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

Telyt-R 350mm f/4.8

Leica · Leica R · 1980 · Telephoto, seven elements in five components

Also known as: Telyt-R 350mm f/4.8 · Telyt-R 350mm f4.8 · Telyt-R 350mm f 4.8 · Telyt-R 350mm · Telyt-R 350 · Telyt R 350mm f4.8 · Telyt R 350mm f/4.8 · Telyt R 350mm · Telyt-R 4.8/350 · Telyt-R 4,8/350 · Telyt R 4.8/350 · Telyt-R 1:4.8/350 · Telyt-R 1:4,8/350 · Telyt-R 350/4.8 · Telyt 350mm f4.8 · Telyt 350mm f/4.8 · Telyt 4.8/350 · 350mm f4.8 Telyt-R · 350mm f/4.8 Telyt-R · 350mm f4.8 Telyt · Leica R 350mm f4.8 · Leica R 350mm f/4.8 · Leica 350mm f4.8 Telyt · Leitz 350mm f4.8 Telyt · Telyt-R 11915 · Leica 11915 · テリートR 350mm · ライカ テリートR 350mm · ライカ テリート 350mm F4.8

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
3-cam (11915) Leica R, 3-cam (R bodies in all modes; Leica names the Leicaflex SL and SL2, not the original Leicaflex) 1980 — —
11915 converted to ROM by Leica service Leica R, ROM (R3 and later; not the Leicaflex bodies) — — —
  1. Specification from Leitz's July 1982 handbook (page dated 4/81) and Leica's December 1989 handbook, p. 2-29, which agree: angle of view 7°, seven elements in five components, E77 filter in an M 77 × 0.75 internal thread, fully automatic preset diaphragm with click stops including half values, f/22, combined metre/feet scale, focusing ∞ to 3 m, smallest object field 171 × 257 mm (about 1:7.1), rubber-covered focusing ring, non-rotating focusing mount, black finish, built-on extensible hood, ¼-inch tripod thread tilting for upright and horizontal pictures with click stops, leather case, 83.5 mm lens cap, 286 mm from the bayonet flange, 83.5 mm across, 1.82 kg. The 1989 handbook adds that the lens can be focused beyond ∞. Apotelyt gives 7/5, 3.0 m, E77, 84 × 286 mm and 1,820 g; Kamerastore the same, with 8 diaphragm blades, which is not a Leitz figure.
  2. English Wikipedia's table of R lenses gives the formula as six elements in five groups, citing Erwin Puts's Leica Lens Compendium alongside Leica's 1989 handbook, and 7.1° for the angle of view, which the table computes from the frame diagonal. Both Leitz handbooks and Apotelyt give seven elements in five components and 7°; the Leitz figure is used here.
  3. Dates. The lens is absent from Leitz's general catalogue of 15 September 1978. Its page in Leitz's handbook is dated 4/81 and marks it 'in preparation', while the handbook's lens table of 7/82 lists it as available. Puts's serial lists date its first, 50-number block to 1979. Kamerastore says Leica introduced it in 1980, and English Wikipedia gives 1980–1994. It is in Leica's December 1989 range and absent from the range of the Handbook 2000/2001, which still names it for its leather case, its ROM conversion and among the long lenses suited to the electric release switch. The launch year of 1980 is the one the secondary sources give. English Wikipedia's 1994 end date is not confirmed by any Leitz or Leica document cited here, so no end year is given.
