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

Elmarit-R 19mm f/2.8 (II)

Leica · Leica R · 1990

Also known as: Elmarit-R 19mm f/2.8 II · Elmarit-R 19mm f2.8 II · Elmarit-R 19mm II · Elmarit-R 19mm f/2.8 Type II · Elmarit-R 19mm f2.8 Type II · Elmarit-R 19mm f/2.8 ROM · Elmarit-R 19mm f2.8 ROM · Elmarit-R 19mm ROM · Elmarit-R 19mm f/2.8 · Elmarit-R 19mm f2.8 · Elmarit-R 19mm f2,8 · Elmarit-R 19mm · Elmarit-R 2.8/19 · Elmarit-R 2,8/19 · Elmarit-R 2.8/19mm · Elmarit-R 2,8/19mm · Elmarit-R 1:2.8/19 · Elmarit-R 1:2,8/19 · Elmarit R 19mm f2.8 · Elmarit R 19mm f/2.8 · Elmarit R 19mm · Elmarit R 2.8/19 · Elmarit R 2,8/19 · 19mm f2.8 Elmarit-R · 19mm f/2.8 Elmarit-R · 19mm Elmarit-R · 19mm f2.8 Elmarit R · Leica R 19mm f2.8 Elmarit · Leica R 19mm Elmarit · Leica 19mm f2.8 Elmarit R · Leica 19mm f/2.8 R ROM · Leica 11258 · Leica 11329 · Elmarit-R 11258 · Elmarit-R 11329 · エルマリートR 19mm F2.8 後期 · ライカ エルマリートR 19mm F2.8 ROM · ELMARIT-R 19mm F2.8

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
R-cam only, no contacts (11258) Leica R, R-cam only (R3 to R9; not the Leicaflex bodies) 1990 — —
ROM from the factory (11329) Leica R, ROM (R3 to R9; not the Leicaflex bodies) — — —
11258 converted to ROM by Leica service Leica R, ROM (R3 to R9; not the Leicaflex bodies) — — —
  1. Specification from Leica documents: the 2000/2001 handbook gives 96°, twelve elements in ten components, the turret with ND×1, yellow, orange and blue (KB12) filters, f/22, 0.30 m, a smallest field of 264 × 396 mm (about 1:11), a 'parallel guided focusing mount', black anodized finish, a lockable hood, a 68 mm lens cap, 60 mm from the flange, 71 mm across and 0.560 kg. Leica's technical data sheet gives 97° diagonal (87° horizontal, 65° vertical), a focal length of 19.4 mm, 12/10 elements, 'yellow-green YG' for the yellow filter, 'rear component focusing', 60 mm, 71 mm and about 560 g, and a bayonet 'for LEICA R3 to LEICA R9'. Puts describes a floating element. The engraving on the turret reads YG.
  2. Six diaphragm blades are reported by shige-art only, not by a Leica document.
  3. Dates: shige-art gives 1990, and gives the Leica Wiki as his source for the production figure. Erwin Puts writes that the 19mm 'was completely redesigned in 1991', and English Wikipedia's table of R lenses gives 1991–2009. Leica's December 1989 handbook still lists only the first version, which fits either date. The end is given as 2009, when Leica stopped the R system, by English Wikipedia; shige-art's specification table gives 1990–2005 under 'release date', and his text says it was sold until the end of the R system. Shige-art also writes that the new lens arrived eight years after production of the first version ended, though Leica's December 1989 handbook still lists the first version.
  4. Production: about 5,900 lenses by 2005, the Leica Wiki's figure as shige-art reports it. Apotelyt gives no figure.
  5. Body fit. Leica's data sheet and 2000/2001 handbook name only R bodies, R3 onwards. English Wikipedia and Photoethnography both say R-only and ROM lenses have a slightly different bayonet that will not mount on the Leicaflex bodies, and Doug Herr, quoted by Photoethnography, lists 'the current version' of the 19mm Elmarit-R among the lenses that cannot be used on the Leicaflex and SL because the SL2 changed the mirror clearance (the first version, he says, is fine). Photoethnography adds that ROM contacts are damaged by the Leicaflex cam follower. Against that, the 2000/2001 handbook footnotes the 11329's heading 'Modification for additional use on LEICAFLEX models is possible', while its own conversion page says Leica service can fit the control cams to most lenses for use on Leicaflex cameras (a bayonet exchange, its footnote says), that the contact ledge can then no longer be used, and that any Leicaflex cams must be removed when contacts are fitted. This page lists only the R3 to R9 as related, the bodies the lens fits as made; a lens converted for a Leicaflex is a modified lens, and Herr's warning makes the original Leicaflex and the SL doubtful even then.
  6. 'Type II (3-Cam)': Kamerastore titles its 11258 lenses that way. No Leica document consulted gives the second version sloped Leicaflex cams from the factory, and the photographed example has no ROM contacts. A lens fitted with Leicaflex cams by Leica service under the modification above would be one; none with a documented conversion is recorded here, so it is not a variant.
  7. Market prices seen in November 2026, dealer asking prices for used lenses, not list prices: Kamerastore €2,749 for no. 3503538 with hood and box, and the same figure for a second 11258 offered with cine conversion parts and an EF adapter. Flashback Camera's ROM lens is marked sold, without a price. Apotelyt gives a used range of US$1,000–2,000, against US$400–800 for the first version. Kamerastore does not say on the listing whether VAT is included. No period list price in DM or dollars is recorded here.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Compact black barrel of almost even width, 60 mm long and 71 mm across, with a moderate front element; the first version (11225, 1975) is the squat lens with a very large front element and an internal 82 mm thread
  • Filter turret ring at the front, engraved ND×1, YG, Or and KB12; slide it forward and turn it to change filter. No front filter thread
  • Rectangular hood 12546 that clips into a groove at the front and locks, with its own rectangular cover 14302
  • Aperture ring with half-stop clicks from f/2.8 to f/22
  • The mount generation is read at the back: stepped R-cam alone (11258), or R-cam with gold contacts (11329, or a converted 11258)

