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

Elmarit-R 180mm f/2.8 (II)

Leica · Leica R · 1980 · Telephoto, five elements in four groups

Also known as: Elmarit-R 180mm f/2.8 II · Elmarit-R 180mm f2.8 II · Elmarit-R 180mm f/2.8 V2 · Elmarit-R 180mm f2.8 V2 · Elmarit-R 180mm f/2.8 (Type II) · Elmarit-R 180mm f2.8 Type II · Elmarit-R 180mm f/2.8 Ver.II · Elmarit-R 180mm F2.8 E67 · Elmarit-R 180mm f/2.8 · Elmarit-R 180mm f2.8 · Elmarit-R 180 mm f/2.8 · Elmarit-R 180 mm F/2.8 · Elmarit-R 180mm/F2.8 · Elmarit-R 180mm f/2,8 · Elmarit-R 180 mm f2,8 · Elmarit-R 2.8/180 · Elmarit-R 2,8/180 · Elmarit-R 2,8/180mm · Elmarit-R 1:2.8/180 · Elmarit-R 1:2,8/180 · Elmarit R 180mm f2.8 · Elmarit R 180mm f/2.8 · Elmarit R 2.8/180 · Leica 180mm f2.8 Elmarit-R · Leica 180mm f/2.8 Elmarit-R · Leica 180 mm f2,8 Elmarit-R · Leica 11923 · Leica 11356 · ライカ エルマリートR 180mm F2.8 · エルマリートR 180mm F2.8 · エルマリート R 180mm F2.8

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
11923, 3-cam, E67 Leica R, 3-cam (fits every Leicaflex and R body) 1980–1998 from 2939701 (Leica 1982 and 1989 handbooks) —
11923 converted to ROM by Leica service Leica R, ROM (R3 and later; not the Leicaflex bodies) — — —
11356, factory ROM Leica R, ROM (R3 and later; not the Leicaflex bodies) — — —
  1. Specification from Leica's handbooks of July 1982 and December 1989: 14°, five elements in four components, f/22 with half stops, 1.8 m, a smallest field of 193 × 290 mm (about 1:8), a non-rotating focusing mount, a built-on extensible hood, 121 mm from the bayonet flange and 75 mm across. The 1982 handbook offers E67 or Series 8 (adapter 14264) and lists a 1/4-inch (DIN 4503) tripod thread; the 1989 handbook prints E67 on the lens page, keeps the Series 8 adapter in its accessory table and lists no tripod thread. Kamerastore says the second version no longer has a tripod mount.
  2. Weight is the figure the sources agree on least. Leica's 1982 handbook gives 0.755 kg, Leica's 1989 handbook 0.825 kg, Kamerastore 825 g, Apotelyt 810 g, Erwin Puts 750 g and Orio Menoni (MFLenses) 850 gr. CineLensWiki's 450 g is far below every other figure. This page uses the 1989 handbook's 825 g.
  3. Dates: 1980 from Puts ('in 1980 a recomputed 2.8/180') and Kamerastore; CineLensWiki gives 1979–1998. The lens is absent from Leitz's catalogue of September 1978, which sells the 11919, and present in the handbook pages dated 4/81. The end comes from Leica's Handbook 2000/2001, which says the APO-Elmarit-R 180mm f/2.8 replaced both this lens and the APO-Telyt-R 180mm f/3.4; Puts dates the APO-Elmarit-R to 1998.
  4. Eight diaphragm blades are reported by Kamerastore and CineLensWiki, not by a Leitz document.
  5. Price: no period list price in DM or dollars is recorded here. Puts gives the relation instead: for a short period the 180mm f/4, f/3.4 and f/2.8 cost 2.4, 2.9 and 3.0 times a Summicron-R 50mm f/2, the f/2.8 being this recomputed lens of 1980.
  6. Extenders: Leica's 1989 handbook describes the Extender-R 2x (11236) as suitable for focal lengths of 50 mm and longer, preferably in aperture priority and manual mode, which includes this lens; with its two-stop loss the lens becomes a 360mm f/5.6. No source examined says whether the later APO-Extender-R 2x or 1.4x fit it.
  7. Production: no production figure from Leica or a published lens list is given here.
  8. MFLenses' fact sheet for this lens mixes in the APO-Elmarit-R's data (seven elements in five groups, 1.5 m, 132 mm, 730 g, 'product year 1968-1998'), and the comment posted under the name 'Leica Data Sheet' describes the APO lens. Only Orio Menoni's own text is used here.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Built-on telescopic hood, E67 front thread, 121 mm long and 75 mm across in Leica's 1982 and 1989 handbooks
  • Focuses to 1.8 m, smallest field 193 × 290 mm (about 1:8); the first Elmarit-R 180 focuses to 2 m and the APO-Telyt-R 180 to 2.5 m
  • No tripod mount by Kamerastore's account, where the heavy first version, 11919, has one, takes Series 8 filters in an M72 thread and weighs 1,325 g (Leitz 1978 catalogue; Kamerastore); but Leica's 1982 handbook still lists a 1/4-inch tripod thread for the 11923, so a tripod thread alone does not make a lens the first version
  • Not the APO-Elmarit-R 180mm f/2.8 of 1998, which is marked APO, focuses internally to 1.5 m and has ROM contacts from the start (Leica Handbook 2000/2001); check the engraving when a title leaves 'APO' out

