Why the names Sumicrons and Elmarits

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.

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.

I just found

<a

href="http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/v03/msg04225.html">http

://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/v03/msg04225.html</a> which has

much more information.

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

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.

 

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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.

 

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Iain Bryson

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.

"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."

 

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I read all this someplace, years ago. I've been waiting for years to

get a chance to share it!

 

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Regards,

"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.

 

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