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

Elmarit-R 28mm f/2.8 (I)

Leica · Leica R · 1970 · Retrofocus wide-angle, eight separate elements (8/8)

Also known as: Elmarit-R 28mm f/2.8 · Elmarit-R 28mm f2.8 · Elmarit-R 28mm f2,8 · Elmarit-R 28mm 2.8 · Elmarit R 28mm f2.8 · Elmarit R 28mm f/2.8 · Elmarit-R 28/2.8 · Elmarit-R 2.8/28 · Elmarit-R 2,8/28 · Elmarit-R 1:2.8/28 · Elmarit-R 2.8/28mm · Elmarit-R 28mm · Elmarit-R 28mm f/2.8 I · Elmarit-R 28mm f2.8 Type I · Elmarit-R 28mm f2.8 first version · Leica Elmarit-R 28mm f2.8 Type I · Leica R 28mm f2.8 Elmarit · Leica R 28mm f2.8 Elmarit-R · 28mm f2.8 Elmarit-R · 28mm f/2.8 Elmarit-R · Elmarit-R 28/2.8 11204 · Elmarit-R 11204 · Leica 11204 · ライカ LEICA ELMARIT-R 28mm F2.8

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
2-cam (11204) Leica R, 2-cam (every Leicaflex body at full aperture; on R bodies only once a third cam is fitted, by Leica's rule) 1970–1976 — —
3-cam (11204) Leica R, 3-cam (every Leicaflex and R body) 1976 below 3367501 —
R-cam only (from No. 3,367,501; order number 11247) Leica R, R-cam only (R bodies; Leicaflex bodies only after Leica service fits the cams) — 3367501 onward —
Converted to ROM by Leica service Leica R, ROM (R3 and later; not the Leicaflex bodies) — — —
  1. Specification from Leitz and Leica documents: the General Catalogue of 15 Sept 1978, the Handbook of July 1982 and the Handbook of Dec 1989. They agree on 76°, eight elements in eight components, Series 7 in the hood with an internal M 48 × 0.75 thread, f/22 with half-stop clicks, 0.3 m, 40 mm from the flange, 63 mm across, a 51 mm lens cap (14172) and 0.275 kg.
  2. Weight: Leitz prints 0.275 kg, as do Kamerastore and Apotelyt; Erwin Puts writes 'only 300 grams', and Shige gives 390 g. Casual Photophile gives 275 g and 62 mm across.
  3. Aperture blades: Kamerastore gives six; Shige and Casual Photophile give eight, and Shige says the second version went to six. No Leitz document read for this page gives a figure, so the field is left blank.
  4. Dates: Puts and Kamerastore give 1970, and Casual Photophile says the lens was shown at Photokina 1970. Shige and Casual Photophile end production in 1992. Puts says it stayed in production for 'almost 25 years', and Flashback Camera that the formula was kept until 1994, the year of the second version.
  5. Production: Shige gives 50,510 to 1992, citing the Leica Wiki; Casual Photophile gives about 50,500.
  6. Safari: Casual Photophile and Shige describe an olive-green Safari version, and Casual Photophile gives it the order number 11206 and puts 6,000 of the 50,500 lenses in Safari green, 'to match the Leica R3 Safari cameras'. Shige calls it a limited kit lens for the R3 Safari. That figure exceeds the 5,000 R3 Safari numbers on Leica's serial data (this site's R3 page), and the R3 page's Leitz Auction Safari outfit came with an olive Summilux-R 50mm, not this lens. No olive example was examined for this page, so it is not a variant here.
  7. Order numbers: the 2000/2001 handbook's ROM table also prints 'ELMARIT-R f/2.8/28 11812 possible', but 11812 is the PC-Super-Angulon-R 28mm, listed a few lines further down as 'not possible'; it is taken as a misprint.
  8. Maker: no source read for this page ties the R lens to Leitz Canada at Midland; the Canadian 28mm lenses on the market are Elmarit-M rangefinder lenses. Whether late lenses are engraved LEICA rather than LEITZ WETZLAR is not recorded.
  9. Prices: no period list price in DM or dollars was found. Dealer figures seen in November 2026: Kamerastore's certified-condition reference price of US$643 for a 2-cam lens and US$561 for its 3-cam lens no. 2804603 (these move from day to day); Apotelyt gives a used range of US$300–400. The Leitz Auction prototype result of €1,200 includes buyer's premium, with VAT due on top inside the EU.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Short black barrel, 40 mm from the flange and 63 mm across, with the aperture ring by the mount and the focusing ring in front; no filter thread you can see in use, because Series 7 filters sit in the rectangular clip-on hood 12509, which locks on a pin at the front of the barrel, or E48 filters go into the internal M 48 × 0.75 thread
  • The hood 12509 also served the Elmarit-R 35mm 11201 (the Series 7 lenses from No. 2,517,851) and the Summicron-R 35mm 11227 up to No. 2,791,416 (Leitz 1978, 1982)
  • The cam generation is read at the back of the mount: two sloped cams (2-cam), sloped cams plus a stepped cam (3-cam), stepped cam alone (R-only), or contacts (ROM-converted)
  • Not the second Elmarit-R 28mm of 1994 (11259, ROM 11333), which has a built-in hood, E55 thread and a floating element; not the Elmarit-M 28mm rangefinder lenses, nor the PC-Super-Angulon-R 28mm

2-cam (11204):

  • Seen from the back, two sloped cams on the mount ring and no stepped R-cam
  • Series 7 front taking the rectangular clip-on hood 12509; order number 11204 on the box

3-cam (11204):

  • Seen from the back, two sloped cams beside the stepped R-cam, and no row of gold contacts
  • A serial number below 3,367,501, the break in Leica's 1989 handbook after which the lens no longer fits the Leicaflex bodies
  • Order number 11204 on the box