11923, 3-cam, E67:

  • Seen from the back, two sloped Leicaflex cams and a third, stepped R-cam on the mount, and no row of ROM contacts (Kamerastore's description of a 3-cam lens)
  • E67 thread inside the front of the built-on telescopic hood, where the first Elmarit-R 180 takes Series 8 filters held by ring 14165 in an M72 thread (Leica 1982 handbook; Leitz 1978 catalogue; Kamerastore)
  • No tripod mount according to Kamerastore, where the first version has one; Leica's 1982 handbook still lists a 1/4-inch tripod thread for the 11923, the 1989 handbook does not
  • 121 mm long and 75 mm across, against 134 × 78 mm and 1,325 g for the first version (Leica handbooks; Leitz 1978 catalogue; Kamerastore; Apotelyt)
  • Serial number from 2,939,701 up; below it the lens is the first version, 11919 (Leica 1982 and 1989 handbooks)
  • 75 mm push-on front cap 14291 (Leica 1982 and 1989 handbooks)

11923 converted to ROM by Leica service:

  • An E67 lens numbered 11923 with a strip of ROM contacts at the back of the mount, where a factory 11923 has none; the serial dates the lens, not the conversion

11356, factory ROM:

  • ROM contacts on the back of the mount as delivered, and order number 11356 rather than 11923 on the box and papers

Serial-range notes

2939701
The first 11923 in Leica's own tables. The 1982 handbook's accessory table gives the lens "Code No. 2 939 701", the 1989 table "from No. 2939701", and both books treat the 11919 first version as running "to Serial No. 2 939 700". On the general Leitz year list 2,939,701 falls in the 1978 band, 2,880,601–2,967,250, while Leitz's catalogue of 15 September 1978 still sells only the 11919, which suggests the block was allotted some time before the lens went on sale.
the seven-digit number on the front ring
The rule for every Leitz and Leica lens: numbers run in one sequence shared across models, reserved in blocks, so a number dates a lens only roughly against the general year list. The bands for the years of this lens run from 3,013,651–3,087,000 for 1980 to 3,818,625–3,857,849 for 1998. A number at or above 2,939,701 on a lens that otherwise looks like the first version would need explaining.

