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

Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8 (v3, 1979)

Ernst Leitz · Leica M · 1979 · Eight elements in six groups

Also known as: Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8 v3 · Elmarit 28 third version · Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8 (third version) · Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8 (third version) · Elmarit 28 v3 · Elmarit 28mm v3

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Standard Leica M 1979–1993 3041001–3042000 (1980)
3154501–3155500 (1981)
3245101–3246100 (1982)
3293401–3294400 (1983)
3392801–3393300 (1986) — 500 numbers
3466571–3467070 (1988) — 500 numbers
3507631–3507845 (1990) — 215 numbers, the smallest block of the run
3518796–3519795 (1990)
3575634–3576533 (1991) — 900 numbers, the last block published
2977551–2978550 (1979) — the opening block, printed on the page under the Elmarit-R name and corrected in a footnote 		The bulk of 17,116 lenses
1913–1983 anniversary Leica M 1983–1983 3168001–3169000 (1982)
3189701–3190700 (1982)
3205801–3206800 (1982) — shared with Ernst Leitz Canada lenses 		No figure published
Ernst Leitz Canada Leica M 1979–1990 3037401–3038400 (1980)
3205801–3206800 (1982) — shared with the 1913–1983 anniversary lenses
3425691–3426690 (1987)
3438501–3439500 (1987) — shared with Wetzlar lenses
3558368–3559367 (1991)
2978001 and 2978506 (1979) — two individual numbers the wiki footnotes as 11 804-ELC inside the opening block 		No separate figure published
  1. The serial table on the Leica Wiki's own page totals 17,115 numbers assigned across nineteen blocks — one short of the 17,116 printed at the head of the same page — and the last block ends in 1991, two years before the 1993 end of the production era the page gives.
  2. The anniversary variant carries no published figure, but three 1,000-lens blocks numbered in 1982 are marked (13-83) in that serial table: 3168001–3169000, 3189701–3190700 and 3205801–3206800, the last of them shared with Ernst Leitz Canada lenses. That puts the 1913–1983 lenses at up to about 3,000 numbers.
  3. Catalogue and accessory details the entry lacks: Leica order number 11804, hood 12536, accessory finder SLOOZ, 76 degrees diagonal, and a filter mount given as E39 inside an M 49 × 0.75 external thread.
  4. The nineteen blocks are not evenly spread. Ten of the seventeen thousand numbers were assigned between 1979 and 1983, in the first five years; the remaining eight years share the rest, and 1984, 1985, 1992 and 1993 have no block at all. A third-version Elmarit is therefore far more likely to be an early lens than the fourteen-year production span suggests.
  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)
  • E39 filters — the same as the 35 and 50 Summicrons, so one set of filters covers three lenses
  • 50 g lighter and much shorter than the second version

Standard:

  • E39 filter thread, replacing the E48 of the earlier versions

1913–1983 anniversary:

  • Anniversary marking, matching the M4-P edition of the same year

Ernst Leitz Canada:

  • LEITZ LENS MADE IN CANADA

Serial-range notes

2977551–3576533
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. Nineteen blocks cover this lens between 2977551 and 3576533. Find the number in the SN Start / SN End table on the Leica Wiki page for the third version and read the year off its row; a number falling between the blocks belongs to some other Leica lens. This is the longest block list of any Elmarit 28 and the one where the rule pays best, because fourteen years of outwardly identical lenses are separated by nothing else.
2977551–2978550
1979, and the trap on the page. The row is printed as "28mm f/2.8 Elmarit-R" with its total bracketed [1000], and the wiki corrects itself in a footnote above the table: "Lens nos. 2978001 & 2978506 are type -M not -R as listed (11 804-ELC)". So the opening block of the M-mount lens is filed on its own page under the R-mount name, and the correction rests on two individual lenses rather than on the block. It is nonetheless counted in the 17,115.
3037401–3038400, 3041001–3042000
1980, 2,000 numbers in two blocks, the first of them Ernst Leitz Canada.
3168001–3169000, 3189701–3190700, 3205801–3206800
The 1913–1983 anniversary blocks, all dated 1982 and all of 1,000 numbers, the third shared with Canadian lenses. Three thousand numbers is the ceiling on how many anniversary lenses exist; no figure of its own has been published.
3276401–3277400, 3438501–3439500, 3487551–3488550
The Wetzlar blocks — 1983, 1987 and 1989, the middle one shared with Canada. Walter Mandler designed this lens in Midland and the entry gives its country as Canada, but three of the nineteen blocks are marked ELW, so a German-made third version is not an anomaly to be argued away. There is no Wetzlar variant row in this entry's table because no separate figure has been published for them.
3558368–3559367
1991, Ernst Leitz Canada, and the last Canadian block on the page — a year later than the 1990 end this entry gives the ELC variant. The wiki's block dating and the variant's published span disagree by one year; both are recorded.
3575634–3576533
1991, 900 numbers, the last block assigned. Nothing is listed for 1992 or 1993, so a copy of this version cannot be dated to the last two years of its own production era.
3507631–3507845
1990, 215 numbers — the smallest block of the nineteen, and the only one that is not a round hundred or thousand.

Specifications

Formula
Eight elements in six groups
Designed by
Walter Mandler — optical design
Construction
8 elements / 6 groups
Aperture range
f/2.8–f/22
Diaphragm blades
8
Min. focus
0.7 m
Dimensions
51 mm diameter
Weight
250 g
Filter
39 mm
Years manufactured
1979–1993
Country
Canada
Material
Black lacquered brass

What reviewers say

History

The third Elmarit 28 is the one that stopped being awkward. Same eight elements in six groups as the second version, 50 grams lighter, considerably shorter, and — the change that matters day to day — an E39 filter thread, which is what the 35mm and 50mm Summicrons take. One set of filters and one hood collection now covered three focal lengths, where the earlier 28s had needed their own E48 or Series VII fittings.

17,116 were made across fourteen years, more than the first two versions together and more than twice as long in production. It is the 28 that the M6 generation was sold with, and its price today reflects abundance rather than any deficiency: around $950 in the Leica Wiki’s 2010 figures, when a first-version lens with all its compatibility problems cost more.

A small run carries the 1913–1983 anniversary marking, matching the M4-P edition of the same year — Leitz counting seventy years from the Ur-Leica prototype rather than from the camera it eventually sold.

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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 (v3, 1979)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $1,200 across 26 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $980–$1,400). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 2 days: unchanged from $1,200.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$1,200$980–$1,40026
2026-09-06$1,200$980–$1,40021

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: Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8 ASPH (v5, 2006) · Elmarit 28mm f/2.8 (v1, 1965) · Elmarit 28mm f/2.8 (v2, 1972) · Elmarit-M 28mm f/2.8 (v4, 1993)

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.