Fisheye-Elmarit-R 16mm f/2.8

Variants & identification

1. Specification from Leitz and Leica documents: the General Catalogue of 15 Sept 1978, the Handbook of Dec 1989 and the Handbook 2000/2001. They agree on 180°, eleven elements in eight components, the four-filter turret, half-stop clicks to f/16, 0.30 m, a 401 × 601 mm smallest field, 60 mm length, 71 mm diameter and a 65 mm cap. Weight is 0.470 kg in 1978 and 1989 and 0.460 kg in 2000/2001; Apotelyt gives 460 g, Kamerastore and shige-art 470 g.
2. Filters: Leitz lists u.v. (1978) or UVa (1989, 2000/2001), yellow, orange and blue 80 B. Kamerastore names them 1A, Y48, O56 and 80B, and shige-art 1A (skylight), Y48, O56 and 80B. The colour filters agree; whether the clear filter is a UV or a 1A skylight depends on whose naming is right, and none of these sources has measured it.
3. Six diaphragm blades are reported by Kamerastore and shige-art, not by a Leitz document.
4. Dates and production: Leitz's 1978 catalogue lists the lens and shige-art and Kamerastore give 1974 as its introduction. shige-art, citing the Leica Wiki, gives 2,950 lenses (about 3,000 in his text) and says the lens was discontinued in 1979. English Wikipedia's R-lens table gives 1974–2009. Leica's Dec 1989 handbook still sells it as 11222 and Leica's 2000/2001 handbook as 11327, so it stayed in the catalogue for two decades after the 1979 date; whether that was unsold stock from a 1974–79 run is not stated by any of these sources. No Leica document dates the last sale, so no end year is given.
5. Origin: shige-art finds the specification very close to Minolta's MC Fish-Eye Rokkor 16mm f/2.8 and says the Leitz lens is generally understood to derive from it, with a different mount and barrel, though no official statement confirms it; his lens is engraved 'Made in Japan'. Apotelyt names it with the 24mm Elmarit-R and the Vario-Elmar-R 80–200 f/4.5 as lenses designed and manufactured by Minolta for Leica. Kamerastore and Apotelyt's lens table call it a Leitz Wetzlar lens; neither says whether any lens is engraved so.
6. 2-cam: the stepped R-cam arrived with the R3 of 1976, two years after the lens, so the first lenses may have had the two sloped cams only and been given the third later. No 2-cam example, and no Leitz document mentioning one, is known to this page, so it is not a variant here.
7. Body fit: Leitz and Leica restrict the lens to the Leicaflex SL2 and the R bodies (1978: 'only for the LEICA R 3/R 3 MOT and LEICAFLEX SL 2/SL 2 MOT'; 1989: 'for LEICA R models ..., LEICAFLEX SL 2 models'). Apotelyt says the 16mm needs more mirror clearance than the original Leicaflex gives and should not be attached to it; the SL2's re-oriented mirror was made to admit it. camera-wiki marks it 'SL2 and later only'. Kamerastore's listing says, of 3-cam lenses in general, that they fit all Leicaflex bodies. Leitz's restriction is followed here: the original Leicaflex and the SL are not listed as bodies for this lens, and their own pages report Apotelyt's warning against mounting it on them.
8. Exposure modes: both Leica handbooks warn that on R bodies with shutter priority and program modes the finder symbols for those modes may keep flashing when the lens is set to f/16, without affecting the camera, and recommend aperture priority or manual.
9. Market prices, November 2026, not list prices: Kamerastore, a dealer, asked RON 3,290 (used item, no tax) for 3-cam 11222 number 2755266. Apotelyt's lens table gives a used-price guide of US$500–1,000, an estimate rather than a sale. No period list price in DM or dollars is known to this page.

• Sloped Leicaflex cams plus R-cam (11222): The lens as Leitz catalogued it in its General Catalogue of 15 September 1978: a fisheye "for special pictorial effects", 180°, eleven elements in eight components, a built-in turret of four filters (u.v., yellow, orange and blue 80 B), a fully automatic preset diaphragm with half-stop clicks to f/16, 0.3 m, a smallest field of 401 × 601 mm, a non-rotating focusing mount, a hard-chrome bayonet, black finish, a built-on hood, a 65 mm cap, 60 mm from the flange, 71 mm across and 0.470 kg, order number 11222. The same page restricts it to "the LEICA R 3/R 3 MOT and LEICAFLEX SL 2/SL 2 MOT". The Dec 1989 handbook still sells 11222, with the same figures and the filters now "UVa, yellow, orange, blue 80 B", headed "for LEICA R models (preferably with aperture priority and manual mode), LEICAFLEX SL 2 models". Kamerastore's example, serial 2755266, falls in the 1975 band of the general Leitz serial list, a year before the R3 and its stepped cam, and is sold as 3-cam; whether it left the factory so or had the cam added is not recorded. Kamerastore says 3-cam lenses fit "all Leicaflex and R-series cameras"; Leitz's own restriction is followed here. Without contacts it lacks the additional electronic exposure compensation that Leica's 2000/2001 handbook gives the ROM version on the R8.
• ROM from the factory (11327): Leica's 2000/2001 handbook catalogues the fisheye only as 11327, in a soft leather case with cap and rear cover, "for LEICA R models (preferably with aperture priority and manual mode)", with a quick-change bayonet "for LEICA R 3-R 8 with mechanical (and for LEICA R 8 with additional electronic) exposure compensation". The optical and mechanical figures are those of 1978 except the weight, 0.460 kg against 0.470 kg, and the diaphragm, now called fully automatic spring-back. A footnote says modification for additional use on Leicaflex models is possible on request, so the lens as supplied has no Leicaflex cams. The first year given is that of the R8, the first ROM body, not a recorded date for this order number. Whether 11327 lenses were newly assembled or converted from 11222 stock is not recorded.
• 11222 converted to ROM by Leica service: Leica's 2000/2001 handbook lists the 11222 as "possible" in its ROM modification table. Its conversion page says that Leicaflex cams present on a lens must be removed when it is converted for the R8's electronic exposure compensation, and that once Leicaflex cams are fitted the contact ledge can no longer be used: the two are exclusive. shige-art's own lens is such a conversion, a 3-cam lens given ROM contacts under the paid service Leica offered when the R8 and R9 arrived; he finds ROM fisheyes uncommon on the used market. The serial dates the glass, not the contacts; if shige-art's Leica Wiki figures are right, factory 11327 lenses carry 1970s serials too, so the serial cannot separate the two ROM versions.

