LEITZ HEKTOR 12.5cm F2.5
Large aperture lens derived from projectors
A review and photo examples of the Leica Hektor 12.5cm F2.5.
Table of contents
Gallery
- The sample photos were taken with the LEICA S typ007
- The sample photos were taken with a LEICA M9 + VISOFLEX-3
Review
1．Lens overview
The Hektor 12.5cm is a Visoflex L39 mount lens released by Leitz in 1949.
The lens is made up of 3 groups and 4 elements, with 20 aperture blades, and the aperture ring has a click every 1 stop, which makes for a satisfying clicking sound. The entire lens shows the luxurious lens construction of the old days.
The lens is made up of 3 groups and 4 elements, but I looked into whether the rear group is glued together like the Elmar (Tessar type) or the middle lens is glued together like the Hektor 13.5cm and Thambar 9cm, and found a page on an Italian website introducing the Hektor 12.5cm, which suggests the latter.
According to the above site, the actual focal length of the Hektor 12.5cm is 119.5 mm, which is within the tolerance of plus or minus 5% permitted by some standards (as of 2024, there are no official standards that specify the focal length error, and it may be confused with other standard information). While I was looking for the lens configuration of the Hektor 12.5cm on the Internet, I saw several descriptions that a small number of Hektor 12cm was circulated before the 12.5cm version was sold, but in the end I came to think that it was consistently the same lens as the original Leitz projection lens, the Hektor 120mm f/2.5.
As with this lens, it is quite difficult to obtain accurate information on old lenses.
Hektor variations include 300mm, 120mm, 85mm, etc., and all of them seem to have a glued-together center lens. Some sites do not provide the source of information, so I looked for a site that disassembled the lens to verify the authenticity of the lens configuration, but I could not find one.
The Hektor 12.5cm is an old lens, but the exterior is beautiful silver, and I have not seen many hard-used ones on the second-hand market, and in the early 2020s, I was able to get one in good condition at a low price with a little searching.
There are few complete items such as hoods and caps, and the fewer accessories, the cheaper they are sold. If you search for accessories individually, it can be quite expensive, so if you are aiming for a complete condition, it may be easier to buy one that is complete from the beginning. If you are only going to use the lens, it would be the right choice to choose one in good glass and aperture condition.
The minimalist cylindrical appearance that is created by attaching the cover on the mount side, reversing the hood, and attaching the front cap makes it a picturesque lens when displayed. However, this state has the disadvantage that the average consumer does not recognize it as a lens.
- Hood: HKMOO (12532)
- Rear cap: HGOOI
- Front cap: ORPBO (large)
The Visoflex L39 mount has a very long flange back of 91.1 mm, so it can be attached to many lenses, including medium format cameras, via a mount adapter.
The main flange backs are as follows:
| Mount name | Flange back length(mm) |
| Nikon Z | 16 |
| Sony E | 18 |
| LEICA L(L-Mount Alliance) | 20 |
| LEICA M | 27.8 |
| SIGMA SA | 44 |
| CANON EF | 44 |
| M42 | 45.5(median value) |
| NIKON F | 46.5 |
| LEICA R | 47.4 |
| LEICA S | 53 |
| CONTAX 645 | 64 |
| VISO FLEX M | 69(About value) |
| VISO FLEX L39 | 91(About value) |
2．Usage
I used it with LEICA S Typ007, LEICA M9, other SLR cameras and mirrorless cameras, and apart from the fact that the lens is a little heavy, it worked fine with all the cameras I used.
The Leica M9 is a digital camera, but it does not have a live view, so I used Visoflex (VISOFLEX), a mechanism that changes a rangefinder camera into a SLR. The VISO-L39 lens can be attached directly to the VISOFLEX-1, but the VISOFLEX-2 and VISOFLEX-3 are attached to the lens body via an L39-M conversion adapter called OUBIO / 16446 / 16466M. The photo below shows the Hektor 12.5cm + OUBIO + VISOFLEX-3. This is attached to the Leica M9.
I plan to create a separate page to write a detailed explanation of the VISOFLEX.
The minimum shooting distance of 1.2m for a 125mm lens means that you can’t get very close to the subject, and you can’t zoom in on it, so you need to make use of the white space when shooting a single flower, but if the subject is a larger portrait or a dog, this lens will bring out the bokeh if you shoot it straightforwardly.
