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

Elmarit-R 90mm f/2.8 (II)

Leica · Leica R · 1983 · Four elements in four components

Also known as: Elmarit-R 90mm f/2.8 · Elmarit-R 90mm f2.8 · Elmarit-R 90mm f/2.8 II · Elmarit-R 90mm f2.8 II · Elmarit-R 90mm f2.8 Type II · Elmarit-R II 90mm f/2.8 · Elmarit-R 90mm f2.8 v2 · Elmarit-R 90mm E55 · Elmarit-R 2.8/90 · Elmarit-R 2,8/90 · Elmarit-R 2.8/90mm · 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 90 mm f/2,8 · Elmarit-R Objektiv 90 mm · Elmarit R 90mm · Leica R 90mm f2.8 Elmarit · Leica 90mm f2.8 Elmarit-R · 90mm f2.8 Elmarit-R · 90mm f/2.8 Elmarit-R · Leica 11806 · Leica 11154 · 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
3-cam (11806) Leica R, 3-cam (fits every Leicaflex and R body) — — —
R-only, R-cam only (11154) Leica R, R-cam only (R3 and later; Leicaflex SL and SL2 only after a service modification) — — —
11806 or 11154 converted to ROM by Leica service Leica R, ROM (R3 and later; not the Leicaflex bodies) — — —
  1. Specification from Leica's Handbook of December 1989 (p.2-20): 27°, 4 elements in 4 components, E55, f/22, 0.70 m, 1:6, 57 mm long, 67 mm across, 0.475 kg. Kamerastore gives 63 × 57 mm and 475 g; Apotelyt's R-lens table gives 67 × 57 mm and 450 g. Six diaphragm blades is Kamerastore's figure, not Leica's.
  2. Dates: Leitz's Handbook of July 1982 still lists only the five-element 11239, so version II cannot be earlier than 1982. The 1989 accessory table's 'from No. 3260101' is a 1983 number, and 1983 is used as the first year. Kamerastore says the lens was introduced in 1984. The design itself may be older: the Mandler list as reported by Wikipedia dates the R redesign of the 90mm Elmarit to 1980. The lens is in the December 1989 range and absent from the range table of the Handbook 2000/2001, though its ROM table still names both order numbers; no Leica document consulted gives the last year, so none is given here.
  3. Cams and order numbers: Kamerastore sells 11806 as a 3-cam lens and 11154 as R-cam only; Leica's 1989 handbook lists only 11154, for R models, with a footnote that service can modify it for the Leicaflex SL and SL2. No 2-cam version and no factory ROM version was found. The original Leicaflex is joined to this page through the 3-cam 11806, on Kamerastore's statement that 3-cam lenses fit all Leicaflex bodies; an 11154, even modified, is documented only for the SL and SL2.
  4. Factory: the Commons photograph below shows a lens engraved 'Leitz' and 'Lens made in Germany', and Adorama lists a '3 Cam Germany' 11806; Kamerastore's product text for both order numbers says Leitz Canada. Lenses of both origins may exist; no Leica document consulted says where this lens was made.
  5. Close-up and extenders: Leica's 1989 handbook gives the ELPRO 3 (16543) for this lens, covering 161 × 241 mm (1:6.7) at infinity to 72 × 108 mm (1:3.0) at 0.7 m. The same handbook calls the Extender-R 2x (11236) suitable for 50 mm and longer, which makes the lens a 180mm f/5.6, and lists the combination in its case tables ('Extender R with ... 2.8/90'). It offers the APO-Extender-R 1.4x (11249) only for the 280mm APO-Telyt-R f/2.8.
  6. Market prices seen in November 2026, all dealer prices for used lenses, not list prices: Kamerastore's 'certified condition reference price' for the 11806 is €459, and its hazy 'rescue' example T124327 was €294. On the MFlenses forum in January 2012 a member was offered a version II lens of about 1993 with a bent hood for €340 (a private asking price), and another said he had paid US$500 on eBay for a 1984 lens. No period list price in DM or dollars was found.
  7. The photograph is identified as version II here from what it shows, a short barrel with a single-stage hood extended; the uploader's description says only 'Leica Elmarit R 90'.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • The quick test against version I is the barrel: this lens is 57 mm from the flange with a one-stage pull-out hood and four elements; version I (11229, 11239) is 72 mm long with a built-on extensible hood, five elements in four components and 0.515 kg (the 11239 in Leitz's Handbook of July 1982)
  • An E55 front ring does not settle it: Leitz's 1982 handbook gives version I an internal thread of M 54 × 0.75 up to No. 2,809,000 and lists it for E55 from No. 2,809,001, and Leica's 2000/2001 handbook offered to convert earlier version I lenses to E55 as well
  • Read the cams at the back of the mount: three cams (two sloped plus the stepped R-cam) for 11806, the R-cam alone for 11154, gold contacts for a ROM conversion
  • Not the Elmarit-M 90mm f/2.8 of 1990, the rangefinder lens with E46 filters, and not the Summicron-R 90mm f/2, which takes the same E55 filter and is a full stop faster