  4. Where it was made is not settled. Kamerastore's description calls it 'Leitz Canada'; Apotelyt's table names the maker only as 'Leitz', although it writes 'Leitz Canada' for other R lenses such as the APO-Telyt-R 180mm. Neither Leitz handbook says where the lens was made.
  5. Body fit. Leica's December 1989 handbook heads this lens's page for the R bodies in all modes and for the Leicaflex SL and SL2, and does not name the original Leicaflex. The Leicaflex page here says that body reads only the first sloped cam, which a 3-cam lens keeps, and this page lists the original Leicaflex among the bodies on that basis, against the handbook's silence. Kamerastore says the opposite of both, that the lens is R-only and fits no Leicaflex. None of these sources says anything about the rear of this lens reaching the mirror of any body.
  6. Extenders: Leitz's 1982 handbook and Leica's 1989 handbook give the Extender-R 2x (11236) as suitable for focal lengths of 50 mm and longer, with automatic diaphragm and aperture priority or manual; with this lens it makes a 700mm f/9.6. The 1982 handbook warns of slight vignetting from 560 mm focal length upwards and the 1989 handbook from 400 mm upwards, without saying whether the lens or the combination is meant. The 1989 handbook offers the APO-Extender-R 1.4x only for the 280mm APO-Telyt-R f/2.8. None of these sources rates the image quality of the combination.
  7. Close-up: Leitz's 1982 and 1989 tables give, with the Macro-Adapter-R at the 3 m setting, 1:4.1 and a field of 97 × 146 mm; with the extension rings 14158 and 14159 at 3 m, 1:4.4 (105 × 157 mm) and 1:3.2 (76 × 114 mm). Both handbooks list the lens on the Universal Focusing Bellows-R (Focusing Bellows R in 1989) at 1:8.3 to 1:1.6. Both handbooks recommend the universal handgrip with shoulder stock (14188) for it.
  8. Market prices, none of them list prices: Kamerastore, a used-equipment dealer, showed a dealer price of €729 on its product page, marked out of stock, in November 2026 (tax treatment not stated). Apotelyt's R-lens table puts used prices at US$500–1,500; Vintage Lenses For Video's 2024 price list at US$1,000 for a rough example to US$3,000 for a mint one, drawn from online sales platforms it does not itemise. No period list price in DM or dollars is given by any source cited here.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • The only R lens of 350 mm. The longer lenses beside it are the two-element Telyt-R 400 and 560mm f/6.8 follow-focus lenses with a pistol grip, the MR-Telyt-R 500mm f/8 mirror lens and the APO-Telyt-R lenses; the shorter, the Telyt-R 250mm f/4 and the 280mm APO-Telyt-R lenses
  • Name ring TELYT-R 1:4.8/350; black barrel with a built-on extensible hood, rubber-covered focusing ring and a tilting tripod mount

