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

Telyt-S 800mm f/6.3

Leica · Leica R · 1972

Also known as: Telyt-S 800mm f/6.3 · Telyt-S 800mm f6.3 · Telyt-S 800mm · Telyt S 800mm · Telyt-S 6.3/800 · Telyt-S 6,3/800 · Telyt-S 1:6.3/800 · Telyt-S 6.3/800mm · Telyt-S 6,3/800mm · APO-Telyt-S 800mm · APO-Telyt-S 800mm f/6.3 · Telyt 800mm f6.3 · Telyt 6.3/800 · Leica 800mm f6.3 · Leica 800mm f/6.3 · Leica R 800mm f6.3 · Leica R 800mm f/6.3 · Leitz 800mm f6.3 · Leitz 800mm f/6.3 · Leica Telyt-S · Leitz Telyt-S · ライカ テリートS 800mm · テリート 800mm F6.3

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Telyt-S for Leica R, complete with metal case (11921) Leica R (Leitz 1978: R3 and Leicaflex models; 1989: R models and Leicaflex SL / SL2) 1972 2411061
2500651–2501000 		351 numbers in Puts's lists (1 in 1970, 350 in 1971); Leitz Auction says only 109 were sold between 1972 and 1994
Telyt-S for Visoflex 3 (Leica M), on request Leica M through the Visoflex 3 — — —
  1. Dates: a Leitz lens brochure of about 1971 announces the 800 mm as a prototype "available in time for the 1972 Olympic Games", and Leitz Auction says it was made to special order "since Olympic 1972". Leica Store Miami says it was first shown at Photokina in 1970 and sold from 1972. The end is left open: the lens is in Leitz's December 1989 handbook as 11921, Leitz Auction gives 1972–1994 and the English Wikipedia list of Leica lenses 1972–1995. Leica's 2000/2001 handbook still names it, but only in a table of ROM conversions that also covers long-discontinued lenses.
  2. Production: 351 numbers in Puts's lists; 109 sold in 1972–1994 according to Leitz Auction; "less than 350" according to Leica Store Miami.
  3. Length and weight: 790 mm from the bayonet flange and 6.86 kg in Leitz's 1981 and 1989 handbooks; 780 mm and 6.82 kg on the R page of the 1978 catalogue, but 790 mm and 6.86 kg on its Visoflex page; Apotelyt gives 152 × 790 mm and 6,860 g. Leica Store Miami gives 41 inches with the hood fitted; Leitz Auction says about 80 cm and 7 kg.
  4. Close focus: 12.5 m, where the field is 320 × 480 mm, about 1:13 (Leitz 1978, 1981, 1989). Angle of view 3°.
  5. Extender: Leitz's 1981 handbook says the Extender-R 2x (11236) gives slight vignetting from 560 mm upward, and the 1989 handbook says from 400 mm upward, except with the MR-Telyt-R 500. Neither names the 800 in particular.
  6. Not this lens: the APO-Telyt-R 800mm f/5.6 of the 1996 Module System (11849 in Leica's 2000/2001 handbook), and the Minolta RF Rokkor-X 800mm f/8 mirror lens that Apotelyt lists in Leica R mount, which is not in the Leitz catalogues of 1978, 1981 or 1989.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • A very large black tube 152 mm across and about 790 mm long, with a carrying handle on top that holds a sports-finder sight (rear and front sight) for lining up the subject
  • Focusing by a large rotary knob on a parallel guide rather than a focusing ring; Leitz names it TELYT-S, with no R in the name
  • Series 7 filter slot with cover near the camera end, a detachable lockable hood, a rotating mount with click-stops for upright and horizontal frames, 1/4 and 3/8 inch tripod threads and a separate rotating support ring with a 1/4 inch thread for a monopod
  • Comes apart into five parts, held by bayonets and marked locking rings with levers, and is sold in a fitted metal transport case

Telyt-S for Leica R, complete with metal case (11921):

  • Order number 11921 for the complete lens with its special metal transport case (Leitz 1978, 1981 and 1989); Leitz's own accessory tables of 1981 and 1989 misprint it as 11291
  • Leica R bayonet at the rear; the R pages of the 1981 and 1989 handbooks give 790 mm from the bayonet flange (the R page of the 1978 catalogue 780 mm)
  • Serial numbers seen at auction all sit in the 1971 block: 2500653 (made 1971), 2500827 and 2500874 (made 1972)

Telyt-S for Visoflex 3 (Leica M), on request:

  • A Leica M bayonet at the rear for the Visoflex 3 reflex housing, in place of the R bayonet; Leitz gave no order number, only 'on request' (1978, 1981, 1989)
  • Leitz's 1981 and 1989 handbooks give 768 mm from the bayonet flange for this version, against 790 mm for the R version (the 1978 catalogue gives 790 mm for both)
  • Leitz Auction 16, lot 234 (serial 2500827, made 1972): an R lens sold with what the auction calls a 'very rare M-Tube for use with Visoflex'

Serial-range notes

2411061; 2500651–2501000
Erwin Puts's Leica pocket lists give two allocations for the Telyt-S 6.3/800: a single number, 2411061, in 1970, and a block of 350, 2500651–2501000, in 1971. That is 351 numbers for a lens on sale from 1972. Leitz Auction's three lots carry 2500653 (dated 1971 and called "from the first series produced 1971"), 2500827 and 2500874 (both dated 1972), all inside the 1971 block. Numbers allocated are not lenses sold: Leitz Auction says only 109 were sold between 1972 and 1994, and Leica Store Miami wrote that Leica made fewer than 350. The lone 1970 number may be the prototype shown before the launch, though no source says so.

