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

Super-Angulon-R 21mm f/3.4

Leica · Leica R · 1964 · Eight elements in four groups

Also known as: Super-Angulon-R 21mm f/3.4 · Super-Angulon-R 21mm f3.4 · Super-Angulon-R 3.4/21 · Super-Angulon-R 3,4/21 · Super-Angulon-R 1:3.4/21 · Super-Angulon-R 1:3,4/21 · Super Angulon R 21mm 3.4 · Leicaflex Super-Angulon 21mm f/3.4 · Leicaflex 21mm f/3.4 · Super-Angulon 21mm f/3.4 Leicaflex · Super-Angulon 21mm f/3.4 Leica R

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
1-cam (11803) Leica R, 1-cam (original Leicaflex, mirror locked up) 1964–1968 From 2056001, the first production lens (Leitz Auction 14 and 35)
Catalogued examples: 2056070, 2056302, 2056891, 2057232 		About 1,500 (Leitz Auction); 1,530 including a later block (Vintage Lenses For Video, from the Leica Wiki)
  1. Only one body can use it. Camera-wiki says the lens "could only be used on the original Leicaflex and is the only lens that cannot be used on later cameras"; English Wikipedia's table gives "Leicaflex only (requires mirror lock-up)". The mirror is locked up before the lens goes on (Blue Moon Camera; Leitz Auction 38), and framing is done through a separate 21mm finder. The Leicaflex SL of 1968 replaced the lock-up lever with a depth-of-field preview and cannot take it (see the Leicaflex SL and SL2 pages), and camera-wiki says the retrofocus 21mm f/4 Super-Angulon-R replaced this lens.
  2. The body list on this page is the original Leicaflex alone. The lens takes the same bayonet as every later body, but the SL and SL2 have no mirror lock-up. The R6, R6.2 and R8 do have mirror lock-up (see those body pages), yet no source reports this lens used on any of them, and Leica's R6 and R9 instructions say 1-cam and 2-cam Leicaflex lenses, which lack the R-cam, must not be mounted because they can damage the camera; English Wikipedia and Karen Nakamura say such lenses can be used stopped down (see the R6 page). Leica's Handbook 2000/2001 lists 11803 as "not possible" for ROM modification, and no R-cam conversion for it is recorded.
  3. Weight: 228 g (Apotelyt; Cinelenswiki); English Wikipedia's table gives 230 g.
  4. Accessories, from Leitz's own lists. The General Catalogue of 15 September 1978 gives hood 12511, hood cap 14107 and rear cover 14106. The Handbooks of July 1982 and December 1989 give an internal lens thread of M67 × 0.75, a lens-cap diameter of 70 mm, lens cap 14144 and Series 8 filters with the lens hood as the adapter; the Handbook 2000/2001 gives the same with lens cap 14232 and lists the lens hood for the Super-Angulon-R 3.4/21 among replacement parts. Leitz Auction 35 calls the front thread E67, and Flashback Camera sold one with an E67 UVa filter.
  5. Two hood numbers are found on sold lenses: 12511E (Leitz Auction 43; Blue Moon Camera; "hood / filter holder 12511 E", Leitz Auction 38) and 14170W (Leitz Auction 14; Flashback Camera). The Leitz lists read here name only 12511.
  6. The ROM table in Leica's Handbook 2000/2001 prints the lens as "ELMARIT-R f/3.4/21 11803". The order number and aperture show that this is the Super-Angulon-R, misnamed in that table.
  7. Leitz Auction 1 lot 126, serial 2056302, describes the lens as for "Leicaflex I at released mirror and with brillant finder, with adapter 22228 also on M-cameras". The adapter is not identified further in any source read here.
  8. Prices realised at Leitz Auction, all including buyer's premium: €360 (auction 14, B+, with hood), €450 (auction 6, A-, caps and hood), €1,320 (auction 43, A-, boxed with hood) and €3,120 (auction 35, serial 2056001, with the 21mm finder and box). Blue Moon Camera asked US$1,200 as a dealer price for an overhauled example with box and hood. No Leitz list price has been found.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Named Super-Angulon-R with a 1:3.4 aperture; the f/4 that replaced it is a retrofocus lens with order number 11813, a wider barrel (78 mm against 67 mm, Apotelyt) and a rear that stays clear of the mirror
  • Eight elements in four groups against the f/4's ten in eight (English Wikipedia)
  • Focuses to 0.2 m (Apotelyt; Flashback Camera)

1-cam (11803):

  • A single sloped cam at the back of the bayonet: no second cam for the SL, no stepped R-cam, no ROM contacts
  • A barrel about 42 mm long (Apotelyt) whose rear optics stand far out behind the mount (Flashback Camera; Blue Moon Camera)
  • Order number 11803, given by dealers as 11803K (Blue Moon Camera; Flashback Camera)
  • A large front with an internal M67 × 0.75 thread and a separate hood that doubles as the Series VIII filter holder
  • Supplied with a separate 21mm viewfinder (camera-wiki), needed because the reflex finder shows nothing while the mirror is up

