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

Summaron 3.5cm f/2.8

Ernst Leitz · LTM + Leica M · 1958 · Six elements in four groups

Also known as: Leitz Summaron 35mm f/2.8 · Summaron 3.5cm f2.8 · Summaron-M 35/2.8 · ズマロン 35mm F2.8

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Screw mount LTM 1958–1963 1754001–1756000 5,289 lenses (Leica Wiki)
M bayonet Leica M 1958–1974 1615001–1616000
1814001–1816000
2152551–2154550 		30,400 lenses (Leica Wiki)
M3 version with goggles Leica M 1958–1974 1731101–1733000
1808001–1809000
2006001–2007500 		No separate figure published
Three crowns (Swedish military) LTM 1958–1974 Thirty numbers inside 1677001–1680000, one of them 1678204 No figure published
Post LTM 1958–1974 — No figure published
  1. The goggles cannot be taken off, and the reason is mechanical rather than cosmetic. Ken Rockwell notes that the rangefinder coupling of the M3 version is calibrated for the 0.7x reduction the spectacles introduce, so a de-goggled lens focuses to the wrong distance — and it still calls up the 50mm frame on later bodies, since that is the frameline the goggles were built to fill.
  2. The serial list does not add up to the production figures printed at the head of the same page. Its blocks total 52,400 assigned numbers over 1958–1968, against 5,289 screw plus 30,400 bayonet — 35,689 lenses. The 52,400 already excludes the three rows the page attributes to other models; the remaining gap of roughly 16,700 numbers is unexplained on the page.
  3. The list stops eleven years before production does. Its last block is dated 1968, while the same page gives the bayonet lens a 1958–1974 production era. No serial evidence has been located here for the final six years.
  4. Nothing on the serial list is identified as a Post lens. The fixed-focus Summarons fitted to the MDa Postkameras are visible in the variant record and in the auction rooms, but no block or number has been published for them.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Engraved SUMMARON 1:2.8/3.5 LEITZ WETZLAR
  • Click-stopped 10-blade aperture

Screw mount:

  • 39mm thread; minimum focus 1 m

M bayonet:

  • Minimum focus 0.7 m on an M2

M3 version with goggles:

  • Spectacles over the finder windows; minimum focus 0.65 m

Three crowns (Swedish military):

  • Three crowns engraved

Post:

  • Post marking — the fixed-focus lens fitted to the MDa Postkameras is a 35mm Summaron

Serial-range notes

the whole Leitz lens sequence
THE RULE. Leitz numbered every lens it made in one continuous run, whatever the model, so a Summaron is dated from the company-wide lens serial/year list and not from anything on the barrel. Read the seven-figure number off the front ring and find its bracket: 1958 = 1548001–1645300, 1959 = 1645301–1717000, 1960 = 1717001–1827000, 1961 = 1827001–1913000, 1962 = 1913001–1967100, 1963 = 1967101–2015700, 1964 = 2015701–2077500, 1965 = 2077501–2156300, 1966 = 2156301–2236500, 1967 = 2236501–2254400, 1968 = 2254401–2312750 (Leica Wiki, Leica Lens Serial Numbers). Every block on this model's own page falls inside the bracket it is dated to, so for this lens the two lists agree and either can be used.
1615001–1616000
The first block: 1,000 M lenses of 1958, and the lowest Summaron f/2.8 numbers the Leica Wiki records.
2309751–2312750
The last block: 3,000 lenses of 1968, black and chrome M together. Nothing is listed after it, although the same page runs production to 1974.
1627001–1630000, 1662001–1668000, 1677001–1680000, 1694001–1697000, 1754001–1756000, 1903001–1906000, 1921001–1924000, 1930201–1932700
Every block the list marks (S) for screw thread. Only 1754001–1756000 — 2,000 lenses of 1960 — is screw alone; the rest are mixed with bayonet lenses in the same block, so a number falling inside one of them does not by itself establish the mount.
1677001–1680000
A block two Leica Wiki pages both claim. This model's page prints it as "Summaron *5.6 cm 1:2.8 (M3+M+S+3crown)", 3,000 lenses of 1959, and footnotes that 1678045, 1678231, 1678272, 1678461, 1679672 and 1679028 are 3.5 cm and not 5.6 cm as listed. The Summaron 2.8 cm f/5.6 page claims the same numbers for itself, 2,969 lenses of 1959, and footnotes that 1678204 and 1678626 are 35mm f/2.8 and that thirty numbers went to Swedish three-crown lenses, 1678204 among them. Both readings are recorded; neither page reconciles with the other.
1810001–1811000
Marked M3 plus M1-oliv — 1,000 numbers of 1960 and the only olive lenses the list identifies, made alongside the olive M1 bodies.
2080501–2082500 and 2309751–2312750
The two blocks the list marks black: 2,000 lenses of 1965 (M3 + M + black) and 3,000 of 1968 (M3 + M-black + M-chrom). No other block carries a finish.
1423001–1426000, 1594001–1597000, 1730001–1731100
Rows printed on this model's page that the page itself attributes to other lenses: the first two to the Summaron 3.5 cm f/3.5, which carries them on its own list as well, and the third to the Summilux 5 cm f/1.4. Footnotes claim individual f/2.8 Summarons inside them all the same — 1423110 and 1595665 in the first pair, 1730789 and 1732964 in the third. The three rows are bracketed and excluded from the page's total.

