Vario-Elmar-R 80-200mm f/4

Leica · Leica R · 1996

Also known as: Vario-Elmar-R 80-200mm f/4 · Vario-Elmar-R 80-200mm f4 · Vario-Elmar-R 80-200mm f4.0 · Vario-Elmar-R 80-200mm F4 E60 · Vario-Elmar-R 80-200mm E60 · Vario-Elmar-R 80-200 E60 · Vario-Elmar-R 80-200 f4 · Vario-Elmar-R 80-200 f/4 · Vario-Elmar-R 4/80-200 · Vario-Elmar-R 4/80-200mm · Vario-Elmar-R 1:4/80-200 · Vario-Elmar-R 1:4/80-200mm · Vario-Elmar-R 1:4/80-200 mm · Vario-Elmar-R 80-200mm ROM · Vario-Elmar-R 80-200 ROM · Vario Elmar R 80-200mm f4 · Vario Elmar R 80-200 f4 · Vario Elmar R 4/80-200 · Vario-Elmar R 80-200 f4 · Vario Elmar-R 80-200 f4 · Vario-Elmar 80-200mm f4 ROM · Leica R 80-200mm f4 · Leica R 80-200mm f/4 · Leica R 80-200 f4 · Leica R 80-200mm f4 ROM · Leica 80-200mm f4 ROM · Leica 80-200mm f4.0 ROM · Leica 80-200mm f4 Vario-Elmar-R · Leica 80-200mm f/4 Vario-Elmar-R · Leica Vario-Elmar-R 80-200mm f4 · Leica Vario-Elmar-R 80-200mm f/4 ROM · LEICA VARIO-ELMAR-R 80-200mm F4 · ライカバリオエルマーR 80-200mm F4 · バリオエルマーR 80-200mm F4 · バリオ・エルマーR 80-200mm F4

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
Without ROM (11280)	Leica R, R-cam without ROM contacts (R3 and later bodies; Leicaflex only after a Leica modification)	—	—	—
ROM with focal-length sensor (11281)	Leica R, ROM (R3 and later bodies; Leicaflex only after a Leica modification)	—	—	—

Specification from Leica's 2000/2001 System handbook: angle of view 29° to 12.5°, twelve elements in eight components, E60 with an internal M 60 × 0.75 thread, fully automatic spring-back diaphragm with half-stop clicks, smallest aperture 22, focusing to 1.1 m on a parallel-guided mount, smallest field 222 × 333 mm at 80 mm (about 1:9.3) and 94 × 140 mm at 200 mm (about 1:3.9), separate rubber-armoured zoom ring, built-in telescopic hood, lens-cap diameter 70 mm, 165 mm from the bayonet flange, 71 mm across, 1.020 kg. Leica's technical data sheet agrees and gives the angle as 30° at 80 mm and 12.3° at 200 mm.
Dates and production. English Wikipedia's Leica R bayonet table gives 1996–2009, citing Erwin Puts' Leica Lens Compendium; 2009 is the year R production ended, and no Leica document cited here dates the last lens. Vintage Lenses For Video gives '14350+' made, its plus sign marking a total it could not close. Leica has published no production figure for the lens.
Maker. Neither Leica's handbook nor its data sheet names the factory. Kyocera in Japan, which built the Vario-Elmar-R 35-70mm f/4 (11277) of 1997, is sometimes named as the maker in collectors' references, but no Leica document says so, so no maker or country is given here.
Body fit. Leica's 2000/2001 handbook gives the bayonet as for the R3 to R8 and its footnote says modification for the Leicaflex models is possible through Leica's customer service; the data sheet gives the R3 to R9, and the site's R-E page records that the R-E takes R-cam lenses. As supplied, neither version carries the Leicaflex cams, and the site's Leicaflex page records Doug Herr's warning that ROM lenses should not be forced onto a Leicaflex, whose cam follower would damage the contacts. This page is therefore linked to the R3 and later bodies only; a lens that Leica's service has fitted with Leicaflex cams can also be used on the Leicaflex, SL and SL2, but then loses the use of its ROM contacts.
Extenders. Leica's 2000/2001 handbook sells the APO-Extender-R 2x (11269) as this lens's accessory and its compatibility table makes the pair an f/8 160-400mm. The same table lists no combination with the APO-Extender-R 1.4x.
The 2000/2001 handbook also lists the lens with the TO-R telescope adapter, giving 6.4 × 20 to 16 × 50 magnification, a 3.1 mm exit pupil and a field of 150 m to 60 m at 1,000 m.
Prices. None of the sources here gives a period list price in DM or dollars. Vintage Lenses For Video's 2024 price list puts used examples at US$350 for a rough lens and US$1,500 for a mint one, its own estimates from online sales, not individual results. Apotelyt's R lens catalogue gives a used range of US$800–1,600. On 6 November 2026 Yahoo! Auctions Japan showed a ROM example at a current price of ¥41,300 with no bids, one titled 'F4 E60 3CAM' at ¥59,800 with no bids, and a near-unused ROM example at a buy-now price of ¥109,999: sellers' asking prices, not results, before shipping and any buyer's fees.

