VIOOH ?

[brianentz]

Simple question: Does anyone know what VIOOH stands for? How do you pronounce it? Or just spell it out every time?

 

[Cascadilla]

When orders were placed by telegram, Leica had a five letter code for every item. It may not describe the item in any way, but it did tell them what to send.

 

[brianentz]

Wow. What an interesting answer.

 

[38Deardorff]

Simple question: Does anyone know what VIOOH stands for? How do you pronounce it? Or just spell it out every time?

Typically you sound out the letters...rather than pronounce it as a word.

 

[Coldkennels]

@brianentz, if you head to the Leica Wiki and look on the right, you'll see a section entitled "LEITZ / LEICA CODE NAMES & SERIAL NUMBERS". It's far from a complete list, but there's still a lot to get your teeth into.

Rogliatti's books, Leica: the First 50/60/70 Years include a pretty comprehensive version of the list. It's mind-boggling. Looking at the Vs, the entry for VULVI reads "as VULPE but for VAMAX". (VULPE was apparently a focusing magnifier for enlargers).

Sometimes the codes make sense, especially the early ones (e.g. ELMAR = 50/3.5 Elmar, LTM; ELMAM = M-mount Elmar; ELANG = 90mm Elmar; EKURZ = 35mm Elmar. Kurz is German for short.). Usually they don't (why was the 28mm Hektor given the code HOOPY?). And every so often they are (presumably unintentionally) funny; a NOOKY is a close-focusing adapter for a 50mm Elmar, and a SOOKY is the same for a Summicron.

It's surprising how quickly you learn/remember the most common ones, though. It's far easier than the later switch to five-number codes (the IROOA lens hood became 12571, for instance; I only know that because I have one marked 12571 on my desk in front of me).

 

[raydm6]

Some cool eye candy and more explanation of the telegraph codes usage:

Miniature Masterpieces – Leica RASAL and ROSOL Frame Finders

A series of posts celebrating the early Leica camera accessory, ingenious and often beautiful small masterpieces of functional design. Ernst Leitz produced the first ‘system’ camera in …

opinionateddesigner.com

LEITZ TELEGRAPHIC CODES


Leica aficionados are familiar with the quirky, and sometimes unintentionally hilarious, codes that Ernst Leitz provided for everything that they sold, from cameras and binoculars to darkroom accessories and rolls of gummed paper. In fact this was quite common for manufacturers since the start of the telegraph. You generally paid by the word for a telegram so asking Leitz to send another 6 “Extra long arms for attaching the Leica to the upright of the Large Copying Device with nose for the auxiliary housing” would have cost a lot more than just asking for 6 more VEARMs. It also avoided any confusion between similar products. Generally made up of of five letters some of the codes were loosely based on German words for the item, such as the above example. One of the first lenses, the ‘Hektor’, was named after the lens designer’s*** dog, the code being HEKTORKUP (nine letters)! Some are amusing to English speakers such as NOOKY (close-up device for the Elmar lens), POOHY (red filter), or ACHOO (Leica III camera). The derivation of most, such as VOLIG, VOMIR, VOOAL, VOODZ, VOOWI (enlarging equipment parts), is a total mystery. Not foreseen by Leitz, for modern collectors these code words are a boon when searching on Ebay!

 

[Richard G]

I think most of us pronounce these, the 35, 50, 90 and 135 finders probably the most frequently used, SBLOO, SBOOI, SVGOO and SHOOC.

You can drop NOOKY into polite drawing room conversation.

VIOOH would surely be pronounced veeoo.

 

[Richard G]

A link to more from here. With a riff from me on meanings.

Leica LTM - Leitz sumptuous item name codes

I love everything to do with screw thread leicas, l adore the craftsmanship, the gadgets, but most of all l love the names items have such as SBLOO and so forth. I am sure this question may have been asked and answered before, how, what when and why did Leitz employ such codes to their items...

rangefinderforum.com

https://www.rangefinderforum.com/gallerysoft/member-photos/28906​

“I like the SHOOC finder very much (135). It sounds good. SVGOO is harder to pronounce and it suggests a Swedish overtone (90mm finder). SBOOI seems Asian and is indispensable on an LTM with a 50. The SBKOO sounds Japanese and suicidal which it isn’t as it’s a pretty good 21 finder. The SLOOZ, for the 28, sounds more louche...”

 

[Richard G]

In Curb Your Enthusiasm Larry and his brother join their father at the cemetery to inspect the new headstone for their mother’s grave. Astonished, Larry points out there is a mistake, the engraving describing their mother having past, instead of passed. The widower dismisses Larry’s kvetching on this, pointing out that these masons charge for each character engraved and the meaning is clear, and she wouldn’t have minded….

 

[KoNickon]

I think most of us pronounce these, the 35, 50, 90 and 135 finders probably the most frequently used, SBLOO, SBOOI, SVGOO and SHOOC.

You can drop NOOKY into polite drawing room conversation.

VIOOH would surely be pronounced veeoo.

Not sure that's true of the IMARECT finder.

 

[WoodallP]

And how exactly do you pronounce the FCKOO single frame holder. A shop I know had one but I was scared of being punched in the face if I asked for it.

 

[38Deardorff]

Often referred to as "the big one" "the square one" "the 50mm finder" "the 21mm finder"....
& don't forget the even harder to find leather case.....

 

[Richard G]

Often referred to as "the big one" "the square one" "the 50mm finder" "the 21mm finder"....
& don't forget the even harder to find leather case.....

As my four year old son said to me in 2001, "Dad, this is not the twentieth century." (I almost challenged him on this preposterous claim...)