This minimum shooting distance of 1.2m applies the 10x rule to the focal length that is common to old lenses. In old lens design methods, this was a design restriction because lens performance deteriorated when the lens was extended beyond 10 times the focal length. For this reason, lenses that can get closer than 10 times the focal length were called macro (micro) lenses and were treated as a different category from normal lenses. In modern times, due to changes in lens design methods, there are more lenses to which the 10x rule does not apply.
The minimum shooting distance can be compensated for by using extension tubes, etc.
The number of aperture blades is large, and the lens diameter is large, so the amount of movement of the blades is large. Therefore, care must be taken when opening and closing the aperture roughly, as the blades can get caught and broken.
While checking lenses at a second-hand store, I turned the aperture blades from infinity to the minimum in one go without paying attention to the stops, and the camera shop owner warned me. Was it that fragile at the time? I wondered, but after using second-hand lenses for a long time, I think his opinion is valid. Old lenses should not be treated roughly. The lens I own is the lens I purchased at that time.
3．Middle size sensor digital camera
The image circle of this lens is wide, and there is no vignetting on the 44mm x 33mm sensor used in the Hasselblad X series (X1D, X2D, X907, etc.) or the 45mm x 30mm sensor of the Leica S typ007, but there is slight image degradation at the edges of the image.
For these medium format digital sensors, multiplying by a factor of 0.8 in 35mm format results in a lens with a focal length equivalent to 100mm.
For the Hasselblad X series, the lens can be converted to an R mount using the genuine Leica OUBIO + Viso Lens / R Body Adapter (14167), so if you add an X-R mount adapter, you can use the VISO-L39 lens. However, since there is no shutter mechanism on the lens side, you will need to use the electronic shutter of the X series to shoot.
For mounting the VISO-L39 on a LEICA S, Fotodiox Pro sells an S-VISO-L39 adapter. I don’t think this adapter was available when I looked for it previously, but I have confirmed that it will be released in August 2024. The diameter of the connection part of this adapter appears to be smaller than that of the guarded VISO-L39 lens, so I think it is possible to connect the Hektor 12.5cm, but since I have not actually tried connecting it, you will need to check whether it can be attached when purchasing.
I use two adapters, the S-MAMIYA645 adapter and the MAMIYA645-VISO-L39 adapter, to attach the VISO-L39 lens to the Leica S. When I tried the Hasselblad-V-VISO-L39 adapter previously, the diameter of the lens connection part was large and I was unable to attach the guarded VISO-L39 lens.
As mentioned above, since this lens has a long flange back, if you find an adapter that can be attached to the camera, it can also be used with the Fujifilm GFX series, PENTAX 645, and other cameras with the same sensor size.
4．About Focal length of 125mm
There are only a few lenses with focal lengths of 12.5cm and 125mm. Like 135mm, these focal lengths have been absorbed into zoom lenses.
In the midst of all this, I searched for a 125mm prime lens and found the EBC FUJINON GX M 125mm 1:5.6 for Fujifilm’s 6×8 camera, the Canon EX 125mm F3.5 for the Canon EX-EE, and other lenses such as cine lenses and large format lenses. The two lenses I mentioned above are not compatible with cameras used by general photographers, so there are few examples.
I think the Hector 12.5cm and Macro Apo-Lanter 125mm are the lenses that general photographers are familiar with. The Macro Apo-Lantar 125mm and Hector 12.5cm have similar specifications except for the minimum shooting distance, but the Macro Apo-Lantar 125mm, as the name suggests, is a lens that excels in close-up shooting, and the depiction and shooting scenes that the two lenses are suitable for are different.
Specification and Competitor
| Lens name | HEKTOR | Macro APO LANTHAR |
| Focal length | 12.5cm | 125mm |
| Max aperture | 2.5 | 2.5 |
| Min aperture | 22 | 22 |
| Lens Construction | 4 elements in 3 groups | 10 elements in 9 groups |
| Leaf blade | 20枚 | 9枚 |
| Min distance(m) | 1.2 | 0.18 |
| Lens length(mm) | 77(VISO-M) | 88.2(Nikon Ai-S) |
| Lens Max diameter(mm) | φ63 | ⌀76 |
| Filter Size(mm) | 58 | 58 |
| Weight(g) | 728(VISO-M) | 690 |
| Release date | 1949〜1960 | 2001.06〜2007.03 |
| Street Price | – | ¥95,000- |
Reference links
- Leica Wiki HEKTOR 12.5cm
- List of camera flange distances
- 12,5cm f/2,5 HEKTOR PP.Ghisetti
- LEITZ HEKTOR 85MM F/2.5
- Fotohandel Delfshaven
- 表示上の誤差について
Update history
- 2024.10.2
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