APO-Summicron-R 90mm f/2 ASPH.

Leica · Leica R · 2002

Also known as: APO-Summicron-R 90mm f/2 ASPH · APO-Summicron-R 90mm f2 ASPH · APO-Summicron-R 90mm f2 · APO-Summicron-R 90mm · APO-Summicron-R 90 ASPH · APO-Summicron-R 2/90 · APO-Summicron-R 1:2/90 · APO Summicron R 90mm · APO Summicron R 2/90 ASPH 11350 · Leica 90mm f2 APO-Summicron-R · Leica 90mm f/2 APO-Summicron-R ASPH · Leica APO-Summicron-R 90mm f2 ASPH · Leica 11350 · ライカアポズミクロンR 90mm · アポズミクロンR 90mm F2

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
ROM (11350)	Leica R, ROM (Leica: R3 to R9; not for the Leicaflex bodies)	2002	3943757 (Leitz Auction 41, lot 202, dated 2003)	About 2,000 (Shige) or about 2,500 (Leitz Auction); Leica's data sheet gives no figure

Specification from Leica's technical data sheet: 27°, 22° and 15° angles of view; five elements in five groups; focal length 90.9 mm; 0.7 m to infinity; smallest field 140 × 210 mm, 1:5.8; preset diaphragm with click stops at half values, fully automatic, f/16 smallest; E60 internal thread; built-in telescopic lockable hood; 59 mm long, 70 mm across, approx. 520 g. Erwin Puts (August 2003) gives the same 520 g; Apotelyt's R catalogue and Cinelenswiki give the same 0.7 m, E60 and 520 g.
Optics: Leica says two of the five elements are of high-refraction glass and two of glass with anomalous partial dispersion. Puts describes five separate elements with the first surface of the third element aspherical, ground on CNC machines in eight hours per surface. Shige calls the layout Ernostar-derived and says it departs from the Double-Gauss formula of its predecessor; Puts instead likens the old Summicron-R 90 to the Sonnar type.
Diaphragm blades: Shige gives eight. Leica's data sheet gives no figure, so the field is left empty.
Production years and numbers disagree. Shige gives 2002–2003 and about 2,000 lenses, citing the Leica Wiki and two Japanese buying guides of 2003 that already show the lens; Leitz Auction says about 2,500 were made. Shige adds that some sources give 2008 as the year of manufacture, which he rejects. Cinelenswiki gives 2002–2009, the end of R production, which is the outer limit. When it left the price list is not recorded in these sources.
Same optics as the M lens? Lloyd Chambers says the R lens 'has the same optical formula as the M version'; Shige, who owned both, says they are believed to share essentially the same design but found the R lens flatter in field and the M lens sharper in the centre and softer at the edges, in a comparison he calls uncontrolled. Leica's data for the two differ in near limit (0.7 m against 1 m), filter (E60 against E55) and barrel; Leica's R data sheet does not mention the M lens. The M lens is dated 1998 on its own page and 1997 by Shige.
Extenders: Leica's data sheet names the APO-Extender-R 2x, which makes the lens a 180mm f/4, and Puts calls that combination excellent, to be stopped down only below about 2.5 m. Neither source mentions the APO-Extender-R 1.4x.
Prices: these sources give no launch list price in euros or dollars. Leitz Auction's €2,880 for no. 3943757 is an auction result including buyer's premium (24% within the EU under the margin scheme, per the lot page). Apotelyt's R catalogue gives US$3,500–5,000 in its used-price column without saying which sales it rests on.

How to tell them apart (expand)

APO-SUMMICRON-R and E 60 on the front ring: the rangefinder APO-Summicron-M 90 ASPH reads APO-SUMMICRON-M and takes E55, and the earlier Summicron-R 90 (1970) has no APO or ASPH in its name and a Series VII or E55 thread
Gold ROM contacts at the back on every example
Distance scale to 0.7 m; the M lens stops at 1 m

ROM (11350):

A row of gold ROM contacts at the back of the mount, fitted at the factory: there is no earlier non-ROM version of this lens
Front ring engraved LEICA, APO-SUMMICRON-R 1:2/90 ASPH., E 60 and the serial; the -R in the name and E 60 (the rangefinder lens reads -M and E55) set it apart at a glance
Box label LEICA APO-SUMMICRON-R 1:2/90 mm ASPH., schwarz eloxiert / black anodized finish, für Leica R-Modelle, 11 350, Leica Camera AG Solms, Made in Germany (Leitz Auction photographs)
Straight cylindrical barrel 70 mm across with a wide ribbed focusing ring, a short pull-out hood at the front and the aperture ring at the base; the M lens tapers towards its mount (Shige)

ROM (11350): The only version. Leica's data sheet gives the bayonet as the Leica R bayonet "for LEICA R3 to LEICA R9 with mechanical, and, for LEICA R8/R9, additional electronic exposure control", so on an R3 to R7 the contacts do nothing and the lens behaves as an ordinary R-cam lens, while on an R8 or R9 it passes its focal length to the body. The sheet does not name any Leicaflex body. Leitz Auction sold no. 3943757, dated 2003, boxed with caps, warranty card and leather pouch, for €2,880 including buyer's premium against an estimate of €4,000–4,500, calling it a rare late lens with ROM contacts of which about 2,500 were made.

Serial-range notes

3943757: The only serial here with a date: Leitz Auction lists no. 3943757 as made in 2003. Shige says that checking the lens's serial against Leica's production records points to 2002, but he does not print the number or the block, so the year a given serial was made is not settled by this page.

