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

Super-Elmar-M 21mm f/3.4 ASPH

Leica · Leica M · 2011 · Eight elements in seven groups, with two aspherical surfaces

Also known as: Super-Elmar-M 21 ASPH · 21mm f/3.4 Super-Elmar

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Super-Elmar-M 21 ASPH (11145) Leica M 2011 4108622–4108934 (2011) — observed span, 313 numbers, not an assigned block
from 4121216 (2012) — observed, no end published
up to 4230826 (2013) — observed, no start published 		No figure published
  1. Thorsten Overgaard's lens compendium credits the design to Peter Karbe. It credits the Schneider Super-Angulon 21mm f/3.4 of 1963, whose aperture this lens quotes, to Werner Wagner.
  2. Ken Rockwell records a nine-bladed diaphragm and E46 filters, and notes this is the first Leica 21mm since the Super-Angulon f/4 of 1958 to carry a proper nine-bladed diaphragm.
  3. No assigned-block list has been published for this lens, and no production total. The Leica Wiki's table carries three observed spans and its total row reads "unknown" for both quantity and closing year, so the "No figure published" against the variant here is the state of the record rather than an omission. The name it echoes is better served: the Schneider Super-Angulon f/3.4 of 1963 has sixteen dated blocks and a total that sums.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • f/3.4 — the same odd aperture Schneider used on the Super-Angulon fifty years earlier
  • 91 degrees on film; 74 degrees on an 18×27 sensor, where it behaves as a 28mm

Super-Elmar-M 21 ASPH (11145):

  • Two aspherical surfaces; entrance pupil 15.6mm behind the front surface

Serial-range notes

4108622–4230826
THE RULE, such as it is. Leica never numbered a model from one and never put a date inside the number: serials come from one running sequence shared by every lens the firm makes, so a copy is dated by looking its number up. Two lists exist for a lens of this era and they disagree. The general lens list on the Leica Wiki's serial-number links page gives 4100001–4115000 for 2010, 4115001–4130000 for 2011, 4130001–4210000 for 2012 and 4210001–4280000 for 2013. This lens's model page dates 4108622–4108934 to 2011, which the general list reads as 2010, and opens its 2012 row at 4121216, which the general list reads as 2011. Only the last row, ending 4230826, agrees. The model rows run about a year ahead of the general list until 2013. Both are recorded; neither can be preferred on what is published.
the leading and trailing dashes
What the model table is, and it is not a block list. All three rows are printed as -4108622 and 4108934-, with a plus on the total, and the page says the numbers are "compiled from known lenses". These are the lowest and highest serials reported for a 21mm Super-Elmar in those years, not quantities Leica assigned. Two rows read "unknown" at one end, and the total row reads "unknown" outright. A number inside a span is consistent with the year; it is not evidence of it.
4108622–4108934
313 numbers, and the narrowest window published for any lens in this catalogue's modern Leica run — narrow enough to be useful. It is also the earliest reported span, so a genuine 21mm Super-Elmar numbered below 4108622 would be earlier than anything yet recorded. Set against that: the manufacturer's technical data for the lens is dated 21 June 2011, while the general year list puts this whole span in 2010.
4230826
Carries the wiki's tilde, its notation for a stolen lens — "please report if found on sale". It is the only individual 21mm Super-Elmar serial the page singles out, and it stands as the upper end of the last row rather than as an ordinary observation.
no serial has been published for the barrel change
The Leica Wiki records two barrels — "approx. 54 mm (early version 52 mm; revised version 54 mm to allow enough clearance)" — and gives no number, no year and no block for the change. A lens can be measured but not looked up. This is the one identifiable variation in the lens and the serial record does not reach it.

Specifications

Formula
Eight elements in seven groups, with two aspherical surfaces
Construction
8 elements / 7 groups
Aperture range
f/3.4–f/16
Min. focus
0.7 m
Weight
263 g
Filter
46 mm
Years manufactured
2011
Country
Germany

What reviewers say

History

The Super-Elmar’s aperture is a quotation. f/3.4 at 21mm is exactly what Schneider’s Super-Angulon offered from 1963 to 1980, and Leica chose the same unusual number for a lens computed nearly fifty years later — a deliberate echo, since nothing about a modern eight-element retrofocus design forces that particular maximum.

What has changed is everything else. The Schneider lens was symmetrical, put its rear element deep in the body, and could not be used with a meter until someone machined a notch in the barrel. This one is retrofocus with two aspherical surfaces, an entrance pupil 15.6mm behind the front element, and a data sheet that gives its angle of view twice: 91 degrees on film, 74 degrees on an 18×27 sensor, where it behaves as a 28mm lens.

That second set of figures is the point of the design. It was drawn for cameras that had not existed when the first Super-Angulon was made.

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 Super-Elmar-M 21mm f/3.4 ASPH? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $3,700 across 14 fixed-price listings on 2026-10-19 (middle half $2,700–$3,800). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 10 days: up 10% from $3,400.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-10-19$3,700$2,700–$3,80014
2026-10-18$3,700$2,700–$3,80014
2026-10-17$3,700$2,700–$3,80014
2026-10-16$3,500$2,700–$3,80016
2026-10-15$3,500$2,700–$3,80016
2026-09-21$3,600$2,700–$3,70015
2026-09-19$3,600$2,900–$3,70017
2026-09-18$3,600$2,900–$3,70017
2026-09-11$3,400$2,800–$3,70021
2026-09-06$3,400$2,800–$3,70021

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

Show 9 more listings

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

Related: Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 ASPH · Super-Angulon 21mm f/3.4 · Super-Elmar-M 18mm f/3.8 ASPH

Sources (5)

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.