only-memory chips). R-mount lenses of most types can be adapted to TL, SL or M cameras these days, as well as Canon, Sony, Fuji (and with some work Nikon) mounts.

TL-mount -  A mount for the cropped or APS or "half-frame" digital sensor (24mm x 16mm) - e.g. the Leica T for which it is named, but also the CL digital camera.

SL-mount - interchangeable with the TL mount (usually) but covers a full 24x36mm sensor. Thus SL lenses are more valuable and costlier. TL lenses on an SL camera will not allow full use of the sensor, but otherwise work normally. SL lenses can definitely be used on TL cameras. but will be cropped to a smaller image area.

S-mount - the mount for the Leica S medium-format camera series

Lens names not already covered:

Anastigmat and Elmax- 50mm f/3.5 lenses for the first year of Leica production 1924-25 - replaced by first 50mm Elmar f/3.5

Summar - Leica's first f/2 lens - a 50mm

Summitar - a revised 50mm f/2, preceding the first Summicron

Summarit - a name used four times for different things. Originally, the 50mm f/1.5 in LTM or M mount, that preceded the 50mm Summiluxes, post-WW2 though the 1950s. Name recycled in the 1990s for a fixed 40mm f/2.4 lens on a compact film P&S camera (Leica Minilux). Now used for a budget line of f/2.4 (originally f/2.5) M-mount lenses of lengths 35, 50, 75 and 90mm, and for the far-from-budget f/2.4 lenses for the medium-format S-Mount.

(No-one says Leica has been perfectly consistent in lens naming over the decades ;) ).

Xenon - pre-1950 name for the Summarit 50 f/1.5 - Schneider trademark for this Schneider-designed lens.

Summaron - 28mm or 35mm M-mount and LTM wide-angle lenses of the 1950s, with apertures from f/5.6 to f/2.8. 28mm f/5.6 Summaron recently revived for "retro" pictures.

Summarex - an 85mm f/1.5 lens, 1943-1960

Elmar - a lens of f/3.5 or slower (although there were also two 50mm f/2.8 Elmars) - the "Elmarit" name for f/2.8 was not introduced until 1960

Elcan or ELCAN - various lenses made strictly for Cold War military use by Ernst Leitz Canada in Ontario - 50, 66, 75, 180mm focal lengths (at least). in M- or R-mount. The 180 was eventually release to the public as the 180 APO-Telyt f/3.4, Leica's first APO-designated lens.

Thambar - a 90mm f/2.2 soft-focus portrait lens in LTM mount - recently revived as a "retro" design in M-Mount. Name from the Greek word thambos, meaning "amazement" or "wonder."

Tele- - as a prefix, for three M lenses of 90 or 135mm, that had tele-photo construction - lenses very compact for their nominal focal lengths. e.g. 90mm Tele-Elmarit f/2.8 or 135 Tele-Elmar f/4. And one rare early 180mm Tele-Elmarit f/2.8 for the Visoflex viewing device.

Telyt - used for long lenses, 135, 180, 250, 280......800mm. Sometimes APO-Telyt. Only for the SLR "R-mount" cameras, except for the current M-mount 135mm APO-Telyt

Super-Angulon - three specific 21mm super-wide-angles for M or R mount, 1960-ish to 1980, designed by Schneider-Kreuznach, not Leitz.  And one 28mm perspective-adjusting lens in R-Mount. Super-Angulon is a Schneider trademark.

Hologon - Zeiss trademark for a 15mm ultra-wide-angle lens, of which a few were made in M-mount ("für Leica") around 1968.

Velostigmat - non-Leica lenses contracted out to Wollensak by Leitz New York, while Leica lenses were unobtainable during and after WW2. In LTM-mount.

Vario- - as a prefix = zoom lenses

Put them all together and one gets, for example, Vario-Elmarit-SL-ASPH 24-90 f/2.8-f/4. Translated =  Vario (zoom-lens) -Elmarit (f/2.8 at least at one focal length) -SL (for SL-mount cameras) -ASPH (with at least one aspheric element).

 

Hello Andy,

A few small additions to your very nice list:

The original "Leicaflex" mount for the original Leicaflex is also a single cam. But it is a different cam than the "R" cam which was later used in combination with the 2 other cams. In addition the "R" cam is used alone on some lenses for the later "R" cameras. This "R" cam is also sometimes called the "third cam".

A 90mm, F1, Elcan lens was also made during the 1970's.

"Telyt" is also used on a number of "Visoflex" compatible lenses including various 200mm, 280mm, 400mm, 560mm lenses of various apertures as well as for the 800mm, F 6.3 Telyt-S. The "S" is for "Special". Some of these lenses are available in an "R" version, like the 500mm, F8 which is only available for Leicaflex/Leica R cameras. Some of the Telyt lenses are in the Apo-Telyt category.

Best Regards,

Michael

Edited by Michael Geschlecht
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  • 2 weeks later...

And one addition:  There are also V-mount  lenses, which are M type-mount ones with a longer register distance -AKA shorter barrel- to accommodate the Visoflex optical housings. E.g. Telyt-V 400/6.8. Confusingly, some of these lenses were also made in an R mount.

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