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Hologon 15mm f/8

Carl Zeiss · Leica M · 1972 · Hologon — a symmetrical thick-meniscus triplet

Also known as: Zeiss Hologon 15mm f/8 · Carl Zeiss Hologon · Hologon 15/8 Leica M · ホロゴン 15mm F8

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Hologon for Leica M Leica M 1972–1976 5735868–5736336
7988846
15640504–15640667
2593021 		About 500 lenses (Leica Wiki)
  1. The graduated grey filter is not optional. The Hologon's illumination falls away sharply toward the edges of a 110 degree field, and the filter is darker in the middle to even it out; it costs two stops, taking the working aperture to f/16.
  2. The 500 figure is not settled. Mike Eckman's account of the Hologon Ultrawide has Carl Zeiss filling a single order of 400 M-mount Hologons for Leitz, sold out within a month; another written account of the lens gives about 225. The published figures disagree by a factor of two, and the Leica Wiki's own serial table is marked as compiled from known lenses rather than from a factory list.
  3. The table's arithmetic adds a fourth figure to the argument about how many were made. Its foot prints 559+ assigned numbers for 1972–1976, while the rows above give 469+, one unknown and 258+ — 727+ where they can be counted at all. The summary line on the same page says about 500.
  4. A complete set — lens number 5736179, its dedicated finder, the centre filter, both caps, papers and the maker's box with matching number — realised EUR 9,600 including buyer's premium at Leitz Photographica Auction 47, lot 212, against an estimate of EUR 10,000 to 12,000.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • 110 degree diagonal angle of view from a lens weighing 110 grams
  • A fixed aperture: there is no diaphragm at all
  • Focus to 0.2 m, with depth of field that makes the scale close to decorative
  • Supplied with its own finder carrying a spirit level

Hologon for Leica M:

  • Two thick meniscus elements around a near-spherical centre — the three elements, three groups
  • Engraved CARL ZEISS HOLOGON 1:8/15 FOR LEICA-M
  • No aperture ring: f/8 is the only setting
  • The rear element sits so far back it cannot be used on an M8 or M9

Serial-range notes

the seven- or eight-digit number on the barrel
The rule here is that the Leitz rule does not apply. Every Leitz and Leica lens in this catalog is dated from Leitz's own running sequence and its per-model block tables; the Hologon was built by Carl Zeiss at Oberkochen and numbered in Zeiss's sequence, which Leitz sold but did not assign. No year key to those numbers has been published, and the wiki's table for the lens is marked as compiled from known lenses rather than from any factory list. A Hologon number places the lens among the handful on record and does nothing narrower.
5735868–5736336
469 lenses in 1972 — the only block with a count, and its rows are marked as compiled from known lenses rather than from a factory list.
7988846 and 15640504–15640667
Later Hologons carry Zeiss serial numbers running into eight digits, nothing like the Leitz sequences around them. The lens is numbered by its maker, not by its seller.
2590501–2600500
A 10,000-number block of 40mm f/2 Summicron-C printed inside the Hologon's serial table, because one Hologon — 2593021 — was recorded with a Leitz-sequence number.
2593021
The one Hologon carrying a Leitz number, and so the only copy of this lens the general year list can date at all: it falls in the 2,556,501–2,663,400 band for 1973, which is the year the wiki's own row gives it. Every other Hologon number on the page is Zeiss's and undatable.
15640504–15640667
The 1976 row, and the one figure on the table that is neither a count nor a span. The 258+ printed against it sits over a span of 164 numbers — 15640667 minus 15640504, plus one. The 1972 row's 469 is exactly its own span, so the two rows are not even wrong in the same way.
7988846
A single observed lens standing as its own row, dated 1974, with no upper bound and no count against it. It sits more than two million numbers above the 1972 bracket and more than seven million below the 1976 one. Nothing on the page explains the gaps.
5736179
The complete outfit sold as lot 212 of Leitz Photographica Auction 47 — lens, dedicated finder, centre filter, both caps, papers and a matching-numbered box. It falls inside 5735868–5736336, the 1972 bracket, 311 numbers above its foot, and is the only Hologon in this entry with both a number and a documented price.

Specifications

Formula
Hologon — a symmetrical thick-meniscus triplet
Designed by
Erhard Glatzel — optical design · Hans Schulz — optical design · Ris Ruth — optical design · Heinz-Dieter Schulz — optical design
Construction
3 elements / 3 groups
Aperture range
f/8–f/8
Min. focus
0.2 m
Weight
110 g
Years manufactured
1972–1976
Country
Germany
Material
Anodised aluminium

What reviewers say

History

The Hologon is three pieces of glass that between them see 110 degrees with essentially no curvilinear distortion, and it is not a Leitz lens at all. Erhard Glatzel’s team designed it at Carl Zeiss in Oberkochen; Leitz sold it for the M mount from 1972; about five hundred were made in four years.

Everything about it is unusual. There is no aperture — f/8 is the only setting, because the design’s geometry does not permit a diaphragm in a useful place. It focuses to 0.2 m, though at 15mm and f/8 nearly everything is sharp anyway. It weighs 110 grams. And the rear element protrudes so far into the body that it cannot be fitted to a digital M at all: on an M8 or M9 it fouls, and even where it clears, the light strikes the sensor at an angle no digital M can handle.

The grey filter supplied with it is not an accessory. A 110 degree field of view falls off badly toward the edges, so Zeiss made a graduated neutral-density filter that is darkest in the middle and clear at the rim, which evens out the exposure across the frame. It costs two stops, taking the working aperture to f/16. Photographs made without it show a bright centre and dark corners; that is the lens uncorrected, not a fault.

Its serial numbers say plainly who made it. Later Hologons carry Zeiss numbers running to eight digits — 7988846, 15640504 — nothing like the Leitz sequences of the cameras they were mounted on. One lens, 2593021, has a Leitz-style number instead, which is why the Leica Wiki’s Hologon table also contains a ten-thousand-number block of 40mm Summicron-Cs. The lens belongs to two numbering systems and sits awkwardly in both.

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 Hologon 15mm f/8? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $12,000 across 5 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $5,000–$13,000). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 2 days: unchanged from $12,000.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$12,000$5,000–$13,0005
2026-09-06$12,000$5,000–$13,0005

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

eBay links are affiliate links. If you buy through one, Glass Bodies earns a small commission from eBay at no cost to you. It does not change which listings appear, their prices or their order — those come from the search and the sort described above.

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

Related: Super-Elmar-M 18mm f/3.8 ASPH · Light Lens Lab 15mm f/8 ("Hologon") · Hologon T* 16mm f/8 (Contax G)

Sources (5)

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.