Looking for a Dictionary

[RogerinVegas]

Well, not really a dictionary, but was looking through the lenses on Cameraquest, and started to wonder what some of the names meant, I have always seen them, but never really knew what they mean. I did a search, and still could not find any information, I hope this does not seem like a stupid question, but what are the names of the lenses supposed to represent?

Is it the cut / angle of the glass?
thickness, shape, Blades, etc.. I can not figure it out, and I will live just fine not truly knowing but if I knew it would make life more interesting.

what does it mean when the terms to describe a lense are:
Ultron
Aspherical
APO
Nokton
Lanthar
Heliar / Ultra Heliar / Color Heliar
Ultron
Skopar

And there are many more ....

Hopefully someone on the forum knows the "Technical" side of these terms, and can share the data.

Thanks,
Roger

 

[Honu-Hugger]

I'll help with a few and hope that Brian or another knowledgeable member will come to my rescue! Most lenses use sperical elements in which the curvature is a constant arc and easily manufactured. Asperical elements have a variable arc and until recently were polished by hand (very expensive, Nikkor NOCT for instance). APO stands for apochromatic and means that the lens is corrected for each primary color (light waves of different colors are different lengths). Some lens names mean nothing other than it is a name that the manufacturer may have selected long ago -- often drawing from Greek or Latin influence.

 

[Doug]

what does it mean when the terms to describe a lense are:
Ultron
Aspherical
APO
Nokton
Lanthar
Heliar / Ultra Heliar / Color Heliar
Ultron
Skopar

And there are many more ....

Just to add to what Doug said, most of these are tradenames, or variations of tradenames used for many decades by the particular manufacturer. Over time, the names have come to be associated by customers with certain historical characteristics.

Some of the names are suggestive of certain technical details... Planar suggests flat, perhaps the ability to focus well corner-to-corner on a flat surface. Or perhaps low-distortion, rectilinear. Lanthar derives from use of the rare-earth element Lanthanum in the glass mix. Heliar makes me think of helios, the word for the sun, the source of light, which is itself used as a lens name by the Russians.

Nocton and Noctilux both suggest night and darkness, so the names are used for ultra-fast lenses in the lineup. "-micron" as in Summicron sounds like high precision, resolving tiny details. "-lux" as in Summilux sounds luxurious and expensive, and the Summi- part suggests the hights (of quality?), as in summit.

While Summicron is the name Leica uses for its lenses of f/2 aperture, Ultron is used similarly by Voitlander for lenses in that speed class... deriving from the word or prefix ultra, suggesting qualities beyond/above the competition. Leica uses Summilux for its f/1.4 lenses, and Elmarit for f/2.8. Voigtlander Skopar lenses are similarly slower than the Ultrons.

As you say, there are many many names, and these do have value after familiarization in suggesting the nature and use of the named lenses. Schneider had a large number of names too... Angulons and Super-Angulons were the wide-angle lenses, while Symmars are wide-field, and Xenars, Xenons, and Xenotars are normal lenses. Their Componons and Componars are enlarging lenses. Some of these name variations relate to the number of elements of the lens too, and their price points.

Exceptions and inconsistencies abound, and make this an interesting study in trivia!

 

[RogerinVegas]

Thanks for the replies, very intereting stuff to know.

Roger

 

[Cloudy]

Please try this, a real photography dictionary:
http://www.photonotes.org/

 

[Honu-Hugger]

That is a great source of information, thank you for passing it on. This was interesting: "The first aspherical lens was designed in 1901 by M. Von Rohr of Carl Zeiss."