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

Summilux-R 80mm f/1.4

Leica · Leica R · 1980

our own finding

Also known as: Summilux-R 80mm f/1.4 · Summilux-R 80mm f1.4 · Summilux-R 80mm F1.4 · Summilux-R 80 mm f/1.4 · Summilux R 80mm f1.4 · Summilux R 80mm f/1.4 · Summilux R 80 f1.4 · Summilux-R 1.4/80 · Summilux-R 1:1.4/80 · Summilux-R 1,4/80 · Summilux-R 1.4/80mm · Summilux-R 1:1.4/80 mm · Summilux-R 80/1.4 · Summilux-R 80 1.4 · Summilux R 1.4/80 · Summilux R 1,4/80 · Summilux-R 80mm · Summilux R 80mm · Summilux-R 80 · Summilux R 80 · Leica R 80mm f1.4 Summilux · Leica R 80mm f/1.4 Summilux · Leica 80mm f1.4 Summilux-R · 80mm f1.4 Summilux-R · 80mm f/1.4 Summilux-R · 80mm Summilux-R · Summilux-R 11880 · Summilux-R 11881 · ズミルックスR 80mm F1.4 · ライカ ズミルックスR 80mm F1.4 · ズミルックス R 80mm F1.4

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
3-cam (11880) Leica R, 3-cam (fits every Leicaflex and every R body) 1980–1983 3054601–3267300 (first block from Puts' pocket lists; R-only change from Leica's Handbook of Dec 1989) —
R-only (11881) Leica R, R-cam only (R3 to R9; not the Leicaflex bodies) 1983 from 3267301 (Leica Handbook, Dec 1989) —
Converted to ROM by Leica service Leica R, ROM (R3 to R9) — 3202220 (1982, factory-updated with ROM contacts in 2000, Leitz Auction 47) —
Factory ROM (11349) Leica R, ROM (R3 to R9; not the Leicaflex bodies) — — —
Engraved ELCO-79.80 for Elcovision Leica R — 3399369 (1986, Leitz Auction 6) —
  1. Weight: Leitz's 1982 handbook gives 0.625 kg, Leica's December 1989 handbook 0.670 kg, and Leica's Handbook 2000/2001, Erwin Puts, English Wikipedia and Kamerastore 700 g. All give 69 mm from the flange and 75 mm diameter. The page uses the last Leica figure.
  2. Nine diaphragm blades are reported by Kamerastore, not by a Leitz or Leica document.
  3. Production: the twelve serial blocks in Erwin Puts' pocket lists, 1980 to 2002, add up to 12,250 numbers. Blocks reserved are not necessarily lenses made. English Wikipedia dates the lens 1980–2009; no block after 2002 appears in the list.
  4. Leitz Auction describes the rubberised focusing ring of no. 3202220 (1982) as 'unusual'. Leitz's own handbooks list a rubberised focusing ring (1982) or rubber-covered focusing mount (1989, 2000/2001) as standard on the 80 mm.
  5. Kamerastore's web addresses do not match its listings: its 3-cam 11880 page is reached at addresses reading '…3rd-cam-11810…' and '…85mm…3-cam-11881…', its R-only 11881 page reads '…11882', and its stock item T94358 (an 11881) reads '…11810…'. No Leitz document shows an 11810.
  6. Market prices seen in 2026, none a list price: Leitz Auction 41 hammered no. 3055003 at €1,680 and no. 3056082 at €2,160, both including buyer's premium; Kamerastore listed a 3-cam 11880 at €1,699 and an 11881 at $1,989 against a $2,340 reference price (dealer asking prices). No period list price in DM or dollars is given here.
  7. No lens of this family engraved Leitz Canada is recorded. The designer credit rests on a list in Viewfinder (2005) as cited by English Wikipedia; Walter Mandler worked at Leitz's Midland, Ontario plant, but the sources cited do not say where the lens was computed or built.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • An 80 mm f/1.4 with a built-in telescopic hood, a 67 mm filter thread and a 75 mm front, about 0.6–0.7 kg: no other Leica R lens has that focal length and speed
  • Read the mount from the back: two sloped cams plus a stepped cam is 3-cam (11880); the stepped cam alone is R-only (11881); gold contacts are ROM. Leica's 1989 handbook puts the R-only change at serial 3,267,301
  • Not the Summilux-M 75mm f/1.4 rangefinder lens, nor the Summilux-R 50mm and 35mm f/1.4, nor the Summicron-R and APO-Summicron-R 90mm f/2

3-cam (11880):

  • At the back of the mount: two sloped Leicaflex cams and the stepped R-cam, and no row of gold contacts
  • Order number 11880 on box or paperwork; serial number below 3,267,301

R-only (11881):

  • Only the stepped R-cam at the back of the mount, without the two sloped Leicaflex cams, and no gold contacts
  • Order number 11881; serial number 3,267,301 or higher

Converted to ROM by Leica service:

  • A strip of gold ROM contacts at the back of the mount next to the R-cam, on a lens whose serial dates from the 1980s

Factory ROM (11349):

  • Gold ROM contacts at the back of the mount beside the R-cam, and order number 11349
  • Sold in a soft leather case (Leica Handbook 2000/2001), where the earlier lenses came with hood, cap and rear cover only

Engraved ELCO-79.80 for Elcovision:

  • Extra engraving 'ELCO-79.80' on the barrel

Serial-range notes

3054601–3056600
The first block of 2,000, dated 1980 in Puts' pocket lists. Leitz Auction calls a lens in it, no. 3055003, from "the very first batch ever produced (starting with number 3054601)".
3054601–3267300
3-cam (11880). Puts' pocket lists give blocks in 1980 (3054601–3056600), 1981 (3133501–3134000 and 3151501–3152500), 1982 (3201801–3203800) and 1983 (3265401–3267400); the last hundred numbers of the 1983 block fall after the R-only change.
3267301 onward
R-cam only (11881), by Leica's Handbook of December 1989, which adds that these lenses cannot be equipped for the Leicaflex. Puts' pocket lists give later blocks in 1986 (3398101–3400100), 1992 (3599220–3599719), 1994 (3647476–3647975), 1996 (3736701–3737200), 1997 (3798910–3799409), 1998 (3857350–3857849) and 2002 (3949134–3949383).
the seven-digit number on the front ring
Leitz and Leica numbers run in one sequence shared across models and reserved in blocks, so a number dates a lens only roughly. A lens with ROM contacts and a serial from the 1980s has been converted.