How to tell them apart (expand)

Constant f/4, two separate rings for zoom and focus, E60 filter thread and a built-in telescopic hood. The older Vario-Elmar-R 80-200mm f/4.5 (11224, 1974) is a Minolta-made one-touch push-pull zoom engraved LEITZ WETZLAR, with an E55 thread, that focuses only to 1.8 m
Front ring engraved VARIO-ELMAR-R 1:4/80-200 (Leica's 2000/2001 handbook photograph)
Focuses to 1.1 m at every focal length; about 1,020 g and 165 mm long
Not the Vario-Elmar-R 75-200mm f/4.5 (11226), the 70-210mm f/4 (11246), the Vario-APO-Elmarit-R 70-180mm f/2.8 or the Contax Vario-Sonnar 80-200mm f/4

Without ROM (11280):

Seen from the back of the mount, no row of gold ROM contacts beside the stepped R-cam
Order number 11280 on the box
Otherwise the same barrel: VARIO-ELMAR-R 1:4/80-200 on the front ring, E60 thread, separate zoom ring and built-in telescopic hood

ROM with focal-length sensor (11281):

A row of gold ROM contacts at the back of the mount beside the stepped R-cam
Order number 11281 on the box and in Leica's 2000/2001 lens tables
Sellers write 'ROM' and 'E60' in the title, often both

Without ROM (11280): Known from Leica's own table rather than from a dated catalogue page. The 2000/2001 Leica System handbook lists two order numbers for the lens in its ROM modification table: 11280, whose entry reads "only possible through exchange for", the rest of the sentence cut off by the printed column, and 11281, "already with ROM and sensor". The handbook's catalogue pages by then sell only 11281, so 11280 is the earlier of the two. English Wikipedia's lens table also gives both numbers. No Leica document gives the years of 11280 or says how many were made. Japanese sellers sometimes title an 80-200mm f/4 "3CAM" without saying whether it has ROM contacts; no Leica document records this lens leaving the factory with Leicaflex cams, and whether a given example had them fitted later by Leica's service has to be checked at the mount.
ROM with focal-length sensor (11281): The version Leica catalogued in 2000/2001: VARIO-ELMAR-R 1:4/80-200 mm, order number 11281, in a soft leather case with lens cap 14290 and rear cover 14162, "with mechanical (and for LEICA R 8 with additional electronic) exposure compensation". The ROM table marks it "already with ROM and sensor": the sensor reports the focal length so that a flash with SCA 3501 operation and a motor zoom head can follow the zoom; without the sensor the reflector stays at the shortest focal length. Leica's later technical data sheet gives the bayonet as for the R3 to R9, with the additional electronic exposure control on the R8 and R9. The handbook's footnote to this lens says that modification for use on the Leicaflex models is possible and refers owners to Leica's customer service; its conversion page adds that once Leicaflex control cams are fitted, the contact ledge for the R8's electronic exposure compensation can no longer be used.

Serial-range notes

3698001–3994220: The serial span Vintage Lenses For Video gives for this lens in its 2024 Leica R price list, with an asterisk marking a production total it could not close. Leica numbered its lenses in blocks from one running sequence shared by every model, so a number inside this span suggests, but does not prove, this lens.

Specifications

Formula: Zoom of twelve elements in eight groups: a focusing group at the front and two moving zoom groups behind it (Leica technical data sheet)
Construction: 12 elements / 8 groups
Aperture range: f/4–f/22
Min. focus: 1.1 m
Dimensions: 71 × 165 mm
Weight: 1020 g
Filter: 60 mm (0.75 mm pitch), E60, internal thread M 60 × 0.75; built-in telescopic hood (Leica 2000/2001)
Years manufactured: 1996–2009
Material: Black anodized finish, with rubber-armoured focusing and zoom rings (Leica 2000/2001)

