Summicron-R 50mm f/2 (II)

Leica · Leica R · 1976 · Six elements in four groups

our own finding

Also known as: Summicron-R 50mm f/2 · Summicron-R 50mm f/2 II · Summicron-R II 50mm f/2 · Summicron-R 50mm f2 Type II · Summicron-R 50mm f2 V2 · Summicron-R 50mm f2 2nd version · Summicron-R 2/50 · Summicron-R 1:2/50 · Summicron-R 50/2 · Leica R 50mm f2 Summicron · Leitz Canada Summicron-R 50mm · Leitz Canada Summicron-R 2/50 · Summicron-R 50mm f2 E55 · ズミクロンR 50mm F2 · ライカ ズミクロンR 50mm F2

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
3-cam universal (11215), Leitz Canada Leica R, 3-cam (fits every Leicaflex and R body) 1976 — —
R-only (11216), Leitz Canada Leica R, R-only (R3 and later; does not fit any Leicaflex) 1978 — —
Safari, olive green (R3 Safari outfit) Leica R, R-only (R3 and later) — — —
Earlier lens converted to ROM by Leica service Leica R, ROM (R3 and later; not the Leicaflex bodies) — — —
Factory ROM (11345) Leica R, ROM (R3 and later; Leicaflex only after modification) — — —
  1. Specification from Leitz's and Leica's own documents: the General Catalogue of 15 Sept 1978, the Handbooks of July 1982 and Dec 1989 and the Handbook 2000/2001. All give 45°, six elements in four components, f/16, 0.5 m, a smallest field of 180 × 270 mm, internal thread M 55 × 0.75, lens cap 63 mm, 41 mm from the flange and 66 mm diameter. Photoethnography gives f/22 as the smallest stop; every Leitz and Leica document consulted gives f/16. Flashback Camera gives six elements in five groups for its second-version lens, which is the first version's construction.
  2. Weight: 0.250 kg in the 1978 and 1982 catalogues, 0.300 kg in the Dec 1989 handbook, 0.290 kg in the 2000/2001 handbook. English Wikipedia, Photoethnography, Cinelenswiki and Cinema Natura give 290 g, the figure used here.
  3. Six diaphragm blades are reported by Cinema Natura, Photoethnography (for the first version) and Cinelenswiki, not by a Leica document.
  4. Dates: 1976 from Photoethnography, Kamerastore, Cinema Natura and English Wikipedia's R-bayonet table; the same encyclopaedia's list of Leica lenses gives 1977. Ingenium dates its Canadian example to the period 1977 to the late 1980s. The end in 2009 is the end of R production.
  5. Where it was made. Kamerastore and Cinema Natura call the lens a Leitz Canada product, and every Leitz-era lens seen for this page is engraved LEITZ CANADA or LENS MADE IN CANADA. Photoethnography lists the version as made in Germany from 2777651, and a German-made first batch of 3-cam lenses may exist, but no lens engraved LEITZ WETZLAR with the built-in hood was seen, so no Wetzlar row is given. The late Leica-engraved lenses are marked LENS MADE IN GERMANY (no. 3667351). When production moved back to Germany is not recorded in any source consulted.
  6. Order number 11217 is given for the Safari lens in some secondary lists; it does not appear in the 1978, 1982, 1989 or 2000/2001 Leitz and Leica documents consulted, so it is not used as the variant's name.
  7. Production: Cinema Natura says almost 100,000 second-version lenses were made, about 3,000 a year. No Leitz figure was found.
  8. Market prices seen in November 2026, all dealer asking prices for used lenses, VAT included under the margin scheme, not list prices: Leica Classic stores €440–690 for R-only lenses, €790–1,150 and £1,000 for ROM lenses, €450 for a first-version 11228. Cinema Natura gave about $600 in March 2022, with $500–700 typical. Leitz Auction's Safari outfit result of €3,840 includes buyer's premium but not VAT, and is for a camera and three lenses. No period list price in DM or dollars was found.
  9. Mandler's own list (Viewfinder vol. 38 no. 2, 2005, as English Wikipedia prints it) credits him with 'Summicron-R 50 mm/2 (2nd & 3rd)'. No optically different third version is recorded; the third may be the ROM lens, which Leica describes with the same optical data.
  10. ⁰ The ELPRO 1 and 2 close-up lenses (16541, 16542) are listed for this lens in all four Leitz and Leica documents; with ELPRO 2 at 0.5 m it reaches about 1:2.6.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • The second version has the hood built into the barrel, pulled forward to use it, and an E55 thread; the first version (11228, 1964–76) has a Series VI filter and a separate clip-on hood
  • Turn the lens over to read the mount: two sloped cams plus a stepped cam is the 3-cam 11215; the stepped cam alone is R-only 11216 (FOR LEICA R ONLY on the barrel); gold contacts are ROM, factory 11345 or converted, and the serial tells which
  • LEITZ CANADA or LEITZ on the front ring and LENS MADE IN CANADA on the barrel on the Leitz-era lenses; LEICA and E 55 on the front ring of the later lenses, with LENS MADE IN CANADA or LENS MADE IN GERMANY
  • Not the Summicron-M 50mm f/2, a separate lens for the M rangefinder bayonet, and not the Summilux-R 50mm f/1.4, which shares the E55 thread and built-in hood in its second version but is longer and heavier (Photoethnography: 66.5 × 50.6 mm, 400 g)