3-cam (11806):

  • Seen from the back: two sloped Leicaflex cams and the stepped R-cam on the mount ring, and no row of gold contacts
  • Order number 11806 on the box or in a dealer's description; the lens itself carries only its serial
  • The short barrel (57 mm from the flange) with a one-stage pull-out hood, which no version I lens has

R-only, R-cam only (11154):

  • Seen from the back: only the stepped R-cam, with no sloped Leicaflex cams in front of it, and no ROM contacts
  • Order number 11154; Leica's Dec 1989 accessory table gives it 'from No. 3260101'
  • Kamerastore calls this mount '3rd Cam' and says it will not fit the Leicaflex cameras

11806 or 11154 converted to ROM by Leica service:

  • A strip of gold ROM contacts at the back of the mount on a short E55 lens; any Leicaflex cams will have been removed
  • Leica's Handbook 2000/2001 gives no factory ROM order number for a 90mm Elmarit-R, so a ROM lens of this type is a service conversion; the serial dates the lens, not the conversion

Serial-range notes

3260101 onward
Leica's December 1989 accessory table gives the 11154 "from No. 3260101". On Leitz's general year list (camera-wiki) that number falls in the 1983 band, 3,249,101–3,294,900, which is the start date used here. The table does not say whether 3,260,101 is the first version II lens of all or only the first numbered 11154.
up to 2809000 / from 2809001
Not this lens's break but version I's: Leitz's 1982 handbook gives the 11239 an internal thread of M 54 × 0.75 up to No. 2,809,000, and its accessory table lists the 11239 for E55 from No. 2,809,001. An E55 lens numbered between 2,809,001 and about 3,260,000 is therefore a late version I, not a version II.
the seven-digit number on the front ring
Leitz and Leica numbered every lens from one shared sequence, reserved in blocks, so a number dates a lens only roughly against the general year list. A member of the MFlenses forum in 2012 described a version II lens of about 1993 as being from one of the latest batches by its serial.

Specifications

Formula
Four 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 Elmarit-R 90mm/2.8 (2nd) and dates the R redesigns of the 90mm Elmarit to 1964 and 1980
Construction
4 elements / 4 groups
Aperture range
f/2.8–f/22
Diaphragm blades
6
Min. focus
0.7 m
Dimensions
67 × 57 mm
Weight
475 g
Filter
55 mm (0.75 mm pitch), E55 screw-in (internal thread M 55 × 0.75); Series 7 through adapter 14225 (Leica Handbook, Dec 1989)
Years manufactured
1983
Country
Germany and Canada (a lens engraved 'Lens made in Germany' on Wikimedia Commons and Adorama's 'Germany' listing; Kamerastore describes the lens as Leitz Canada)
Material
Black finished metal barrel with a built-on, single-stage telescopic 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 second Elmarit-R 90mm f/2.8 is a recomputation, not a remount. Where the first version, as Leitz’s 1982 handbook describes its 11239, had five elements in four components, an extensible built-on hood, a 72 mm barrel and 515 g, this lens has four separate elements, a one-stage pull-out hood, a barrel 57 mm long and a weight of 475 g by Leica’s December 1989 handbook. Leica lists it for the R bodies with an E55 filter (Series 7 through adapter 14225), f/22, a closest distance of 0.70 m and a smallest field of 140 × 210 mm, about 1:6. The list that Walter Mandler drew up of his own designs, as English Wikipedia reports it, credits him with both versions of the Elmarit-R 90mm and dates the R redesigns of the 90mm Elmarit to 1964 and 1980. The lens did not reach the catalogue that soon. Leitz’s handbook of July 1982 still sells only the five-element 11239, and Leica’s 1989 table starts the 11154 at serial 3,260,101, a 1983 number. Kamerastore says 1984. It is gone from the range table of Leica’s Handbook 2000/2001.

