Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Hektor 2.8cm f/6.3

Ernst Leitz · LTM · 1935 · Five elements in three groups

Also known as: Leitz Hektor 28mm f/6.3 · Hektor 2.8cm f6.3 · HOOPY

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Nickel LTM 1935–1945 — No separate figure published
Chrome LTM 1935–1955 273001–275000
336001–337000
357001–358000
425001–426000
452001–453000
495001–496000
531001–531500
541501–542000
790014–790018
790101–792000 		No separate figure published
Chrome head, nickel mount LTM 1935–1945 580001–580350 Listed in the code names as KUP.CHROM
Last batch, f/22 minimum LTM 1950–1955 790101–792000 No figure published
  1. The twelve rows of the Leica Wiki's serial table sum to exactly 11,255, the total printed at their foot, and every row's year agrees with the general Leitz year list. Neither the arithmetic nor the dating contradicts itself anywhere on the page.
  2. The table stops five years before the lens does. The page's summary line gives the production era as 1935–1955 and the total at the foot of the table is labelled 1935–1955, but the last allocated block, 790101–792000, is dated 1950. Nothing at all is listed for 1951 to 1955.
  3. Ten of the twelve rows print the product as "Hektor 28 cm 1:63", dropping both decimal points; the lens is 2.8 cm at f/6.3. Only the 250001 and 336001 rows, of 1935 and 1936, carry the points.
  4. Leitz Auction 48, lot 47: a prototype Hektor 6.3/2.8cm dated 1934, a year before the production lens was introduced, with the designation B236 hand-engraved on the mount — the catalogue calls hand engraving characteristic of experimental examples of the period. Ex Leitz Museum with its original inventory card, and illustrated in P. H. van Hasbroeck's Leica in Colour at page 118. It sold for €72,000 including buyer's premium against a €40,000–50,000 estimate.
  5. Leitz Auction 11, lot 82: a coated post-war Hektor of 1950, serial 791317, described as very rare and sold for €1,020 including buyer's premium against a €600–800 estimate.
  6. Atelier Leica's catalogue entry (Japanese): 1935–1955, five elements in three groups, six blades, f/6.3–25, 76°, 110 g, 1 m, A36 push-on filter, the SOOHN hood, nickel then chrome; built, it says, to answer the Zeiss Tessar 2.8cm f/8, and Leitz's only 28 until the Summaron f/5.6 of 1955. A Japanese dealer note adds that the Hektor was Max Berek's and that the name was his dog's.
  7. The Leica Wiki's serial table (read in the browser, 2026-09-10): assigned blocks of 1,000 and 500 from 250001 in 1935 to 580001–580350 in 1941, then 790101–792000 in 1950 with the scale ending at f/22 rather than f/25 — 11,255 lenses assigned in all, HOOPY nickel to 1945 and HOOPYCHROM chrome throughout, some with a chrome head on a nickel mount; A36 push-on or 34 mm screw-in filters, the SOOHN hood, the SUOOQ finder.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • f/6.3 maximum aperture — the slowest lens in this catalog
  • 75 degrees diagonal from five elements in three groups
  • Needs the SUOOQ finder; no Barnack body shows 28mm

Chrome head, nickel mount:

  • A chrome lens head on a nickel focusing mount — the two finishes on one lens

Last batch, f/22 minimum:

  • Stops down to f/22 where earlier lenses go to f/25

Serial-range notes

the six-digit number on the front ring
The rule for every Leitz and Leica lens: the numbers run in one running sequence shared across models, so a serial normally gives an approximate date — but the sequence does NOT begin at 100,000 in 1931, and a serial usually identifies the model too. The register behind the published year list records reserved BLOCKS, each entered with a date, a range and a lens name, which is why per-model batch tables exist and why they are the better evidence where the two disagree. The date is when the block was reserved, not when the lens was finished. Date a copy by the year band it falls into. The bands covering this lens are 236,001–284,600 for 1935, 284,601–345,000 for 1936, 345,001–416,500 for 1937, 416,501–490,000 for 1938, 490,001–538,500 for 1939, 538,501–565,000 for 1940, 565,001–582,294 for 1941 and 756,001–840,000 for 1950. All twelve rows of the model table fall inside the band their own year names — this is one of the few Leitz serial tables with no dating dispute in it.
790101–792000
The last batch, and the only block on the table identified by what the lens does rather than by its finish: 1,900 lenses tagged f/22, where every earlier row stops at f/25. The table dates it 1950 and the general year list agrees.
791317
The coated 1950 lens sold as lot 82 of Leitz Auction 11 falls inside 790101–792000 — a documented, priced example from inside the final f/22 allocation.
580001–580350
350 lenses in 1941, the only block tagged KUP.CHROM: the chrome head on a nickel focusing mount. It is the smallest allocation on the table and the one place the record puts a serial range behind that combination.
250001–251000
The first block, 1,000 lenses of 1935, tagged KUP+CHROM — nickel and chrome numbered together. No block anywhere on the table is tagged KUP alone, so no serial range belongs to the nickel version by itself; the plating is the only evidence for it.
anything below 250001
The serial table opens at 250001 in 1935 and nothing earlier is listed. The 1934 prototype sold as lot 47 of Leitz Auction 48 is identified instead by a hand-engraved B236 on the mount, which the catalogue calls characteristic of experimental examples of the period.

Specifications

Formula
Five elements in three groups
Construction
5 elements / 3 groups
Aperture range
f/6.3–f/25
Diaphragm blades
6
Min. focus
1 m
Filter
36 mm
Years manufactured
1935–1955
Country
Germany

What reviewers say

History

At f/6.3 the 28mm Hektor is the slowest lens in this catalog, and in 1935 that was the price of 75 degrees. Five elements in three groups, a 36mm filter, and an accessory finder without which the photographer has no idea what is in the frame — no Barnack body ever showed 28mm, and the M did not until the M4-P of 1980.

Its finishes are unusually mixed. As well as plain nickel and plain chrome, Leitz sold lenses with a chrome head on a nickel focusing mount, listed in the code names as KUP.CHROM: two platings on one lens, which reads as using up stock rather than as a decision.

The last batch stops down to f/22 where earlier ones reach f/25 — a change in the diaphragm rather than the optics, and the only thing that separates late lenses from twenty years of earlier ones.

Expand Collapse

This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Example photos

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Hektor 2.8cm f/6.3? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $1,500 across 10 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $1,100–$1,700). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 2 days: unchanged from $1,500.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$1,500$1,100–$1,70010
2026-09-06$1,500$1,100–$1,70010

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

Show 1 more listing

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Listings updated 2026-09-11. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Hektor 7.3cm f/1.9 · Summaron 2.8cm f/5.6 · Summicron-M 28mm f/2 ASPH · Orion-15 28mm f/6

Sources (7)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this lens, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.