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The name Summicron is used by Leica to designate
The name Summicron is used by Leica to designate camera
A camera is an Optics, optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), ...
lenses
A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements''), ...
that have a maximum aperture
In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane.
An opt ...
of f/2 after 1953 and to present day.
History
The name Summicron is derived from ''summus'', latin word for maximum and ''kronos'', the ancientGreek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
word for time. In the 1950s Leica bought Crown glass from Chance Brothers
Chance Brothers and Company was a glassworks originally based in Spon Lane, Smethwick, West Midlands (formerly in Staffordshire), in England. It was a leading glass manufacturer and a pioneer of British glassmaking technology.
The Chance fami ...
, an English company and used it to make the lenses.
Leica designed a number of f/2 lenses before the Summicron, such as the Summar and Summitar. New coating technologies available after World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
allowed for the creation of the Summicron lens. The first Summicron was an evolved Summitar collapsible 50mm with Lanthanum
Lanthanum is a chemical element with the symbol La and atomic number 57. It is a soft, ductile, silvery-white metal that tarnishes slowly when exposed to air. It is the eponym of the lanthanide series, a group of 15 similar elements between lantha ...
glass, and was launched in 1953. Generations before approximately 1960 were produced in M39 mount ("screw mount"), then made available in M-mount (Latch-on A42), R-mount, and C-mount.
Description
The Summicron lenses have a maximumf-number
In optics, the f-number of an optical system such as a camera lens is the ratio of the system's focal length to the diameter of the entrance pupil ("clear aperture").Smith, Warren ''Modern Optical Engineering'', 4th Ed., 2007 McGraw-Hill ...
of f/2.
Market position
Faster Leica lenses are offered with the trade namesNoctilux
The name Noctilux is used by Leica to designate their camera lenses with the widest maximum aperture. Lenses with that name have been in production since 1966. So far all Noctilux lenses have been made for the Leica M mount.
History
The name N ...
(or Nocticron) and Summilux. Summarit, Elmarit, and Elmar lenses are slower.
List of Summicron lenses
;For theM39 lens mount
The M39 lens mount is a screw thread mounting system for attaching lenses to 35 mm cameras, primarily rangefinder (RF) Leicas. It is also the most common mount for Photographic enlarger lenses.
True Leica Thread-Mount (LTM) is 39 mm in ...
:
* Summicron 50 mm collapsible (1953)
* Summicron 50 mm f/2 rigid (1999)
;For the Leica M mount
The Leica M mount is a camera lens mount introduced in 1954 with the Leica M3, and a range of lenses. It has been used on all the Leica M-series cameras and certain accessories (e.g. Visoflex reflex viewing attachment) up to the current film L ...
:
* Summicron-M 28 mm ASPH.
* Summicron-M 35 mm
* Summicron-M 35 mm ASPH.
* Apo-Summicron-M 35 mm ASPH.
* Summicron-C 40 mm
* Summicron-M 50 mm
* Apo-Summicron-M 50 mm ASPH.
* Apo-Summicron-M 75 mm ASPH.
* Apo-Summicron-M 90 mm ASPH.
;For the Leica R mount:
* Leica 35 mm Summicron-R 1st version – 1970
* Leica 35 mm Summicron-R 2nd version – 1976
* Leica 50 mm Summicron-R 1st version – 1964
* Leica 50 mm Summicron-R 2nd version – 1977 (built-in lens hood, 3-cam and R-cam only version)
* Leica 90 mm Summicron-R 1st version – 1969
* Leica 90 mm Summicron-R 2nd version –
* Leica 90 mm APO-Summicron-R ASPH – 2002
* Leica 180 mm APO-Summicron-R
;For the Leica S mount:
* Summicron-S 1:2/100 mm ASPH.
;For the Leica L Mount:
* APO-Summicron-SL 1:2 / 21 ASPH. (According to the Leica roadmap for 2020)
* APO-Summicron-SL 1:2 / 24 ASPH. (According to the Leica roadmap for 2020)
* APO-Summicron-SL 1:2 / 28 ASPH. (According to the Leica roadmap for 2020)
* APO-Summicron-SL 1:2 / 35 ASPH.
* APO-Summicron-SL 1:2 / 50 ASPH.
* APO-Summicron-SL 1:2 / 75 ASPH.
* APO-Summicron-SL 1:2 / 90 ASPH.
;For the Leica L Mount Cine lens:
* 15 mm T/2.0
* 18 mm T/2.0
* 21 mm T/2.0
* 25 mm T/2.0
* 29 mm T/2.0
* 35 mm T/2.0
* 40 mm T/2.0
* 50 mm T/2.0
* 75 mm T/2.0
* 90 mm T/2.0
* 100 mm T/2.0
* 135 mm T/2.0
References
{{Leica Camera Leica lenses Photographic lenses