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

APO-Summicron-M 75mm f/2 ASPH

Leica · Leica M · 2005 · Seven elements in five groups, apochromatic, aspherical

Also known as: APO-Summicron-M 75 ASPH · 75mm f/2 APO

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
APO-Summicron-M 75 ASPH (11637) Leica M 2005 3983051–3983073
3986034–3986433
3986584–3986843
3988144–3988493
3989219–3989365 		1,653+ lenses
  1. Leica's own 2005 technical documentation describes the seven-element layout as a new version of the double Gauss, closely related behind the diaphragm to the Summilux-M 50mm ASPH. Element 2 is a fluorite-type glass, element 3 traces to the former Leitz glass laboratory, element 4 carries a pressed aspherical surface, and the rear group is a floating element for which Leica says its designers had to develop a new high-precision adjusting mechanism to fit inside an M body. Measured focal length 74.98mm.
  2. The Leica Wiki names Schneider as this lens's manufacturer. Leica's own technical documentation and Erwin Puts both treat it as a Leica design and a Leica product, and this site follows them: the wiki's attribution looks like an error rather than a disclosure. It is recorded here because it is repeated elsewhere.
  3. Erwin Puts records a design element the specification here does not carry: a floating group, whose separate movement holds the correction at the 0.7 m close limit. He also notes that an eighth element was tried and dropped because it did not contribute to the image quality.
  4. Puts measures 80 line pairs per millimetre from centre to edge at full aperture, rising above 100 lp/mm across the whole field at f/2.8 — figures he called unsurpassed at the time of writing.
  5. The 1,653+ total the wiki prints does not equal the sum of its own dated blocks. The five blocks of 2004 and 2005 come to 1,185. The remaining 468 is exactly the width of the 2008 bracket, 4044657–4045124 — so the published production figure adds a count of allocated numbers to the gap between two surviving lenses. Both figures are recorded here; neither is a production record.
  6. What the year list will not do. Leica reserves a block of numbers before a batch is built and does not always use it, so an engraved number can run ahead of its lens by a year or more. Ken Rockwell's copy of the list states plainly that it is not exact and that numbers after 2000 are less accurate, and summilux.net — whose database took over the job after Leica withdrew its own serial lookup page in July 2006 — reports an Apo-Telyt-R 180mm carrying a number Leica assigns to a 50mm Summilux. Cameras and lenses also run in separate sequences, so the same number exists on one of each.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • 32 degrees diagonal — the same field as the Summilux 75, at half the weight class
  • Preset 9-blade diaphragm with half-stop clicks

APO-Summicron-M 75 ASPH (11637):

  • Apochromatic and aspherical; entrance pupil 30.1mm behind the front surface
  • A non-rotating E49 filter thread

Serial-range notes

the seven-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 3,970,748–3,999,999 for 2003, 4,000,000–4,010,600 for 2004, 4,010,601–4,025,900 for 2005, 4,025,901–4,034,900 for 2006, 4,034,901–4,057,000 for 2007 and 4,057,001–4,080,000 for 2008.
3983051–3983073, 3986034–3986433, 3986584–3986843, 3988144–3988493, 3989219–3989365
The five allocated blocks the Leica Wiki dates to 2004 and 2005, taken from Erwin Puts's pocket list. Two of the printed totals overrun their own ranges: 3983051–3983073 holds 23 numbers against a stated 25, and 3989219–3989365 holds 147 against a stated 150.
3983051
The lowest number recorded for the lens. The general year list places it in 2003, two years before the 2005 introduction printed at the head of the same wiki page, and the model table dates the block 2004. Three readings of one block.
3986034
This block opens one number above 3986033, where the 135mm APO-Telyt-M's 2004 block closes. The two lenses were allocated back to back, which is what a shared sequence looks like from inside: consecutive numbers, different lenses.
3970748
A boundary in the general year list that is printed twice — 2002 closes on it and 2003 opens on it. A lens carrying that number belongs to both years.
3993946–4004757, 4007331, 4044657–4045124, 4071637, 4122527–4122572
The five later rows, dated 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2012, are brackets around observed examples rather than allocated blocks. No block has been published for the lens after 2005.

Specifications

Formula
Seven elements in five groups, apochromatic, aspherical
Construction
7 elements / 5 groups
Aperture range
f/2–f/16
Diaphragm blades
9
Min. focus
0.7 m
Filter
49 mm
Years manufactured
2005
Country
Germany

What reviewers say

History

The 75mm APO-Summicron is the modern answer at a focal length Leica invented for itself: apochromatic, aspherical, seven elements in five groups, and a good deal easier to carry than the f/1.4 Summilux it sits beside. It focuses to 0.7 m and has a non-rotating filter thread, which matters to anyone using a polariser.

Its production is small even by Leica standards — 1,653 or so lenses, against 18,404 for the 35mm ASPH Summilux over a comparable period.

Leica’s own 2005 documentation for it is unusually forthcoming about the design: a new version of the double Gauss, closely related behind the diaphragm to the Summilux-M 50mm ASPH, with a fluorite-type second element, a third element whose glass traces back to the old Leitz glass laboratory, a pressed aspherical surface on the fourth, and a floating rear group that required a new adjusting mechanism precise enough to fit inside an M body. The Leica Wiki attributes manufacture to Schneider; Leica’s own papers and Erwin Puts both treat the lens as Leica’s, and this entry follows them.

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 taken with the APO-Summicron-M 75mm f/2 ASPH
Point Arena Lighthouse — shot on an APO-Summicron-M 75 (Frank Schulenburg) — Frank Schulenburg, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Sample photo taken with the APO-Summicron-M 75mm f/2 ASPH
Llano Seco, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge — APO-Summicron-M 75 (Frank Schulenburg) — Frank Schulenburg, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Sample photo taken with the APO-Summicron-M 75mm f/2 ASPH
Nut orchard in the fog — APO-Summicron-M 75 (Frank Schulenburg) — Frank Schulenburg, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Sample photo wanted — shot with a APO-Summicron-M 75mm f/2 ASPH? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $3,200 across 10 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $3,000–$4,200). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 2 days: unchanged from $3,200.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$3,200$3,000–$4,20010
2026-09-06$3,200$3,000–$4,20010

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

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

Related: APO-Summicron-M 90mm f/2 ASPH (v4) · Summarit-M 75mm f/2.5 · Summilux-M 75mm f/1.4

Sources (5)

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.