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

Super-Angulon-R 21mm f/4

Leica · Leica R · 1968 · Retrofocus, ten elements in eight groups

Also known as: Super-Angulon-R 21mm f/4 · Super-Angulon-R 21mm f4 · Super-Angulon-R 4/21 · Super-Angulon-R 4/21mm · Super-Angulon-R 1:4/21 · Super Angulon R 21mm f4 · Super Angulon R 21mm 1:4 · Super-Angulon-R 21mm 1:4 · Super Angulon 21mm f4 R · Super Angulon 21mm f/4 Leica R · Super Angulon 21mm f4 2cam · Super Angulon 21mm f4 3cam · Super Angulon 21mm f4 2 cam · Super Angulon 21mm f4 3 cam · Leica 21mm f4 R 3-cam · Leicaflex Super-Angulon 21mm f/4 · Super-Angulon 21mm 11813 · Leica R 21mm f/4 · スーパーアンギュロンR 21mm F4

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
2-cam (11813) Leica R, 2-cam (Leicaflex bodies; needs the R-cam fitted for the R3 and later) 1968–1977 — —
3-cam (11813) Leica R, 3-cam (every Leicaflex and R body) 1976–1994 — —
  1. Bodies. Leitz's Handbook of December 1989 heads the lens "for LEICA R models (all modes), LEICAFLEX SL / SL 2 models" and does not name the original Leicaflex. Kamerastore says 3-cam lenses fit all Leicaflex and R cameras, and the Leicaflex body page on this site explains why: the original Leicaflex reads only the first sloped cam, which both versions of this lens keep. The retrofocus design was made so that the lens works with the mirror down (Flashback Camera; camera-wiki says it replaced the 21mm f/3.4, which could only be used on the original Leicaflex with the mirror locked up). The Leitz catalogues of 1978 and 1982 give no body restriction for this lens, while marking the 24mm Elmarit-R on the next page "only for" the SL2 and R bodies. The lists of lenses that foul the original Leicaflex mirror given by Apotelyt and by Doug Herr (quoted by Photoethnography) do not include it, but no source cited here reports it used on that body either. The body list on this page includes the original Leicaflex on that reading.
  2. ROM. Leica's Handbook 2000/2001 lists 11813 as "possible" in its table of ROM modifications, printed there under the wrong name, "ELMARIT-R f/4/21". The same handbook says Leicaflex cams must be removed when the contacts are fitted, so a converted lens no longer fits any Leicaflex and works only on R bodies from the R3. No ROM-converted example is documented in the sources cited here, and no factory ROM order number is listed for this lens, so there is no ROM row in the table.
  3. Filter thread. The Leitz General Catalogue of 15 September 1978 and the Handbook of July 1982 give an internal thread of M 75 × 0.75; the Handbook of December 1989 gives M 72 × 0.75. Flashback Camera says the lens takes Series 8.5 filters in the hood "or 72mm screw-in filters", and Apotelyt's R catalogue gives E72. All three Leitz documents name Series 8.5 in the hood as the filter.
  4. Production dates. Kamerastore puts the introduction in 1968 and most Flashback Camera descriptions say 1968, for the Leicaflex SL; two Flashback descriptions say 1969 instead, and one says 1964 "alongside the Leicaflex", the date of the f/3.4. Camera-wiki says only that the lens replaced the 21mm f/3.4. English Wikipedia's R-lens table gives 1968–1994; Flashback Camera says production ended in 1992. The lens is in Leitz's current lens tables of 1978, 1982 and 1989. The 1977 and 1976 dates for the 3-cam lens come from Flashback Camera and Kamerastore respectively.
  5. Specification, from the Leitz catalogues of 1978, 1982 and 1989: angle of view 92°, ten elements in eight groups, fully automatic diaphragm with click stops at half values to f/22, focusing to 0.2 m with a smallest object field of 148 × 221 mm (about 1:6, 1989), non-rotating focusing mount. Apotelyt gives 420 g and 78 × 44 mm. Kamerastore's page lists four aperture blades, a figure no other source cited here gives.
  6. Production. Vintage Lenses For Video gives 10,850 lenses. That is an upper bound from serial blocks, and some of those blocks were shared with the M-mount Super-Angulon (see the serial notes).
  7. Prices. No Leitz list price is cited here. Vintage Lenses For Video's 2024 price guide puts the lens at US$400–1,500 on the used market; Apotelyt's R catalogue gives US$400–800. Dealer asking prices in 2026: Flashback Camera ¥135,000 for a 1980 3-cam lens; Kamerastore US$578 and US$602 for 3-cam lenses, with taxes and duties added at checkout; a German eBay listing €780.34 for a 2-cam lens.
  8. Nikon conversions exist: an eBay listing from Japan offered a "Nikon Mount" Super-Angulon 21mm F4 R at US$699.99 in September 2026 and again at US$599.99 in October (asking prices). A lens converted to Nikon mount will not fit an R body as sold.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Named Super-Angulon-R with a 1:4 aperture and order number 11813; the f/3.4 it replaced is 11803, a short barrel whose rear optics stand far behind the mount
  • A wide, short barrel: 78 mm across and 43.5 mm long from the bayonet flange, 410 g (Leitz catalogues 1978, 1982 and 1989)
  • Black finish only, with a combined metre and feet scale to 0.2 m (Leitz catalogues)
  • The lockable hood 12506 doubles as the holder for Series 8.5 filters; lens cap 14145, 75 mm, and rear cover 14162 (Leitz catalogues)
  • Not the M or screw-mount Super-Angulon 21mm f/4 of 1958, a nine-element symmetrical lens with E39 filters that takes no cams