Specifications

Formula
Six elements in four groups
Construction
6 elements / 4 groups
Aperture range
f/2.8–f/22
Diaphragm blades
10
Min. focus
0.65 m
Dimensions
51 × 29 mm
Weight
210 g
Filter
39 mm
Years manufactured
1958–1974
Country
Germany
Material
Chrome-plated brass; some in black paint

What reviewers say

History

The f/2.8 Summaron replaced the f/3.5 in 1958 with the same six elements in four groups and two thirds of a stop more light, and it stayed in the catalogue until 1974 — outliving the screw mount, the M3 and the M4-2’s Canadian restart. It is the wide-angle most M owners of the 1960s actually used.

The split between mounts is stark and worth knowing when shopping. Leitz built 30,400 in M bayonet and 5,289 in screw, and the screw version only for five years, so a screw-mount f/2.8 Summaron is roughly one lens in seven and prices accordingly. The Leica Wiki’s 2010 figures put the screw version at $450 against $650 for the M2 version — an unusual case where scarcity has not yet outrun demand from people who own the newer camera.

The goggled M3 version has a genuine advantage rather than only a compromise. Because the spectacles change the rangefinder’s geometry as well as the finder magnification, the M3 version focuses to 0.65 m where the plain M version stops at 0.7 m. The workaround for the M3’s inability to show a 35mm frame ends up buying back five centimetres of close focus.

Two of its variants belong to institutions rather than photographers: lenses engraved with three crowns for the Swedish military, and lenses marked Post — the fixed-focus Summarons bolted to the MDa Postkameras that photographed telephone meters through the 1970s. It is a reminder that Leitz’s wide-angle production was not all street photography.

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 Summaron 3.5cm f/2.8? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $1,500 across 37 fixed-price listings on 2026-10-19 (middle half $1,100–$1,600). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 11 days: up 21% from $1,200.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-10-19$1,500$1,100–$1,60037
2026-10-18$1,500$1,100–$1,60038
2026-10-17$1,500$1,100–$1,60038
2026-10-16$1,500$1,100–$1,50035
2026-10-15$1,200$800–$1,50013
2026-09-21$1,300$930–$1,80016
2026-09-19$1,200$850–$1,50014
2026-09-18$1,200$850–$1,50014
2026-09-11$1,200$930–$1,50014
2026-09-10$1,200$930–$1,50015
2026-09-06$1,200$930–$1,50015

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

Show 78 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.

Sources (4)

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.