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

Summarit-M 50mm f/2.4

Leica · Leica M · 2014 · 6 elements in 4 groups

Also known as: Summarit-M 50mm f/2.4 · 50 Summarit f2.4

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Black (11680) Leica M 2014 up to 4302484 (Leica Wiki, 2014; highest black reported, no lower bound given) No figure published
Silver Leica M 2014 4302495 upward (Leica Wiki, 2014; lowest silver reported, no upper bound given) No figure published
  1. One change common to the whole f/2.4 range was commercial rather than optical: the lens hood is included in the box, where the f/2.5 Summarits had it as a separate accessory at about €100 (Jörg-Peter Rau, Macfilos).
  2. The Summarit line was discontinued on 10 March 2020, confirmed by dealers rather than by an announcement (Macfilos). The f/2.5 lenses had launched in 2007 at roughly €1,000–1,250.
  3. The Leica Wiki's serial table is headed "Serial numbers compiled from known lenses". It is a record of observed extremes, not a factory batch list: each row's start carries a leading dash and its end a trailing dash, meaning the true bounds lie at or beyond the numbers printed. Both of this lens's rows have one end marked "unknown", and both its Total cells read "unknown". Leica has published no batch list for the Summarit-M range of the kind that exists for the older Leitz lenses.
  4. The Leica Wiki records numbers from 2014 only. The range was on sale until 10 March 2020, so something over five years of production is unrepresented in the published serial data altogether.
  5. The four f/2.4 Summarits were numbered in two clusters, not one. The 35 and the 50 sit within about seventy numbers of each other at 4302424–4302495; the 75 and the 90 sit within about fifty at 4306287–4306336, some 3,800 numbers later. Those gaps are filled by whatever else Leica was numbering at the time, since all its lenses share one sequence.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • f/2.4 rather than f/2.5 — a tenth of a stop, and the only specification change on some of the range
  • Minimum focus unchanged at 0.8 m

Black (11680):

  • 6-bit coded

Serial-range notes

the seven-digit number engraved on the front
The rule, and where it stops. Leica draws Summarit-M numbers from the single sequence it uses for every lens it makes, so a copy would ordinarily be dated against the general Leitz/Leica lens year list — but that list runs out at 4130001 for 2012 (camera-wiki.org, citing Puts's Pocket Pod and Pont's Les Chiffres Clés), and every f/2.4 number reported so far stands above 4300000. No published year list reaches this generation. The Leica Wiki's table records numbers from 2014 alone, the first year, and none from the further years the lens was sold, so a serial identifies an f/2.4 Summarit and its finish but not its year.
the first two digits
Which generation. 43 is an f/2.4 of 2014 or later; 40, 41 or 42 is the f/2.5 Summarit-M of 2007–2014 that this lens replaced. Every f/2.4 number the Leica Wiki records across the four focal lengths falls between 4302424 and 4306336, every f/2.5 number between 4038014 and 4240378, and all four f/2.4 data sheets give the inscription as 43XXXXX.
4302484 and 4302495
The highest black and the lowest silver 50mm f/2.4 the Leica Wiki records, eleven numbers apart and both from 2014. The two finishes were therefore numbered together in one run rather than allotted separate blocks — the boundary is where the reported examples happen to fall, not a factory division.
4302495
The lowest silver 50 sits about seventy numbers above the highest black 35 of the same year, so the 35 and the 50 were being numbered at effectively the same moment in 2014.

Specifications

Formula
6 elements in 4 groups
Construction
6 elements / 4 groups
Aperture range
f/2.4–f/16
Min. focus
0.8 m
Weight
190 g
Filter
46 mm
Years manufactured
2014
Country
Germany
Original price
£1,250 (UK, 2014)

What reviewers say

History

In 2014 Leica replaced all four Summarits with lenses a tenth of a stop faster. f/2.5 became f/2.4, which is the smallest generational change anywhere in this catalog and close to meaningless photographically — a tenth of a stop is below the tolerance of most shutters.

What actually changed varies by focal length, and on this one the minimum focus is unchanged at 0.8 m. The Leica Wiki’s own data sheets mark the differences from the previous version in red, which is the clearest sign that the differences needed pointing out.

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 Summarit-M 50mm f/2.4? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $1,800 across 4 fixed-price listings on 2026-10-19 (middle half $1,600–$1,800). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 7 days: down 3% from $1,800.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-10-19$1,800$1,600–$1,8004
2026-10-18$1,800$1,600–$1,8004
2026-10-17$1,800$1,600–$1,8004
2026-10-16$1,800$1,600–$1,8004
2026-10-15$1,800$1,600–$1,8004
2026-09-11$1,800$1,800–$1,8006
2026-09-06$1,800$1,800–$1,8006

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

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: Summarit-M 50mm f/2.5

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.