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

Summicron 50mm f/2 (v3)

Ernst Leitz · Leica M · 1968 · Six elements in five groups

Also known as: Summicron 50mm f/2 v2 · Summicron-M 50 rigid aluminium · Summicron 50mm f/2 (second version) · Summicron 50mm f/2 (second version) · Summicron 50 v3 · Summicron 50mm v3 · Summicron v3

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Cylindrical aluminium Leica M 1968–1979 — The bulk of 44,029 lenses
Scalloped brass, carried over Leica M 1968–1979 — A limited number within the serial blocks
Dual Range, carried over Leica M 1968–1975 — Order numbers 11318 and 11918, concurrent in the catalogue
  1. The Leica Wiki flags this itself: the second version is 6 elements in 5 groups, but "a limited number of the earlier 7/4 plated brass versions occur in the serial nos. listed below". Two optical designs share the same serial ranges, so a lens cannot be identified by its number alone — the barrel has to be looked at.
  2. An auction lot documents the overlap from the other side. Lot 149 of Leitz Photographica Auction 44 was catalogued as a "Rare transitional version of the 11817 Summicron with scalloped focus ring, like the black paint rigid Summicron" — no. 2269744, dated 1968, with hood 12585 — estimated €4,500–5,000 against a €2,400 start and sold for €7,800 including buyer's premium. It fixes 11817 as this version's order number and puts a scalloped barrel on a 1968 serial — the overlap the Leica Wiki describes, catalogued as a specific camera.
  3. 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.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • A plain cylindrical barrel where the first version is scalloped
  • Six elements in five groups, against the first version's seven
  • Focuses to 0.7 m, where the collapsible first version stops at 1 m

Cylindrical aluminium:

  • A plain cylindrical aluminium barrel with no scalloping

Scalloped brass, carried over:

  • Scalloped focusing knurl on plated brass — the first version's barrel

Dual Range, carried over:

  • The first version's DR lens, still listed while the second version was on sale

Specifications

Formula
Six elements in five groups
Construction
6 elements / 5 groups
Aperture range
f/2–f/16
Diaphragm blades
10
Min. focus
0.7 m
Filter
39 mm
Years manufactured
1968–1979
Country
Germany
Material
Cylindrical anodised aluminium

What reviewers say

History

The second Summicron 50 is a simplification: six elements in five groups where the first had seven, in a plain cylindrical aluminium barrel instead of scalloped plated brass, focusing to 0.7 m. 44,029 were made between 1968 and 1979 — Leitz’s standard lens through the M4 and M5 years.

Its interest is a bookkeeping problem that turns into a buying problem. Leitz did not stop selling the first version when this one arrived. The scalloped brass lenses and the Dual Range stayed in the catalogue with their own order numbers, and the Leica Wiki says plainly that “a limited number of the earlier 7/4 plated brass versions occur in the serial nos. listed below”. So the same serial ranges contain two different optical designs in two different barrels.

The practical consequence: a 50mm Summicron of this period cannot be identified from its serial number. You have to look at the barrel — cylindrical aluminium for the second version, scalloped brass for the first — and if a seller quotes a serial as proof of which lens it is, they are quoting a number the manufacturer’s own record says is ambiguous.

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 (v3)
Autumn ride — shot on a 50mm f/2 Summicron, version not stated (Tom Mills) — Tom Mills, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Sample photo taken with the Summicron 50mm f/2 (v3)
Sully Historic Site — shot on a 50mm f/2 Summicron (Tom Mills) — Tom Mills, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Sample photo taken with the Summicron 50mm f/2 (v3)
Morning skies — shot on a 50mm f/2 Summicron (Tom Mills) — Tom Mills, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Summicron 50mm f/2 (v3)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $1,300 across 47 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $900–$1,600). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 2 days: up 39% from $930.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$1,300$900–$1,60047
2026-09-06$930$460–$1,40030

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

Show 145 more listings

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: APO-Summicron-M 50mm f/2 ASPH (v6) · Summicron-M 50mm f/2 (v4 · v5) · Summicron 50mm f/2 (v1 collapsible · v2 rigid and Dual Range)

Sources (3)

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.