What reviewers say

Bonyo Bonev (Bonev Photography) (blog) — After more than six years with the lens, used on a Leica M (an M240 in his photographs) with the electronic viewfinder, Bonev finds it light for an 80-200mm and sharp from f/4 to f/11 and at its best beyond 100 mm, at 180 mm and f/5.6 sharper than his APO-Macro-Elmarit-R 100mm; vignetting is no issue, contrast is lower than in current lenses but the tonal range wide, and he uses it with the APO-Extender-R 2x as a 160-400mm. single source, unconfirmed

Optical formula — Zoom of twelve elements in eight groups: a focusing group at the front and two moving zoom groups behind it (Leica technical data sheet)

Leica technical data sheet: lens sections at 80, 100, 135, 180 and 200 mm with the focusing and zoom groups marked, MTF, distortion and vignetting (hosted by 125px.com)

ⓘ What these charts mean

MTF (modulation transfer function) shows how much contrast the lens keeps at a given fineness of detail, from the center of the frame to the corner — the coarse curves track punch, the fine ones resolving power, and a gap between solid and dashed lines means astigmatism. Relative illumination (falloff) shows how much darker the corners are than the center at each aperture. Manufacturers only began publishing these for modern lenses; no 1950s maker issued them, which is why older families here cite period magazine bench tests instead.

History

The Vario-Elmar-R 80-200mm f/4 is the telephoto zoom of the late R system, introduced in 1996 by English Wikipedia’s lens table, which cites Erwin Puts; the same table ends the Minolta-designed Vario-Elmar-R 70-210mm f/4 that year. It shares a name with the Vario-Elmar-R 80-200mm f/4.5 of 1974 and nothing else. That lens was a Minolta-made one-touch push-pull zoom engraved Leitz Wetzlar, catalogued by Leitz “only for the LEICAFLEX SL 2”, with an E55 thread and focusing to 1.8 m. This one has separate rings for zoom and focus, twelve elements in eight groups, an E60 thread, a built-in telescopic hood and focusing to 1.1 m at every focal length, about 1:3.9 at 200 mm. At 1,020 g it is much lighter than the 1,870 g Vario-APO-Elmarit-R 70-180mm f/2.8 that sat above it; Leica’s data sheet calls it a lightweight lens for travel, and Bonyo Bonev finds it “rather light” for an 80-200mm. Leica’s data sheet claims high contrast at full aperture across the frame and the zoom range, with coma and spherical aberration low and largely gone after a slight stop-down. It also offers the lens as the long end of a three-zoom outfit with the 21-35mm and 35-70mm.

Two versions are known, and they look the same from the front. Leica’s 2000/2001 handbook catalogues only 11281, with ROM contacts and a focal-length sensor. The contacts give the R8 and R9 their additional electronic exposure compensation and let a suitable flash with SCA 3501 operation move its zoom head with the lens. Its ROM table also lists an 11280 without ROM, for which a ROM upgrade was “only possible through exchange”. To tell them apart, look at the back of the mount: 11281 has a row of gold contacts beside the stepped R-cam, 11280 has the cam alone. The handbook does not date 11280, and no Leica document says how many of either were made. Vintage Lenses For Video gives 14,350 or more in serials from 3698001 to 3994220 and does not close the count. No Leica document says where the lens was built. Kyocera in Japan, which built the 35-70mm f/4 of 1997, is sometimes named, but Leica’s own papers do not say so.

As supplied, the lens fits the R3 and every later R body, the R-E included. It does not fit the Leicaflex bodies as it comes. The handbook’s footnote on its specification page says Leica’s customer service could modify it for the Leicaflex models. Its conversion page warns that once Leicaflex cams are fitted, the ROM contact ledge can no longer be used. A modified lens should show sloped cams at the back of the mount; an unmodified one must not be forced onto a Leicaflex. The handbook pairs the lens with the APO-Extender-R 2x, making an f/8 160-400mm, and lists no combination with the 1.4x. Bonyo Bonev, who used it with that extender on a Leica M240, reports it sharp from f/4 to f/11 and at its best past 100 mm, lower in contrast than current lenses but with a wide tonal range.

When buying, check the mount for contacts or cams against what the seller claims. Japanese listings sometimes title the f/4 “3CAM”, and that word means little on this lens. Check that the zoom and focus rings turn smoothly without play, that the telescopic hood stays out, and that the glass is clear of haze, as on any lens of its age. R lenses are often remounted or rehoused for cine and video use, and a lens so converted is no longer the lens as Leica sold it. Titles that read “80-200 4.5”, “E55” or “Leitz Wetzlar” belong to the 1974 lens. None of the sources cited here gives a period list price in DM or dollars.

