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

Elmar 5cm f/2.8

Ernst Leitz Β· LTM + Leica M Β· 1957 Β· Elmar

Also known as: Leitz Elmar 50mm f/2.8 Β· Elmar 5cm f2.8 Β· Elmar-M 50/2.8 Β· γ‚¨γƒ«γƒžγƒΌ 50mm F2.8

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Screw mount (ELMOO) LTM 1957–1962 1438001–1440000 and 1450001–1455000 (1956)
1494001–1497000 and 1537501–1541000 (1957)
1549001–1552000, 1574001–1578000, 1617001–1621000 and 1632501–1638500 (1958, blocks shared with the M bayonet) 		Part of about 74,000 lenses
M bayonet (ELMOM) Leica M 1958–1966 1549001–1552000, 1574001–1578000, 1617001–1621000 and 1632501–1638500 (1958, shared with the screw mount)
1589001–1592000, 1600001–1603000 and 1624001–1627000 (1958, bayonet only)
1668001–1671000 and 1697751–1700000 (1959)
1721501–1725000, 1727001–1730000 and 1819001–1822000 (1960)
1838001–1840000 and 1909001–1912000 (1961)
1912000–1936000 (1962)
1989001–1991000 (1963)
2073501–2074500 (1964)
2119151–2121150 (1965)
2186901–2188900 (1966)
2237001–2238000 (1967)
2472501–2473250 (1971) 		No separate figure published
Three crowns, Swedish army LTM 1957–1966 1617001–1621000 (1958)
1632501–1638500 (1958) 		No figure published
Black (11831) Leica M 1958–1966 β€” No figure published
  1. The rare-earth glass has a name: Jason Schneider, writing for the Leica Society International, identifies it as LaK9 lanthanum crown "employed in the first and last elements of the original 50mm f/2.8 Elmar," and lists the lens among the Leitz designs that emit measurable radiation.
  2. The end date is disputed outside the Leica Wiki. The Leica Society International dates the original f/2.8 Elmar 1957–1974, eight years beyond the 1966 the Wiki's production era gives, and treats the 1994 Elmar-M as a separate lens.
  3. Price realised: a three-crown Swedish army example, serial 1635371, 1960, condition B/A, made €3,120 including buyer's premium at Leitz Photographica Auction 34, lot 45, against a €3,200–3,600 estimate β€” roughly ten times an ordinary chrome one.
  4. The Swedish contract is documented to the day: the auction catalogue records the lens as delivered to Brandt Optik A.B. of Stockholm, the Swedish Army's supplier, on 25 May 1960, as the standard lens for the black-paint three-crown IIIg.
  5. The auction date and the serial tables disagree by two years about that Swedish lens. Serial 1635371 falls inside the block 1632501–1638500, which the Leica Wiki dates 1958, and inside the general year list's 1958 band of 1548001–1645300; Leitz Photographica catalogues the same lens as 1960 and records its delivery to Brandt Optik A.B. on 25 May 1960. Both readings can stand together β€” a lens numbered in 1958 and delivered in 1960 β€” but nothing published says so outright, and the catalogue's date is the one usually quoted.
  6. The totals column sums to exactly 74,000, the figure quoted for the model as a whole. That arithmetic depends on taking the 1912000–1936000 row at its stated 3,300 rather than at the 24,001 serial numbers it spans.
  7. The table's product column reads "Elmar 5 cm 1:28" in every row β€” a transcription of 1:2.8 that has lost its decimal point, not a second lens.
  8. No serial data has been published for the black 11831 finish. The order number is recorded on the Leica Wiki's page and in this entry's variant table, but no block is marked for it, and 11831 is also the order number Leica later gave the black 1994 Elmar-M β€” so the number alone cannot identify either lens.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Collapsible, and only 20.94mm long collapsed β€” the shortest lens in this catalog
  • A 15-blade aperture, the most of any Leitz lens here
  • Lanthanum glass in the first and last elements, which is what buys the extra half stop over the f/3.5

Screw mount (ELMOO):

  • 39mm thread

M bayonet (ELMOM):

  • Order numbers 11612 and 11112

Three crowns, Swedish army:

  • Three crowns engraved on the bottom ring

Black (11831):

