Leitz Cine enters mirrorless market with HEKTOR prime lenses

Available for E, L, RF and Z mounts for maximum flexibility, the new Leitz HEKTOR lenses are, the company says, “unlike anything we’ve ever created before”.

After recently expanding its Leitz HUGO cine lens family with a new lens, the 40mm T1.5 lens that expands the popular Leitz Cine Set, which now has a total of 14 lenses ranging from 18mm to 135mm., Leitz announces that the company is entering the mirrorless lens market with the Leitz HEKTOR lenses, a brand new set of prime lenses designed specifically for cameras using mirrorless mounts. The lenses come in six focal lengths: 18, 25, 35, 50, 73 and 100mm, all T2.1. The user interchangeable mount options include E, L, RF and Z  mounts for maximum flexibility.

The Leitz HEKTOR lenses prioritize two things: image character and build quality. The look of HEKTOR has been curated by examining lenses from the past 100+ years of cinema and photography history. The look is inspired by classic M lenses from the 1930s and 1950s, as well as Petzval lenses, to combine pleasing characteristics like dynamic flare, field curvature and spherical aberration into something that is wholly unique while feeling familiar. By utilizing non-aspherical designs reminiscent of the 1980s/90s, these characteristics come into the lenses naturally. Modern touches include coatings that control veiling glare better than older lenses as well as significantly reduced chromatic aberration.

The Leitz Cine brand has always stood for a high standard of quality, and although these lenses were designed for less expensive camera systems than Leitz’s high-end glass, the same amount of care, consideration and attention to detail exists in the HEKTOR lenses. These lenses were designed in Germany and are manufactured and assembled in Germany by the same hands that build other Leitz lenses like SUMMILUX-C and HUGO. While more expensive than most mirrorless lenses, the Leitz HEKTOR series is built to last, to be easily serviced, and with available parts for a reliable, long-term investment.

The lenses are fully manual and feature an 80mm outer diameter. The 25-100mm lenses have a 77mm screw-in filter thread. Focus and iris ring locations match for quick lens changes with 120° and 49° rotations, respectively, making them easy to work with when operating and pulling focus. A nine-blade iris maintains a round shape through all stops for consistency in the out-of-focus areas.

“We spent a lot of time exploring and testing to get the character of these lenses right, to make them something that would be appealing to modern cinematographers but timeless in their beauty,” said managing director Rainer Hercher. “Too often lenses are designed to be as fast, clear and as inexpensive as possible without giving attention to the attributes that create a great, compelling image. In listening to our customers we heard them asking for something with soul, with emotion, something that could help elevate their work. The Leitz HEKTOR lenses are for them.”

The name HEKTOR is a reference to the original Leica Hektor lenses created in the 1930s by legendary lens designer Max Berek for Leica’s original screw mount 35mm cameras. Though not an adaptation of those lenses, the new HEKTOR series pays homage to the inspiration they provided with a silver anodized finish and the inclusion of a 73mm, an iconic lens in the original line.