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 Vario-Elmar-R 80-200mm f/4? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $700 across 12 fixed-price listings on 2026-11-10 (middle half $470–$830). First day tracked.

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

Leica Vario Elmar-R 80-200mm f4 ROM Lens E60 11281 w/ Caps, Case READ — $299.00 · eBay · likely rom-11281
Leica 11281 Vario Elmar-R 80-200mm f4 ROM Lens E60 *Haze #806 — $311.82 · eBay · likely rom-11281
Leica Vario-Elmar-R 1:4/80-200 mm ohne ROM Nr. 3698815 Baujahr 1995 — €398.00 · eBay
LEICA Vario-Elmar-R 80-200mm f/4,0 ROM - SNr: 3805685 — €399.00 · eBay · likely rom-11281
Vario Elmar R 80-200 F/4 ROM *READ* Haze inside. item2 — €400.00 · eBay · likely rom-11281
ROM [Exc+5] Leica Vario Elmar R 80-200mm F4 E60 Lens for R8 R9 From JAPAN — $469.99 · eBay
Leica 11281 Vario Elmar-R 80-200mm f4 ROM Lens E60 #139 — $483.70 · eBay · likely rom-11281
Leica VARIO-ELMAR-R 80-200mm f/4 Lens — $493.61 · eBay
Vario-Elmar-R 4/80-200mm ROM — €460.00 · Coeln Cameras
LEICA Vario Elmar R 4/80-200mm ROM TOMS-CAMERA-LADEN Ankauf/Verkauf #046 — €499.00 · eBay
Leica R Vario-Elmar-R 4/80-200mm ROM — €510.00 · eBay
Leica Vario-Elmar-R 4/80-200 E60 ROM Leica R Zoom Lens Guter Zustand — €600.00 · eBay
Leica 80-200mm f4 VARIO-ELMAR-R Lens MF 3 Cam — $699.00 · eBay
Leica Vario-Elmar-R 1:4 / 80-200mm ROM – R-Mount Tele-Zoom — €650.00 · eBay
Leica 11281 - Vario Elmar-R 1:4/80-200mm E60 ROM "1a Zustand/ Germany" - TOP! — €699.00 · eBay · likely rom-11281 NEW
Read [Unused] Leica VARIO-ELMAR-R 80-200mm f/4 E60 ROM Telephoto Zoom Lens JAPAN — $769.99 · eBay
Leica Vario-Elmar-R 80-200mm f/4 3 Cam Lens Boxed #3698200 — $785.00 · eBay
Leica Vario-Elmar-R 4,0/80-200 E60 ROM 11281 + Sehr Gut (283602) — €739.00 · eBay · likely rom-11281
[Top MINT] Leica VARIO ELMAR R 80-200mm f/4 E60 ROM Telephoto Zoom Lens JAPAN — $829.99 · eBay
Leica Vario-Elmar-R 4/80-200mm E60 #11281 Seriennummer 3803955 Topzustand in OVP — €799.99 · eBay

Show 11 more listings

Leica Vario Elmar R 80-200 F4 3 Cam — €810.00 · eBay
Leica Vario-Elmar-R 4.0/80-200 E60 ROM 11281 + Very Good (283602) — £739.42 · eBay · likely rom-11281
Leica Vario Elmar R 80-200mm f4 ROM Objektiv11281 Leitz 97711 near mint full Set — €895.00 · eBay · likely rom-11281
Leica 80-200mm f4 Vario Elmar-R DAG Overhaul 3699104 — $1,065.00 · eBay
Leica VARIO ELMAR-R 80-200mm f4 ROM + BOX Soft Case 11281 Excellent Condition — €1,049.00 · eBay · likely rom-11281
Leica R Vario-Elmar-R 4/80-200mm ROM E60 — €1,099.00 · Arsenal Photo
Leica VARIO ELMAR-R 80-200mm f4 ROM + BOX Soft Case 11281 Excellent Condition — €1,099.00 · eBay · likely rom-11281
Leica R Vario-Elmar-R 4/80-200mm ROM E60 — $1,352.40 · eBay
Leica Vario-Elmar-R 80-200mm F4 Lens ROM + caps, box and leather case. 1998 — $2,100.00 · eBay
Leica Vario-Elmar-R 4/80-200 FOR PARTS Zoom lens — $246.11 · eBay junk / for parts
LEICA VARIO-ELMAR-R 80-200mm F4 E60 3CAM — from ¥59,800 · Yahoo! Auctions Japan · auction 2026-11-15

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.