R-cam only (from No. 3,367,501; order number 11247):

  • Seen from the back, only the stepped R-cam on the mount ring, no sloped Leicaflex cams and no gold contacts
  • A serial number from 3,367,501 on
  • Order number 11247 on the box

Converted to ROM by Leica service:

  • A strip of ROM contacts at the back of the mount, with any sloped Leicaflex cams removed, on the Series 7 barrel with the 12509 hood
  • The serial number dates the lens, not the conversion; a factory ROM 28mm (11333) is the second version, with a built-on hood and E55

Serial-range notes

3367501
The break in Leica's December 1989 handbook: from this number the 28mm Elmarit-R fits the R models but no longer the Leicaflex models, and Leica service can equip it for all of them. A lower number may have been converted to ROM since, and a higher one fitted with Leicaflex cams, so look at the mount.
3.08 million range
Flashback Camera's boxed 3-cam lens, which it dates to 1980.
2804603
Kamerastore's 3-cam lens (listing t133166).
80741
Engraved '080741', a number Leitz Auction calls a 'typical prototype serial number'. The lot, a first version from the 1970s later converted to ROM, sold for €1,200 including buyer's premium in Leitz Auction 40. Leitz and Leica numbered production lenses in one shared seven-digit sequence, so a serial dates a lens only roughly.

Specifications

Formula
Retrofocus wide-angle, eight separate elements (8/8)
Designed by
Rühl, Rudolf — credited by Shige and Casual Photophile; no Leitz document read for this page names the designer
Construction
8 elements / 8 groups
Aperture range
f/2.8–f/22
Min. focus
0.3 m
Dimensions
63 × 40 mm
Weight
275 g
Filter
48 mm (0.75 mm pitch), Series 7, held by the lens hood 12509; internal thread M 48 × 0.75 (Leitz 1978, 1982, 1989)
Years manufactured
1970–1992
Country
Germany (Leitz Wetzlar, per Kamerastore and Casual Photophile)
Material
Black-finished metal barrel with a hard-chrome bayonet (Leitz 1978)

What reviewers say

History

The first Elmarit-R 28mm f/2.8 was Leitz’s first 28mm for the Leicaflex. Erwin Puts and Kamerastore date it to 1970, and Casual Photophile says it was shown at Photokina that year. It is a retrofocus design of eight separate elements, with no cemented surfaces according to Shige. Leitz’s catalogues of 1978, 1982 and 1989 give the same specification: 76°, eight elements in eight components, half-stop clicks to f/22, focusing to 0.3 m, 40 mm from the flange, 63 mm across and 0.275 kg. Puts writes “only 300 grams” and calls it a very light lens for the R range, and Shige gives 390 g. Filters are Series 7, held in the rectangular clip-on hood 12509, or E48 in the internal M 48 × 0.75 thread. The sources disagree on the diaphragm: Kamerastore gives six blades, Shige and Casual Photophile eight. The designer is given as Rudolf Rühl by Shige and Casual Photophile, but no Leitz document read for this page names him. Kamerastore and Casual Photophile call it a Leitz Wetzlar lens, and no source links it to the Canadian factory at Midland.

It stayed in the range a long time, ending in 1992 according to Shige and Casual Photophile; Puts says “almost 25 years” and reads that as a sign of its popularity. Shige, citing the Leica Wiki, gives 50,510 made, so it is one of the commonest R wide-angles. Puts describes very good performance with medium overall contrast and good definition of fine detail in the outer zones. He sees “a hint of Japanese design philosophy” in it: sufficient performance in a light mount. Its successor of 1994, a new design with a floating element, is in his view an improvement “by two stops”. Casual Photophile and Shige also describe an olive-green Safari version. Casual Photophile gives it the number 11206 and puts 6,000 lenses in green, but that is more than the 5,000 R3 Safari bodies on Leica’s serial list, and no olive example was examined for this page.

The versions differ at the back of the mount. Because the lens came after the Leicaflex SL, the first lenses already had two sloped cams. From the R3 of 1976 Leitz added the stepped R-cam, and the 1978 catalogue lists the lens, as 11204, with no body restriction. By December 1989 the handbook gave it a new number, 11247, headed “for LEICA R models”. It says lenses from serial number 3,367,501 no longer fit the Leicaflex bodies, though Leica service can fit cams for all of them. The 2000/2001 handbook lists both numbers as convertible to ROM, which removes any Leicaflex cams. Leitz Auction sold one such converted lens, a prototype numbered 80741, for €1,200 including buyer’s premium.

When buying, count the cams. A 2-cam lens is for the Leicaflex bodies. On the R3 to R7 the sources disagree on whether it meters stopped down or needs the third cam first, and Leica says not to mount it on an R8 or R9 until the R-cam has been fitted. Three cams make it a lens for every body. A lens with the R-cam alone or with contacts will not go on a Leicaflex. A lens with ROM contacts but a Series 7 front and the 12509 hood is a converted first version. The factory ROM 28mm, 11333, is the second version. Bring or check the hood, because the lens has no visible filter thread without it. Casual Photophile found the lens sharp across the frame from f/4 and well corrected for colour, but prone to flare and ghosting into the light even with the hood fitted. Shige found the edges soft wide open, evening out when stopped down.

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

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $750 across 34 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-09 (middle half $630–$890). 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 28mm f/2.8 (II) · Elmarit-R 24mm f/2.8 · Elmarit-R 35mm f/2.8 (II) · PC-Super-Angulon-R 28mm f/2.8 · Elmarit-R 35mm f/2.8 (I)

Sources (12)

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.