3-cam universal (11215), Leitz Canada:

  • Seen from the back: two sloped Leicaflex cams plus the stepped R-cam, and no gold contacts. Leitz's 1978 and 1982 catalogues each print a small drawing of the 'universal' rear next to the R-only one
  • Early lenses have the front ring engraved SUMMICRON-R 1:2/50 LEITZ CANADA with the serial (Ingenium's no. 2823270), but the R-only Safari no. 2891814 is engraved the same way, so the engraving alone does not identify a 3-cam lens
  • Built-in telescopic hood and an E55 thread: the first version (11228) takes Series VI filters and a separate hood, 12564 (1978 catalogue)

R-only (11216), Leitz Canada:

  • Engraved FOR LEICA R ONLY above LENS MADE IN CANADA on the barrel below the distance scale (Leica Classic's nos. 3205485, 3310743 and 3352787)
  • Front ring reads SUMMICRON-R 1:2/50 LEITZ with the serial, without the word CANADA, on the three lenses above; the earlier R-only Safari no. 2891814 still reads LEITZ CANADA
  • Seen from the back: only the stepped R-cam; the Leicaflex cams are absent and the mount is shaped so that it will not go onto a Leicaflex
  • Kamerastore titles it '(3rd Cam) (11216)', meaning the R-cam alone, not the 3-cam lens

Safari, olive green (R3 Safari outfit):

  • Olive-green painted barrel, focusing ring and aperture ring, with the same white and yellow scales as the black lens (Commons photograph by Sodacan; Leitz Auction lot 261)
  • Leitz Auction's no. 2891814 is engraved SUMMICRON-R 1:2/50 LEITZ CANADA on the front ring and FOR LEICA R ONLY, LENS MADE IN CANADA on the barrel: an R-only lens
  • Leitz Auction's example came as part of an olive outfit with the R3 Safari body, an Elmarit-R 28mm, an Elmar-R 180mm and an olive canvas bag

Earlier lens converted to ROM by Leica service:

  • A strip of gold ROM contacts at the back of the mount on a lens whose serial dates from before the R8 of 1996 suggests a conversion, though serial blocks were reserved ahead of use
  • Leica Store Paris's no. 3512436 (dated 1990), sold as 'modified V2 version with ROM': LENS MADE IN CANADA on the barrel, front ring engraved SUMMICRON-R 1:2/50 LEICA E 55 with the serial
  • Leica Store London's no. 3667351 (dated 1994): ROM contacts, LENS MADE IN GERMANY on the barrel, front ring engraved LEICA and E 55

Factory ROM (11345):

  • Order number 11345; gold ROM contacts and the stepped R-cam at the back, no Leicaflex cams
  • The ROM lenses seen have the front ring engraved LEICA with E 55, not LEITZ (nos. 3512436 and 3667351, both sold as 11345); outside the serial, no source describes a mark that separates a factory 11345 from a converted lens
  • Supplied in a soft leather case 14749 rather than a hard case (2000/2001 handbook)

Serial-range notes

2777651 onward
The first number of the second version by Leica's own accessory tables: the July 1982 handbook prints the 2/50 row 'Code No. 2 777 651', and the Handbook 2000/2001 '2/50 from no. 2777651'. Photoethnography gives the first version as up to about 2777650 and the second from 2777651.
up to 2816825
The conflict. Leitz's 1978 catalogue lists E44 polarising filters for the discontinued first-version 11228 'up to No. 2.816.825', which puts first-version numbers well above the 2777651 where the second version starts. Either the two versions were numbered in overlapping blocks or one of the figures is a misprint; no Leitz document consulted says which, so a lens between 2777651 and 2816825 has to be identified by its hood and filter thread, not by its number.
the seven-digit number on the front ring
The rule for every Leitz and Leica lens: numbers run in one sequence shared across models and are reserved in blocks, so a number dates a lens only roughly. Dealers' dates for the examples on this page: 3205485 (1982), 3310743 (1984), 3512436 (1990), 3667351 (1994), 3868985 (1999), all from Leica Classic listings. A ROM lens numbered well before 1996 was most likely converted later, though a serial is only a rough date.

