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

Heliar 50mm f/2 (Heliar Classic)

Cosina Voigtländer · Leica M + LTM · 2006 · Heliar, 5 elements in 3 groups

single source, unconfirmed

Also known as: Voigtländer Heliar 50mm f/2 · Voigtlander Heliar Classic 50mm f/2 · HELIAR classic 50mm F2 250th model · Voigtlander 50mm f2 Heliar 250 Jahre · Voigtlander Heliar 50/2 collapsible · Voigtlander Heliar 50mm F2 Nickel · HELIAR 50mm F2 Nickel L · Voigtlander 50/2 Heliar Nickel LTM · フォクトレンダー ヘリアー クラシック 50mm F2 · HELIAR 50mm F2 250周年 · ヘリアー 50mm F2 ニッケル

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Heliar classic 50mm F2 250th model — VM bayonet, collapsible (2006) Leica M 2006–2006 — 2,500 sets: black 1,700 (1,000 with the Bessa R3M, 500 with the R2M) and silver 800 (700 R3M, 300 R2M) — set numbers, not Cosina's
Heliar 50mm F2 Nickel — Leica screw, rigid (2009) LTM 2009–2009 — 600 worldwide — Cosina's own figure (全世界で各600本の限定生産品)
  1. Specifications are Cosina's own, from its two discontinued-products pages. The 260g weight of the collapsible lens is Cosina's and was confirmed by Shutterbug's scales; the 191g of the Nickel lens is Cosina's alone.
  2. The 2006 production split — 1,000 black and 700 silver R3M sets, 500 black and 300 silver R2M sets — comes from the English Wikipedia article on the 35mm Bessas; the totals of 1,700 black and 800 chrome are repeated by Leica Lenses for Normal People. Cosina's page gives no figure. Single source at root.
  3. The 2006 lens had no price of its own: the set was $1,049 at CameraQuest and $1,050 at The Photo Village, per Shutterbug, April 2007. The yen price in the table is the 2009 Nickel lens's.
  4. Cosina's own names differ between the two: HELIAR classic 50mm F2 250th model for the VM lens, HELIAR 50mm F2 Nickel for the screw-mount lens. The 2021 Heliar classic 50mm F1.5 is a different six-element lens and has its own page.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • The 1900 Heliar layout — a triplet with both outer elements split into cemented doublets — pushed from its traditional f/2.8 to f/2 with ultra-high-refractive-index glass, per Cosina; six air-to-glass surfaces
  • Eleven aperture blades, f/2 to f/16, 1m minimum focus and a 39mm filter on both versions

Heliar classic 50mm F2 250th model — VM bayonet, collapsible (2006):

  • Collapsible: pull the front out and twist a third of a turn to lock; φ50.8mm, 38.5mm extended and 29.2mm collapsed, 260g
  • Engraved 1756-2006 250 Jahre like the body it came with; black paint or silver chrome
  • Three-claw bayonet hood, all metal and non-reversible; a 39mm pinch-clip cap that fits the lens front rather than over the hood
  • Aperture ring with half-stop clicks from f/2 to f/8, then full stops at f/11 and f/16 crowded together — no f/22; distance scale in metres only, to 1m
  • A 3mm focusing collar on the fixed part of the mount and no focusing tab

Heliar 50mm F2 Nickel — Leica screw, rigid (2009):

  • Rigid barrel with a 39mm × 26tpi screw thread: φ47mm × 37.5mm, 191g — Cosina's page says the barrel was redesigned from the collapsible type to an L-mount rigid type
  • Nickel-plated exterior with a black-painted metal hood supplied
  • A special serial number engraved on the name ring

Specifications

Formula
Heliar, 5 elements in 3 groups
Construction
5 elements / 3 groups
Aperture range
f/2–f/16
Diaphragm blades
11
Min. focus
1 m
Filter
39 mm
Years manufactured
2006–2009
Country
Japan
Coating
Multi-coated
Material
All-metal barrel
Original price
¥75,000 ex-tax for the 2009 Nickel screw-mount lens (today ¥85,000); the 2006 VM lens came only in the Bessa R2M/R3M 250 Jahre sets, $1,049 at CameraQuest

What reviewers say

Optical Ratings

Aggregated from the reviews above — follow the links for the full picture.

