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

Summicron-M 50mm f/2 (v4 · v5)

Leica · Leica M + LTM · 1979 · Six elements in four groups

Known as “Tabbed Summicron”

Also known as: Summicron-M 50mm f/2 · 50 Summicron current · ズミクロン 50mm F2 · Summicron-M 50mm f/2 (current version) · Summicron-M 50mm f/2 (current version) · Summicron 50 v4 · Summicron 50 v5 · Summicron-M 50 v4 · Summicron-M 50 v5 · Summicron 50mm v4 · Summicron 50mm v5 · 11819

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
v4 — clip-on hood (1979–94) Leica M 1979–1994 — No separate figure published; the two barrels together exceed 94,573
v5 — built-in telescoping hood (1994–) Leica M 1994 — No separate figure published
Black Leica M 1979 — From about serial 2974251; the bulk of 94,573+ lenses
Silver chrome Leica M 1979 — From about serial 2909101
Titanium Leica M 1979 — 500 lenses
v4 with focusing tab (1979–84) Leica M 1979–1984 — No separate figure published
Screw mount, 1999 limited edition LTM 1999–1999 — No figure published
Commemorative editions Leica M 1983 — No figures published
  1. A titanium Summicron-M, order number 11624, serial 3915388 of 2002, realised EUR 2,040 including buyer's premium at Leitz Photographica Auction 45, lot 181, against an estimate of EUR 3,000 to 3,400. The catalogue entry independently gives the titanium run as 500 lenses, the same figure as the Leica Wiki.
  2. Erwin Puts states that the current lens is optically identical to the 1979 design, and that the Special Edition differs mechanically rather than optically — machined to a tolerance of 0.003 mm where earlier work was held to hundredths of a millimetre.
  3. Buyers number the 50mm f/2 Summicrons v1 to v6: v1 the collapsible of 1953 and v2 the rigid and Dual Range of 1956 (one optical design, one page); v3 the 1969 six-in-five; v4 the 1979 six-in-four and v5 its 1994 built-in-hood barrel (identical glass, one page); v6 the APO-Summicron ASPH of 2012. This entry uses that numbering in its variant names, and the other pages carry the rest.
  4. Atelier Leica's catalogue for the v5 (Japanese): six elements in four groups, 240 g, E39, 0.7 m, eight blades, f/2–16, 47°, the built-in slide-out hood — 'the third generation's optics, made easier to use', and 'a standard lens long loved and behind many masterpieces, though in the shadow of the APO'. カメラのナニワ's staff review of a 1994 lens: thin focus at f/2, then exceptional sharpness and material texture stopped down, coatings that hold flare — '1994年発売のレンズなのにこれだけ描写しているのがとんでもない', remarkable that a 1994 lens renders like this.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Six elements in four groups — the design Leica has now sold for over forty years, as v4 and, from 1994 with a built-in hood, v5
  • 8- or 10-blade diaphragm depending on the production period
  • E39 filters, unchanged since 1953

v4 — clip-on hood (1979–94):

  • Clip-on hood 12538; focusing tab under the barrel until 1984
  • Order numbers 11819 black, 11816 silver

v5 — built-in telescoping hood (1994–):

  • A telescoping hood built into the barrel replaces the clip-on 12538
  • Order number 11826 black; the silver keeps 11816
  • Optically identical to the 1979 lens (Erwin Puts) — the version numbers describe the barrel

Black:

  • Black anodised

Silver chrome:

  • Chrome finish

Titanium:

  • Titanium finish

v4 with focusing tab (1979–84):

  • A focusing tab under the barrel, dropped after 1984

Screw mount, 1999 limited edition:

  • 39mm thread; order number 11619, silver

Commemorative editions:

  • 1913–1983 anniversary, Royal Photographic Society centenary, Dutch Flag (11826-DF), Colombo '92