2-cam (11813):

  • Two sloped cams at the back of the bayonet and no stepped R-cam beside them
  • Order number 11813, the same as the 3-cam lens; the box and the number do not separate the two
  • A serial below the 1977 band (under 2,809,401 on the general Leitz year list) is consistent with a lens built as 2-cam, but many such lenses were later given the third cam

3-cam (11813):

  • Two sloped cams plus the stepped R-cam at the back of the mount, and no ROM contacts
  • Order number 11813, unchanged from the 2-cam lens
  • Serials offered as 3-cam by Flashback Camera run from the 2.39 million range, which it dates to 1970, to the 316xxxx range, which it dates to 1981, so a low number does not mean a 2-cam lens

Serial-range notes

the seven-digit number on the barrel
Leitz numbered the Schneider-made lenses it sold out of the same running sequence as its own, so a number gives an approximate year, not a count. On the general Leitz year list at camera-wiki, the years that matter here are 2,312,751–2,384,700 for 1969, 2,384,701–2,468,500 for 1970, 2,468,501–2,503,100 for 1971, 2,761,101–2,809,400 for 1976, 2,809,401–2,880,600 for 1977, 3,013,651–3,087,000 for 1980, 3,087,001–3,160,500 for 1981 and 3,249,101–3,294,900 for 1983. The dated examples cited on this page fall in the band for the year their seller gives, except that the 316xxxx range Flashback dates to 1981 runs mostly into 1982 on this list.
2485201–3290400
The span Vintage Lenses For Video gives for the lens, with a total of 10,850. It opens in 1971 on the year list and closes in 1983, and it cannot be the whole story: Flashback Camera has sold lenses in the 2.39 and 2.44 million ranges, both 1970, and lists one as made in 1969. No lens numbered above 3,290,400 is cited on this page either, although the lens stayed in the catalogue to 1989 and later.
2485201–2487200, 2613101–2615100, 2982601–2983100
Blocks shared with the M-mount Super-Angulon 21mm f/4. This site's page for that lens records that the Leica Wiki prints all three on both lenses' pages and footnotes lenses 2485676, 2613184, 2614565, 2982929 and 2983018 as Super-Angulon-R, so at least some early reflex lenses were numbered inside blocks filed under the rangefinder lens.
2917001–2917150
A 1978 block of 150, recorded on this site's page for the M Super-Angulon 21mm f/3.4 from the Leica Wiki as a Super-Angulon-R 21mm f/4 block, with a footnote that two of its numbers, 2917100 and 2917150, are 21mm f/3.4 lenses. Mostly reflex lenses, then, and not entirely.

