jaapv Posted August 17 Share #1 Posted August 17 Advertisement (gone after registration) In the past, all Leica products had code letters. They seem random, but I am sure that they are not. What was the logic behind them? Acronyms? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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pedaes Posted August 17 Share #2 Posted August 17 23 minutes ago, jaapv said: In the past, all Leica products had code letters. Another great Leica mystery. Would be good to find the definitive answer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted August 17 Author Share #3 Posted August 17 It is a German company. There is no possibility that the letters were chosen randomly. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerzy Posted August 17 Share #4 Posted August 17 At least for some there is rather simple explanation: LEICA, LELUX, ELMAR, EKURZ (3,5cm), ELANG (9cm), FILmCAsette, …. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted August 17 Author Share #5 Posted August 17 Sure. But for instance NOOKY? N may well be Nah, but the rest? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpotmaticSP Posted August 17 Share #6 Posted August 17 I believe Leitz sometimes often tried to create meaningful codes. When not possible, they just chose someting similar (if available). By the way, the codes were called "Telegrammwort" in the offical Leitz Gesamtkatalog. So it seems orders were placed by sending a telegram to the Leitz office. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smudgerer Posted August 17 Share #7 Posted August 17 Advertisement (gone after registration) They could be made up from dipping into the same kind of random mixed bag of letters like Ikea uses for it's product naming........ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nykv Posted August 17 Share #8 Posted August 17 (edited) They were easier to communicate in the Morse alphabet, on ticker tape, telex... Easier to remember and to register as intellectual property in copyrights and international patents, too. And it's more "personal". A myth is not created overnight. Edited August 17 by nykv Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Geschlecht Posted August 18 Share #9 Posted August 18 (edited) Hello Everybody, By using a system where each character is part of a base 26 (Sort of.) alphabetic system instead of a base 10 numerical system: They could convey more information with less symbols. Also saving money on per letter/number telecomunications costs when ordering a large number of things internationally. Since they would need less alphabetic symbols to convey the same information than they would need if they used only numbers. Sometimes it is a mix of silliness & practicality. PLOOT is the code for the reflex housing that goes "ploot" when you depress the mirror release. OTPLO is the code for the 20cm f4.5 Telyt (Smile) telephoto lens that attaches to the PLOOT. There is more if you read thru the codes. Best Regards, Michael Edited August 18 by Michael Geschlecht Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
frame-it Posted August 18 Share #10 Posted August 18 (edited) 23 hours ago, jaapv said: In the past, all Leica products had code letters. They seem random, but I am sure that they are not. What was the logic behind them? Acronyms? Telegrams, apparently: https://rangefinderforum.com/threads/leitz-sumptuous-item-name-codes.169875/ >>>>>"it was best for telegrams as 5 unit codes counted as one word. And letters were simpler to transmit by hand in Morse. Secondly, numbers are limited to a few thousand combinations (10x10x10x10x10) and letters mean 26x26x26x26x26. Lastly, these codes were commonplace in the days of telegrams" Edited August 18 by frame-it Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted August 18 Author Share #11 Posted August 18 Yes that is all known. But how were they assigned? Why was a PLOOT called a PLOOT and not a TLOOP ? For some, as Jerzy points out, the meaning can be deduced, but for many not. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry Attrik Posted August 18 Share #12 Posted August 18 (edited) I was always intrigued by these codes and my delight in their apparent randomness increased when I heard song by Michal Flanders and Donald Swan, the lyrics of which, were made up using the Leitz telegraph codes. (yep, I am that old 😄) (edit) On reflection I think that it might not have been Flanders and Swan; Any offers? Edited August 18 by Jerry Attrik doubt about memory Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nf3996 Posted August 18 Share #13 Posted August 18 I don't know who the author of the 'Leicawocky' poem below is, but it's based on Lewis Carroll's 'Jabberwocky' poem (see https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42916/jabberwocky). Twas ELMAR and the Agfa Mags Did Leitz and WEENO in the soup; All Morgan were the gadget bags And the GOORM BOOXZ VBOOP. Beware the Leicawock, my son, The words like KOOBF and KGOON and SCHNOO, Beware the FOCOMAT and shun The SYEOOCHROM BAZOO. He took his VIDOM ZSOOG in hand Long time his FYSTY foe he sought So WICAB he by the OOZIS tree And ZOOKEd a while in thought. And as in FLIXY thought he stood The Leicawock with lens aflame Came SOOMPing through the WIVOO wood And OOZKUed as it came. One, two! One, two! VALOY! HEBOO! The VIDOM ZSOOG went SPUCAsmack; He left him PLOOT and with his snoot He came FNOOing back. “And has thou slain the Leicawock? Come to my GINK my NOOKY boy!” “Oh HOOPY day, POOAH-DUFAY!” He NOZLEd in his joy. Twas ELMAR and the Agfa Megs Did Leitz and WEENO in the soup; All Morgan were the gadget bags And the GOORM BOOXZ VBOOP. Alan 4 1 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry Attrik Posted August 18 Share #14 Posted August 18 (edited) Thank you Alan nf3996, #13,, that is a new one for me😊 Edited August 18 by Jerry Attrik Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roydonian Posted August 18 Share #15 Posted August 18 During a visit to Leitz in Mortimer Street during the early 1960s, I heard a staff member jokingly refer to an order being written out using the codenames as being in "High German". 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pedaes Posted August 18 Share #16 Posted August 18 1 hour ago, roydonian said: a visit to Leitz in Mortimer Street That must put you in a very exclusive club! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Geschlecht Posted August 19 Share #17 Posted August 19 (edited) On 8/17/2025 at 9:06 PM, Michael Geschlecht said: Hello Everybody, By using a system where each character is part of a base 26 (Sort of.) alphabetic system instead of a base 10 numerical system: They could convey more information with less symbols. Also saving money on per letter/number telecomunications costs when ordering a large number of things internationally. Since they would need less alphabetic symbols to convey the same information than they would need if they used only numbers. Sometimes it is a mix of silliness & practicality. PLOOT is the code for the reflex housing that goes "ploot" when you depress the mirror release. OTPLO is the code for the 20cm f4.5 Telyt (Smile) telephoto lens that attaches to the PLOOT. There is more if you read thru the codes. Best Regards, Michael 15 hours ago, jaapv said: Yes that is all known. But how were they assigned? Why was a PLOOT called a PLOOT and not a TLOOP ? For some, as Jerzy points out, the meaning can be deduced, but for many not. Hello Jaap, Please re-read my Post #9 above, which I brought along here for your convenience. The PLOOT makes the sound "ploot" when you release the mirror by pushing the release button down. Please note that "ploot" is a rising tone. The PLOOT does not make the sound "tloop". Which is a falling tone. Best Regards, Michael Edited August 19 by Michael Geschlecht Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted August 19 Author Share #18 Posted August 19 That is a nice supposition 😆 but I doubt whether a German camera technician would attain this level of association. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Geschlecht Posted August 19 Share #19 Posted August 19 (edited) Hello Jaap, Some might have been thought of by technicians & others by the then equivalets of today's "IT" people. And still others by someone else. Code letters such as: SCNOO for the under camera rapid winder that sounds like SCNOO when you use it. ADSUM for the adapter that allows a person to ADd certain 50mm f1.5 SUMmarit filters to other lenses with different filter threads. CEYOO for a flash apparatus to help a person taking a photo of you in a dark place to make the scene brighter for a moment so that people looking can CEYOO better in the resulting photo. TELYT for lenses of longer focal lengths that can enlarge a tiny image from somewhere far away so that the resulting larger image can TELYT like it is. And, many more. Best Regards, Michael Edited August 19 by Michael Geschlecht Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted August 19 Author Share #20 Posted August 19 A bit apocryphal, don't you think? - associations to Anglo-Saxon words and sounds are quite unlikely for a pre-war German. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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