R-cam only, no contacts (11258):

  • Seen from the back, the stepped R-cam on the mount ring and no row of gold contacts
  • Order number 11258 on the box and in dealers' listings; Kamerastore's example is no. 3503538
  • Engraved LEICA and ELMARIT-R 1:2.8/19 on the front ring, LENS MADE IN GERMANY on the barrel; no Leitz name

ROM from the factory (11329):

  • A row of gold ROM contacts at the back of the mount beside the stepped R-cam
  • Order number 11329

11258 converted to ROM by Leica service:

  • ROM contacts on a lens sold as 11258, or on a serial older than the R8 of 1996
  • The serial dates the lens, not the conversion

Serial-range notes

the seven-digit number on the front ring
Leica numbered every lens in one shared sequence, reserved in blocks, so a number dates a lens only roughly. Dealer examples run from no. 3503538 (Kamerastore, an 11258 without contacts) to the 3,930,000 range (Flashback Camera, a ROM lens it dates to 2001). No published serial block table for this lens is cited here.

Specifications

Formula
Retrofocus ultra-wide-angle, twelve elements in ten groups, mainly single elements, with a floating element (Puts)
Construction
12 elements / 10 groups
Aperture range
f/2.8–f/22
Diaphragm blades
6
Min. focus
0.3 m
Dimensions
71 × 60 mm
Weight
560 g
Filter
Built-in turret: ND×1 (clear), yellow-green, orange, KB12 blue; no front thread
Years manufactured
1990–2009
Country
Germany ('LENS MADE IN GERMANY' on the barrel; Solms design, Puts)
Material
Black anodized metal barrel (Leica 2000/2001)

