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

Elmarit-R 90mm f/2.8 (I)

Leica · Leica R · 1964 · Five elements in four components

Also known as: Elmarit-R 90mm f/2.8 I · Elmarit-R 90mm f2.8 I · Elmarit-R 90mm f2.8 Type I · Elmarit-R I 90mm f/2.8 · Elmarit-R 90mm f2.8 v1 · Elmarit-R 90mm f/2.8 V1 · Elmarit-R 90mm f2.8 first version · Elmarit-R 90mm Series VII · Elmarit-R 2.8/90 · Elmarit-R 2,8/90 · Elmarit-R 2.8/90mm · Elmarit-R 1:2.8/90 · Elmarit-R 1:2,8/90 · Elmarit R 90mm f2.8 · Elmarit R 90mm f/2.8 · Elmarit R 90 f2.8 · Elmarit-R 90mm · Elmarit R 90mm · Elmarit-R 90 mm f/2,8 · Leica R 90mm f2.8 Elmarit · Leica 90mm f2.8 Elmarit-R · Leitz Elmarit-R 90mm f2.8 · 90mm f2.8 Elmarit-R · 90mm f/2.8 Elmarit-R · Leica 11229 · Leica 11239 · エルマリートR 90mm F2.8 · ライカ エルマリートR 90mm F2.8

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
1-cam (11229) Leica R, 1-cam (full function on the Leicaflex; stopped down on the SL and SL2) 1964–1968 — —
2-cam, Series VII (11239) Leica R, 2-cam (full function on the Leicaflex, SL and SL2) 1968–1976 2110017 (Kamerastore T150497)
2269160 (Kamerastore T148737)
2334152 (Kamerastore T154775) 		—
3-cam, late E55 front (11239, from No. 2,809,001) Leica R, 3-cam (fits every Leicaflex and R body) 1976–1983 — —
Earlier lens with the R-cam added by Leitz service Leica R, 3-cam by conversion (fits every Leicaflex and R body) — — —
  1. Specification from Leitz's General Catalogue of 15 September 1978 and Handbook of July 1982: 27°, 5 elements in 4 components, f/22 with half-stop clicks, 0.7 m, smallest field 140 × 210 mm (about 1:6), non-rotating focusing mount, built-on extensible hood, lens cap 65 mm, 72 mm from the flange, 65 mm across, 0.515 kg. Kamerastore gives 72 × 65 mm and 515 g; English Wikipedia's R-lens table gives 75 × 72 mm and 515 g; the Cine Lens Wiki gives 500 g. Six diaphragm blades is the figure of Kamerastore and the Cine Lens Wiki, not of a Leitz document.
  2. Dates: 1964, the Leicaflex launch, is Kamerastore's year and the Leicaflex page's. The end, 1983, is English Wikipedia's R-lens table and the Cine Lens Wiki's; it agrees with Leitz's July 1982 handbook, which still lists only this lens as the 90mm Elmarit-R, and with Leica's December 1989 accessory table, which starts version II's 11154 at No. 3,260,101, a 1983 number. Other sources put the change earlier: English Wikipedia's table starts version II in 1980, Walter Mandler's own list (as English Wikipedia gives it) dates the R designs of the 90mm Elmarit to 1964 and 1980, and Flashback Camera says the optics were revised when the R3 appeared (1976), while selling a 1978 lens as the earlier type. The 1980 date may be that of the design rather than of sale.
  3. Hood: Leitz calls it 'built-on, extensible', Kamerastore 'multistage', and Flashback Camera 'two-stage telescoping'.
  4. Factory: Kamerastore's model description says Leitz Wetzlar for all three cam types. Adorama once listed a 'Leica Leitz Wetzlar Elmarit R 90mm F2.8 3-Cam(Canada) built in hood' without saying which version it was; no Leitz document consulted says that version I was also made in Midland, so no Canada variant is given here.
  5. ROM: Leica's Handbook 2000/2001 lists both 11229 and 11239 as 'possible' in its table of lenses that could be given ROM contacts. Its conversion page says that once the contact ledge is added the lens no longer fits any Leicaflex, and that Leicaflex cams, if present, must be removed. A converted lens would show gold contacts on the long five-element barrel. No converted example has been recorded here, so it has no row of its own.
  6. Body fit, from the body pages here: 1-cam lenses meter fully on the original Leicaflex and stopped down on the SL and SL2; 2-cam and 3-cam lenses meter at full aperture on the SL and SL2 and work on the Leicaflex through the first cam. On the R bodies only lenses with the R-cam meter at full aperture. For 1-cam and 2-cam lenses English Wikipedia and Kamerastore allow stop-down metering, while Leica's R6 and R9 instructions say such lenses must not be mounted until the R-cam has been fitted, and the R9 manual warns they can damage the camera. Follow Leica's instructions.
  7. Market prices seen in November 2026, all dealer prices for used lenses, not list prices: Kamerastore's model pages show €279 for the 1-cam 11229 and €399 for the 3-cam 11239 (both sold out), and it has offered 2-cam lenses at €332 (nos. 2,269,160 and 2,334,152) and €306 (no. 2,110,017). No period list price in DM or dollars was found.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • The long version: 72 mm from the bayonet flange and 65 mm across, 0.515 kg, five elements in four components, with an extensible hood built on (Leitz Handbook, July 1982); version II (11806, 11154) is 57 mm long, 67 mm across and 475 g, with four elements (Leica Handbook, Dec 1989)
  • An E55 front does not make it a version II: version I changed from Series VII to E55 at serial 2,809,001, and Leica converted earlier lenses to E55 on request
  • Count the cams at the back of the mount: one for 11229, two for the 11239 of the SL years, three for late and converted lenses; gold contacts mean a Leica ROM conversion
  • Not the rangefinder Elmarit 90mm f/2.8 of 1959 or the Elmarit-M of 1990, and not the Summicron-R 90mm f/2, which shares the Series VII and later E55 front

