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Pioneered in the 1950's this must be one of the most recognised pieces of camera engineering there is...it has long outlasted the M42 screw mount that was a contemporary. When Leica stepped up from their own M39 screw mount that had served it until the M-series, they opened the mount up wide enough to accommodate most of what they could see as their future work. They knew that their rangefinder cameras would be best operating with lenses in the wide-angle to short telephoto..out to about 135mm and did not need to go with a bigger throat.
Of course, they had no idea at the time ( I assume ) that the digital technology would develop and require electrical signals to also pass through the mount.
b. The LS mount
With the "S" indicating that it fits the S-series cameras rather than a screw mount. These are larger bayonets for the medium-format style of camera. These lenses often feature integral shutters within themselves and are notable for a smaller maximum aperture than the M-series cameras for full frame or APS-C sensors.
Having S-mount lenses and a Leica S camera is rather like having Captain Kidd's treasure in optical form. You tend to be very protective due to the cost. But the S is a working camera for working professionals - it works long and hard and presumably pays for itself eventually.
c. The T or LT mount
Well when Leica went past their APS-C sensors in the M-series cameras and finally fitted a full-frame sensor, the photo world must have been ecstatic. Then the idea of the mirror-less camera took hold and Leica also wanted to provide their unique design for this. The T and later the TL and the SL cameras came along with first the APS-C and later the full frame sensors. But the mount is slightly different - more modern and electronic - than the M mount. The lenses can be a little smaller and sleeker than equivalents in the M range, but they are all Leica glass and are referred to as the best resolving optics in any particular focal range.
Fight that one out amongst yourselves at the camera club, but the fact remains that Leica is producing three semi-independent lines of photographic glass. There is nothing to be seen that something in that range cannot cope with.
It must have given cause for pause, though, in the division of the company that would be concerned with planning how to meld the lens streams and different bodies. There were screw flanges that went into the M mount to let 50's shooters use 40's lenses. There are M adapters for the LT mount ( At one time known as the T mount...) that let the standard M lenses onto the new APS-C TL and CL cameras. The S -series camera can take a Leica adapter and mount Hasselblad lenses...Oh Lordy...There was even the R mount...
Just as well I am sitting down. And I've not addressed other-party adapters that seek to clap nearly anything onto the T or TL cameras to take advantage of their slim body lines. You can hit the internet and google up lists of possibilities - none of which make more optical sense than just using native Leica lenses. Help yourselves, but just don't expect Leica quality from something that isn't Leica glass.
Have you ever wondered if Leica - or any other maker who has changed mounts in their past - have ever sat there with their heads in their hands and regretted fiddling with the whole system? I'll bet they have, but I'm also willing to bet that the next time the design department head comes in with a sheaf of drawings and a bag of Cheezels that he'll be able to sell the idea of yet another bayonet mount.
I'll wonder if Kodak was like that when the designers came in and wanted a new film format...
