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

Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8 ASPH (v5, 2006)

Leica · Leica M · 2006 · Eight elements in six groups with an aspherical surface

Also known as: Elmarit-M 28 ASPH · 28mm f/2.8 ASPH Elmarit · Elmarit 28 v5 · Elmarit 28 ASPH v5 · Elmarit 28mm v5

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
6-bit coded (11606) Leica M 2006 3928917 (2006) — the lowest number the Leica Wiki records for this lens
3997682–3999025 (2007) — observed, open at both ends
4005877–4007583 (2008) — observed
4037099–4043484 (2009) — observed
4086805–4100089 (2010) — observed
4118183–4136266 (2011) — observed
up to 4191851 (2012) — observed; the lower bound is given as unknown 		Current production
  1. The 11606 shipped from October 2006 and ran to 2016. In January 2016 Leica replaced it with the 11677, which Ken Rockwell reports as identical in optics, size and weight, differing only in a metal hood where the 11606 had a plastic one.
  2. Design focal length is 28.5 mm rather than a round 28, and the maximum reproduction ratio is 1:22 (Ken Rockwell).
  3. The supplied 12 526 clip-on hood has no cut-out for the viewfinder, so on a full-frame body it appears as a black patch across the lower right of the finder — the one thing the lens does intrude on, having been designed not to.
  4. Two design focal lengths are in print for this lens. The Leica Wiki's data block gives 28.4 mm and puts the entrance pupil 12.8 mm behind the front surface; Ken Rockwell gives 28.5 mm. Both are recorded rather than one chosen.
  5. Alone in this family of Elmarits, no assigned serial-number block list has been published for this lens. Every other version — 1965, 1972, 1979, 1992 — has a table of factory batches with years and counts that closes on its stated production total. This one has seven rows of serials collected from lenses people happen to own, and a total line reading "unknown".
  6. Buyers number the 28mm f/2.8 Elmarits v1 to v6: v1 of 1965 (nine elements, the Wetzlar and Canada lens), v2 of 1972, v3 of 1979, v4 of 1993, v5 the ASPH of 2006, and v6 the ASPH II of 2016, a new optical design not yet on these pages. This entry uses that numbering; the other pages carry the rest.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • E39 filters, back to the size the third version used
  • 75 degrees on film; 60 degrees on an 18×27 sensor, which is a 37mm lens in 35mm terms

6-bit coded (11606):

  • 6-bit identification code machined into the bayonet flange
  • 10-blade diaphragm with half-stop clicks

Serial-range notes

3928917 and above
THE RULE, and its failure. For every earlier Elmarit the Leica Wiki publishes assigned blocks — SN Start, SN End, a year, a count — and a serial is dated by finding its block. This lens has no such table. Its page carries seven rows headed "Serial numbers compiled from known lenses", each giving the lowest and highest number anyone has reported for a year, and its total line reads "unknown". A copy can be placed in a year by seeing which observed span it falls in, and that is the whole of what is available: it is an approximation from other people's lenses, not a factory record.
3997682–3999025, 4005877–4007583, 4037099–4043484, 4086805–4100089, 4118183–4136266
The observed spans for 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. The wiki prints leading and trailing dashes on these rows to mark them open at both ends — more lenses exist below and above each figure.
1,344 / 1,707 / 6,386 / 13,285 / 18,084
THE NUMBERS NOT TO TRUST. The figures in the Total column of those five rows are not production counts. Each is the arithmetic distance between the row's own two serials plus one: 3999025 minus 3997682 is 1,343, and the row reads 1,344. What they measure is how far Leica's whole serial sequence moved in a year — every lens of every model — and only the two endpoints are known to be this one. The 18,084 against 2011 is not eighteen thousand aspherical Elmarits.
3928917
The 2006 row, and the earliest number recorded for the lens. Its upper bound is given as unknown, so nothing marks where the first year ends. The 11606 shipped from October 2006, which leaves about three months of production behind this single number.
4037099
Marked by the Leica Wiki with a tilde — "stolen lens, please report if found on sale". It is also the lower bound of the 2009 row, so the only lens fixing the start of that year is a stolen one.
the 11677 of 2016 onward
No serial data of any kind has been published for the replacement. The Leica Wiki page covers the 11606 and stops its observed rows at 2012; the 11677 that succeeded it in January 2016 has no serial list, no observed spans and no published production figure. For that lens the metal hood is the identification and the number tells a reader nothing.

Specifications

Formula
Eight elements in six groups with an aspherical surface
Construction
8 elements / 6 groups
Aperture range
f/2.8–f/22
Diaphragm blades
10
Min. focus
0.7 m
Filter
39 mm
Years manufactured
2006
Country
Germany
Original price
$1,495 in the United States in February 2007, a few months after the October 2006 launch; $1,800 in January 2009, briefly $1,500 after a $300 mail-in rebate; $2,000 in October 2011; and $2,297 in October 2017 for the metal-hood 11677 (Ken Rockwell's dated US price log).

What reviewers say

History

The aspherical Elmarit 28 is the version Leica still sells, and its specification sheet marks a change in what a Leica lens is for. Eight elements in six groups with one aspherical surface, a ten-blade diaphragm, E39 filters, 6-bit coding as standard. All ordinary enough.

What is new is the second set of numbers. Leica publishes the angle of view twice — 75 degrees diagonally on 24×36 film, and 60 degrees on an 18×27 sensor, where it behaves like a 37mm lens. This is the first entry in this catalog where the maker’s own data sheet assumes the lens will be used on two different formats, and prints the smallest object field for both. The M mount had been one format for fifty years; from here it is two.

The 6-bit code is the other half of that. It tells a digital body which lens is mounted so the camera can correct vignetting and the colour shift that afflicts wide lenses on a sensor. Mounted on an M6, the same six marks do nothing at all.

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 Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8 ASPH (v5, 2006)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $2,500 across 31 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $2,300–$3,000). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 2 days: unchanged from $2,500.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$2,500$2,300–$3,00031
2026-09-06$2,500$2,300–$3,00031

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

Show 65 more listings

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

Related: Elmarit 28mm f/2.8 (v1, 1965) · Elmarit 28mm f/2.8 (v2, 1972) · Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8 (v3, 1979) · Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8 (v4, 1993) · Summicron-M 28mm f/2 ASPH

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.