Flare & ghosting
Contrasty, resists flare
Distortion
None reported
Optical formula — Heliar, 5 elements in 3 groups

History

Voigtländer was founded in Vienna in 1756, and for the 250th anniversary Cosina built a camera and a lens: the Bessa R2M and R3M, mechanical-shutter rangefinders engraved 1756-2006 250 Jahre, and a collapsible Heliar 50mm f/2 to go on them. The lens is the 1900 Heliar layout — five elements in three groups, a triplet with both outer elements split into cemented doublets — pushed a full stop past the f/2.8 that had been the design’s traditional limit, which Cosina credits to ultra-high-refractive-index glass. It came only in the sets, released in July 2006 in a single run and priced at $1,049 from CameraQuest or $1,050 from The Photo Village, in black paint or silver chrome to match the body; the set counts in circulation, 1,000 black and 700 silver R3Ms and 500 black and 300 silver R2Ms, come from Wikipedia and not from Cosina, which publishes no number. It is 260g, 50.8mm across, 38.5mm long extended and 29.2mm collapsed, with eleven blades, f/2 to f/16, a 39mm filter, a bayonet hood and a 1m close focus. Three years later, in November 2009, the optics came back as the Heliar 50mm F2 Nickel: a rigid Leica-screw lens, 191g and 37.5mm long, nickel-plated with a black-painted hood, a special serial on the name ring, ¥75,000 ex-tax and limited to 600 worldwide by Cosina’s own statement. That is the whole family — a collapsible bayonet lens and a rigid screw lens, one optical design — and the six-element Heliar classic 50mm F1.5 of 2021, which shares the Heliar classic name, is a different lens with its own page.

Roger Hicks and Frances Schultz reviewed the R3M set for Shutterbug on Portra 400VC and wrote what has become the settled view. The ’50s quality feel is remarkable; six air-to-glass surfaces make for a contrasty lens; its signature is more legible than most, and at this level of quality it is neither better nor worse than other lenses, only different. Their complaints are all mechanical, and everyone since has repeated them. It collapses only about 8mm, so it still stands nearly 30mm proud — a rigid Color-Skopar 50mm f/2.5 stands 27mm — and the twist-to-lock is elegant but, in their phrase, perhaps a little too retro. The hood is a solid metal tube on a three-claw bayonet that will not reverse; the 39mm cap pinches into the lens front instead of going over the hood and slips from the fingers; the aperture ring runs in half-stop clicks to f/8 and then crowds f/11 and f/16 together as full stops, with no f/22; there is no focusing tab, only a 3mm collar on the fixed part of the mount. Fourteen years later Breedfreak said the pictures define the soul of what he wants, period, and the package is the worst thing about it — a wobble in the collapsed barrel, a super-narrow ring, a long throw — and kept it anyway. Dan Kerin, on a Leica M3 with a chrome example, found razor-sharp centres and dreamy backgrounds wide open and nothing to fault stopped down, pinched the small ring, was caught once by the full-stop jump at f/11, and still preferred it to the Zeiss he bought after it.

To buy one is to choose between the barrels. The 2006 lens is the one with the 250 Jahre engraving and the collapsing tube, and with 2,500 made against 600 it is the one that comes up. Check that the tube locks firmly at the extended position, that the bayonet hood seats, and that the pinch cap is still with it. Hicks’s suggestion at the time was that a buyer who only wanted the Heliar might strike a deal with someone who only wanted the body, which is why loose lenses exist at all. The 2009 Nickel is rarer by a factor of four, rigid, screw-mounted and numbered on the name ring, and on an M body it needs an adapter that brings up the 50mm frame. Neither focuses closer than 1m, which is the most old-fashioned thing about a lens designed to look old-fashioned.

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 wanted — shot with a Heliar 50mm f/2 (Heliar Classic)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $1,100 across 11 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-19 (middle half $850–$1,300). 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

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 2026-09-19. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Color-Skopar 50mm f/2.5 · Heliar 50mm f/3.5 · Heliar Classic 50mm f/1.5 · Nokton 50mm f/1.5 Aspherical

Sources (8)

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.