Hektor L 28mm F6.3
Leica’s early 28mm wide-angle lens
A review and Photo example of the HEKTOR 28mm F6.3.
Table of contents
Gallery
- Sample photo taken with the LEICA M6(Mishima-taisha Shrine, Shizuoka, Japan) and LEICA M9.
Review
1．Overview
The Hektor 28mm is a wide-angle lens manufactured from 1935 to 1950. 11,255 units were made over 15 years.
The mount is a screw (L39) mount, and an L/M adapter is required to use it with an M-mount camera.
The lens is made of 5 elements in 3 groups, and is a derivative of a triplet lens, with the front and rear lenses of the 3 groups being glued together.
34mm screw-in filters and A36 filter covers can be used.
The lens exterior is available in chrome and nickel versions, and since more chrome versions were manufactured than nickel versions, it is expensive on the used market.
2．Usage
The Hector 28mm is a small lens, so its operability is not good. The aperture ring is on the front of the lens, so it is difficult to turn if you attach a hood or filter. However, since it is dark at F6.3, there will be few situations where you need to narrow it down from the maximum aperture.
The focus lever has a large rotation angle of about 180 degrees. In the film era, if you narrowed it down to F8 and shot with pan focus, there would be few opportunities to operate the focus lever, but in the digital era, you will not be able to focus at the desired position unless you set the focus position precisely, so there will be more opportunities to touch the focus ring. Considering that a large rotation angle makes it easier to fine-tune, I feel that 180 degrees is also an advantage.
As shown in the example, it is more interesting to use it with a film camera by cutting down the exposure and reducing the amount of exposure.
The lens is 25mm thick, so its compactness is attractive, but the maximum aperture is dark, so I only feel like using it outdoors during the day with a film camera.
With digital cameras in the 2020s, high ISO can be used regularly, so it is a lens that can be used anywhere. There is almost no peripheral light falloff, but the flaws of an old lens, such as softness in depiction at the edges, become apparent.
Due to the F-stop, dust on the sensor is noticeable, so care should be taken in this regard.
Because these are old lenses, many of them are cloudy due to balsam separation at the joint between the front and rear elements.
3．Add Info.
From the 1990s to the early 2000s, this lens had a dark maximum aperture and was unpopular, so it could be purchased quite cheaply, but in the 2020s, the price of this lens has risen due to the aforementioned high ISO compatibility of digital cameras and the soaring prices of old lenses. Whether the high price is worth it in terms of image quality and other factors is up to the owner, but its compactness is an appeal that modern lenses do not have.
Specification
| Item | HEKTOR | SUMMARON | ELMARIT |
| focal length(mm) | 28 | 28 | 28 |
| Maximum aperture | 6.3 | 5.6 | 2.8 |
| Minimum aperture | 25 | 22 | 22 |
| Lens configuration | 3 groups in 5 elements | 4 groups in 6 elements | 6 groups in 9 elements |
| Leaf blade | 6 | 8 | 8 |
| Minimum distance(m) | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.7 |
| Lens length(mm) | – | 18 | 42 |
| Lens max diameter(mm) | 49 | 49 | 52.5 |
| Filter diameter(mm) | 34 A36 | 34 A36 | 48 Series 7 |
| Weight(g) | 110 | 150 | 242 |
| Production number | 11,255 | 9,169 | 3,200 |
| Release date | Year 1935-1950 | 1954-1971 | 1964-1966 |
Reference links
- Hektor f= 2.8 cm 1:6.3@Leica wiki(English)
- LEICA Summaron-M 28mm Official page
- Summaron 28mm f5.6 description page by LEICA Wiki
- ELMARIT-M 2.8/28 (first generation) explanation page by LEICA Wiki
Update history
- 2024.12.26
- 2024.03.01:Update article
- 2022.05.26:First draft
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