Specifications

Formula
Retrofocus, ten elements in eight groups
Designed by
Schneider-Kreuznach — optical design and manufacture, for Ernst Leitz Wetzlar
Construction
10 elements / 8 groups
Aperture range
f/4–f/22
Min. focus
0.2 m
Dimensions
78 × 43.5 mm
Weight
410 g
Filter
Series 8.5 in the hood 12506
Years manufactured
1968–1994
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/4 was the first 21mm that a Leitz reflex could use like any other lens, with the mirror down and the reflex finder. Schneider-Kreuznach designed and made it for Leitz, which numbered it in its own serial sequence and sold it as order number 11813. It replaced the 21mm f/3.4 Super-Angulon-R of 1964, a non-retrofocus lens that had to be used with the mirror locked up and a separate finder, and that therefore fitted only the original Leicaflex (camera-wiki). The new lens is a retrofocus design of ten elements in eight groups. It gave up about half a stop to the f/3.4, but its rear sits far enough forward that the mirror can stay down, and it arrived in 1968, with the Leicaflex SL (Kamerastore gives the year; Flashback Camera the year and the camera).

It is not the rangefinder Super-Angulon 21mm f/4 of 1958 under another name. That lens is a nine-element symmetrical design for screw and M mount, and the two share only a maker, a focal length and an aperture. Their serials do overlap: this site’s page for the M lens records that the Leica Wiki lists several reflex lenses inside blocks filed under the M Super-Angulon, so a number alone does not tell you which lens it is.

Leitz’s own catalogues describe one unchanging lens across more than a decade. The General Catalogue of 1978 and the Handbooks of 1982 and 1989 all give 92°, ten elements in eight groups, f/22, focusing to 0.2 m, a black finish, 410 g, 78 mm diameter and 43.5 mm length, and a lockable hood, 12506, that also holds Series 8.5 filters. They disagree only about the internal thread, M 75 × 0.75 in 1978 and 1982 against M 72 × 0.75 in 1989. Production ended in 1994 according to English Wikipedia, or 1992 according to Flashback Camera. Vintage Lenses For Video counts 10,850 lenses, which is an upper bound taken from serial blocks.

The versions differ only at the back of the mount, and the order number never changed. The first lenses have two sloped cams, the second of them added for the Leicaflex SL’s full-aperture meter. From 1976 (Kamerastore) or 1977 (Flashback Camera) the stepped R-cam was added for the R3 and later bodies. Early lenses were often given the third cam later: Flashback Camera has offered 1970 lenses with three cams, one of them described as upgraded from two, so the cams have to be checked in the photographs rather than inferred from the serial. On a 2-cam lens, look for the absence of the stepped cam beside the two sloped ones. Leica’s 2000/2001 Handbook lists the lens as eligible for ROM conversion, which removes the Leicaflex cams, but no converted example has turned up. A 3-cam lens fits every Leicaflex and R body. Leitz’s 1989 Handbook names the R bodies and the Leicaflex SL and SL2 but not the original Leicaflex, which reads only the first cam that both versions keep. A 2-cam lens should have the R-cam fitted before it goes on a body from the R3 on: Leica’s R9 instructions say this of every Leicaflex lens without it, and the R body pages explain why.

When buying, check that the hood 12506 is present: Leitz supplied the lens with it, and it is also the holder for Series 8.5 filters. Dealers’ descriptions of lenses offered in 2026 mention haze inside, play in the focusing and a stiff aperture ring. Nikon-mount conversions are offered too, and they no longer fit an R body. Vintage Lenses For Video’s 2024 guide gives US$400–1,500 for the lens and Apotelyt US$400–800; dealer asking prices in 2026 ran from US$578 at Kamerastore to ¥135,000 at Flashback 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/4? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $850 across 37 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-10 (middle half $740–$1,000). First day tracked.

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

Show 60 more listings

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

Related: Super-Angulon-R 21mm f/3.4 · Elmarit-R 19mm f/2.8 (I) · Elmarit-R 24mm f/2.8 · Super-Angulon 21mm f/4

Sources (13)

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.