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

Color-Skopar 21mm f/4

Cosina Voigtländer · LTM + Leica M · 2001 · Symmetrical, 8 elements in 6 groups

Also known as: Voigtländer Color-Skopar 21mm f/4 · Voigtlander Color Skopar 21mm F4 · COLOR-SKOPAR 21mm F4 · Voigtlander 21/4 Color-Skopar · Cosina Voigtländer 21mm f/4 · フォクトレンダー カラースコパー 21mm F4 · Voigtlander 21mm f4 Leica

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Leica screw mount (2001–2012) LTM 2001–2012 — —
VM P pancake (2007–2025) Leica M 2007–2025 — —
  1. Both variants share one symmetrical 8-element, 6-group formula; the change in 2007 was the barrel and the mount, not the glass. The same optics went to Nikon S and Contax RF as the SC-Skopar 21mm f/4 (its own page).
  2. Weights differ by source for the P: Cosina's product page says 136g, CameraQuest's page 144g (5.1 oz). Cosina's figure is used here.
  3. The ¥55,000 on Cosina's pages is the listed price at discontinuation for both versions; whether the 2001 launch price differed is not stated. US prices are CameraQuest's dated list prices, not a launch figure.
  4. Rangefinder coupling to 0.7m on both, with scale focus to 0.5m; Stephen Gandy reports his M6 coupling to about 2.5 feet and scale focusing to about 18 inches.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • 39mm filter thread and f/4–f/22 in half-stop clicks on both versions
  • Focusing lever with a short throw, roughly 95 degrees from close focus to infinity
  • 10 aperture blades

Leica screw mount (2001–2012):

  • 39mm screw thread; on an M body it needs the screw-to-bayonet adapter
  • Silver or black paint — the M-mount P that followed came in black only
  • Built on the 25mm f/4 Snapshot-Skopar barrel: focusing lever, round screw-in shade, 39mm filter that mounts behind the shade
  • φ49.6 × 29.1mm, 109g on Cosina's figures
  • Sold only with the plastic-bodied, glass-optic 21mm brightline finder; a VL-1 case held finder and lens

VM P pancake (2007–2025):

  • M bayonet engraved COLOR-SKOPAR 21mm F4 P; brings up the 28/90 frame pair on a Leica M
  • Pancake barrel styled after the pre-aspherical 35mm f/2 Summicron: φ55 × 25.4mm, 136g on Cosina's figures (CameraQuest weighed 144g)
  • Black only; standard round hood included, optional square LH-1
  • No finder in the box — it was built for the Bessa R4A/R4M, whose finders carry a 21mm frame

Specifications

Formula
Symmetrical, 8 elements in 6 groups
Construction
8 elements / 6 groups
Aperture range
f/4–f/22
Diaphragm blades
10
Min. focus
0.5 m
Dimensions
49.6 × 29.1 mm
Weight
109 g
Filter
39 mm
Years manufactured
2001–2025
Country
Japan
Coating
Multi-coated
Original price
¥55,000 excluding tax, finder included (Cosina's listed price); $335 with finder in the United States in 2004 (today ¥62,000)

What reviewers say

Optical Ratings

Aggregated from the reviews above — follow the links for the full picture.

Vignetting
magenta edges digital
Distortion
very low
Optical formula — Symmetrical, 8 elements in 6 groups

History

The Color-Skopar 21mm f/4 is the lens that made a 21 an ordinary purchase for a rangefinder owner. Cosina announced it for April 2001 in Leica screw mount, two years into the Bessa programme, and Stephen Gandy’s first US shipment arrived in early May. It is a symmetrical design of eight elements in six groups — the layout a rangefinder permits and a reflex forbids, since nothing has to clear a mirror — with ten blades, f/4 to f/22 in half stops, a 39mm filter, close focus of 0.5m and rangefinder coupling to 0.7m. Cosina built it on the barrel of the 25mm f/4 Snapshot-Skopar, focusing lever and all, so the throw from close-up to infinity is about 95 degrees; the filter sits behind the round screw-in shade, which comes off with the cap still on. It came in silver or black paint, and only with a finder: a plastic-bodied brightline with glass optics that Gandy thought almost as big a story as the lens, since the pair sold for little more than Leica charged for its 21mm finder alone. At 109g it weighed less than most finders.

