DUCATI - OD 6405.1 - LUXTOR 40mm / 1.5

The Luxtor lens was referred to in the Ducati documentation as an "Ultra-bright lens suitable for sports, portraits, night-time and theater takes" and it appeared for the first time in the 1949 documentation.

This lens was of the non-retractable type, had a field angle of 41 ° (roughly similar to that of the Vitor), a minimum focusing distance of 1.2 meters, and an adjustable diaphragm between 8 possible openings (1.5-2-2.8-4 -5,6-8-11-16). The company documentation did not provide any detailed information of the optical scheme.

For focusing it was directly coupled with the Dream rangefinder, but the field of view did not correspond to that visible in the camera’s viewfinder, so it was necessary to use the sports/view finder OR 2404.2 for exact framing.

Various accessories were created, such as a hood and filters, and starting from 1952 a field mask (TMP 3334.2) that fitted over the cameras viewfinder window and could be used as an alternative to the sport/view finder. It was sold together with the lens as a set from that time.

The filters were in common with the Teletor and Eltor lenses and the field mask was in common with the Eltor lens. A unique Lens Hood was produced.

Observing the serial numbers of a number of these lenses from those that we have been able to find, we are able to estimate that between 40 to 80 may have been produced. Refer to our table below for the data used for these estimates. They were made in two series, with the serial numbers starting with the numbers 02xxx or 34xxx. A smaller production of the last series with the red serial number makes those even rarer.

Some sources state (mistakenly) that the Luxtor was never produced commercially, it was, but only in very small numbers. Together with the Eltor, it is one of the rarest of the Ducati lenses (with the exception of Nitor/Fitor) and very rarely seen for sale, perhaps once in 5 years.

Please contact us with your lens list so that we can expand the information available for these lenses. 
Thank you :-) . E-mail: admin@masterpiececamera.com

The Ducati Sogno 40mm Luxtor Lens is just about equal to a normal 50mm lens on a 'normal' full sized camera. The ultimate choice for low light conditions!

​Original text and tables above by D. Consonni, with permission. Translated by MasterpieceCamera. © 2018

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The following table is a list of known Luxtor Lenses with the Serial Number and possible number produced in our estimate. Please help us in our efforts to expand this list by sending us any lens serial number/s not in our list so that it will be as accurate as possible, thank you! Latest UPDATE: Feb.-24.