1-cam (11229):

  • Seen from the back: a single sloped cam on the mount ring, with no second sloped cam and no stepped R-cam
  • Series VII front (retaining ring 14161) and the long barrel with the extensible built-on hood
  • Order number 11229 on the box or in a dealer's description; the lens itself carries only its serial

2-cam, Series VII (11239):

  • Seen from the back: two sloped cams and no stepped R-cam
  • Series VII front with the M 54 × 0.75 retaining thread, as on the 1-cam lens; up to serial 2,809,000
  • Order number 11239, which Leitz kept for the lens from then on

3-cam, late E55 front (11239, from No. 2,809,001):

  • Seen from the back: two sloped Leicaflex cams plus the stepped R-cam, and no gold ROM contacts
  • An E55 thread inside the front of the long, five-element barrel with the extensible hood; serial above 2,809,000
  • Leitz's 1978 close-up tables pair the E55 lens with the ELPRO 3 (16543) and the Series VII lenses with the ELPRO VIIa (16533); Leica's 1989 tables also list the ELPRO 3 for lenses up to No. 2,809,000, so the close-up lens a seller includes proves nothing

Earlier lens with the R-cam added by Leitz service:

  • Three cams at the back, as on the late lens, but a Series VII front and a serial of 2,809,000 or below
  • The serial dates the lens, not the conversion; a 1960s number with three cams has been through a workshop

Serial-range notes

up to 2809000 / from 2809001
The break in Leitz's own catalogues (1978 and 1982): Series VII on an M 54 × 0.75 retaining thread up to No. 2,809,000, E55 from No. 2,809,001. On Leitz's general year list (camera-wiki) 2,809,000 falls at the end of the 1976 band, 2,761,101–2,809,400.
2110017, 2269160, 2334152
Three 2-cam lenses Kamerastore has sold. On the general year list they fall in the 1965 (2,077,501–2,156,300), 1968 (2,254,401–2,312,750) and 1969 (2,312,751–2,384,700) bands. The 1965 lens predates the SL and its second cam, so it was made as a 1-cam lens and converted.
2,070,000 range
Flashback Camera's red-scale lens, sold as 2-cam, dated 1965 by the dealer and believed by it to have been upgraded from one cam by Leitz after the SL appeared. The range straddles the end of the 1964 band (to 2,077,500) and the start of the 1965 band on the general year list.
2.93 million range
Flashback Camera's 3-cam lens, dated 1978 by the dealer, which matches the 1978 band 2,880,601–2,967,250 of the general year list.
the seven-digit number on the front ring
Leitz numbered every lens from one shared sequence reserved in blocks, so a number dates a lens only roughly against the general year list, and it dates the lens, never a later cam or filter conversion.