3-cam (11915):

  • Order number 11915; the 77 mm front thread, a distance scale that ends at 3 m (10 ft) and a length of 286 mm from the flange, with the hood pushed in, set it apart from every other long R lens of its years
  • No row of ROM contacts at the back of the mount. Leica's 1989 heading for the SL and SL2 implies the sloped Leicaflex cams beside the stepped R cam; Kamerastore's description says only the stepped R cam is present, so check the cams in the seller's photographs
  • Serial numbers in Puts's lists run in four blocks between 2991151 and 3404000

11915 converted to ROM by Leica service:

  • The same E77 lens with a strip of ROM contacts at the back of the mount where the first sloped cam was
  • There is no factory ROM order number for this lens, so a ROM 11915 is always a service conversion

Serial-range notes

2991151–3404000
Erwin Puts's Leica pocket lists give four blocks for the Telyt-R 4.8/350: 2991151–2991200 (50, 1979), 3144501–3145500 (1,000, 1981), 3252101–3253100 (1,000, 1983) and 3403401–3404000 (600, 1986), 2,650 numbers in all. Vintage Lenses For Video gives the same overall range and the same 2,650 units. Leitz reserved numbers in blocks, so a number dates a lens only roughly.

Specifications

Formula
Telephoto, seven elements in five components
Construction
7 elements / 5 groups
Aperture range
f/4.8–f/22
Min. focus
3 m
Dimensions
83.5 × 286 mm
Weight
1820 g
Filter
77 mm (0.75 mm pitch), E77 (M 77 × 0.75); Series 8.5 through adapter 14201 (Leitz tables, 1982 and 1989)
Years manufactured
1980
Material
Black finished barrel with built-on extensible hood, rubber-covered focusing ring, non-rotating focusing mount and a tripod mount that tilts, with click stops, for upright and horizontal pictures

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 Telyt-R 350mm f/4.8, order number 11915, was the long telephoto Leitz added to the R range around 1980, between the Telyt-R 250mm f/4 and the two-element Telyt-R 400 and 560mm f/6.8 follow-focus lenses. It is a conventional telephoto of seven elements in five components, with an automatic preset diaphragm, so unlike the 400 and 560 it meters at full aperture and closes down only at the moment of exposure. Leitz’s handbook gives it a 7° angle of view, an E77 front thread, f/22 as the smallest stop and a close focus of 3 m, where it covers a field of 171 × 257 mm, about 1:7.1. It is 286 mm long from the flange, 83.5 mm across and weighs 1.82 kg. The hood is built on and slides out, and the tripod mount tilts with click stops for upright and horizontal pictures. Leitz recommended its universal handgrip with shoulder stock for hand-held work with it.

When the lens appeared is not quite settled. It is not in Leitz’s general catalogue of September 1978, and the page Leitz printed for it in April 1981 still marks it “in preparation”, though the handbook’s lens table of July 1982 lists it. Kamerastore and English Wikipedia give 1980, and Erwin Puts’s serial lists put its first block, only 50 numbers, in 1979. Those lists give four blocks in all, 1979 to 1986, 2,650 numbers, and Vintage Lenses For Video quotes the same total. The lens was still in Leica’s range in December 1989 and had left it by the Handbook 2000/2001, which mentions it only for its leather case, its ROM conversion and the electric release switch. English Wikipedia gives 1994 as the end, but no Leitz or Leica document cited here dates it. Where it was made is open too: Kamerastore calls it Leitz Canada, and Apotelyt names only Leitz. English Wikipedia’s table, citing Puts’s compendium, gives six elements in five groups against Leitz’s seven in five.

There is one version from the factory, a 3-cam lens, and a ROM version made by service conversion. Leica’s 1989 handbook heads the lens’s page for the R bodies in all modes and for the Leicaflex SL and SL2. It does not name the original Leicaflex, though a 3-cam lens keeps the first sloped cam that body reads, and this page lists it among the bodies on that basis. Kamerastore’s description says the opposite, that the lens has only the R cam and fits no Leicaflex. Its own product title reads “3-Cam”, and Leica’s heading supports that. Leica’s Handbook 2000/2001 lists the 11915 as convertible to ROM, and there is no factory ROM order number. A converted lens has contacts where the first cam was, fits only R bodies from the R3 on, and tells an R8 or R9 its focal length. Leitz’s handbooks give the Extender-R 2x as suitable for lenses from 50 mm, which makes this a 700mm f/9.6, but they warn of slight vignetting at long focal lengths: from 560 mm in 1982, from 400 mm in 1989. The 1989 handbook offers the APO-Extender-R 1.4x only for the 280mm APO-Telyt-R f/2.8.

When buying, look at the back of the mount first: cams with no contacts are the lens as made (whether the sloped Leicaflex cams are there is the point on which Leica and Kamerastore disagree), and contacts mean a later conversion that rules out the Leicaflex bodies. Check that the hood slides out and stays put, that the tripod mount tilts and clicks, and that the long focusing mount runs smoothly. A lens this long and heavy shows knocks on the barrel and hood. Leitz sold the lens with a leather case, available separately as 14579. Prices vary widely. Kamerastore showed a dealer price of €729, out of stock, in November 2026. Apotelyt puts used prices at US$500–1,500, and Vintage Lenses For Video’s 2024 list at US$1,000 for a rough copy to US$3,000 for a mint one. No source cited here gives a period list price.

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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

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Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $900 across 11 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-10 (middle half $620–$930). First day tracked.

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

Related: Telyt-R 250mm f/4 (II) · Telyt-R 400mm f/6.8 · MR-Telyt-R 500mm f/8 · APO-Telyt-R 280mm f/4 · Telyt-R 250mm f/4 (I)

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.