Can somebody who has in depth knowlegde of Leica lenses' history enlighten me as to how one group of lenses are called Elmarits and the other Sumicrons? Does it have anything to do with lens design, and if so please explain. I have been a Leica user for a long time thanks to my Dad's existing collection of bodies and lenses. I have always been charmed by the way Leitz/Leica name their lenses, instead of just simply by focal length and max.f/stop they add a family name to them. Thanks. This has been a much less stessfull forum to follow than LUG.

-- Steven Fong (steven@ima.org.sg), May 24, 2000

Answers

Though I hope somebody can post a more educated reponse than what I can offer here, I do know that the lenses are named somewhat according to maximum aperture, e.g. "Elmar/Elmarit/Elmax/Tele Elmar" being f/2.8 or slower; "Summicron" being f/2; "Summilux" being f/1.4; "Noctilux" being f/1. I don't know how they came up with the names except for a few like Hector being the name of a dog, lenses with "max" in them being named after the original lens designer Max Berek. I'd like to know where they got "Summicron" as that is my favorite lens.

-- Tony Rowlett (rowlett@alaska.net), May 24, 2000.

I just found http ://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/v03/msg04225.html which has much more information.

-- Tony Rowlett (rowlett@alaska.net), May 24, 2000.

Well, if you look at the prefix and suffix of "Summilux," "Summicron," and "Noctilux" you see a pattern. "Lux" means LIGHT (actually it is a term for the measurement of light, analogous to watt) and "Summi" means "peak" or "highest" (summi like from the word "summit") ergo "highest-light" or the most light. Noctilux therefor becomes self explanitory ("night-light"). But "summicron" may be more complex. "Summi" meaning "highest" so what does "icron" mean? I believe correctly done the name should be "Summimicron" as in the highest-light but smaller. But Summimicron sounds kinda stupid so they did away with the extra two letters. I believe that the feeling is still conveyed; smaller lighter but still being a fast lens..."Summicron." Does that make sense? Well this is a pet theory of mine, and hey it does not explain elmarit, and elmar, but I believe that if you look at the root words that constitute a word (in the case of elmar and elmarit, I have not) you may come closer to the truth. best regards, Larry Linn Cox (larrylinn

-- Larry Linn Cox (larrylinncox@yahoo.com), May 29, 2000.

The name for the original 50mm lens was Elmax, and was derived from the initials of Ernst Leitz and the first name of its designer, Max Berek. It was basically a Tessar design and was made up of 5 elements. It was later redigned as a 4 element lens, and the name was changed to Elmar.

Generally the names denote the design of the lens; the Elmars (and Elmarits) tend to have smaller maximum apertures and less elements than the Summicrons and Summiluxes.

Iain Bryson

-- Iain Bryson (i.bryson@compserv.gla.ac.uk), June 07, 2000.

Elmar has the triplet-type formula, Elmarit has the complex triplet- type formula(like Sonnar-type designed by Bertalone); Summars, Summitars, Summarons, Summarits, Summicrons, Summiluxes, Noctiluxes have the Gauss-type formula. Elmar-R 15mm (retrofocus) is exeption.

-- Victor Randin (www.ved@enran.com.ua), October 02, 2000.

"Summicron" means that the lens delivers the "summit" of performance in color correction, the "chro" part coming from "chroma," for color. "Summilux" means the summit of light transmission, for it was Leitz's fastest production lens at the time (There was a 75mm f:0.85 Summar, but it wasn't for us hobbyists). Naturally, when the F:1.2 and 1.0 lenses came out, surpassing the Summilux in speed, they turned to the word root "noct," from Nocturnal, for night. Lux is not only a unit a measurement for light, but also, I believe, the latin word for light, as in "Lux Aeterna" for "eternal light."

I read all this someplace, years ago. I've been waiting for years to get a chance to share it!

Regards,

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@juno.com), November 06, 2000.

"Elmar is actually a first name, in German. For example, Elmar Holenstein is a contemporary philosopher. I think it's a feminine name, but I'm not completely sure. What I think I remember is that the Elmar for which the lens is named was the wife of-- either Oskar Barnack, or Max Bereck, the lens designer. I'm not sure, and I don't want to mislead by trusting overly to memory.

"Hektor" (not that anybody asked), I read, was Max Berek's dog.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), August 31, 2001.

Here's a very late followup:

1.) It occurred to me that I used to have a neighbor lady named "Elma." It would appear that "Elma" is a feminine name, and "Elmar" is the masculine equivalent.

2.) A cross-check: searching the name on Google yielded a number of references to men named "Elmar."

Now, the only remaining question is, to what person does the name of the Elmar lens refer?

Bob Fleischman

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), October 30, 2002.

Elmar is indeed a german first name. as a name for lenses it evolved from Elmax - mad from Ernst-Leitz-MAX-berek. Dr. Max Berek was the designer of the triplet lens.

-- felix (felix@fuchssteiner.de), January 11, 2003.