Hektor 5cm 2.5

[Erik van Straten]

This reminds me of the British photographer James Ravilious.

Thank you, Gabor, I admire Ravilious!

Erik.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

It's with Malcolm Taylor in the UK.

 

[Rayt]

Erik, beautiful tones, everything I love about b/w photography!

 

[Erik van Straten]

Thank you, Rayt.

Leica II, Hektor 50mm f/2.5, Tmax400.

Erik.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

One from the fomapan 100 test roll, aperture limited to f/4.5 (any smaller would bring out the fuzziness of the scratched up center on the front element)

 

[Rayt]

Erik, these are lovely tones. Did you use any filters on the Hektor, yellow or otherwise? Which one will fit on an Hektor?

 

[Erik van Straten]

Thank you, Raid and Rayt.

Rayt, I never use a filter. I do the scanning myself. I adapt the histogram of the picture with the software of the scanner (Epson).

The filter size of the Hektor I don't know. It is quite a lot bigger than the filter size of the Elmar, but smaller than that of the Summar.

Erik.

 

[PAN F]

Hello,
Just as the 5cm f3.5 Elmar had a series of 19mm Leitz screw filters produced to fit the lens allowing the aperture to be changed without removing the filter, Leitz also produced 22mm screw filters of the same type to fit the 5cm f2.5 Hektor but these are quite rare.

 

[Erik van Straten]

Thank you, Pan F, I tried to find the filter size in the reference-books, but to no avail.

Rick, your shot looks very promising. I hope the lens comes out really fine.

Leica II, Hektor 50mm f/2.5, Tmax400.

Erik.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

The whole process should cause a little focus shift, but nothing radical.
I felt the lens was rare enough to have it restored properly.

On the R-D1 it behaved quite well too when used at a suitably large aperture.

 

[Erik van Straten]

Leica II, Hektor 50mm f/2.5, Tmax400.

Erik.

 

[Davidhel]

A great shot Erik!

 

[mdarnton]

Erik, the tonality of your work is beautiful. How much of that is the lens, and how much your technique, do you think? Already, you got me to order 100' of TMax-400, a film I rejected a couple of decades ago, and the first roll is almost through.

I hope you say it's technique--I don't need yet another 50mm lens.

 

[mdarnton]

OK, never mind. Been to Flickr. Everything Erik does has the same beauty. Maybe the lens helps, but it's not the lens.

 

[Erik van Straten]

Thank you, David and mdarnton. A good scanner - and adaptation of the histogram - is important too.

Erik.

 

[David Murphy]

Some Hektors 50mm f/2.5 have a "5cm" and others a "50mm" engraving. The Leica I model A with a Hektor instead of an Elmar has the "50mm" engraving. These Leicas are very rare and very expensive. Later the lens was made in screwmount until it was superseded by the Summar 50mm f/2.
The Hektors 50mm are relatively rare: about 10.000 pcs were made in the years 1930 - 1933.

Optically they are very interesting. They have six elements in three groups. Six surfaces are cemented. This makes the lens quite contrasty. It is a triplet, but rather complicated.
After the war some of them were coated, but so far I've never seen one.

Erik.

A lens with six elements cannot be a triplet. Wonderful shots regardless.

 

[Erik van Straten]

A lens with six elements cannot be a triplet.

Why not? The first and second, the third and fourth and the fifth and sixth are glued together.

Look it up. A Hektor is a triplet. 100% sure.

Erik.

 

[Erik van Straten]

Leica II, Hektor 50mm f/2.5, Tmax400.

Erik.

 

[David Murphy]

Erik the Hektor diagram, as you have displayed it, has six lens elements in three cemented pairs - or "groups" if you prefer that terminology. It is a triplet composed of doublets so-to-speak. My suspicion is that the doublets are probably each achromats. An achromat is a lens doublet (cemented or air spaced) that acts like a single lens element with very little chromatic aberration.

Small cemented achromats are more economical to manufacture than air spaced achromats, which could have been a theoretically superior design, but very challenging technologically for 1930. My suspicion is that the designer of the Hektor may have been trying to extend the concept of a Cook Triplet (a true triplet - also called an anastigmat). The Cook Triplet was a moderately sophisticated lens design by the standards of the early 20'th century.

Anyway, all the techno babble aside, the Hektor is really a beautiful piece of retro technology which I was hardly aware of it till Raid instigated this thread. Now I want one too!

 

[Erik van Straten]

The Hektor was the masterpiece of Max Berek, the chief optical designer at Leitz. He named his creation after his dog.

There were also Hektors of 28mm, 73mm and 135mm. The optical lay-out of the 73mm is very much like the 50mm. It had the very high speed of f/1.9.

Erik.