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

Elmar 5cm f/3.5

Ernst Leitz · LTM + Leica fixed · 1925 · Elmar (Tessar-type)

single source, unconfirmed

Known as “Red Scale Elmar”

Also known as: Leitz Elmar 50mm f/3.5 · Elmar 5cm f3.5 · Elmar 50/3.5 · エルマー 50mm F3.5 · Red Scale Elmar · Red Scale

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Fixed to the camera (Model A) Leica fixed 1926–1936 — 56,548 cameras carry it (Leica Wiki's Model A figures)
Nickel, screw mount LTM 1930–1933 — Listed in the serial tables as KUP
Chrome, screw mount LTM 1932–1950 — Listed as CHROM; the finish that carries most of the run
11 o'clock bell push LTM 1931–1932 — Serial blocks marked 11-BP
7 o'clock bell push LTM 1932–1950 — Serial blocks marked 7
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Engraved Leitz Elmar 1:3,5 F=50mm — a comma, not a point, in the aperture on early lenses
  • Collapsible barrel: the lens is pushed into the body and twisted to lock
  • The aperture is set by a small tab on the front rim, which moves round the lens as it is turned

Fixed to the camera (Model A):

  • No thread: the lens is part of the camera

Nickel, screw mount:

  • Nickel plating, which yellows rather than staying white

Chrome, screw mount:

  • Chrome plating

11 o'clock bell push:

  • The infinity lock sits at the 11 o'clock position

7 o'clock bell push:

  • Infinity lock at 7 o'clock

Serial-range notes

the 1930–32 blocks
The Leica Wiki's early rows carry no batch totals at all — the ranges are known and the quantities are not. Its own totals begin only in 1933.
812349
Flagged as an Elmar 5cm f/3.5 inside serial ranges the same wiki assigns to the Summitar.

Specifications

Formula
Elmar (Tessar-type)
Designed by
Max Berek — optical design
Construction
4 elements / 3 groups
Aperture range
f/3.5–f/18
Diaphragm blades
10
Min. focus
1 m
Weight
125 g
Filter
36 mm
Years manufactured
1925–1950
Country
Germany
Material
Nickel-plated or chrome-plated brass

What reviewers say

History

The Elmar is the lens the Leica was actually sold with. Max Berek designed it by simplifying his own five-element Elmax to four elements in three groups, with the aperture sitting between the second and third — a Tessar-like arrangement, cheaper to build and easier to hold to tolerance, which mattered because Leitz had to make thousands of them.

It arrived fixed to the front of the Model A in 1926 and stayed in the catalogue until 1950, first as part of the camera, then as the standard screw-mount lens from the Model C onward. Something over 36,000 were made in screw mount alone, on top of the 56,548 Model As that carry one permanently.

Collectors date them by two details. The plating went from nickel to chrome in the early 1930s, and the infinity lock — the small sprung catch collectors call the bell push — moved from 11 o’clock to 7 o’clock at about the same time. The Leica Wiki’s serial tables track both, and they are also where the record thins: every block before 1933 is listed with a range and no quantity at all. Leitz knew which numbers it had assigned and, apparently, not how many lenses came out of them.

Its influence is out of proportion to its specification. An f/3.5 standard lens was modest even in 1930, and the Elmar was the design the rest of the industry copied when the Leica thread became a de facto standard — the Soviet Industar-22 and Industar-50 are Elmars, and so is a good deal of early Japanese glass. The Elmar is also why “collapsible” is the normal shape for a Leica standard lens: it pushes into the body and locks with a twist, which is what made a camera this small make sense with a lens on it.

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 wanted — shot with a Elmar 5cm f/3.5? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $400 across 57 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $300–$550). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 2 days: down 1% from $400.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$400$300–$55057
2026-09-06$400$300–$55058

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 3.5cm f/3.5 · Elmar 5cm f/2.8 · Elmar 9cm f/4 · Elmar-M 50mm f/2.8 · Hektor 5cm f/2.5 · Tessar 5cm f/3.5

Sources (2)

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.