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

Summicron 50mm f/2 (v1 collapsible · v2 rigid and Dual Range)

Ernst Leitz · LTM + Leica M · 1951 · Double Gauss

Known as “Rigid Summicron”, “DR Summicron”, “Dual Range”

Also known as: Leitz Summicron 50mm f/2 · Summicron 5cm f2 · Summicron DR · Dual Range Summicron · ズミクロン 50mm F2 · Summicron 5cm f/2 (first version) · Summicron 5cm f/2 (first version) · Summicron 50 v1 · Summicron 50 v2 · Summicron 50mm v1 · Summicron 50mm v2 · Summicron v1 collapsible · Summicron v2 rigid · Summicron 50 DR · Rigid Summicron · DR Summicron

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
v1 — collapsible (1953) LTM 1951–1960 — No separate figure published
v2 — rigid (1956) Leica M 1956–1969 — No separate figure published
v2 — Dual Range, DR (1956) Leica M 1956–1968 — No separate figure published
Compur shutter, CS LTM 1951–1960 — No figure published
  1. The Leica Wiki's element count for this lens reads "7 /4 - 4 /4 (collapsible)". Seven elements is right and the group counts are not self-consistent, so no element or group figure is recorded in this entry's fields rather than repeat a number that contradicts itself.
  2. Leitz Photographica Auction's catalogue descriptions name the glass. Early collapsibles are listed as carrying a yellow, radioactive thorium-oxide element that has yellowed with age, which makes the tint an age marker as much as an optical fact. A 1953 example, serial 993861, was lot 53 of auction 45 and realised €2,280 including buyer's premium against an estimate of €1,200–1,400.
  3. The same catalogues document a precursor series sold under the Summitar name with an asterisk: 88 lenses, serials 812242–812329, built in 1950 with a thorium-oxide element and described as the immediate forerunners of the Summicron, three years before it reached the market. Serial 812274 was lot 46 of auction 34 and realised €12,000 including buyer's premium against an estimate of €10,000–12,000.
  4. Buyers number the 50mm f/2 Summicrons v1 to v6: v1 the collapsible of 1953 and v2 the rigid and Dual Range of 1956 (one optical design, one page); v3 the 1969 six-in-five; v4 the 1979 six-in-four and v5 its 1994 built-in-hood barrel (identical glass, one page); v6 the APO-Summicron ASPH of 2012. This entry uses that numbering in its variant names, and the other pages carry the rest.
  5. A Japanese blog (aremo-koremo) went to the US and German patents of the original Summicron and found Otto Zimmermann and Gustav Kleinberg named, under Max Berek's direction, with Rudolf Rühl on a 1957 German patent — and Walter Mandler's name nowhere: 'ウォルター・マンドラーの名前は初代ズミクロンの特許に出てこない'. That agrees with the designer credit on this page; the Mandler attribution that circulates belongs to later Summicrons.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Engraved Summicron f=5cm 1:2 with Ernst Leitz Wetzlar
  • E39 filter thread, which becomes the Leica standard for the next fifty years

v1 — collapsible (1953):

  • Barrel pushes into the body; must be fully extended to focus

v2 — rigid (1956):

  • Fixed barrel, heavier at 285g in bayonet mount

v2 — Dual Range, DR (1956):

  • A close-focus range reached with the SDPOO spectacles, which carry their own serial
  • 16 aperture blades on the 11918 and 11818 versions

Compur shutter, CS:

  • A leaf shutter built into the lens

Serial-range notes

920022
The dual-lever version begins here, on the Leica Wiki's account.
812242–813231 (sold as Summitar)
A precursor series of 990 lenses built in 1950 and sold under the Summitar name with an asterisk. The Leica Wiki's Summitar table, compiled from Erwin Puts's Pocket Pod, marks the run and notes it contains prototypes for the later Summicron. The 990 is the size of the batch, not a serial prefix — a distinction worth making, because the batch is often quoted as though it were a number.

Specifications

Formula
Double Gauss
Designed by
Gustav Kleinberg — optical design — filed 20 July 1950 · Otto Zimmermann — optical design
Aperture range
f/2–f/16
Diaphragm blades
10
Min. focus
1 m
Weight
220 g
Filter
39 mm
Years manufactured
1951–1969
Country
Germany
Material
Chrome-plated brass

What reviewers say

History

The Summicron is where Leitz stops chasing and starts setting the standard. The Summar had been soft and scratched; the Summitar was better and still a compromise; the Summicron, designed by Gustav Kleinberg and Otto Zimmermann and filed in July 1950, used glass containing rare earths that Leitz had developed in the war years, and it resolved detail at f/2 that its predecessors could not manage stopped down. 253,314 were made in eighteen years, in screw mount and bayonet, and the name has been on Leica’s f/2 lenses ever since.

Three versions matter to a buyer. The collapsible is the common screw-mount form and the cheapest way in; it must be fully extended to focus, and on a digital M it must never be collapsed at all. The rigid, from 1956, is the one with the reputation — the Leica Wiki’s 2010 figures put a screw-mount rigid at $1,900 against $250 for a collapsible. And the Dual Range, the DR, adds a close-focus range reached by fitting spectacles over the finder windows.

The DR carries a trap worth knowing before buying. Those spectacles are matched to the lens: the last four digits of the serial number on the goggles must match the lens they came with, or they will not seat correctly. A DR offered without its eyes is not a DR in any useful sense — it is a rigid Summicron whose close range you cannot reach.

One number on the source page cannot be right, and this entry does not repeat it. The Leica Wiki gives the construction as “7 /4 - 4 /4 (collapsible)”. Seven elements is correct and no arrangement of this lens has four; the group counts contradict each other within the same line. Rather than pick one, the fields here leave elements and groups empty and say why.

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 Summicron 50mm f/2 (v1 collapsible · v2 rigid and Dual Range)
Leica IIIc with a collapsible Summicron 5cm f/2 (s58y) — s58y, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Summicron 50mm f/2 (v1 collapsible · v2 rigid and Dual Range)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $800 across 88 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $550–$1,400). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 2 days: unchanged from $800.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$800$550–$1,40088
2026-09-06$800$540–$1,30088

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

Show 227 more listings

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

Related: APO-Summicron-M 50mm f/2 ASPH (v6) · Light Lens Lab 50mm f/2 "Rigid" · Summicron-M 50mm f/2 (v4 · v5) · Summicron 50mm f/2 (v3)

Sources (6)

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.