What reviewers say

History

The second Elmarit-R 19mm f/2.8 replaced the first in 1990 or 1991, and it was designed afresh at Solms. The first version of 1975 was, in Erwin Puts’s words, a Midland design, with 4% distortion and a tendency to flare that he puts down to its very large front element. Puts writes that the 19mm “was completely redesigned in 1991” and that the new lens shows the modern Solms approach of using mainly single elements, twelve of them in ten groups, with a floating element for close range. Shige-art dates the lens to 1990 and English Wikipedia to 1991; Leica’s own handbook of December 1989 still lists only the first version, though shige-art writes that its production had ended some eight years before the new lens arrived.

The new lens is slimmer than the old one: Apotelyt gives the first version as 88 × 60 mm and the second as 71 × 60 mm, and Leica gives 560 g. It has no front filter thread. Instead a turret built into the lens carries four filters: ND×1, which shige-art says is clear and serves as protection, yellow-green, orange and a KB12 blue conversion filter, selected by sliding the front ring forward and turning it. The rectangular hood 12546 clips into a groove at the front and locks, and its rectangular cover protects the front element when the lens is stored. Puts, writing in 2003, rated it very highly: crisp and contrasty at f/2.8 except in the extreme corners, which vignette by more than two stops, and flare well controlled; the old lens, he says, needed f/5.6 to match the new one wide open. Shige-art, shooting it on film, on the Digital-Modul-R and on a mirrorless SL, finds it sharp to the edges with slight vignetting on full frame.

The versions differ only at the back of the mount. The first lenses, order number 11258, have the stepped R-cam alone, with no Leicaflex cams and no contacts. The ROM version, 11329, adds the strip of gold contacts that the R8 and R9 read for their electronic exposure control, and it was the only 19mm in Leica’s 2000/2001 catalogue. The same handbook says an 11258 could be converted to ROM, so contacts on a lens with an older serial need not mean a factory 11329. Kamerastore sells its 11258 lenses as “3-Cam”, but no Leica document gives the second version Leicaflex cams from the factory.

On bodies, Leica’s data sheet names the R3 to the R9. R-only and ROM lenses have a bayonet deliberately shaped not to mount on the Leicaflex cameras, according to English Wikipedia and Photoethnography. Doug Herr, quoted by Photoethnography, adds that this version of the 19mm, unlike the first, must not be used on the original Leicaflex or the SL, because Leitz changed the mirror clearance with the SL2. Leica’s 2000/2001 handbook says, all the same, that the lens can be modified for use on Leicaflex models; that means fitting the sloped cams, which its own conversion page says rules out the ROM contacts. Anyone buying one for a Leicaflex SL2 should ask what was done to it and by whom. On adapted digital bodies the rear of the lens can catch a mirror too: shige-art found it struck the mirror of a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III and an EOS-1D Mark IV, but worked on an APS-C EOS 7D.

About 5,900 were made by 2005, the Leica Wiki’s figure as shige-art reports it, and Apotelyt’s used ranges put the second at more than twice the price of the first. When buying, check that the turret turns through all four filters and that the filters are clean, since there is no way to protect the front element except the hood and its cover. The hood is part of the lens’s protection and is worth having. Look at the back of the mount for the contacts if a ROM lens is wanted for an R8, R9 or a digital adapter that reads them. In November 2026 Kamerastore was asking €2,749 for an 11258 with hood and box, a dealer’s asking price for a used lens. No period list price is recorded here.

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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

More sample photos elsewhere

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Sample photo wanted — shot with a Elmarit-R 19mm f/2.8 (II)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $3,800 across 13 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-09 (middle half $3,200–$4,800). First day tracked.

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

Related: Elmarit-R 19mm f/2.8 (I) · Super-Elmarit-R 15mm f/2.8 ASPH. · Elmarit-R 24mm f/2.8 · Vario-Elmar-R 21-35mm f/3.5-4 ASPH.

Sources (11)

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.