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

Summicron-M 90mm f/2 (v3, 1980)

Leica · Leica M · 1980 · Five elements in four groups

Also known as: Summicron-M 90mm f/2 pre-APO · Summicron 90 third version · Summicron-M 90mm f/2 (third version) · Summicron-M 90mm f/2 (third version) · Summicron 90 v3 · Summicron 90mm v3 · pre-APO Summicron 90

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
First type, E49 with telescoping shade Leica M 1980–1990 — No separate figure published
Second type, E55 Leica M 1990–1998 — No separate figure published
Silver (11137) Leica M 1980–1998 3615580–3616579
3643276–3644475
3665831–3666030
3687031–3688230
3688231–3689030 		No separate figure published
Ernst Leitz Canada Leica M 1980–1990 — No figure published
  1. A black prototype of the 11136, serial C371007 and dated about 1979, was catalogued by Leitz Photographica Auction 29 as carrying prototype formula C37 from Ernst Leitz Canada, with a design differing from series production; it went unsold against a €7,000–9,000 estimate. The C37 serial prefix and the date place a Canadian pre-production lens a year ahead of the version's 1980 introduction.
  2. Phillip Reeve's review measures the E55 type at 484 g with its adapter, against the 475 g recorded here for the black lens; the two figures are close enough to be the same lens weighed differently, and the difference is not resolved.
  3. The serial table does not sum to its own total. Its 90mm blocks hold 30,151 numbers, against the 29,853 printed both in the production era line and in the table's own TOTAL row — an overrun of 298. The 1977 block that actually contains the two earliest known lenses is captioned as a 35mm Summicron and is not counted at all.
  4. The table's year span and the page's production era do not match: the blocks run 1977–1995, the production era is given as 1980–1998.
  5. The general year list this entry dates by has two faults of its own in the years this lens was built. 1991 is given as ending at 3,583,830 while 1992 opens at 3,585,831, leaving 2,000 numbers in no year; and 1992 is given as ending at 3,610,680 while 1993 opens at 3,610,381, putting 300 numbers in two years at once. Both are recorded rather than corrected.
  6. Buyers number the 90mm f/2 Summicrons v1 to v4: v1 of 1957 (the heavy Wetzlar and Canada lens), v2 of 1963, v3 of 1980 (the compact Canadian five-in-four), v4 the APO ASPH of 1998. This entry uses that numbering; the other pages carry the rest.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Five elements in four groups — two fewer than the versions before it
  • 11-blade aperture
  • 27 degrees diagonal

First type, E49 with telescoping shade:

  • E49 filters; 79 × 67 mm
  • A telescoping shade that covers the aperture ring when retracted

Second type, E55:

  • E55 filters; 77 × 63.5 mm — shorter and slimmer than the first type

Silver (11137):

  • Silver lacquered brass — 690 g against 475 g for the black

Ernst Leitz Canada:

  • Canadian markings

Serial-range notes

the seven-digit number on the front ring
The rule for every Leitz and Leica lens: the numbers run in one running sequence shared across models, so a serial normally gives an approximate date — but the sequence does NOT begin at 100,000 in 1931, and a serial usually identifies the model too. The register behind the published year list records reserved BLOCKS, each entered with a date, a range and a lens name, which is why per-model batch tables exist and why they are the better evidence where the two disagree. The date is when the block was reserved, not when the lens was finished. Date a copy by the year band it falls into. The bands covering this lens are 2,809,401–2,880,600 for 1977, 2,880,601–2,967,250 for 1978, 3,013,651–3,087,000 for 1980, 3,160,501–3,249,100 for 1982, 3,249,101–3,294,900 for 1983, 3,294,901–3,346,200 for 1984, 3,346,201–3,383,200 for 1985, 3,422,891–3,455,870 for 1987, 3,455,871–3,478,900 for 1988, 3,478,901–3,503,150 for 1989, 3,503,151–3,540,467 for 1990, 3,540,468–3,583,830 for 1991, 3,585,831–3,610,680 for 1992, 3,610,381–3,644,475 for 1993, 3,644,476–3,677,030 for 1994 and 3,677,031–3,730,290 for 1995. Where a number falls inside one of the allocated blocks below, that block is the finer answer.
2947201–3722802
The span of the blocks the Leica Wiki assigns to the third 90mm Summicron, opening in 1978 and closing in 1995 — three years short of the 1998 the same page gives as the end of production, and with two lenses recorded earlier still.
2814052 and 2814349
Two individual lenses inside the block 2813801–2814900, which the table captions as the 35mm f/2 Summicron-M and dates 1977. The page's own footnote says both are 90mm rather than 35mm. They are the earliest recorded examples of this version and they carry 1977 numbers, three years before the 1980 introduction printed at the head of the same page.
3615580–3616579, 3643276–3644475, 3665831–3666030, 3687031–3688230, 3688231–3689030
The blocks annotated silver, all of them dated 1993 to 1995. On the table's evidence the silver 11137 is a lens of the version's last years, not of its whole 1980–1998 run, and 3,400 of the 4,600 numbers annotated silver were allocated in 1995 alone.
3642376–3643275
Nine hundred numbers dated 1993 and annotated black and silver together. A number in this block settles the year and nothing about the finish.
the .1 and .2 suffixes in the table
The table marks blocks black.1 and black.2, and it is tempting to read those as the E49 first type and the E55 second type. They cannot be. black.2 first appears in the 1982 block 3209801–3211800, eight years before the E55 type arrived in 1990. Whatever the suffixes count, it is not the filter change, and no published block separates E49 from E55.
C371007
The prototype already recorded in this entry's notes carries a C prefix and sits outside the ordinary seven-digit sequence altogether. Leitz Canada pre-production glass was numbered on its own scheme, so a C-prefixed number cannot be dated from the year list at all — the 1979 date on that lens comes from the auction catalogue, not from its number.

Specifications

Formula
Five elements in four groups
Construction
5 elements / 4 groups
Aperture range
f/2–f/22
Diaphragm blades
11
Min. focus
1 m
Weight
475 g
Years manufactured
1980–1998
Country
Germany
Material
Black anodised aluminium, or silver lacquered brass at 690 g

What reviewers say

History

The third 90mm Summicron sold 29,853 lenses in eighteen years, against 5,430 for the version before it. Same aperture, same focal length, same 27 degrees — what changed is that Leitz got it down to five elements in four groups and 475 grams, and a fast 90 stopped being something you decided to carry and became something you simply had on the camera.

It exists in two types that differ in their filters and their hoods. The first takes E49 and has a telescoping shade with a design fault worth knowing about before buying: retracted, the shade covers the aperture ring, so changing aperture means extending the hood first. The second type takes E55, is 2mm shorter and 3.5mm slimmer, and does not do that.

The silver version is 690 grams against 475 for the black — brass rather than aluminium, and more than two hundred grams of difference on a lens that was already the heavy end of an M kit. Anyone choosing on looks should pick it up first.

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 Summicron-M 90mm f/2 (v3, 1980)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $750 across 49 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $480–$1,000). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 2 days: down 5% from $790.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$750$480–$1,00049
2026-09-06$790$500–$1,00042

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

Show 108 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 90mm f/2 ASPH (v4) · Summicron 90mm f/2 (v1, 1957) · Summicron 90mm f/2 (v2, 1963)

Sources (4)

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.