Specifications

Formula
Six elements in four groups
Designed by
Mandler, Walter — optical design (Mandler's own list credits him with the second and third Summicron-R 50mm) · Edwards, Garry — co-designer, per Cinema Natura · Wagner, Erich — co-designer, per Cinema Natura
Construction
6 elements / 4 groups
Aperture range
f/2–f/16
Diaphragm blades
6
Min. focus
0.5 m
Dimensions
66 × 41 mm
Weight
290 g
Filter
55 mm (0.75 mm pitch), E55 screw-in; Series 7 through adapter 14225 (1978 and 1982 Leitz catalogues)
Years manufactured
1976–2009
Country
Canada (Leitz Canada, Midland) for the Leitz-era lenses and some Leica-engraved ones; Germany for later lenses marked LENS MADE IN GERMANY
Material
Black anodised metal barrel with built-in telescopic hood; olive-green paint on the Safari lens

What reviewers say

Optical Ratings

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

Chromatic aberration
slight purple fringing
Flare & ghosting
well controlled

History

The second Summicron-R 50mm f/2 was the standard lens of the Leica R system for as long as there was one. It arrived in 1976, the year of the R3, and replaced the 1964 Leicaflex lens with a lighter barrel (290 g against 330–340 g by Photoethnography and English Wikipedia) that has the hood built in and takes ordinary E55 filters instead of Series VI. The optics are new as well: six elements in four groups where the first version had six in five. Walter Mandler’s own list of his designs credits him with the second and third Summicron-R 50s, and Cinema Natura adds Garry Edwards and Erich Wagner as co-designers. Leitz’s catalogues give 45°, f/16, a closest focus of 0.5 m, 41 mm from the flange and 66 mm across. The lens then stayed in the range, with only its mount and engraving changing, until R production ended in 2009.

Most of the lenses a buyer meets were made at Leitz Canada in Midland, Ontario. Ingenium’s museum example, no. 2823270, reads LEITZ CANADA on the front ring. Later Leitz lenses read LEITZ in front and FOR LEICA R ONLY and LENS MADE IN CANADA on the barrel. The late lenses carry the Leica name and E 55 on the front ring, and some are marked LENS MADE IN GERMANY. Photoethnography lists the lens as made in Germany. That is possible for the first lenses, but no Wetzlar-engraved example turned up. The changeover from the first version is also less clean than the tables suggest. Leica’s handbooks start this version at serial 2,777,651, while Leitz’s own 1978 catalogue lists accessories for the first-version 11228 up to no. 2,816,825.

The variants are told apart at the back of the mount. The 11215 is the 3-cam “universal” lens. It keeps the two sloped Leicaflex cams and adds the stepped R-cam, so it fits every body from the 1964 Leicaflex to the R9. The 11216 has the R-cam alone and a mount shaped so that it cannot go onto a Leicaflex. Leitz already listed it in 1978 as “for R3 only”, and by the December 1989 handbook it was the only version listed. The olive-green Safari lens came with the R3 Safari outfit of 1977–78, and the example Leitz Auction sold in its Auction 47 is an R-only lens made in Canada. The ROM lens, 11345, adds gold contacts that pass the focal length to an R8 or R9. Leica’s service also fitted these contacts to earlier lenses and removed the Leicaflex cam in doing so, so ROM lenses dated before the R8 turn up, such as the 1990 and 1994 lenses on this page. Dealers sell them under 11345 too.

When buying, match the mount to the body first. Only a 3-cam 11215 belongs on a Leicaflex, Leicaflex SL or SL2. An R-only or ROM lens should not be forced onto one. Leica’s 2000/2001 handbook offered a service modification for Leicaflex use of the ROM lens, but warned that a lens with Leicaflex cams can no longer use the contact strip. On R bodies before the R8, the contacts do nothing. Read the engraving and look at the cams rather than trusting an order number in a title or on a box: two lenses on this page were offered as 11215 with FOR LEICA R ONLY on the barrel. Check that the built-in hood slides out and stays out. Look for haze, and on a Safari lens check the paint, which Cinema Natura found flaking on his. Cinelenswiki notes that the lens has been made with two kinds of serial-number ring, one screwed and one glued, and gives a procedure for de-clicking the aperture. Cinema Natura says cine-modified copies with de-clicked apertures are common, and counts that as a loss on a lens whose firm half-stop clicks are part of its appeal. A modified lens is worth less as a stills lens.

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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-R 50mm f/2 (II)
Summicron-R 50mm f/2 II in the olive-green Safari finish of 1978, hood retracted — Sodacan, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Sample photo taken with the Summicron-R 50mm f/2 (II)
Leica R4 with the black Summicron-R 50mm f/2 II, seen from above (monochrome photograph) — Thomas Vogt from Paderborn, via Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

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

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $500 across 34 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-10 (middle half $430–$680). Tracked since 2026-11-09, 2 days: down 23% from $650.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-11-10$500$430–$68034
2026-11-09$650$500–$6503

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