The original post only concerned Summitar, Summicron, and Summaron. I
didn't want to get into the high speed names. The Teutonic Germans have a
warped sense of marketing humor It's as if they think each lens needs a
personality.
As you might notice, only the Germans have this disease. I don't remember
any Japanese manufacturers naming their lenses different. Currently I know
that Leica, Zeiss, Voigtlander, and Schnieder have names for their lenses
(even though V lenses are made by Cosina, the names are old German
monikers.) Are there others?
Skip
At 1/18/00 06:23 PM -0800, you wrote:
My 50mm / f1.5 Summarit .......complete with two original rectangular
metal hoods ....... feels left out of the parade of names ...:-((
jh
For Leica lenses, here's the scoop on the names and what lenses they
represent.
50/2 Summitar: 1939-53, Screw Mount (LTM) only, Collapsable only. Large
front element to reduce vignetting.
50/2 Summicron 1953-present, LTM and M-mount, Collapsable and Rigid
mounts. First Leitz lens to use high-refractive lanthanum glass elements
for superior color correction. Several version since then. Bellweather
lens for 50mm quality.
35/3.5 Summaron: 1949-58: LTM and M mounts
35/2.8 Summaron: 1958-6?: LTM and M mounts, used HR lanthanum glass,
superceded rapidly by 35/2 Summicron, rare lens, especially in LTM.
35/2 Summicron: 1958-Present: LTM and M mounts, used HR lanthanum glass,
at least 4 optical variations, including aspherical surfaces introduced
in 1997 (I think).
So in general, Summicron is the best formulation. Leitz used to have
different names depending on the optical formula, but now they just use
the names to represent the aperture, so F/1.4 is Summilux, F/2 is
Summicron, F2.8 is Elmarit, etc. with slight variations like the short
90/2.8 and 90/4 were Tele-Elmarits.
Skip
-----------------------------------------------
Skip Williams
Westfield, NJ
skipwilliams@xxxxxxxxx
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