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

Summicron 90mm f/2 (v1, 1957)

Ernst Leitz · LTM + Leica M · 1957 · Six elements in five groups

Also known as: Leitz Summicron 90mm f/2 · Summicron 9cm f2 first version · ズミクロン 90mm F2 · Summicron 9cm f/2 (first version) · Summicron 9cm f/2 (first version) · Summicron 90 v1 · Summicron 90mm v1

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Screw mount (SOOZI) LTM 1957–1962 1477001–1477100 490 lenses (Leica Wiki)
M bayonet Leica M 1957–1962 1817001–1819000 4,430 lenses on the model page, against a stated total under 15,500
Lens head for the Visoflex Leica M 1957–1962 — Head-only order number 11133
Preset diaphragm (INVOO) Leica M 1957–1962 — Special order; no figure published
With tripod mount Leica M 1957–1962 — No figure published
  1. The published figures do not close: 490 screw plus 4,430 bayonet is 4,920, against a stated total of "< 15,500 lenses". Either two thirds of the model is unaccounted for in the split, or the total includes lens heads and Visoflex versions the split does not.
  2. The 490 screw lenses are not all one thing. Leitz Photographica catalogues a 1960 example, serial 1740874, as a "second type screw-mount Summicron made in Canada" — so the screw run divides into at least two types, and part of it was assembled at Midland rather than Wetzlar. The Leica Wiki's single SOOZI line records neither.
  3. Price realised: that lens, condition A/B with both caps and its original maker's box, made €780 including buyer's premium at Leitz Photographica Auction 45, lot 67, against a €1,000–1,200 estimate. Scarcity on paper — one lens in thirty in screw mount — does not by itself command a premium for an ordinary example.
  4. The serial table does not sum to its own total either. Its distinct Summicron 90 blocks hold 13,800 numbers across 1953–1960, against the 15,500 the table's own TOTAL line states, and its last seven rows are a verbatim repetition of seven blocks already printed above them — 13,500 numbers counted twice. Read the table as a list of blocks, not as a count.
  5. The table's year span and the page's production era do not match: the blocks run 1953–1960, the production era is given as 1957–1962. No block has been published for 1961 or 1962.
  6. Buyers number the 90mm f/2 Summicrons v1 to v4: v1 of 1957 (the heavy Wetzlar and Canada lens), v2 of 1963, v3 of 1980 (the compact Canadian five-in-four), v4 the APO ASPH of 1998. This entry uses that numbering; the other pages carry the rest.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • 15-blade aperture
  • An unscrewing optical cell — this is a lens that becomes two lenses
  • Minimum aperture f/16 on some examples and f/22 on others

Screw mount (SOOZI):

  • 39mm thread

M bayonet:

  • Order numbers SEOOM 11123 and SEEOF 11023

Lens head for the Visoflex:

  • The optical cell unscrews from the focusing mount

Preset diaphragm (INVOO):

  • A preset aperture ring rather than click stops

With tripod mount:

  • A tripod collar on the barrel; other examples have none

Serial-range notes

the seven-digit number on the barrel
The rule for every Leitz and Leica lens: the numbers run in one running sequence shared across models, so a serial normally gives an approximate date — but the sequence does NOT begin at 100,000 in 1931, and a serial usually identifies the model too. The register behind the published year list records reserved BLOCKS, each entered with a date, a range and a lens name, which is why per-model batch tables exist and why they are the better evidence where the two disagree. The date is when the block was reserved, not when the lens was finished. Date a copy by the year band it falls into. The bands touching this lens are 1,051,000–1,124,000 for 1953, 1,459,001–1,548,000 for 1957, 1,548,001–1,645,300 for 1958, 1,645,301–1,717,000 for 1959 and 1,717,001–1,827,000 for 1960. Where a number also falls inside one of the allocated blocks the Leica Wiki lists for this model, that block is the finer answer.
1119001–1819000
The whole span of numbers the Leica Wiki assigns to the first 90mm Summicron, from the 1953-dated opening block to the last 1960 block. The table stops in 1960 while the same page gives the production era as 1957–1962.
1119001–1119200
Two hundred lenses, annotated ELW.S-black and M-chrom — Wetzlar assembly, screw and bayonet together — and dated 1953 in the table, four years before the model's own introduction date. The page's footnote adds that they were delivered in 1967, citing Lager Vol. II p. 72. One block, three dates: numbered 1953, catalogued under a 1957 lens, delivered 1967. This is the standing caution against reading a Leitz serial as a date of sale.
1477001–1477100
A hundred lenses, dated 1957, and the only block on the page annotated for screw mount alone (ELC.S-black+chrom, reading the page's shorthand as Ernst Leitz Canada, screw). Every other block that mentions screw mount mixes it with bayonet in the same run, so the 490 screw lenses are nowhere segregated into a range a buyer could check a number against.
1817001–1819000
Two thousand lenses, dated 1960, annotated SFK.M-chrom — bayonet only, no screw mount in the block. The one range on the page that can be read as exclusively M bayonet.
1615001–1616000
A row printed inside this model's serial table whose product is not this model: it is captioned Summaron f= 3.5 cm 1:2.8. The page's own footnote then says lens 1615415, inside that block, is a Summicron 2/90 in Canadian screw mount and chrome. A 90mm Summicron can therefore carry a number from a Summaron allocation, which is what a shared sequence does to anyone trying to identify a lens from its number.
1740874
The dated example: Leitz Photographica catalogues this lens as a 1960 second-type screw-mount Summicron made in Canada. It falls inside the block 1740001–1743500, which the Leica Wiki also dates 1960 and annotates SFK.S-chrom + M-black + M-chrom. Auction record and factory block agree.
1580001–1581000
Dated 1958 and the only block annotated UFK — unscalloped focusing knurl — alongside ELC screw and M chrome. The finish detail the model's variant list turns on appears in the serial table exactly once.

Specifications

Formula
Six elements in five groups
Construction
6 elements / 5 groups
Aperture range
f/2–f/22
Diaphragm blades
15
Min. focus
1 m
Filter
48 mm
Years manufactured
1957–1962
Country
Germany

What reviewers say

History

The first 90mm Summicron is a lens built to come apart. Its optical cell unscrews from the focusing mount, so the same glass can be used as an ordinary rangefinder lens or, fitted to adapter 16464, as a reflex lens on the Visoflex mirror housing where 90mm is short rather than long. Leitz sold the head on its own for that purpose, as order number 11133.

Six elements in five groups at f/2, with a fifteen-blade aperture. In screw mount only 490 were made — under one lens in thirty — and the bayonet figure is 4,430.

Those two numbers do not add up to the total the same page prints. 490 plus 4,430 is 4,920, against ”< 15,500 lenses”. Something is missing from the split, and the likeliest candidate is the lens heads and Visoflex versions, which are the same optics sold in a different mount and may or may not be counted as the same lens depending on which line of the page you read. This entry records the split and the total without pretending they reconcile.

Around the edges the lens comes in more configurations than most: all black, all chrome, black and chrome together, with a tripod collar or without, with a preset aperture ring on special order, and with a minimum aperture of either f/16 or f/22. It is a 1950s Leitz lens in the fullest sense — every option available, nothing standardised.

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 90mm f/2 (v1, 1957)
Leica M3 with a chrome Leitz Canada Summicron 90mm f/2; the photographer does not say which version — andrewbasterfield, via Openverse (flickr) (BY-SA 2.0)
Sample photo taken with the Summicron 90mm f/2 (v1, 1957)
The same lens, head on — andrewbasterfield, via Openverse (flickr) (BY-SA 2.0)

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Summicron 90mm f/2 (v1, 1957)? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $750 across 44 fixed-price listings on 2026-10-19 (middle half $500–$1,100). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 10 days: up 88% from $400.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-10-19$750$500–$1,10044
2026-10-18$750$500–$1,10044
2026-10-17$750$500–$1,10044
2026-10-16$780$500–$1,10043
2026-10-15$750$500–$90038
2026-09-21$660$460–$85042
2026-09-19$700$460–$93045
2026-09-18$700$460–$93045
2026-09-11$750$400–$1,6009
2026-09-06$400$400–$4806

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

Show 77 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 90mm f/2 ASPH (v4) · Elmarit 9cm f/2.8 · Summarex 8.5cm f/1.5 · Summicron 90mm f/2 (v2, 1963) · Summicron-M 90mm f/2 (v3, 1980)

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.