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

Super-Elmar-M 18mm f/3.8 ASPH

Leica · Leica M · 2009 · Aspherical retrofocus wide-angle

single source, unconfirmed

Also known as: Super-Elmar-M 18 ASPH · 18mm f/3.8 Super-Elmar

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Super-Elmar-M 18 ASPH (11649) Leica M 2009 4077785–4089272 (2009) — observed span, 11,488 numbers, not an assigned block
4112585–4140675 (2011–2012) — observed span
up to 4209285 (2013–2015) — observed, no start published 		No figure published
  1. No assigned-block list has been published for this lens, and no production total. The Leica Wiki's table carries three observed spans and its total row reads "unknown" for both quantity and closing year, so the "No figure published" against the variant here is the state of the record. Nothing in the three rows distinguishes one version of the lens from another; only one version has been made.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • 100 degrees diagonal on film — the widest rectilinear lens in the M catalogue
  • 84 degrees on an 18×27 sensor, where it behaves as a 24mm
  • Needs finder 12022 or 12023; no M shows 18mm

Super-Elmar-M 18 ASPH (11649):

  • A male filter thread with a stop, taking a filter holder rather than a screw-in filter
  • E77 filters through holder 14484

Serial-range notes

4077785–4209285
THE RULE, such as it is. Leica never numbered a model from one and never put a date inside the number: serials come from one running sequence shared by every lens the firm makes, so a copy is dated by looking its number up. Two lists exist for a lens of this era and they disagree. The general lens list on the Leica Wiki's serial-number links page gives 4057001–4080000 for 2008, 4080001–4100000 for 2009, 4100001–4115000 for 2010, 4115001–4130000 for 2011 and 4130001–4210000 for 2012. This lens's model page opens its 2009 row at 4077785, which the general list reads as 2008, and closes its last row at 4209285 under the heading 2013–2015, which the general list reads as 2012. The model rows run about a year ahead throughout. Both are recorded; neither can be preferred on what is published.
the leading and trailing dashes
What the model table is, and it is not a block list. All three rows are printed as -4077785 and 4089272-, with a plus on the total, and the page says the numbers are "compiled from known lenses". These are the lowest and highest serials anyone has reported for an 18mm Super-Elmar in those years, not quantities Leica assigned. Two of the three rows read "unknown" at one end and the total row reads "unknown" outright. A number inside a span is consistent with the year; it is not evidence of it.
4077785–4089272
The only row on the page whose arithmetic closes: 11,488 numbers, and 11,488 is the total printed against it. Since the lens appeared in 2009 and this is the lowest span published, a genuine 18mm Super-Elmar numbered below 4077785 would be earlier than anything yet reported.
4209285
Carries the wiki's tilde, its notation for a stolen lens — "please report if found on sale". It is the only individual 18mm Super-Elmar serial the page singles out, and it stands as the upper end of the last row rather than as an ordinary observation.

Specifications

Formula
Aspherical retrofocus wide-angle
Construction
8 elements / 7 groups
Aperture range
f/3.8–f/22
Min. focus
0.7 m
Weight
310 g
Years manufactured
2009
Country
Germany

What reviewers say

History

At 100 degrees the 18mm Super-Elmar is the widest rectilinear lens Leica has made for the M — wider than any Super-Angulon, and beaten in this catalog only by the Zeiss Hologon’s 110 degrees, which was a different kind of design entirely.

Its filter arrangement says how wide that is. There is no ordinary female thread: the front carries a male thread with a stop, and filters go into a holder that takes E77 — a size normally seen on medium-format lenses. Anything screwed directly onto a 100 degree lens would appear in the picture.

Like the 21s and 24s it has no frameline. Leica sells finders 12022 and 12023 for it, and on a digital M with an 18×27 sensor the lens covers 84 degrees and behaves as a 24mm, which is the second figure on every modern Leica data sheet.

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 wanted — shot with a Super-Elmar-M 18mm f/3.8 ASPH? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, EUR: a median of €2,200 across 4 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half €2,200–€2,700). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 2 days: unchanged from €2,200.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11€2,200€2,200–€2,7004
2026-09-06€2,200€2,200–€2,7004

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

eBay links are affiliate links. If you buy through one, Glass Bodies earns a small commission from eBay at no cost to you. It does not change which listings appear, their prices or their order — those come from the search and the sort described above.

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

Related: Hologon 15mm f/8 · Super-Elmar-M 21mm f/3.4 ASPH · Tri-Elmar-M 16–18–21mm f/4 ASPH (WATE)

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.