Specifications

Formula: Apochromatic telephoto: five separate elements, one aspherical surface
Construction: 5 elements / 5 groups
Aperture range: f/2–f/16
Min. focus: 0.7 m
Dimensions: 70 × 59 mm
Weight: 520 g
Filter: 60 mm, E60 screw-in (internal thread, Leica data sheet)
Years manufactured: 2002
Country: Germany (Leica Camera AG, Solms; 'Made in Germany' on the box)
Material: Black anodised barrel with a built-in, telescopic, lockable hood

What reviewers say

Erwin Puts (Leica R-Objektive column, ch. 2) (blog) — Hard to fault: at f/2 it is almost identical to the APO-Macro-Elmarit-R 100 at f/2.8, with very high contrast and edge sharpness into the corners and twice the fine-detail contrast of the old Summicron-R 90. His reservations: distortion under 1% but visible, a fine colour fringe on very hard edges in big projection, less smooth out-of-focus rendering than the Summilux-R 80, slight flare against a bright sky, and softer fine detail under 1.5 m at wide apertures.
Shige (Shige's hobby) (blog) — Used on an R8 with film and on a Leica SL, it is his first choice among his medium telephotos: even resolution across the frame, smooth background and foreground blur, and little flare even against the light. Against the M version he owned, he found the R lens flatter in field, and its 0.7 m near limit a real advantage over the M's 1 m. via machine translation — corrections welcome
Lloyd Chambers (diglloyd) (blog) — An aperture series on a Leica M240 through the R-Adapter M, showing close-range performance and the onset of diffraction; he states the R lens shares the M version's optical formula. The full analysis is in his subscription Guide to Leica.

History

The APO-Summicron-R 90mm f/2 ASPH. is one of the last lenses Leica designed new for its SLR system. Erwin Puts, in his August 2003 series on the R lenses, has it available from Photokina 2002. It replaced the Summicron-R 90mm f/2 of 1970, a five-element, Sonnar-like design from Leitz Canada’s Midland office that Puts describes as slightly soft at full aperture. The new lens has five separate elements in five groups, with nothing cemented. Leica’s data sheet says two are of high-refraction glass and two of glass with anomalous partial dispersion. Puts puts the aspherical surface on the front of the third element and says grinding and finishing it on CNC machines takes a full eight hours. The result is a short lens: 59 mm long, 70 mm across and about 520 g, close to the size of the Summilux-R 50. It focuses to 0.7 m, takes E60 filters and has a telescopic hood built in that can be locked out.

The rangefinder APO-Summicron-M 90mm f/2 ASPH. of 1998 (1997 in Shige’s account) has its own page. Lloyd Chambers states that the R lens has the same optical formula as the M version, and Shige, who owned both, says they are believed to share essentially the same design. The two are not interchangeable, though. The R lens has a straight barrel with the aperture ring at the base. It focuses 30 cm closer, to 0.7 m against 1 m, and takes E60 rather than E55. Shige found its field flatter and the M lens crisper in the centre, in a side-by-side test he calls uncontrolled. Leica’s data sheet for the R lens does not mention the M lens at all.

There is one version, order number 11350, black anodised, in a box marked Leica Camera AG, Solms, Made in Germany. Every example has ROM contacts from the factory. Leica’s data sheet lists it for the R3 to R9, with the electronic data used only by the R8 and R9; on earlier R bodies the contacts do nothing. It names no Leicaflex body. Apotelyt says ROM lenses cannot be mounted on the Leicaflex, SL or SL2, so it is a lens for the R bodies only and should not be forced onto a Leicaflex. Leica’s sheet pairs it with the APO-Extender-R 2x to make a 180mm f/4, and Puts calls that combination excellent, to be stopped down only below about 2.5 m.

It was made in small numbers: about 2,000 according to Shige, about 2,500 according to Leitz Auction. Shige dates the run to 2002–2003, citing the Leica Wiki and two Japanese buying guides from 2003 that already show the lens. Shige notes that some sources give 2008, which he rejects; Cinelenswiki stretches the span to 2009, when R production ended. These sources give no launch list price. Leitz Auction sold no. 3943757, dated 2003, complete with box, pouch and warranty card, for €2,880 including buyer’s premium, against an estimate of €4,000–4,500. Apotelyt’s catalogue gives a used-price range of US$3,500–5,000, without saying which sales it rests on.

When buying, check the name on the front ring. Titles often mix it up with the M lens, which reads APO-SUMMICRON-M and takes E55, or with the old Summicron-R 90, which has no APO or ASPH and a Series VII or E55 thread. Look for the gold contacts at the back and make sure the hood slides out and locks. Puts notes that fine detail softens a little at the wider apertures below 1.5 m, so judge sharpness at a distance. Lloyd Chambers used one on a Leica M240 with Leica’s R-Adapter M, and Shige on a Leica SL with the R-Adapter L, where the ROM contacts let the camera record the focal length in the EXIF data; the aperture it records is the camera’s estimate, not the value set on the ring.

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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

More sample photos elsewhere

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Sample photo wanted — shot with a APO-Summicron-R 90mm f/2 ASPH.? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, EUR: a median of €3,800 across 3 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-09 (middle half €2,300–€3,800). First day tracked.

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

Sehr guter Zustand! Leica APO-Summicron-R 90mm F/2 ASPH ROM E60 11350 - Händler — €2,299.00 · eBay
[MINT in BOX & Case] Leica Apo Summicron-R 90mm F/2 ASPH E60 ROM Lens 701 — $3,599.90 · eBay
Leica APO-Summicron-R 90mm F2 ASPH. 11350 ROM — €3,799.00 · eBay · likely rom-11350
Leica APO-Summicron-R 90mm f/2 ASPH ROM — HK$32,800.00 · LSKamera
Leica APO-Summicron-R 90mm F2 ASPH. 11350 ROM Boxed Like New — €3,999.00 · eBay · likely rom-11350

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