Specifications

Formula
Telephoto, five elements in four groups
Construction
5 elements / 4 groups
Aperture range
f/2.8–f/22
Diaphragm blades
8
Min. focus
1.8 m
Dimensions
75 × 121 mm
Weight
825 g
Filter
67 mm (0.75 mm pitch), E67 screw-in (M 67 × 0.75); Series 8 through adapter 14264
Years manufactured
1980–1998
Country
Germany (Leitz Wetzlar: Kamerastore, Apotelyt)
Material
Black finished metal barrel with built-on telescopic hood

What reviewers say

History

The second Elmarit-R 180mm f/2.8 is the lens that made a fast 180 something a Leica R photographer could carry. Erwin Puts writes that the first Elmarit-R 180 of 1967 was Leitz’s answer to the Contarex Sonnar 180mm f/2.8 and weighed 1,300 g, 300 g more than the Sonnar. (Leitz’s 1978 catalogue gives 1,325 g.) In 1980 Leitz brought out a recomputed 2.8/180. Puts says it performed somewhat better and weighed only 750 g, at a time when the 180 was more and more used hand-held to follow moving subjects. Leica’s handbooks sell it as order number 11923, a five-element, four-group lens with a built-on telescopic hood, an E67 front thread, close focus at 1.8 m, 121 mm long and 75 mm across. Kamerastore says it no longer has the first version’s tripod mount, though the 1982 handbook still lists a 1/4-inch tripod thread on it. Kamerastore calls it a Leitz Wetzlar lens and says thinner glass elements improved performance and cut weight. Puts still ranks it below the APO-Telyt-R 180mm f/3.4, which Leitz Canada had computed in 1975. Leica’s Handbook 2000/2001 says the APO-Elmarit-R 180mm f/2.8, which Puts dates to 1998, replaced both lenses.

The weight is the one figure nobody agrees on. Leica’s own handbook of 1982 gives 0.755 kg and that of 1989 0.825 kg. Kamerastore says 825 g, Apotelyt 810 g and Puts 750 g. The optics, dimensions and focusing range are the same in both books.

Leica’s tables give no sign that the optics changed between the versions recorded here; what differs is how the lens talks to the body. The 11923 is a 3-cam lens: seen from the back, the mount carries two sloped cams for the Leicaflex bodies and the stepped R-cam, and Leica’s 1989 handbook lists it for all R models in all modes and for all Leicaflex models. On an R8 or R9 it meters at full aperture but passes no focal length to the body. The Handbook 2000/2001 adds two ROM forms: a service conversion of the 11923 and a factory ROM lens, 11356, marked “already with ROM”. Leica says a lens fitted with ROM contacts loses its Leicaflex cams and no longer fits the Leicaflex bodies. No dated 11356 is recorded here. Leica’s tables start the 11923 at serial 2,939,701, the number after the last first-version lens. Leica’s 1989 handbook describes the Extender-R 2x as suitable for lenses of 50 mm and longer, preferably in aperture priority and manual mode; on this lens it gives 360mm at f/5.6.

Orio Menoni, writing for MFLenses in 2006, found it fully usable wide open, much sharper there than the Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 180 and with little corner falloff, with the slightly cool colour he calls typical of Leica.

When buying, read the front, the back and the serial together. An E67 thread, the short 121 mm barrel and a number from 2,939,701 up mean the second version. Series 8 filters, a tripod mount, a 134 mm barrel and a lower number mean the heavy 11919. A strip of contacts means ROM, either an 11923 converted by Leica or a factory 11356, and then the lens will not fit a Leicaflex. Titles that say only “Elmarit-R 180 2.8” can mean either version, and sellers sometimes leave the “APO” off the 1998 lens, so check the photographs. The APO lens focuses internally to 1.5 m and is longer at 132 mm. Pull out the telescopic hood, which is part of the barrel, and look through the lens for haze before paying.

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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

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Live listings

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Related: Elmarit-R 180mm f/2.8 (I) · APO-Elmarit-R 180mm f/2.8 · APO-Telyt-R 180mm f/3.4 · Elmar-R 180mm f/4 · Elmarit-R 135mm f/2.8 (II)

Sources (10)

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.