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Elmarit 28mm f/2.8 (v1, 1965)

Ernst Leitz · Leica M · 1965 · Nine elements in six groups

Known as “Nine-element Elmarit”

Also known as: Elmarit 28mm f/2.8 first version · Elmarit 28 v1 · エルマリート 28mm F2.8 · Elmarit 28mm f/2.8 (first version) · Elmarit 28mm f/2.8 (first version) · Elmarit 28mm v1 · 9 element Elmarit

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Wetzlar Leica M 1965–1972 2061501–2063500 (1964) — the only block whose label names Wetzlar lenses, shared with Canada Part of 3,200 lenses in total
Ernst Leitz Canada Leica M 1965–1972 2061501–2063500 (1964) — Canada and Wetzlar together
2196901–2198100 (1966) — Canada alone 		No separate figure published
Yellow/white and red/white scales Leica M 1965–1972 2061501–2063500 (1964) — labelled RS, red scale only
2196901–2198100 (1966) — labelled RS+YS, red and yellow scales together 		No figures
  1. DO NOT MOUNT THIS ON A METERED M WITHOUT CHECKING. The deep rear element fouls the metering arm of an M5, which will not swing into position, and it interferes with the meter cells of later bodies. It fits an M8 or M9 mechanically but cannot meter on them. The Leica Wiki gives this warning on the model page rather than in a footnote, and it is the most consequential fact about the lens.
  2. The Leitz catalogue number is 11801. Leitz Photographica Auction gives the first production batch as starting at serial no. 2061501 and dates lenses from it to 1964, a year before the 1965 introduction usually quoted; its cataloguers describe both Wetzlar and Canada examples as first type.
  3. Prices realised, Leitz Photographica Auction 45, on consecutive lots: a first-batch Wetzlar lens, no. 2063176 in mint condition with hood 12501 and guarantee card, made €7,200 against a €6,000–7,000 estimate (lot 154), while no. 2062825, in excellent condition with a 28mm SLOOZ finder, made €4,800 (lot 155). Both figures include the buyer's premium.
  4. The production era at the head of the Leica Wiki page reads 1965–1972, but the only two serial blocks it lists are dated 1964 and 1966, and their totals of 2,000 and 1,200 close the 3,200 exactly. On the serial evidence every lens was numbered in two years, six years before the era ends. The wiki's own total line gives the span as 1964–1966.
  5. 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)
  • A rear element that protrudes deep into the body — the defining and disqualifying feature
  • 56mm long and 225 g, the largest of the four Elmarit 28s
  • Series VII or E48 filters, not the E39 or E46 of the later versions

Wetzlar:

  • LEITZ WETZLAR ELMARIT 1:2.8/28

Ernst Leitz Canada:

  • LEITZ CANADA in the engraving

Yellow/white and red/white scales:

  • Depth-of-field scale in yellow and white on some lenses, red and white on others

Serial-range notes

2061501–2063500, 2196901–2198100
THE RULE. Leitz never numbered a model from one, and never put a date inside the number. Serials were assigned in blocks drawn from a single running sequence shared by every lens the company made, so a number dates a copy only against the block list for its own model. This lens is the easiest in the family to check, because it has only two blocks and they account for every one of the 3,200 lenses: 2061501–2063500, 2,000 numbers dated 1964, and 2196901–2198100, 1,200 numbers dated 1966. A serial outside those two ranges is not a first Elmarit 28, whatever the seller believes, and there is no third block to hope for.
2061501–2063500
1964, 2,000 numbers, labelled ELC+ELW-RS by the Leica Wiki: Ernst Leitz Canada and Ernst Leitz Wetzlar lenses together, all with the red and white depth-of-field scale. This is the block Leitz Photographica calls the first batch, and its cataloguers likewise date it 1964, a year before the 1965 introduction usually quoted. Both auctioned examples recorded in this entry, 2063176 and 2062825, fall inside it.
2196901–2198100
1966, 1,200 numbers, labelled ELC-RS+YS: Canada only, and the block where the yellow and white scale appears. Anyone using the scale colour to identify a lens should read it the other way round — the yellow scale exists only in this block, but the red scale exists in both.
2198101
The proof of the rule, and the reason a Leitz serial cannot be read on its own. The very next number after this lens's last is the start of a 50mm f/1.4 Summilux-M block, 2198101 to 2199100, dated 1966 on the Summilux's own wiki page. The two models run consecutively out of one sequence, so a number one digit outside this lens's range is not an unlisted Elmarit but a different lens entirely.

Specifications

Formula
Nine elements in six groups
Construction
9 elements / 6 groups
Aperture range
f/2.8–f/22
Diaphragm blades
10
Min. focus
0.7 m
Dimensions
52.5 × 56 mm
Weight
225 g
Filter
48 mm
Years manufactured
1965–1972
Country
Germany

What reviewers say

History

The first 28mm Elmarit is a good lens with a design fault that outlived it. Nine elements in six groups, f/2.8, 76 degrees — a proper wide-angle for the M in 1965, when the alternative was the 21mm Super-Angulon and nothing in between. The problem is at the back: the rear element sits so deep in the body that it collides with things.

On an M5 the metering arm cannot swing into position. On later metered bodies it interferes with the cell. On an M8 or M9 it mounts and takes pictures but cannot meter. The Leica Wiki puts this warning on the model page rather than burying it, and anyone buying one should read it as a compatibility list rather than a caution: this lens works properly on an unmetered M, and on nothing else without checking.

That is why only 3,200 were made in seven years, and why the second version of 1972 is described first and foremost by what it does not have — no deep intruding element, so it works with the M5 and everything since. The optical differences between the two are minor. The mechanical one decided which cameras each could be used on.

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 28mm f/2.8 (v1, 1965)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $1,100 across 23 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $900–$1,400). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 2 days: up 15% from $1,000.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$1,100$900–$1,40023
2026-09-06$1,000$900–$1,30018

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

Show 47 more listings

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

Related: Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8 ASPH (v5, 2006) · Elmarit 28mm f/2.8 (v2, 1972) · Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8 (v3, 1979) · Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8 (v4, 1993) · Light Lens Lab 28mm f/2 ASPH · Light Lens Lab 28mm f/2.8 "Nine Element"

Sources (4)

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.