Where Do Lenses Get Their Names?

[Spleenrippa]

The names never cease to astound me. Lens talk sounds crazier than listening to a conversation about exotic Italian cars 😛
I've done a couple quick lens history searches, and it doesn't seem to be a "named after designer" thing, so exactly where do all those Noktons, Skopars, Sonnars, Summitars, Biogons, etc get their crazy names?
Just curious 😱

 

[ZeissFan]

This explains some of the history behind the Zeiss lens names.

Other lens makers, German and Japanese, tended to use similar sounding names, ending their lens names in "-ar," "-or," "-on," etc. Not exactly creative, but they were "borrowing" the lens designs so creativity wasn't exactly their concern.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Here's a few:

'Summar', 'Summicron', 'Summilux' same root as 'summit'

'Lux' root = 'light'

'Noct/Nokt" root = 'night'

'Elmax/Elmar' = 'EL (Ernst Leitz) + Max Berek (designer)'

Cheers,

R.

 

[xayraa33]

"Where Do Lenses Get Their Names?'

from the lens fairy of course

 

[Roger Hicks]

Come to think of it, Spleenrippa, where do people on RFF get their names?

Tashi delek,

R.

 

[xayraa33]

Come to think of it, Spleenrippa, where do people on RFF get their names?

Tashi delek,

R.

I got mine from a Vietnamese neighbour.

 

[Spider67]

As much as I know it started with the Tessar, lenses built the same way got the "ar" as ending. This does not fit for the Novar.
....Voigtländers choice of naming lenses "Skopar" makes Italians chuckle as "scopare" describes the activity that needs o persons to create a new one....(In contrast o Suzuki's Pajero....)
@Xayraa: ROFL!!!!
My RFF- Name? My real name translated just like Spyderman

 

[Spleenrippa]

Come to think of it, Spleenrippa, where do people on RFF get their names?

Tashi delek,

R.

Haha, touche!
SpleenRippa was created in junior high. I've been using the same handle since the mid-late nineties 😛
Thanks for the explanation using word roots!

 

[Spleenrippa]

Roger's answer sounded good. The only way to know for sure is to name your lens yourself. You could call one Loretta, another Bubba...

What would a good name for a Jupiter 8 be? My Betta took Igor already 😛

 

[Platon]

Leitz/Leica "Hektor" lens serie = Max Bereks dog "Hektor"

 

[Seele]

Roger,

Summar, Summitar, Summicron, Summilux etc all came from the latin "summa", meaning "all that is known", thus "state of the art".

Spider67,

It started with the Protar, before that Zeiss used the descriptive name "Anastigmat" but then registered the trade mark Protar to apply to them, thus started this lens naming business.

There's a certain "spin" in the Zeiss site, however. "Sonnar" was at first a Contessa-Nettel name and was re-used for the Bertele-designed series of lenses for the Contax.

 

[amateriat]

Leitz/Leica "Hektor" lens serie = Max Bereks dog "Hektor"

Pejoratively speaking, that wasn't a great move...


- Barrett

 

[Platon]

OK! Max Bereks cat sounds better! But was'nt the Hektor lenses a little bit of a dog?

 

[hans voralberg]

I got mine from a Vietnamese neighbour.

What's your name exactly? I'm curious.

 

[xayraa33]

What's your name exactly? I'm curious.

She was a Buddhist and it was a statement about something happening at the 33rd chakra said in an excited way.

xay ra a 33

 

[Lauffray]

I know Sonnar comes from the German Sonne, which means sun 🙂

 

[hans voralberg]

She was a Buddhist and it was a statement about something happening at the 33rd chakra said in an excited way.

xay ra a 33

Your name have 33 in it? Nice.

Back on topic, I know the Summa origin of Leitz lens, but what about the Cron bit? Lux is light, what's cron?

 

[uhligfd]

Hijacking this threat:

Where do cars get their names?

Where do stars (in the sky, I mean) get their names?

Newly discovered chemical elements, compounds, plants, fauna, ... elementary particles in physics?

Trivia "information" to the foreground, everyone!

 

[Rogrund]

but what about the Cron bit? Lux is light, what's cron?

I believe it's from Kronglas (crown-glass). There are prototypes engraved Summikron.

 

[Platon]

Cron means chroma wich means color.