The same eight elements went to Nikon S and Contax RF in 2001 as the SC-Skopar 21mm f/4, which has its own page, and in April 2007 they went into a new barrel for the M bayonet. The Color-Skopar 21mm F4 P is a pancake — 25.4mm long, 55mm across, 136g on Cosina’s figures — styled, as Gandy noted, after the pre-aspherical 35mm f/2 Summicron, black only, sold without a finder because it was made for the Bessa R4A and R4M, whose viewfinders carry a 21mm frame. On a Leica M it brings up the 28/90 pair, which is no use for framing, so the old finder or the metal 21/25 finder of 2010 goes back in the shoe. The screw-mount lens was discontinued in October 2012; the P ran until Cosina’s notice of 7 November 2025, an eighteen-year life for a lens that never changed, and the announcement named the Vintage Line 21mm f/3.5 as its successor. Cosina lists ¥55,000 excluding tax for both, which is the price at discontinuation; CameraQuest’s dated list prices run $335 with finder in 2004, $349 in 2008, and $419 for the P.

Reviewers agree on two things and split on a third. Everyone finds it sharp at f/4 — Matt Osborne rates it the equal of the Zeiss 21mm Biogon at half the size, Patrick at Finding Range calls the centre excellent with edges and corners holding up — and everyone finds it small enough to change how a camera gets carried; Eric L. Woods watched it displace his 40mm as the daily lens. The split is digital. The formula was drawn for film, with the rear group close to the shutter, and on a colour sensor the edges go magenta. Osborne’s answer is to shoot black and white on digital and colour on film; Woods, on an M typ 240, stacks the in-camera Leica 21mm f/2.8 profile with Lightroom’s Voigtländer profile and calls the result “a bit of faffing about”; Patrick on an SL2 saw little cast at all, while readers of his review on M bodies saw plenty. The 2019 f/3.5 was designed to fix exactly this, and Osborne and Bastian Kratzke both say it does, at the cost of a stop’s worth of price.

Buying, the decision is mount. A screw-mount lens mounts on a Bessa L, R or T, on any Barnack Leica and, with the 28/90 adapter, on any M; the P mounts only on M bodies and their mirrorless adapters. The screw lens came in two finishes and with its finder; a P listing with a finder is a seller’s addition, and a P in silver does not exist. The one number that moves between sources is the P’s weight — 136g from Cosina, 144g from CameraQuest’s scale — and the one thing to check on either is the shade, which was designed to be on the lens whenever the cap is, and is often missing.

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 Color-Skopar 21mm f/4
Leica M240 with the Color-Skopar 21mm f/4 P, Paris, December 2018 (madras91) — madras91, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Sample photo taken with the Color-Skopar 21mm f/4
Leica M2, Voigtländer 21mm f/4, Kodak Tri-X 400 (madras91) — madras91, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Sample photo taken with the Color-Skopar 21mm f/4
Minolta CLE with the Color-Skopar 21mm f/4 on Ilford HP5+ pushed to EI 800, November 2024 (incidencematrix) — incidencematrix, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Color-Skopar 21mm f/4? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $400 across 31 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-19 (middle half $340–$450). First day tracked.

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

Show 63 more listings

Buying from Yahoo! Auctions outside Japan. It is a domestic marketplace: sellers ship within Japan, and most will not register an overseas buyer. A proxy service bids on your behalf, receives the item and forwards it, for a fee and a wait. Buyee, Jauce and ZenMarket each accept a Yahoo auction number directly. Listed alphabetically for information — none is recommended over another, and none of these is an affiliate link.

Listings updated 2026-09-19. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Color-Skopar Vintage Line 21mm f/3.5 Aspherical · Snapshot-Skopar / Color-Skopar 25mm f/4 · Color-Skopar 28mm f/3.5 · Nokton 21mm f/1.4 Aspherical · SC-Skopar 21mm f/4 · Super Wide-Heliar 15mm f/4.5 Aspherical · Ultron 21mm f/1.8 Aspherical

Sources (12)

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.