Serial-range notes

2915801–2916800; 2922901–2926900
1978: 2 batches, 5,000 numbers (M-black). Leica Wiki batch table, archived.
2985101–2987100
1979: 1 batch, 2,000 numbers (M-black.ELC). Leica Wiki batch table, archived.
3019751–3022750; 3082001–3084000
1980: 2 batches, 5,000 numbers (M-black.ELC). Leica Wiki batch table, archived.
3098501–3101500
1981: 1 batch, 3,000 numbers (M-black.13-83+M-black.ELC). Leica Wiki batch table, archived.
3166001–3168000; 3198701–3199700; 3235301–3236300
1982: 3 batches, 4,000 numbers (M-black.13-83). Leica Wiki batch table, archived.
3261401–3263400
1983: 1 batch, 2,000 numbers (M-black). Leica Wiki batch table, archived.
3357801–3359800; 3359801–3360800; 3381701–3383200
1985: 3 batches, 4,500 numbers (M-black). Leica Wiki batch table, archived.
3408891–3409890
1986: 1 batch, 1,000 numbers (M-black). Leica Wiki batch table, archived.
3435501–3436500; 3445921–3446920; 3447921–3449920; 3449921–3451920; 3454071–3455070
1987: 5 batches, 7,000 numbers. Leica Wiki batch table, archived.
3470821–3471820; 3480601–3481600
1988: 2 batches, 2,000 numbers (M-black). Leica Wiki batch table, archived.
3488651–3488790; 3501701–3502700; 3502701–3503150
1989: 3 batches, 1,590 numbers (M-black). Leica Wiki batch table, archived.
3506151–3507150; 3514796–3516295
1990: 2 batches, 2,500 numbers (M-black). Leica Wiki batch table, archived.
3540468–3542467; 3571133–3573132
1991: 2 batches, 4,000 numbers (M-black). Leica Wiki batch table, archived.
3587960–3588959; 3592460–3593959; 3597020–3598519; 3598520–3598819; 3606170–3606719
1992: 5 batches, 4,850 numbers (M-silver). Leica Wiki batch table, archived.
3613480–3614479; 3617903–3618902; 3620133–3621632; 3623601–3623800; 3630001–3631900
1993: 5 batches, 5,600 numbers (Colombo-chrom). Leica Wiki batch table, archived.
3649976–3651975; 3654716–3655715; 3663831–3664830; 3669031–3670030
1994: 4 batches, 5,000 numbers (M-silver; M-silver+black). Leica Wiki batch table, archived.
3679031–3680030; 3695000–3695700; 3700001–3700301; 3705803–3707802; 3729001–3729150
1995: 5 batches, 4,152 numbers (M-black+silver; M-silver). Leica Wiki batch table, archived.
3731301–3732300; 3741212; 3746589–3747588; 3756036–3757035; 3766100–3767099
1996: 5 batches, 4,001 numbers (M-black; M-black.ELW-11826). Leica Wiki batch table, archived.
3791010–3792009; 3802410–3803409; 3817625–3818624
1997: 3 batches, 3,000 numbers. Leica Wiki batch table, archived.
3828825–3829824; 3842500–3843499; 3852100–3853099
1998: 3 batches, 3,000 numbers (M-black). Leica Wiki batch table, archived.
3862417–3863416; 3867167–3867716; 3877467–3878466; 3880377–3880746
1999: 4 batches, 2,920 numbers (M-black+silver; S-silver). Leica Wiki batch table, archived.
3883747–3884746; 3884747–3884906; 3899076–3900075; 3907626–3909625
2000: 4 batches, 4,160 numbers (M-black). Leica Wiki batch table, archived.
3914423–3915522; 3925821–3926820; 3931014–3932013
2001: 3 batches, 3,100 numbers (M-black; M-titan+black+silver). Leica Wiki batch table, archived.
3933014–3934013; 3940614–3941613; 3952001–3953000; 3958161–3959160
2002: 4 batches, 4,000 numbers (DF; M-black; M-silver-11615). Leica Wiki batch table, archived.
3983234–3983783; 3983784–3984533
2004: 2 batches, 1,300 numbers. Leica Wiki batch table, archived.
3987244–3987743; 3991369–3991868
2005: 2 batches, 1,000 numbers (M-black-11826). Leica Wiki batch table, archived.
3997608–3999999
2006-2007: 1 batch, 2,392 numbers (M-black-11826); observed span, open at both ends. Leica Wiki batch table, archived.
4095257–4095733
2008-2009: 1 batch, 477 numbers (M-black-11826); observed span, open at both ends. Leica Wiki batch table, archived.
4126260–4126475
2010: 1 batch, 216 numbers (M-black-11826); observed span, open at both ends. Leica Wiki batch table, archived.
2909101–2913100
1978: 1 batch, 4,000 numbers. Leica Wiki batch table, archived.