Specifications

Formula
Seven elements in five groups: three single elements before the stop, two cemented groups behind it
Designed by
Walter Mandler — optical design (Viewfinder, 2005, as cited by English Wikipedia)
Construction
7 elements / 5 groups
Aperture range
f/1.4–f/16
Diaphragm blades
9
Min. focus
0.8 m
Dimensions
75 × 69 mm
Weight
700 g
Filter
67 mm (0.75 mm pitch), E67 screw-in; Series 8 through adapter 14264 (Leitz Handbooks 1982 and 1989)
Years manufactured
1980–2009
Material
Black anodised metal barrel with rubber-covered focusing ring and built-in telescopic hood

What reviewers say

History

The Summilux-R 80mm f/1.4 came out in 1980. It was the fast portrait and low-light lens of the R system, and Leica kept it in the range, in one optical design, until R production ended in 2009. English Wikipedia credits the design to Walter Mandler, from a list of his lenses printed in Viewfinder in 2005. Erwin Puts traces the formula to the Summilux-M 50 of 1961. It has seven elements in five groups, three single elements in front of the stop and two cemented groups behind it. Leitz catalogued it as an “ultra-high-speed lens of long focal length”, with a 30° field, focusing to 0.8 m, an E67 filter thread and a telescopic hood built into the barrel. It is a heavy lens. Leitz’s 1982 handbook gives 625 g, its 1989 handbook 670 g and Leica’s 2000/2001 handbook 700 g, all for the same 69 × 75 mm barrel.

Puts tested it in 2003 against the APO-Summicron-R 90 ASPH and the APO-Macro-Elmarit-R 100. At f/1.4 he found medium contrast, some flare, good resolution in the centre and medium resolution with some astigmatism in the outer zones. Bright lights in dark scenes show a slight veil but little halo. Contrast rises visibly at f/2, and from f/2.8 he rated all three lenses equal. Distortion is 0.2%, low enough for architecture. He measured 2.5 stops of vignetting but says it hardly shows in landscapes. He judged it outstandingly good even by the standards of 2003, excellent in absolute terms for its speed, and able to use the resolution of the coming digital back for the R8 and R9. The Summilux-M 75mm f/1.4 for the rangefinders is a different lens.

The glass stayed the same while the mount changed. The first lenses, order number 11880, have all three cams and fit every body from the 1964 Leicaflex to the R9. Leitz’s 1982 handbook sets no body restriction for it, as it does for the 16 mm Fisheye on the same pages, and Kamerastore calls the 3-cam lens compatible with all Leicaflex and R cameras. Leica’s December 1989 handbook says lenses from serial 3,267,301 have only the R-cam and no longer fit the Leicaflex. Those were sold as 11881, and the same table says the Leicaflex cams cannot be fitted to them, which it says of no other lens in the list. In the R8 era Leica’s Handbook 2000/2001 lists both 11880 and 11881 as convertible to ROM contacts and gives a factory ROM lens its own number, 11349. Leitz Auction has offered, unsold, a 1982 lens factory-updated with ROM contacts in 2000, and has offered a 1986 lens engraved “ELCO-79.80” for Elcovision, a modified R4 or R5 used for traffic control. Erwin Puts’ serial lists give twelve blocks of numbers from 1980 to 2002, 12,250 in all. No example engraved Leitz Canada is recorded.

When buying, start with the back of the mount. Two sloped cams beside the stepped cam means a 3-cam lens. The stepped cam alone means R-only, which will not go on a Leicaflex and cannot be made to. Gold contacts mean ROM; Leica says its factory ROM lens cannot be modified for the Leicaflex. A ROM lens with a serial from the 1980s is a conversion, not a factory 11349. Check that the built-in hood slides out and stays put, and that the focusing is smooth over the long throw. Look for haze, separation and fungus: Kamerastore’s R-only example had been opened and cleaned and still showed damage from earlier fungus. Order numbers in listings are not always right: one dealer’s web address carries “11810”, which appears in no Leitz document. Kamerastore asked €1,699 for a 3-cam lens and $1,989 for an R-only lens (dealer asking prices). At Leitz Auction 41 two lenses from the first 1980 block made €1,680 and €2,160, including buyer’s premium.

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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 80mm f/1.4? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $2,500 across 34 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-10 (middle half $2,000–$3,300). First day tracked.

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

Show 46 more listings

Buying from Yahoo! Auctions outside Japan. It is a domestic marketplace: sellers ship within Japan, and most will not register an overseas buyer. A proxy service bids on your behalf, receives the item and forwards it, for a fee and a wait. Buyee, Jauce and ZenMarket each accept a Yahoo auction number directly. Listed alphabetically for information — none is recommended over another, and none of these is an affiliate link.

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

Related: Summicron-R 90mm f/2 · APO-Summicron-R 90mm f/2 ASPH. · Summilux-R 50mm f/1.4 (I) · APO-Macro-Elmarit-R 100mm f/2.8 · Summilux-R 50mm f/1.4 (II, E60) · Elcan-R 75mm f/2 (C-341)

Sources (9)

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.