Lens names: How the heck do they come up with these things?

mshchem · Dec 18, 2018

NB23 said:
Viagron

Cialisor

Erecton

All sounds good to me

Theo Sulphate · Dec 18, 2018

Meyer-Optik Görlitz made a 135/2.8 Orestor that I've been trying to find in Exakta mount at swap meets. It's a beauty:

http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/exakta/lenses.html

(scroll down to the telephoto lenses)

I have no idea what Orestor means.

Dan Fromm · Dec 19, 2018

Fangulon -- bitingly sharp.

scheimfluger_77 · Dec 19, 2018

Adderalogon—super fast.

Alan Johnson · Dec 19, 2018

AgX said:
Lens names is a wide and often puzzling field.

One common lens which name I always wondered about, and so far not dared to ask, is the Industar.

It sure was not the first mass produced soviet camera-lens and thus hardly could have been taken as praisal for the industry. Or was it ??

It seems to have been named as part of a 5 year plan:
https://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-38628.html

removed account4 · Dec 19, 2018

i have been using a movantica f2
i stopped using it cause all my exposures
kept coming out kind of $h¡††Y ...

AgX · Dec 19, 2018

Alan Johnson said:
It seems to have been named as part of a 5 year plan:
https://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-38628.html

Interesting, but so far I could not find anything other on that plan than that very thread... But I shall try to find out more. But that plan having the same ending as the Tessar-type suffix, would be a strange coincidence.

markjwyatt · Dec 19, 2018

AgX said:
Well, I looked through hundreds of lens names. You can divide them into names hinting via Greek or Latin at their characteristics, referring to the manufacturer or being pure fantasy-names.

My all-time-favourite could have become
the “SCHNELLARBEITER” lens.

I don’t think the name is related to the aperture.

(However there is quite a chance that its name relates to the lens designer E. Arbeit.)

Schnellarbeiter = schnell arbeiter = fast worker (literal German), no? I suspect you know that AgX.

Sonnar= Sonn(-e) + ar
sonne =sun (literal German)
-ar -> personalizes (usually) a verb

so Sonnar = maybe sun catcher or light catcher, light painter , or something?

Arklatexian · Dec 19, 2018

Jens Hallfeldt said:
Hi Ole,

yes, "A-" means not (or without) here.
"Planat" comes from "planaein" , greek for to wander, here spherical aberrations are meant.
So Aplanat is a lens without / with reduced spherical aberrations.
Btw, the word "planet" comes from "planaein" , too...

The latin word "planus" means flat. On microscope optics a common suffix like in "Plan-Apochromat".

Best
Jens

I wonder if my idea that some manufacturers, with earlier (and maybe some current) lenses ended the lens name with a reference to what the lens formula was. i.e. -AR. Examples: Zeiss-Tessar, Elmar-E. Leitz Tessar, Ektar-Eastman Kodak Tessar, Xenar- Schneider Tessar. Made sense to me........Regards!

AgX · Dec 19, 2018

markjwyatt said:
Schnellarbeiter = schnell arbeiter = fast worker (literal German), no? I suspect you know that AgX.

Yes, indeed.
When I first read that name I thought of a joke designation. But it turned out to be the original name...
Those were the times when lenses where still working for us.

JensH · Dec 19, 2018

Arklatexian said:
I wonder if my idea that some manufacturers, with earlier (and maybe some current) lenses ended the lens name with a reference to what the lens formula was. i.e. -AR. Examples: Zeiss-Tessar, Elmar-E. Leitz Tessar, Ektar-Eastman Kodak Tessar, Xenar- Schneider Tessar. Made sense to me........Regards!

Yes, a Tessar is made of four (greek: "tessares") elements (in three groups).
And Xenar/Xenon have "xenos" meaning strange or different in their name.

Best
Jens

Sirius Glass · Dec 19, 2018

If we still had the auto search you would see that this has been covered in details with a collection of many references and explanations.

dmr · Dec 19, 2018

For a long time I wondered what significance the name Takumar had. They say (the ubiquitous "they") that one member of the founding Asahi family was named Takuma.

RalphLambrecht · Dec 20, 2018

Removed Account said:
Something that has baffled me ever since becoming involved with photography is the thinking behing naming lenses. I've read that Tessar comes from a Greek word which I do not know, but that has something to do with its four element design. Where do the names like Summicron, Summilux, Rodagon, Angulon, Raptar, Componon, Xenon, Claron. Noctilux I think I get, f/1 so it's good at night and the word nocturnal makes me think that Nocti- might be Latin, but where does the -lux come from? Anyways, just curious about all this! Thanks again,

- Justin

summilux sound like a sum of lux or lots of light to me.

AgX · Dec 20, 2018

Yes, obviously the Summilux needs a great lot of light, whereas as the Noctilux can cope with the night...

dmr · Dec 20, 2018

I've read that Tessar comes from a Greek word which I do not know

For some reason, I always associate Tessar with the given name Tess or Tessa (as in the informal variant of Theresa/Teresa/Terese). I associate Planar with plane, as in flat. Likewise the various Summi/Summa lenses as implying the ultimate, the pinnacle, the best.

Lens names: How the heck do they come up with these things?

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