Specifications

Formula
Telescope-type long-focus objective (Puts): three cemented elements in one component with only two glass/air surfaces, using a Leitz special glass (Leitz brochure, c. 1971; Leitz 1978, 1981 and 1989); preset diaphragm with click-stops, half values between f/6.3 and f/22
Construction
3 elements / 1 groups
Aperture range
f/6.3–f/32
Min. focus
12.5 m
Dimensions
152 × 790 mm
Weight
6860 g
Filter
Series 7 in a slot with cover
Years manufactured
1972
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 Telyt-S 800mm f/6.3 was the longest lens in Leitz’s reflex catalogue, matched only by the 800mm f/5.6 of the APO-Telyt-R Module System of 1996, and it is built unlike anything else in the R catalogue. A Leitz lens brochure of about 1971 announced it as a prototype “available in time for the 1972 Olympic Games”, and Leitz Auction says it was made to special order from then on. Leitz chose not to make a mirror lens. It made a glass lens of three cemented elements with only two glass/air surfaces, which can be stopped down in the ordinary way and gives no ring-shaped out-of-focus highlights. The brochure credits a special glass from the Ernst Leitz Glass Laboratory that behaves like the crystalline materials used to correct colour, without their fragility, and claims “virtually apochromatic correction”. Leica Store Miami and some sellers call it the “APO-Telyt-S”, a name not found in Leitz’s catalogues. Erwin Puts gives the Telyt-S as his example of the telescope-like construction, which he sets apart from a true telephoto design, about 80% as long as its focal length.

It is a large piece of equipment. Leitz’s 1981 and 1989 handbooks give 790 mm from the bayonet flange, 152 mm across and 6.86 kg (the 1978 catalogue says 780 mm and 6.82 kg). The aperture runs from f/6.3 to f/32 on a preset diaphragm with click-stops, and focusing runs from infinity to 12.5 m by a big rotary knob on a parallel guide. A carrying handle on top holds a sports-finder sight for lining up a distant subject. Filters are Series 7, dropped into a covered slot. The mount rotates, with click-stops, for upright and horizontal frames, and there are two tripod threads plus a separate ring for a monopod. The lens comes apart into five parts, held by bayonets and marked locking rings, and was always sold as 11921 “complete, with special metal transport case”. Leitz also listed a version for the Visoflex 3 on the M cameras, without an order number and only “on request”. The one described example, a lens at Leitz Auction sold with a separate M tube, suggests the Visoflex version was an interchangeable rear section and not a separate lens.

Very few were made, though the figures disagree. Erwin Puts’s serial lists allocate one number in 1970, possibly the prototype, and a block of 350 in 1971, 2500651 to 2501000. Every example seen at auction falls inside that block. Leitz Auction says only 109 were sold between 1972 and 1994, and Leica Store Miami wrote “less than 350”. The end date is unclear. The lens is in Leitz’s December 1989 handbook, Leitz Auction gives 1994 and Wikipedia 1995.

Which bodies it fits needs some care. The diaphragm is preset, so every body meters at working aperture, and Leitz in 1989 recommended aperture-priority or manual mode on the R cameras. Leitz’s 1978 catalogue lists the lens, with no remark, in its table of R lenses for the R3 and all the Leicaflex models. The 1989 handbook names only the R models and the Leicaflex SL and SL2. The original Leicaflex had been out of production since 1968, four years before this lens appeared. Leitz’s catalogues do not say which cams the rear mount carries, so look at the back of the mount before buying for a Leicaflex, or for an R9, whose instructions say lenses without the R control cam may damage the camera. Leica could not convert the lens to ROM, by its own 2000/2001 table. Without an automatic diaphragm it can only be metered stopped down, in aperture priority or manual. Leitz’s handbooks say the Extender-R 2x gives slight vignetting on long lenses, from 560 mm upward in 1981 and from 400 mm in 1989, without naming the 800.

When buying, check that all five parts and the metal case are there, and that the parts lock together firmly at their bayonets and rings. Check that the focusing knob moves the guide smoothly over its whole travel and that the mount clicks at 90°. Look for the filter-slot cover, the lens cap and the hood, which are easy to lose, and for knocks on so long a barrel. Find out whether the rear section is the R bayonet or the Visoflex tube. Recorded prices: Leitz Auction sold three between €3,600 and €4,200 including buyer’s premium, each below its estimate, the dearest being the one with the Visoflex tube. In 2012 Leica Store Miami offered one at US$7,000, a dealer’s asking price, with a Novoflex adapter for Canon EOS, and later marked the listing sold. Apotelyt’s used band is US$3,000–7,000. Do not confuse it with the APO-Telyt-R 800mm f/5.6 of the 1996 Module System, a different lens, or with the Minolta RF Rokkor-X 800mm f/8 mirror lens, which Apotelyt lists in R mount but which is not in Leitz’s catalogues.

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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

More sample photos elsewhere

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Sample photo wanted — shot with a Telyt-S 800mm f/6.3? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $7,500 across 3 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-10 (middle half $6,800–$7,500). First day tracked.

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

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

Related: APO-Telyt-R Module System 280-800mm · Telyt-R 560mm f/6.8 · MR-Telyt-R 500mm f/8

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.