Specifications

Formula
Five elements in four components
Designed by
Walter Mandler — the list of his designs Mandler selected himself (Viewfinder vol. 38 no. 2, 2005, p.12, as given by English Wikipedia) names the 90mm Elmarit and dates its R designs to 1964 and 1980
Construction
5 elements / 4 groups
Aperture range
f/2.8–f/22
Diaphragm blades
6
Min. focus
0.7 m
Dimensions
65 × 72 mm
Weight
515 g
Filter
Series VII in retaining ring 14161 (internal thread M 54 × 0.75) up to No. 2,809,000; E55 from No. 2,809,001 (1-cam (11229), 2-cam, Series VII (11239), Earlier lens with the R-cam added by Leitz service) · 55 mm (0.75 mm pitch), E55 screw-in; Series VII through adapter 14225 (Leitz General Catalogue, 1978) (3-cam, late E55 front (11239, from No. 2,809,001))
Years manufactured
1964–1983
Country
Germany (Leitz Wetzlar, per Kamerastore's model description)
Material
Black finished metal barrel with a built-on, extensible lens hood

What reviewers say

No reviews aggregated yet — this family is still in the research queue. Written one? We'd love to index it.

History

The first Elmarit-R 90mm f/2.8 is one of the four lenses Leitz launched with the Leicaflex in 1964, alongside the 35mm Elmarit-R, the 50mm Summicron-R and the 135mm Elmarit-R. It has five elements in four components. Leitz’s catalogues give it a 27° field, f/22, a closest distance of 0.7 m with a smallest field of about 1:6, a non-rotating focusing mount and a built-on extensible hood. The barrel is 72 mm long from the flange and 65 mm across, and the lens weighs 515 g. The list of his own designs that Walter Mandler drew up, as English Wikipedia reports it, credits him with the 90mm Elmarit and dates its first R design to 1964. The lens stayed in the catalogue through the SL, the SL2 and the first R bodies. Leitz’s handbook of July 1982 still lists it, code 11239, as the only 90mm Elmarit-R. It gave way to the shorter four-element version II, which Leica’s 1989 tables start at a 1983 serial; English Wikipedia dates version II to 1980, the year Mandler’s list gives for the R redesign.

By Leitz’s catalogues every version of it is the same five-element glass. What changed over nineteen years was the back of the mount and the front of the barrel. Lenses sold for the original Leicaflex, code 11229, have one sloped cam. From the SL of 1968 the lens was sold as 11239 with a second sloped cam, which the SL needs to meter at full aperture. Later lenses carry the stepped R-cam as well and meter at full aperture on every R body. In front, the lens took Series VII filters in a retaining ring until serial 2,809,000, a 1976 number, and an E55 thread from 2,809,001 on. Leitz kept the code 11239 through both changes. It also offered to bring older lenses up to date. A Leica service centre could add the missing cams, and Leica’s handbooks still offered in 1989 and 2000 to fit the E55 thread to lenses numbered up to 2,809,000. Flashback Camera has sold a red-scale lens, dated 1965, that it believes Leitz upgraded from one cam to two. The Handbook 2000/2001 also lists both codes as convertible to ROM contacts. A converted lens no longer fits any Leicaflex.

When buying, read the serial and the cams together. A lens numbered before 1968 with two or three cams, or a Series VII number with an E55 front, has been through a workshop. That is a factory service, not a fault, but it means the year in a listing says nothing about the mount. One cam is the right lens for an original Leicaflex. On an SL or SL2 a 1-cam lens meters only stopped down. On any R body Leica’s instructions say a lens without the R-cam must not be mounted until the cam has been fitted, and the R9 manual warns that such a lens can damage the camera. Three cams fit everything from the Leicaflex to the R9. The long barrel with the extensible hood is the quick way to tell this lens from version II, which is 57 mm long with a one-stage hood. An E55 front does not settle it, for the reasons above. Kamerastore found slight internal haze in two of its three recent 2-cam lenses and reported a red dot on the side of one that was not original. Check that the hood extends and holds.

The name is shared with lenses that are not this one. The four-element version II of 1983 (11806, 11154) has its own page here, as does the rangefinder Elmarit 90mm f/2.8. The Summicron-R 90mm f/2 of the same years takes the same Series VII and, later, E55 front and is a full stop faster.

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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 90mm f/2.8 (I)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $280 across 7 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-09 (middle half $230–$320). First day tracked.

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

Show 7 more listings

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

Related: Elmarit-R 90mm f/2.8 (II) · Summicron-R 90mm f/2 · Elmarit-R 135mm f/2.8 (I)

Sources (16)

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.