Specifications

Formula
Six elements in four groups
Construction
6 elements / 4 groups
Aperture range
f/2–f/16
Min. focus
0.7 m
Filter
39 mm
Years manufactured
1979
Country
Germany

What reviewers say

History

This is the lens Leica has been selling since 1979 and has not needed to replace. Six elements in four groups, f/2, 0.7 m, E39 filters — a specification that has not changed in over forty years while everything around it did. More than 94,573 have been made, which makes it the most numerous lens in this catalog and, by a distance, the longest-lived design.

It is also the least dramatic. There is no aspherical surface, no floating element, no story about hand-figured glass. It is simply corrected well enough that Leica’s own APO-Summicron of 2013, which costs several times as much, is sold on the margins it improves rather than on the ones it fixes.

What it has instead is variants for every occasion: black, chrome, 500 in titanium, an anniversary edition for 1913–1983, one for the Royal Photographic Society’s centenary, one carrying the Dutch flag, one for Colombo ‘92. And, in 1999, a limited run in screw mount — the third modern Leica lens in this catalog made for a mount abandoned in 1960.

One dating detail for buyers: lenses before 1984 have a focusing tab under the barrel and later ones do not. It changes nothing optically and a great deal about how the lens handles, which is why the early ones have their own following.

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 taken with the Summicron-M 50mm f/2 (v4 · v5)
The Erechtheion, Athens — tagged Summicron-M 50mm f/2 by the photographer (Sanshiro Kubota) — Sanshiro KUBOTA from London, UK, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Sample photo taken with the Summicron-M 50mm f/2 (v4 · v5)
The Thames — tagged Summicron-M 50mm f/2 (Sanshiro Kubota) — Sanshiro KUBOTA from London, UK, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Sample photo taken with the Summicron-M 50mm f/2 (v4 · v5)
Mailboxes in Guffey, Colorado — tagged Summicron-M 50mm f/2 (420 Photography) — 420 Photography, via Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Summicron-M 50mm f/2 (v4 · v5)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $1,400 across 64 fixed-price listings on 2026-10-19 (middle half $1,000–$1,700). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 10 days: up 12% from $1,300.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-10-19$1,400$1,000–$1,70064
2026-10-18$1,400$1,000–$1,70064
2026-10-17$1,400$1,000–$1,70064
2026-10-16$1,400$1,000–$1,70065
2026-10-15$1,400$1,000–$1,60062
2026-09-21$1,400$1,000–$1,80057
2026-09-19$1,400$1,000–$1,80062
2026-09-18$1,400$1,000–$1,80062
2026-09-11$1,300$1,000–$1,60058
2026-09-06$1,300$830–$1,60064

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

Show 115 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: APO-Summicron-M 50mm f/2 ASPH (v6) · Summarit-M 50mm f/2.5 · Summicron 50mm f/2 (v1 collapsible · v2 rigid and Dual Range) · Summicron 50mm f/2 (v3)

Sources (6)

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.