Re: [Leica] Mystery Hektor 1:4/8.5 cm

[John Collier <jbcollier@shaw.ca>]

As there was a 1.5/85 Summarex (some early ones marked 1.5/90) may be 
the catalogue writers made a mistake.

John Collier

On Tuesday, January 21, 2003, at 03:28 PM, Henrik Williams wrote:

> Mystery Hektor 1:4/8.5 cm
>
> Have you ever heard of this Leica lens? I had not until I happened to
> peruse a 1953 photo store catalogue from Wibergs fotografiska AB in
> Stockholm, Sweden. Under the ad for the Leica IIIf there is a select 
> list
> of lenses to go with it, and as # 7 on this list: "Hektor 1:4/8,5 cm
> ............................ 464:-"! The last part refers to the price 
> in
> Swedish currency, "kronor" (crowns), the exchange rate at the time of 
> which
> I do not know, but a guess would be 5 kronor to the dollar.
>
> What on earth is this? I see only two alternatives:
>
> 1. The editor was confused and compiled a ghost lense from various
> misunderstood information. The list does include the "Leitx Summarit
> 1:1,5/5 cm" and the "Summikrom 1:2/5 cm", but on the other hand no 
> really
> glaring mistakes, nor any incredible information in the rest of the
> catalogue. And, where does the price of the lens come from?
>
> 2. There is some basis in real life for this information. At the very 
> end
> of the list, as item # 10, appears the already mentioned "Summikrom 
> 1:2/5
> cm ............................. 586:-". This is the classic Summicron,
> introduced this very year. Could the "Hektor 1:4/8,5 cm" be another 
> lense,
> about to be introduced? The data of the lense are highly suspicious: 
> What
> would be the need for a lense so close in specification to the Elmar 
> 1:4/9
> cm? This latter lens is sold for 290 kronor. However, when the
> collapsible(!) Elmar 1:4/9 cm was sold later its price was 465 kronor
> (according to another, 1956 catalogue), or remarkably close to the 
> price of
> this 1953 mystery lens. Leitz did indeed sometime advertize lenses that
> were never actually produced for sale, for example the pre-war 
> "snap-shot"
> Elmar 1:4.5/3.5 cm. The collapsible Elmar 1:4/9 cm was introduced in 
> 1954,
> but only in a bayonet mount. Could there have been plans to sell this 
> lens
> with a different specification and (also?) in a screw (lens thread) 
> mount?
> I certainly do not know. Leitz did experiment with this lens even 
> before
> the war, but appearantly always under the designation Elmar 9 cm (e.g.
> James L. Lager. Leica: An Illustrated History. Volume II - Lenses p. 
> 131)
> which certainly speaks against my quess.

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