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

Summilux-R 50mm f/1.4 (II, E60)

Leica · Leica R · 1998

Also known as: Summilux-R 50mm f/1.4 E60 · Summilux-R 50mm f1.4 E60 · Summilux-R 50mm F1.4 E60 · Summilux R 50mm f1.4 E60 · Summilux R 50mm E60 · Summilux-R 50mm E60 · Summilux-R 50mm f/1.4 · Summilux-R 50mm f1.4 · Summilux R 50mm f1.4 · Summilux-R 1.4/50 · Summilux-R 1:1.4/50 · Summilux-R 50/1.4 · Summilux-R 50 1.4 · Summilux R 1.4/50 · Summilux 50mm f1.4 E60 · Summilux-R 50mm Type II · Leica R 50mm f1.4 Summilux · 50mm f1.4 Summilux-R · 50mm f1.4 Summilux E60 · Summilux-R 11344 · Leica 11344 · ズミルックスR 50mm F1.4 · ライカ ズミルックスR 50mm F1.4 E60

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Factory ROM, black (11344) Leica R, R-cam with ROM contacts (R3 to R9; Leica offered modification for the Leicaflex SL2 only) 1998–2009 382xxxx (Shige's own lens, which he dates to 1998) About 2,700 lenses (Shige, citing the Leica Forum Wiki, 1997–2005; a Hong Kong seller on DCFever gives '2,700+' for 1998 to '2005(?)')
  1. Specification from Leica's Handbook 2000/2001: 45°, 8 elements in 7 components, E60 with internal thread M 60 × 0.75, half-stop clicks, f/16, 0.50 m, smallest field 178 × 266 mm (about 1:7.4), parallel-guided focusing mount, built-in telescopic hood, 51 mm from the flange, 70 mm diameter, 0.490 kg. English Wikipedia's R lens table gives the same 8/7, E60, 70 × 51 mm and 490 g. Eight diaphragm blades are Shige's figure, not a Leica document's.
  2. Dates: Erwin Puts, in his 2003 chapter on the R standard lenses, calls it 'the new design from 1998', and English Wikipedia's bayonet table gives 1998–2009. Shige and English Wikipedia's list of Leica lenses (which calls it the third version, with ROM contacts) give 1997. Shige's production figure, citing the Leica Forum Wiki, runs to 2005; the end date of 2009 is the year Leica stopped making R cameras and lenses (see the Leica R9 page).
  3. Order number 11343: Leica's Handbook 2000/2001 ROM table lists four numbers for the Summilux-R f/1.4/50, 11875 and 11777 as 'possible' and 11343 and 11344 as 'already with ROM'. The handbook's range table and lens page give only 11344 for the E60 lens. Shige gives 11343 as a 3-cam version of this E60 lens, which conflicts with the handbook's 'already with ROM', and also writes that as far as he knows the lens was made only with the R-cam and ROM contacts. No E60 lens with Leicaflex cams, and no lens or box marked 11343, has been documented, so 11343 is not given a variant here; the Summilux-R 50mm f/1.4 (I) page records it.
  4. Fit on the Leicaflex bodies: Doug Herr, quoted on Karen Nakamura's Photoethnography Leicaflex page, lists the '50mm Summilux-R, current version (older versions OK)' among lenses that cannot be used on the original Leicaflex and the Leicaflex SL because the SL2 changed the mirror clearance, and adds that ROM lenses should not be used on any Leicaflex, whose cam follower would damage the contacts. Apotelyt, as recorded on this site's Leicaflex SL page, names the 50mm Summilux-R without a version. Leica's handbook offers a modification for the SL2 only. As sold, with ROM contacts and no Leicaflex cams, the lens fits no Leicaflex: the same handbook says Leicaflex control cams must be removed when ROM contacts are fitted, and that once the contact ledge is added 'use on LEICAFLEX models is no longer possible'.
  5. Market prices, all secondary-market and none a list price: an 11344 in excellent condition, with light internal debris, sold on the Gearfocus marketplace in 2026 at a seller's price of US$2,824.38 with free US shipping, tax not stated; a seller on DCFever asked HK$28,800, later reduced to HK$25,300, for a boxed lens in 2020. Classic Connection lists the 11344 as a discontinued new lens with no price. No period list price in DM or dollars was found.
  6. No designer is named in any source consulted. Leica's handbook says only that Leica Camera AG redesigned the lens.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • E60 and about 490 g: the earlier Summilux-R 50, made from 1970 in seven elements, takes Series 7 or E55 and weighs 395–460 g
  • Shige's side-by-side photograph shows the E60 lens a little wider than the E55 Summilux-R and Summicron-R 50. Leica's 2000/2001 handbook gives 70 mm across; for the E55 lens Leitz's 1982 handbook (as recorded on the Summilux-R 50mm f/1.4 (I) page) gives 66.5 mm and Shige 68.5 mm, about 2 mm narrower
  • Not the Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 rangefinder lenses, which have no cams and are far smaller, nor the Summilux-M 75mm f/1.4, which also takes E60, nor the Summilux-R 35mm and 80mm, which take E67

