a 28mm f/6.3 Hektor wide angle lens
Toronto. Around 1931, Leitz decided to make their tiny Leica an interchangeable lens camera and produced the first few new focal length lenses. Within a year, the Leica’s film to lens mount distance was standardized and thereafter any screw mount lens could fit any screw mount camera (or M-series with an adaptor).
The lens aperture was often designated by the name of the lens (Elmar, Summar, Summitar, etc.). The Hektor seemed to be an odd ball: The 73mm Hektor was f/1.9; the 135mm Hektor was f/4.5 and the 28mm lens was f/6.3.
The f/6.3 wide angle Hektor, shown at left, came out in 1935 and was offered for two decades. It was only made in a screw mount version. The tiny lens was the first Leica lens of 28mm focal length and competed with the then already available Zeiss 28mm f/8 Tessar lens for the Contax. At the time, a faster lens design would have compromised either resolution or angle of view, vignetting the edges of the tiny 1 x 1.5 inch negative.
According to Dr Wright in his Checklist manuscript, The little lens was optically better and coupled to the Leica rangefinder. And the name? Rumour has it that lens designer Max Berek named the Hektor lenses after his dog!
