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

Summitar 5cm f/2

Ernst Leitz · LTM · 1939 · Modified Gauss

single source, unconfirmed

Also known as: Leitz Summitar 50mm f/2 · Summitar 5cm f2 · Summitar 50/2 · ズミタール 50mm F2

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Ten-blade aperture LTM 1939–1950 — Lenses below serial 810001
Six-blade aperture LTM 1950–1955 — Lenses from serial 810001, with exceptions
Coated (SOORE-B) LTM 1946–1955 — No separate figure published
Military marked LTM 1939–1945 — No figures published for any marking
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Engraved Summitar f=5cm 1:2
  • A larger front element than the Summar, in a barrel that still collapses
  • E36 filter fitting, with the SNHOO adapter for E39 filters

Ten-blade aperture:

  • A near-circular aperture from ten blades

Six-blade aperture:

  • Hexagonal aperture

Coated (SOORE-B):

  • A visible bloom on the front surface

Military marked:

  • Heer (army), Luftwaffen-Eigentum (air force), W.Haven (navy)
  • A.M. Aeronautica Militare — the Italian air force

Serial-range notes

810001
The aperture changes from ten blades to six at this number, with exceptions the Leica Wiki attributes to forum research rather than to a record.
418001–425000
A 7,000-number block printed in the Summitar's table but belonging to the Summar, with one lens inside it — 419845 — confirmed as a Summitar.
the 990 batch
Marked with an asterisk in Puts's list: prototypes for the later Summicron were built in this batch. The Summicron's development is visible inside the Summitar's numbering.

Specifications

Formula
Modified Gauss
Designed by
Max Berek — optical design — patent filed 29 July 1937
Construction
7 elements / 4 groups
Aperture range
f/2–f/16
Diaphragm blades
10
Min. focus
1 m
Dimensions
47.8 × 42.7 mm
Weight
240 g
Filter
36 mm
Years manufactured
1939–1955
Country
Germany
Coating
Uncoated at launch; coated from 1946, catalogued as SOORE-B
Material
Chrome-plated brass

What reviewers say

History

The Summitar is the Summar fixed. Max Berek added a seventh element to the double Gauss, filed the patent in July 1937, and Leitz put it on sale in 1939 with harder glass and a larger front element in a barrel that still collapses into the body. It answers the two complaints about the Summar directly: it holds contrast better against the light, and its front surface survives cleaning.

172,390 were made over sixteen years, which spans the war from both ends. Wartime examples carry the same service markings as the IIIc bodies they were sold with — Heer for the army, Luftwaffen-Eigentum for the air force, W.Haven for the navy, and A.M. for the Italian air force — and the same warning applies: an engraving is easy to add to a lens and hard to verify. From 1946 the lens was coated and catalogued as SOORE-B, which is the version to look for if you intend to use it.

The detail that decides which Summitar to buy is the aperture. Early lenses have ten blades and stop down to a nearly circular opening; from serial 810001 the count drops to six and the aperture becomes a visible hexagon. If out-of-focus highlights matter to you — and on a fast fifty they generally do — the early lens is the one. The Leica Wiki notes exceptions to that changeover, sourced to forum research rather than to any factory record.

One entry in its serial list is a small piece of history. A batch marked with an asterisk in Puts’s list contains prototypes for the Summicron: the lens that replaced the Summitar was being built, in small numbers, inside the Summitar’s own numbering while the Summitar was still in production.

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 Summitar 5cm f/2
Leica IIIc converted to IIIf, with a Summitar 5cm f/2 (s58y) — s58y, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Sample photo taken with the Summitar 5cm f/2
FFS RABe 521 at Luzern — Leica IIIc with a Summitar 5cm on Delta 100 (NAC) — NAC, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Sample photo taken with the Summitar 5cm f/2
Zürich HB, EN 467 — IIIc with a Summitar 5cm on Retropan (NAC) — NAC, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Summitar 5cm f/2? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $400 across 47 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $360–$540). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 2 days: unchanged from $400.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$400$360–$54047
2026-09-06$400$360–$54045

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

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Listings updated 2026-09-11. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

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.