  • Black finish

Serial-range notes

1333001–2503100
The rule: read the serial against the general Leitz year list, which runs continuously across every model, then against this lens's own block table for the mount and finish. The bands covering this lens are 1333001–1459000 (1956), 1459001–1548000 (1957), 1548001–1645300 (1958), 1645301–1717000 (1959), 1717001–1827000 (1960), 1827001–1913000 (1961), 1913001–1967100 (1962), 1967101–2015700 (1963), 2015701–2077500 (1964), 2077501–2156300 (1965), 2156301–2236500 (1966), 2236501–2254400 (1967), 2254401–2312750 (1968), 2312751–2384700 (1969), 2384701–2468500 (1970) and 2468501–2503100 (1971). Every block in this lens's own table falls inside the year the general list gives for it β€” this is one of the cleanly consistent Leitz serial tables.
The mount letter in the table
The block table marks each run (S) for screw, (M) for the M bayonet, or (M+S) where a block carries both. A block marked S3crown carries Swedish army lenses as well. That letter, not the serial alone, is what tells a screw lens from a bayonet one within the shared 1958 blocks.
1632501–1638500
6,000 lenses, marked M+S+S3crown and dated 1958 β€” one of only two blocks in which the Swedish three-crown lenses appear. Serial 1635371, the three-crown lens sold at Leitz Photographica Auction 34, falls inside it.
1617001–1621000
The other three-crown block: 4,000 lenses, also marked M+S+S3crown and also 1958. Between them the two blocks bound the Swedish contract lenses at 10,000 serial numbers, all in one year.
1549001–1552000
The first block to carry M-bayonet lenses. Screw-mount production does not stop there: it runs on through the shared blocks to 1638500, so a screw lens numbered above 1549001 is not necessarily earlier than a bayonet one.
1402001–1402100
The table's first block: 100 lenses dated 1956, a year before the 1957 start given for the lens on the same page and in this entry.
1912000–1936000
The most confused row in the table. It opens on 1912000 β€” the closing number of the preceding row, so one serial is claimed twice β€” spans 24,001 numbers, is dated 1962 although the general year list does not reach 1962 until 1913001, and carries a total of 3,300.
2472501–2473250 and 2503001–2503100
The last two blocks, both 1971 and together 850 lenses. They sit five years beyond the 1966 end this entry and the Leica Wiki's own header give the model.

Specifications

Formula
Elmar
Construction
4 elements / 3 groups
Aperture range
f/2.8–f/16
Diaphragm blades
15
Min. focus
1 m
Dimensions
50.96 Γ— 20.94 mm
Weight
220 g
Filter
39 mm
Years manufactured
1957–1966
Country
Germany
Material
Chrome-plated brass; lanthanum glass in the first and last elements

What reviewers say

History

The f/2.8 Elmar is Max Berek’s 1925 design given one more life. Four elements in three groups, exactly as before, but with lanthanum glass in the first and last elements β€” the rare-earth glass Leitz developed for the Summicron β€” which buys half a stop over the f/3.5 without changing the arrangement. About 74,000 were made between 1957 and 1966, in screw mount and bayonet.

Two numbers on its specification sheet stand out in this catalog. It has a fifteen-blade aperture, more than any other Leitz lens here, so the opening stays very nearly circular at every setting. And collapsed it is 20.94mm long, which makes it the shortest lens in this catalog by a wide margin β€” an M3 with this lens on it fits in a coat pocket in a way no other combination does.

It is also the last collapsible Leica lens of the traditional kind. Everything after it is rigid, because a lens that pushes into the body cannot have a rear element where a modern design wants one, and because the mechanism is one more thing to wear. The Elmar-M of 1994 revived the name and the four-element formula but not the collapsing barrel.

Some carry three crowns on the bottom ring: Swedish army issue, the same customer that bought three-crown Ifs and IIIgs.

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 β€” but no human wrote these sentences.

Example photos

Sample photo wanted β€” shot with a Elmar 5cm f/2.8? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $470 across 18 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $420–$560). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 2 days: down 2% from $480.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$470$420–$56018
2026-09-06$480$420–$70020

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: Elmar 5cm f/3.5 Β· Elmar-M 50mm f/2.8

Sources (6)

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 β€” corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.