Two factory order numbers are known, and they differ at the back of the mount. The 11806, which Kamerastore and Adorama sell as a 3-cam lens, carries the two sloped Leicaflex cams and the stepped R-cam, and so meters at full aperture on the Leicaflex SL and SL2 and on every R body; Kamerastore calls 3-cam lenses compatible with all Leicaflex and R-series cameras, the original Leicaflex included. The 11154, the only number in Leica’s 1989 handbook, has the R-cam alone. Leica lists it “for LEICA R models” and says a service centre can modify it for the SL and SL2, but does not offer that for the original Leicaflex. Kamerastore calls this mount “3rd Cam” and says it will not fit any Leicaflex. Leica’s documents do not say which number came first. The Handbook 2000/2001 lists both as convertible to ROM and has no factory ROM number for the lens, so a 90mm Elmarit-R with gold contacts was converted by Leica service. After conversion it fits only the R bodies, and on an R8 or R9 it passes its focal length to the body and flash.

When buying, start with the barrel. The short lens with the one-stage hood is this version, whatever the title says. An E55 front ring alone proves nothing, because version I changed from Series VII to E55 at serial 2,809,001, years before this lens arrived, and Leica later converted earlier lenses to E55 as well. Then look at the mount. Three cams fit everything. An R-cam alone will not go on a Leicaflex unless a workshop has modified it, and then only on an SL or SL2. Contacts rule out every Leicaflex. Look for haze, which Kamerastore found and could not clean in one of its 11806s. Check that the built-on hood slides and holds and is not dented; a lens offered on the MFlenses forum in 2012 had a bent hood, which its prospective buyer thought looked fixable. Engravings vary: the lens on Wikimedia Commons reads “Lens made in Germany”, while Kamerastore’s product text for both order numbers says Leitz Canada. With the Extender-R 2x, which Leica’s handbooks call suitable for 50 mm and longer, the lens becomes a 180mm f/5.6.

The name is shared with lenses that are not this one. The five-element first version has its own page here. The Elmarit-M 90mm f/2.8 of 1990 is a rangefinder lens with E46 filters. The Summicron-R 90mm f/2 takes the same E55 filter and is a full stop faster.

Expand Collapse

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 taken with the Elmarit-R 90mm f/2.8 (II)
An Elmarit-R 1:2.8/90 engraved Leitz and 'Lens made in Germany', its one-stage hood extended — Gisling, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

More sample photos elsewhere

These photographers keep all rights to their work — enjoy it at the source.

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Elmarit-R 90mm f/2.8 (II)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $780 across 7 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-09 (middle half $530–$900). First day tracked.

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

Buying from Yahoo! Auctions outside Japan. It is a domestic marketplace: sellers ship within Japan, and most will not register an overseas buyer. A proxy service bids on your behalf, receives the item and forwards it, for a fee and a wait. Buyee, Jauce and ZenMarket each accept a Yahoo auction number directly. Listed alphabetically for information — none is recommended over another, and none of these is an affiliate link.

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

Related: Elmarit-R 90mm f/2.8 (I) · Summicron-R 90mm f/2 · APO-Summicron-R 90mm f/2 ASPH. · 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.