Serial-range notes

2056001–2057500
The 1964 block. Leitz numbered this lens from the same running sequence as everything else it sold, Schneider-made lenses included, so the serial dates the lens rather than counting it. Leitz Auction says production started with 2056001 and that about 1,500 were made in 1964, which matches a 1,500-number block. This site's page for the Super-Angulon 21mm f/4 records the same 1,500 numbers sitting between two blocks of the M and screw-mount f/4 lenses, which were numbered around it out of the same run.
up to 2279830
Vintage Lenses For Video, which credits Leicapedia (the Leica Wiki) for its figures, gives the serial span as 2056001–2279830 and the total as 1,530. Read with the 1,500-number block, that implies a second, 30-number allocation ending at 2279830, a number camera-wiki's list of Leitz lens serial numbers places in 1968 (its 1968 band runs 2,254,401–2,312,750). No lens from it has been seen in a catalogue or listing.

Specifications

Formula
Eight elements in four groups
Designed by
Schneider-Kreuznach — optical design and manufacture, for Ernst Leitz Wetzlar
Construction
8 elements / 4 groups
Aperture range
f/3.4–f/22
Min. focus
0.2 m
Dimensions
67 × 42 mm
Weight
228 g
Filter
67 mm (0.75 mm pitch), Series VIII in the hood 12511
Years manufactured
1964–1968
Country
Germany

What reviewers say

No reviews aggregated yet — this family is still in the research queue. Written one? We'd love to index it.

History

The Super-Angulon-R 21mm f/3.4 was made for the original Leicaflex, and it is the odd one out in the whole R system. Schneider-Kreuznach made it for Leitz (Leitz Auction), and Leitz numbered it in its own serial sequence and sold it under order number 11803. It is not built like a reflex wide-angle. Its rear optics stand so far behind the bayonet that the mirror has to be locked up before the lens is mounted (Blue Moon Camera; Flashback Camera), and the picture is framed through a separate 21mm finder. Camera-wiki and English Wikipedia both call it a Leicaflex-only lens, and camera-wiki adds that it is the only R lens that cannot be used on later cameras.

It lasted only as long as the camera it was made for. The Leicaflex SL of 1968 had a depth-of-field preview lever where the original body had its mirror lock-up, so the lens could not be used on it, and the 21mm f/4 Super-Angulon-R took its place: a Schneider design that English Wikipedia lists as retrofocus, with ten elements, which works with the mirror down. The f/3.4 has eight elements in four groups and focuses to 0.2 m (Apotelyt; English Wikipedia); Apotelyt gives 228 g and English Wikipedia 230 g. Its name, focal length and aperture match the M-mount Super-Angulon 21mm f/3.4 that Schneider made for Leitz from 1963. Both are eight-element, four-group designs, but the R lens focuses to 0.2 m against 0.4 m for the M lens (this site’s page for it), and none of the sources read here says whether the optics are identical.

Production was small. Leitz Auction says production began with 2056001 and puts the total at around 1,500, all in 1964. Vintage Lenses For Video, crediting the Leica Wiki, gives 1,530 lenses and a serial span ending at 2279830, which suggests a late block of thirty from 1968; no lens from that block has turned up. Camera-wiki describes the lens among the one-cam lenses of 1964, no lens in the auction and dealer listings read here is described with a second cam or ROM contacts, and Leica’s 2000/2001 Handbook says ROM modification is not possible. That leaves the original Leicaflex as the only body for it. The R6, R6.2 and R8 have mirror lock-up of their own, but Leica’s R6 and R9 instructions say 1-cam Leicaflex lenses must not be mounted on those bodies because they can damage the camera, and no source reports this lens being used on any of them.

When buying, look for the finder, the hood and the caps. A complete outfit includes the 21mm accessory finder, the hood that doubles as the Series VIII filter holder (12511 in Leitz’s lists; 14170W also appears on sold lenses), the front and rear caps and the box, and it costs far more than a bare lens. Prices at Leitz Auction, including buyer’s premium, have run from €360 for a B+ lens with its hood to €3,120 for the first production lens with its finder and box. Check the rear optics for marks, since they stand out behind the mount, and, as Flashback Camera warns, make sure on a digital mirrorless body that the rear element does not foul the camera.

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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 Super-Angulon-R 21mm f/3.4? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $980 across 5 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-10 (middle half $800–$980). First day tracked.

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

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: Super-Angulon 21mm f/3.4 · Super-Angulon-R 21mm f/4

Sources (11)

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.