Leica 135mm f/4.5 Hektor

[Jim Moore]

Another one of my eBay purchases arrived today, a Leica 135mm f/4.5 Hektor.

I think that I got a good price on it. $58.40 including shipping. Seems a little lower than they usually sell for.

A Leica lens in that price range seems kind'a cheap. Is this lens not on par with other Laic lenses? Or are they so cheap because they are "slow" (f/4.5).

Thanks,

Jim

 

[Lee Shively]

I bought one of these at a garage sale a year or so ago. It's not in real good condition. It has a lot of scratches, fungus and internal flaking paint. Oddly enough, the photos I made in testing it were pretty sharp. I think I paid $30 for it and a cracked Bakelite case. According to the s/n, it was made in 1947 so it's a year older than I am. I think the lenses are generally considered pretty good but there were a lot of them made for a lot of years so there's not much collector interest in them. That keeps them cheap.

 

[titrisol]

I have a few Leica magazines from 1949-1951 and they only write praises for the 135 Hektor.
Also they ask people to be patient, at the time each Hektor took 2-4 months between ordering and delivery due to high demand,

 

[Huw]

A trifle soft wide open, perfect for portraits, sharp at f8, gets diffraction limited below that. I have a 135/4 Elmar sharper wide open but the same f8 and above, good buy, use it.

 

[Wigwam Jones]

I have a somewhat less-than-perfect Hektor as well, and find it to be a pretty good performer overall.

I seem to like third-party Leica screw-mount lenses for my Bessa R. My favorites are the A. Schacht Travenars, but I also have most of the Canons and some others, such as Kyoei, Steinheil, and of course one genuine Leica lens, the Hektor.

I put together a small comparison webpage and force my wife to be my victim if you'd like to see some comparisons. I haven't updated it in awhile, but you'll get the idea.

By the way, I'm new here. Usually hang out at RangeFinderForum.com, but this place looks nice too, so I thought I'd stop by.

Best,

Wiggy

http://www.growlery.com/bessa_lens_tests/

 

[Mark Layne]

135 Hektor

Wigwam
You forget les Angenieux

 

[Wigwam Jones]

Wigwam
You forget les Angenieux

Mark,

No, I would never forget Angenieux, or even Novoflex or Kilar. There are also Cooke and Wollensack if one is to be a completist. But the ones I mentioned all have one common quality - they are inexpensive today.

Best Regards,

Wiggy

 

[gene]

Hektor 135

Great Lens, softer and romantic at f4.5. Sharp at f8. Much better then any Nikon in terms of imaging. The lens is very characteristic of Leica. Better then the older Elmar 90mm. Actually one of the best and highly neglected. If it was $400 or more then people would have made legend out of it. Oh about Angenieux ? This one is a lesser lens and definetely not on par with Leica. Many of them in Moving Film. Grey image, Ok but not great.