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Leica II (Model D)

Ernst Leitz · LTM mount · 24×36mm on perforated 35mm cine film, 36 exposures · 1932

Also known as: Leica II · Leica Model D · Leica D · Leitz Leica II · ライカII型

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Black lacquer LTM 1932–1936 — 36,936 cameras (Leica Wiki)
Chrome LTM 1933–1948 — 15,573 cameras (Leica Wiki)
Gold plated LTM 1932–1948 — Four cameras (Leica Wiki)
  1. An independent figure for the gold cameras: Leitz Photographica's catalogue states that "only four Luxus Leica model D with built-in rangefinder and interchangeable lenses were officially built," matching the Leica Wiki's four. The same lot note puts fewer than 100 gold-plated Leica cameras of any model completed between 1929 and 1933, and says that in 1930 a gold-plated Luxus with lizard-skin covering cost twice the price of a regular camera.
  2. Price realised: the gold Luxus 'Leih-Camera', no. 34816 — delivered as a Model I on 4 March 1930, converted to II Mod. D Luxus in 1932, brown reptile covering in original condition, engraved "Leih-Camera (Loan Camera)" on the back, condition B- — made €156,000 including buyer's premium at Leitz Photographica Auction 32, lot 16, against a €140,000–160,000 estimate.
  3. A price for an ordinary one, for scale: an export Leica II Mod. D in black and nickel, no. 88863 of 1932, engraved Germany on the accessory shoe and with its matching nickel Elmar 3.5/50mm no. 174033, condition A/B, made €2,880 including buyer's premium at Auction 36, lot 15, against a €1,000–1,200 estimate.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • A coupled rangefinder with its own eyepiece, separate from the viewfinder — two windows to look through, not one
  • Rewind knob that pulls up to release the film
  • No slow speeds: the dial stops at 1/20

Black lacquer:

  • Black-lacquered brass top plate and base with nickel-plated knobs

Chrome:

  • Chrome-plated brass fittings; listed in the serial tables as Leica II Chrom

Gold plated:

  • Gold plating in place of nickel or chrome

Serial-range notes

71200–101000
A single block of 29,801 black cameras in 1932 — the largest unbroken run in the model.
101001–106000
Printed inside the Leica II serial list but marked as Standard (black). The two models were built together and the lists cross-reference rather than separate them.
105485, 188855, 206583
Singled out by the Leica Wiki as Leica II cameras despite falling in blocks its tables assign to other models.

Specifications

Format
24×36mm on perforated 35mm cine film, 36 exposures
Finder (main)
Optical viewfinder · no rangefinder image
Finder (rangefinder)
Coupled split-image rangefinder with a separate eyepiece
Shutter
focal plane, cloth · 1/20 – 1/500 and Z (time)
Designed by
Oskar Barnack — camera
Weight
406 g
Dimensions
133 × 67 × 33 mm
Country
Germany

Figures we worked out rather than found: 36,936 + 15,573 + 4 = 52,513 — a total no source prints · The 1932 black block alone, 71200–101000, is 29,801 cameras: more than half the model in its first year

Where sources disagree

Total production
  • 52,513 cameras — 36,936 black, 15,573 chrome and 4 gold (Leica Wiki, summed)
  • No total is printed anywhere on the page

The three finish counts are given; the sum is not. Nothing consulted publishes a single figure for the model, and the serial list mixes in blocks belonging to the Standard.

What reviewers say

History

The Leica II is where focusing stops being guesswork. Everything before it — the Model A, the Compur, the Model C, the Standard that launched beside it — was focused by reading a scale and trusting your estimate of the distance, with an accessory rangefinder in the shoe if you cared enough to buy one. The II builds the rangefinder into the top plate and couples it to the lens, so the image splits and rejoins as the barrel turns. The camera still has two eyepieces: you focus through one, then move your eye to the other to frame. That arrangement lasted until the M3 of 1954 put both jobs in the same window.

Beyond the rangefinder it is the Standard, and the two were sold together as a pair of price points for eighteen and sixteen years respectively. Speeds run from 1/20 to 1/500 with no slow speeds — those arrive a year later on the III — and the rewind knob pulls up, an idea carried over from the Standard. Most of the model is black: 36,936 black bodies to 15,573 chrome, with chrome appearing in 1933 and the two finishes then running together, sometimes inside the same serial block. Four cameras were gold plated.

The counting here is better behaved than on the earlier models, though it stops short of an answer. The Leica Wiki gives the three finish counts and prints no total; they sum to 52,513, which is a figure this site is deriving rather than quoting. The serial list carries the same cross-contamination as the rest of the family — the 1932 block from 101001 to 106000 sits inside the Leica II table clearly marked as Standard, because the two models were built alongside each other and Leitz’s numbering did not care which was which. Three individual cameras are called out by serial as Leica IIs despite falling in blocks the tables assign elsewhere, which is the Leica Wiki being honest about how far a table can be trusted.

What the first year shows is how quickly the rangefinder mattered. Serials 71200 to 101000 are one unbroken run of 29,801 black cameras in 1932 alone — more than half of everything the model would ever be, built before the III existed to take its place at the top of the range.

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.

Photographs

Leica II (Model D)
Leica II in black, serial 67777, 1931, with a nickel Elmar — Kameraprojekt Graz 2015, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Leica II (Model D)
Leica II (Model D) — Robert Capa's, in its case — FreCha, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $900 across 32 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $250–$1,600). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 2 days: unchanged from $900.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$900$250–$1,60032
2026-09-06$900$350–$1,60034

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

Show 64 more listings

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

Related: Leica I (Model C) · Leica III (Model F) · Leica Standard (Model E)

Lenses for this body: Elmar 10.5cm f/6.3 (Mountain Elmar) · Elmar 13.5cm f/4.5 · Elmar 5cm f/3.5 · Hektor 7.3cm f/1.9

Sources (6)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this camera, 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.