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

Leica Standard (Model E)

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

Also known as: Leica Standard · Leica Model E · Leica E · Leitz Standard · ライカスタンダード

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Black lacquer LTM 1932–1936 — 13,545 cameras (Leica Wiki)
Chrome LTM 1933–1950 — 13,680 cameras (Leica Wiki)
Late bodies on the type III casting LTM 1936–1950 — No separate figure published
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • A viewfinder set into the top plate and no rangefinder — the last Leitz body built that way
  • Rewind knob that pulls up, where the Model C's does not
  • Interchangeable 39mm screw mount, standardised throughout the run

Black lacquer:

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

Chrome:

  • Chrome-plated fittings; the serial lists call these batches Standard Chrom

Late bodies on the type III casting:

  • Strap lugs, which the earlier Standard does not have
  • A plug on the front where a III's slow-speed dial would sit

Serial-range notes

101001–106000
The Leica Wiki's serial list prints this 1932 block twice, once as Standard (black) and once as Standard. The duplication runs through the first ten rows of the table.
1934–1936 blocks labelled Leica I
Much of the Standard's production is listed under the name Leica I rather than Standard. Leitz sold the Standard as a Leica I in some markets and the lists follow the paperwork, not the model.

Specifications

Format
24×36mm on perforated 35mm cine film, 36 exposures
Finder
Optical viewfinder set in the top plate, no rangefinder · no rangefinder image
Shutter
focal plane, cloth · 1/20 – 1/500 and Z (time)
Designed by
Oskar Barnack — camera
Weight
368 g
Dimensions
133 × 67 × 33 mm
Country
Germany

Figures we worked out rather than found: 13,545 + 13,680 = 27,225 — the two finishes sum to a total neither source prints · 27,225 + 12,229 = 39,454, the serial figure the Leica Wiki's editor is comparing against

Where sources disagree

Total production
  • 27,225 cameras — 13,545 black plus 13,680 chrome (Leica Wiki)
  • 39,454, being the assigned serial numbers on the same page — the Leica Wiki's own editor notes the production figure is 12,229 lower

Better supported: Neither, until the serial list is deduplicated

The gap is real but the larger number cannot be trusted as it stands: the list repeats its first ten blocks verbatim, and labels many others Leica I. Any total drawn from it counts some cameras twice and may count others that are not Standards at all.

Last year of production
  • 1948 (camera-wiki's screw-mount overview)
  • 1950 (Leica Wiki)

Both are plausible for a model whose late production was assembled from parts as orders came in rather than built as a run.

What reviewers say

History

The Standard is the Leica that did not get the rangefinder. It arrived in 1932 in the same week as the Leica II and is the same camera minus the thing everyone remembers the II for: a viewfinder set in the top plate, a scale on the lens, and a price low enough to matter in 1932. Leitz kept it in the catalogue for eighteen years, which is longer than any other screw Leica, and sold the last of them after the war to people buying a body for a purpose rather than a camera for photography.

Physically it is the Model C brought up to date. The mount is standardised from the start, so any 39mm lens fits; the rewind knob pulls up rather than sitting flush, which is the quickest way to tell a Standard from a Model C at arm’s length. Later bodies are stranger. At some point Leitz stopped casting a Standard-specific body and began finishing type III castings instead, so late examples carry strap lugs the early ones lack and a blanked-off plug on the front where a III’s slow-speed dial would have been fitted. The camera is, literally, a III with the slow speeds left out and the hole filled in.

Counting them is where this entry has to be careful. The Leica Wiki gives 13,545 black bodies and 13,680 chrome, which sums to 27,225 — a total the page itself does not print. Directly beneath, its editor notes that the serial numbers assigned come to 12,229 more than the production figure, implying 39,454. But that serial list cannot carry the weight: its first ten blocks appear twice, verbatim, and a great many of its rows are labelled Leica I rather than Standard, because Leitz sold the camera under both names and the ledgers follow the paperwork. A total drawn from that list counts some cameras twice and may count others that were never Standards.

What is not in doubt is the shape of the thing: the last Leitz body designed without a rangefinder, and the end of the line that started with the Model A. Nothing else in the screw range does without one until the Ic of 1949, which does without a viewfinder as well.

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 Standard (Model E)
Leica Standard (Model E), chrome, serial 244297, 1937 — Kameraprojekt Graz 2015, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Leica Standard (Model E)
Leica Standard with an accessory finder — erik gould from Pawtucket RI, United States, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $760 across 13 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $500–$1,200). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 2 days: down 24% from $1,000.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$760$500–$1,20013
2026-09-06$1,000$630–$1,20012

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

Show 21 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 II (Model D)

Lenses for this body: Elmar 10.5cm f/6.3 (Mountain Elmar) · Elmar 13.5cm f/4.5 · Elmar 5cm f/3.5 · Hektor 5cm f/2.5 · Hektor 7.3cm f/1.9 · Summar 5cm f/2

Sources (3)

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.