Specifications

Formula

Full-frame (diagonal) fisheye, 180°, eleven elements in eight components (Minolta design)

Designed by

Minolta — optical design, adapted from the MC Fish-Eye Rokkor 16mm f/2.8 (shige-art: generally understood, never officially confirmed; Apotelyt: designed and manufactured by Minolta for Leica)

Construction

11 elements / 8 groups

Aperture range

f/2.8–f/16

Diaphragm blades

6

Min. focus

0.3 m

Dimensions

71 × 60 mm

Weight

470 g

Filter

Built-in turret of four filters; no front thread (fixed hood)

Years manufactured

1974

Country

Japan by the 'Made in Japan' engraving on shige-art's lens; Kamerastore and Apotelyt call it a Leitz Wetzlar lens

Material

Black-finished metal barrel with a built-on hood (Leitz 1978, Leica 1989); 'black anodized' in the 2000/2001 handbook

What reviewers say

• shige-art (Shige's hobby) (blog) — Shooting a ROM-converted lens on an R8 with colour negative film and on an M-P (Typ 240) through the R-Adapter M, shige-art finds the centre clear, edge degradation limited, vignetting mild and flare rare, with some ghosting against the sun; focusing by eye is hard on the R8, so he zone-focuses or uses live view. He calls it a lens for those who enjoy distortion and close work, not a practical wide-angle.

History

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 wanted — shot with a Fisheye-Elmarit-R 16mm f/2.8? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

• Leica Fisheye-Elmarit-R 16mm 2.8 - 11222  — €439.00 · eBay
• Leica Leitz Fisheye-Elmarit-R 16mm/2,8 | Fisheye | R-System | 11222 | Gut — €449.00 · eBay
• Leica R Fisheye Elmarit 2.8/16 16mm 3-CAM Objektiv An-Verkauf ff-shop24 — €472.15 · eBay · likely 3-cam
• Leica Leitz Wetzlar Fisheye-Elmarit-R 2.8 / 16 mm 3cam — €480.00 · eBay
• LEICA Fisheye-Elmarit-R 16mm f/2,8 - SNr: 2755126 — €499.00 · eBay
• Leica Elmarit-R 2.8/16mm - Fisheye — €550.00 · eBay
• Fisheye-Elmarit-R 16mm F/2.8 #3009528 — HK$4,980.00 · Meteor (HK) Ltd (Meteor · Leica)
• Leica Fisheye-Elmarit-R 16mm 2,8 11222 FSE 203186 — €699.00 · eBay
• Leica Elmarit-R 16mm f/2.8 Fisheye - Fisheye - Sehr Gut — €712.98 · eBay
• [MINT] Leica Leitz Wetzlar Elmarit R 16mm f2.8 Fisheye Lens 3Cam from JAPAN — $799.99 · eBay
• LEITZ WETZLAR FISHEYE-ELMARIT-R 2.8/16mm LENS RARE EXCELLENT — €749.00 · eBay
• Leica Fisheye Elmarit R 16mm f2.8 ROM Objektiv 11317 97710 near mint full Set — €750.00 · eBay · likely rom
• Leica fisheye elmarit r 1:2.8/16 2817233 — €800.00 · eBay NEW
• [Near Mint Box] Leica Leitz Wetzlar Elmarit R 16mm f/2.8 Fisheye Lens 3Cam Japan — $899.99 · eBay
• leitz elmarit-r 16mm f2.8 fisheye — $940.00 · eBay
• Leica Fisheye-Elmarit-R 16mm f/2.8 – Ultraweitwinkel – sehr gepflegt — €990.00 · eBay
• LEITZ Leica Fisheye-Elmarit-R 16mm/F2.8 Lens Yr.1974 Japan #22889 — $1,099.00 · eBay NEW
• Leica Leitz Fisheye Elmarit-R 16mm f/2.8 F2.8 Lens 3 Cam for Leica R SLR Camera — A$1,777.00 · eBay · likely 3-cam
• Leica Leitz Fisheye-Elmarit-R 16mm F/2.8 Lens 3CAM — $1,329.00 · eBay
• Leica Fisheye Elmarit-R 16mm F2.8 Manual Focus Lens Leica R from Japan D1021 — $1,475.14 · eBay

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