Where are the camera lens name?

kl122002 · Joined: 16 Nov 2009 Posts: 39

I am not an expert in lens collection but I notice there is no name for Japanese lenses. They use focal length and aperture size for identification instead. They don't like german which has name given to each design. Is that due to the Japanese words are difficult to print on the lens barrel?

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9096 Location: Houston, Texas

I've always thought just the opposite. To me, the German practice of naming an optic seems quaint, and can be confusing since the name is often used for more than one focal length. For example, Sonnar and Planar. These names are not good indicators of focal lengths, but are instead indicators of lens formulas. I've found the Russian practice of not only giving a lens a name but what seems to be some sort of arbitrary numerical designation that has no apparent relationship to its focal length to be downright bizarre.

The Japanese lens makers have often referred to their optics as being of various formulas that have names like Sonnar or Planar, but usually don't give names to both individual optical formulas and focal lengths. Although I can think of one exception right off: Yashica's Yashinar, Yashikor and Yashinon lenses, which were all 80mm f/3.5 taking lenses on the Yashicaflex series of twin-lens cameras.

More common among the Japanese makers was to give their lenses trademark names, like Nikon's Nikkors, Canon's Serenars, Pentax's Takumars, Konica's Hexars, etc.

kansalliskala · Expire: 2016-12-30

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9096 Location: Houston, Texas

kansalliskala · Expire: 2016-12-30

Pentax name change must have something to do with the change to PK-mount?

Canon doesn't seem to know the reason themselves either, see last phrase:

Sevo · Expire: 2012-12-03

That individually named branding thing is very 19th century - and the renowned German lens makers date back to that time (and the rest followed their example) and presumably remained stuck in that tradition. Which is inefficient by modern standards, as the brand reputation is not transferred back to the company or its other products. The Japanese, while originally imitating German habits, may have got wise to more advanced marketing and brand development research from the 20th century after a while...

PaulC · Joined: 23 Dec 2008 Posts: 2318

Did camera makers have much of a reputation before the 1930s? And did lens makers also make cameras? The general impression I get is that in the 20s and earlier the camera was regarded as a box and it was the lens and shutter that commanded interest. Many camera bodies were manufactured e.g in now long-forgotten German workshops, fitted with shutters and lenses from the specialist factories, and shipped to retailers who simply branded the cameras as their own.

Once the camera becomes complicated enough to command respect in its own right, then you start dealing with camera, lens and shutter brands, rather than just lens and shutter, and eventually just with lens and camera, as the focal plane shutter takes over from the leaf shutter.

When the camera makers also become lens makers (or at least have them manufactured under licence) then unifying the names is just common sense. You only have to go to one of the many photo chat forums to find how often people proudly proclaim that they will never shoot with anything but makers' own brand lenses.

I could be entirely wrong about my impressions of the pre-30s camera trade, if so I'm sure someone will set the record straight.

Sevo · Expire: 2012-12-03

"Tessar" was no lens maker, but the brand used by lens maker Carl Zeiss' for one particular lens design - and the same goes for most other lens names. The Japanese soon simplified that to one name for all lenses of one maker (probably no determined process - they were only making triplet and Tessar clones for quite a while, and chose to stick to the established name as they added more complex designs). And they usually transferred the lens or camera brand (whichever was more successful) to the entire company and all its products after a while.

Sevo