Factory ROM, black (11344):

  • E60 filter thread inside the front ring, against the E55 of the seven-element lens; 70 mm across and about 490 g, some 95 g heavier
  • At the back of the mount: the R-cam and a strip of ROM contacts, with no sloped Leicaflex cams
  • Built-in telescopic hood that pulls out about 10 mm (Shige); lens cap 68 mm, order number 14290
  • Order number 11344 on the box and paperwork; Leica's 2000/2001 range table gives no other number for this lens

Serial-range notes

the seven-digit number on the front ring
Leica lens numbers run in one sequence shared across models and reserved in blocks, so a number dates a lens only roughly. Shige's lens is numbered in the 382xxxx range, which he places in 1998 and calls the peak year for the lens. A Summilux-R 50 with ROM contacts and an E55 thread is the seven-element lens, factory ROM or converted, whatever its number.

Specifications

Formula
Eight elements in seven groups (modified double-Gauss, no aspherical surface)
Construction
8 elements / 7 groups
Aperture range
f/1.4–f/16
Diaphragm blades
8
Min. focus
0.5 m
Dimensions
70 × 51 mm
Weight
490 g
Filter
60 mm (0.75 mm pitch), E60 screw-in (internal thread M 60 × 0.75, Leica Handbook 2000/2001)
Years manufactured
1998–2009
Coating
Multi-coated (Leica Handbook 2000/2001)
Material
Black anodised metal barrel with a rubber-armoured focusing ring and a built-in telescopic hood

What reviewers say

History

The second Summilux-R 50mm f/1.4 is a new lens, not a revision. Leica’s handbook says Leica Camera AG redesigned both the optics and the mechanics of the R system’s fast standard lens, and the result has eight elements in seven groups against the seven elements in six groups of the lens Leitz had made since 1970. That earlier lens has its own page. Erwin Puts dates the new design to 1998, and Shige and one Wikipedia list give 1997. The same handbook says the new lens surpasses its predecessor considerably: it is virtually free of astigmatism, coma is much reduced and is gone by f/4 to f/5.6, and the larger mount diameter cuts vignetting. Shige describes the change as a larger front element for better corner illumination plus an extra element near the centre of the design. It has no aspherical surface, and he calls it the last spherical 50mm Summilux Leica made.

Puts rated it very highly. Wide open he found it very close to the Summicron-R at f/2, with only a faint softness and a little less contrast under critical inspection. On a two-week holiday with both lenses he often could not tell the slides apart. At f/2.8 it equals the Summicron at f/5.6. It shows close to 2% distortion, and he wrote that he knew of no better 50mm f/1.4 in or outside the Leica range. Shige, using it on an R8 with film, on the Digital-Modul-R and on a mirrorless Leica SL, found the same improvement in resolution across the frame at f/1.4 and little flare despite the short pull-out hood. He also found a rendering that is gentler than modern retrofocus 50s.

There is one regular version. It was sold as 11344, black, with an E60 thread, a built-in telescopic hood and ROM contacts. Leica gives it as 51 mm long, 70 mm across and 490 g; Shige puts it about 2 mm wider and roughly 100 g heavier than the E55 lens, and against the 395 g Leitz gave for that lens the difference is 95 g. Shige gives the production as about 2,700, citing the Leica Forum Wiki, which makes it far scarcer than the seven-element lens. Leica’s 2000/2001 handbook also lists an order number 11343 as a factory-ROM Summilux-R 50. Shige files it as a 3-cam version of this lens, which the handbook’s ‘already with ROM’ contradicts, and no E60 lens with Leicaflex cams, or any lens marked 11343, has been documented.

The lens fits every R body from the R3 to the R9 and the R-E. On the R8 and R9 the contacts tell the camera the focal length; Leica’s handbook ties them to the R8’s electronic exposure compensation and to the zoom reflector of suitably equipped flash units. It does not fit any Leicaflex as sold. Leica’s handbook offers a modification for the Leicaflex SL2 only, and Doug Herr, quoted by Photoethnography, lists the current Summilux-R 50 among lenses that cannot be used on the Leicaflex or the SL because of their mirror clearance. Leica’s handbook says the parallel-guided focusing mount is particularly important when the E60 polarising filter is used. When buying, check that the listing really says E60 or 11344, because a seller’s “ROM” alone also describes converted and factory-ROM E55 lenses. Check that the ROM contacts are clean and that the hood slides out and stays put. Look for haze and cleaning marks on the large front element, and check that the aperture clicks at half stops. The Summilux-M 75mm f/1.4 also takes E60, and the M-mount Summilux 50s share the name and nothing else.

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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 wanted — shot with a Summilux-R 50mm f/1.4 (II, E60)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $1,900 across 4 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-10 (middle half $300–$2,500). First day tracked.

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

Listings updated 2026-11-10. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Summilux-R 50mm f/1.4 (I) · Summicron-R 50mm f/2 (II) · Summilux-R 35mm f/1.4 · Summilux-R 80mm f/1.4

Sources (7)

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.