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

Elmarit 9cm f/2.8

Ernst Leitz · LTM + Leica M · 1959 · Five elements in three groups

single source, unconfirmed

Also known as: Leitz Elmarit 90mm f/2.8 · Elmarit 9cm f2.8 · エルマリート 90mm F2.8

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Screw mount (ELRIT 11029) LTM 1959–1963 1640501–1640600 (1958) — chrome, screw alone, 100 numbers
1649001–1650000 (1959) — chrome, screw alone, 1,000 numbers
1683001–1686000, 1692001–1694000, 1709001–1710000 (1959) — screw and bayonet together
1735001–1737000 (1960) — screw and bayonet together, the last block marked S 		2,067 lenses (Leica Wiki)
M bayonet (ELRIM 11039) Leica M 1959–1974 1657451–1659000 (1959) — chrome, the first block marked M alone
1683001–1686000, 1692001–1694000, 1709001–1710000 (1959) and 1735001–1737000 (1960) — shared with the screw lenses
1756001–1757000, 1760601–1762000, 1805001–1808000 (1960) — chrome
1878001–1880000 (1961), 1917001–1920000 (1962), 1983901–1984400 (1963) — chrome
2044001–2046000 (1964), 2084801–2088800 (1965), 2125651–2129950 (1965) — chrome
2213001–2215000 (1966) — black, the first block marked so
2303951–2305150 (1968), 2372801–2374800 (1969) — black
2426301–2428300, 2428301–2428400, 2428401–2428750 (1970) — black
2522801–2523800 (1972), 2721001–2721320 (1974) — black, the last two blocks of the run 		28,527 lenses (Leica Wiki)
Lens head (11026) Leica M 1959–1974 No block on the Leica Wiki's table is identified as lens heads. If the 12,696 numbers unaccounted for by the mount split are theirs, they are inside blocks credited to the complete lenses. No separate figure published
  1. 2,067 screw plus 28,527 bayonet is 30,594, against a stated total under 43,290. As with the 90mm Summicron, the split and the total do not meet, and the lens heads are the likeliest explanation for the difference.
  2. The serial table settles which of the three figures is sound. Its thirty blocks add up to exactly 43,290 — the total printed at the head of the same page, to the number. So the total is corroborated block by block, and it is the 2,067 and 28,527 split that fails to reach it, by 12,696.
  3. The wiki's blocks are dated 1958 to 1974 while the production era at the head of the page reads 1959 to 1974. The extra year is at the start: two blocks, 170 numbers, dated 1958.
  4. Dan Kerin's measurements give the barrel figures the specification here lacks: 330 g, 94 mm long and 53 mm across, with click stops at full apertures only.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • 12-blade aperture
  • E39 filters — the same as the 35 and 50 Summicrons
  • 27 degrees diagonal

Screw mount (ELRIT 11029):

  • 39mm thread

M bayonet (ELRIM 11039):

  • M bayonet; black version is order number 11129

Lens head (11026):

  • The optical cell alone, for the Visoflex II and III via adapter 16464

Serial-range notes

1585001–2721320
THE RULE. Leitz never numbered a model from one, and never put a date inside the number. Serials were assigned in blocks drawn from a single running sequence shared by every lens the company made, so a number dates a copy only against the block list for its own model. Thirty blocks cover this lens between 1585001 and 2721320. Find the number in the SN Start / SN End table on the Leica Wiki page and read the year off its row; a number falling between the blocks belongs to some other Leitz lens. With thirty blocks across seventeen years this is the most finely datable lens in this entry's family — most years resolve to a single block.
1585001–1585070, 1640501–1640600
Both dated 1958, a year before the 1959 first year given at the head of the same page and throughout this entry. The first is 70 numbers and carries no mount or finish mark at all; the second is 100 numbers of screw-mount chrome. Both dates are recorded rather than one chosen.
1640501–1640600, 1649001–1650000, 1683001–1686000, 1692001–1694000, 1709001–1710000, 1735001–1737000
Every block whose label carries an S, and so every block that can contain a screw-mount lens. Two are screw alone (1,100 numbers, 1958 and 1959) and four are marked M+S, mixing the two mounts. The last of them is dated 1960 — three years before the 1963 end this entry gives the screw version. Nothing after 1735001–1737000 is marked S, so a screw-mount 9cm Elmarit numbered above 1737000 is not covered by any published block.
2213001–2215000
1966, and the first block the wiki marks M-black. Everything before it that carries a finish is marked chrome, and everything after it that carries one is black, so the change of finish falls between 2129950 and 2213001 — a serviceable dividing line on a lens sold in both.
2125651–2129950
A block that contradicts itself. The Leica Wiki labels it "(M-chrom-11129)", but the order numbers at the head of the same page give 11129 as the black version. The finish and the catalogue number in one label point opposite ways; the row is recorded as printed and not resolved.
2001001–2002000
A 1963 block of 1,000 numbers carrying the page's own asterisk: "Lens 2001179 is 90mm f/2.8 Tele-Elmarit (11800)". One number inside a block credited to this lens belongs to the lens that replaced it — which is what the shared sequence does, and a reminder that a block is an assignment, not a guarantee.
2426301–2428300, 2428301–2428400, 2428401–2428750
Three consecutive blocks in 1970 running straight into one another, 2,450 numbers between them. They are listed separately by the wiki although nothing distinguishes them, all three being marked M-black.
2721001–2721320
1974, 320 numbers — the last block, and the end of the lens. Nothing is listed for 1967, 1971 or 1973.

Specifications

Formula
Five elements in three groups
Construction
5 elements / 3 groups
Aperture range
f/2.8–f/22
Diaphragm blades
12
Min. focus
1 m
Filter
39 mm
Years manufactured
1959–1974
Country
Germany

What reviewers say

History

The 90mm Elmarit is the portrait lens that Leica owners actually carried. A stop and a bit slower than the Summicron, considerably lighter and cheaper, five elements in three groups, twelve aperture blades, and E39 filters that match the 35 and 50 Summicrons so a kit needs one size of filter. 43,290 or so were made in fifteen years, which is more than every other Leitz 90 in this catalog put together.

The screw-mount version is the scarce one, at 2,067 lenses in four years — this was 1959, and the thread had two years left.

Its arithmetic has the same gap as the 90mm Summicron’s. The published split is 2,067 screw and 28,527 bayonet, which is 30,594, against a stated total under 43,290. Twelve thousand lenses sit between the two figures, and the lens heads sold separately for the Visoflex are the obvious candidate: the same optics, in a different mount, counted once or twice depending on which line of the page you read.

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 Elmarit 9cm f/2.8? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $300 across 28 fixed-price listings on 2026-10-19 (middle half $240–$380). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 10 days: down 67% from $900.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-10-19$300$240–$38028
2026-10-18$300$240–$38028
2026-10-17$300$240–$38028
2026-10-16$300$240–$38025
2026-10-15$380$330–$38010
2026-09-21$760$380–$9006
2026-09-19$900$380–$1,9005
2026-09-18$900$380–$1,9005
2026-09-11$470$380–$9006
2026-09-06$900$380–$1,9007

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

Show 53 more listings

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 2026-10-19. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Elmar 9cm f/4 · Elmarit-M 90mm f/2.8 · Summicron 90mm f/2 (v1, 1957) · Tele-Elmarit 90mm f/2.8 (the fat one) · Tele-Elmarit-M 90mm f/2.8 (the thin one)

Sources (2)

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.