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

Tele-Elmar 135mm f/4

Ernst Leitz Β· Leica M Β· 1965 Β· Telephoto

Also known as: Leitz Tele-Elmar 135mm f/4 Β· Tele-Elmar-M 135 Β· γƒ†γƒ¬γ‚¨γƒ«γƒžγƒΌ 135mm F4

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Tele-Elmar (11851) Leica M 1965–1992 2046001–2047000 (1964) β€” SFK+RS, the earliest block and a year before the stated first year
2082801–2084800 (1965) β€” SFK+RS, the second and last red-scale block
2105801–2106800, 2143451–2145450 (1965) β€” unmarked
2188901–2190900, 2206101–2208100, 2212501–2213000 (1966) and 2231801–2233800 (1967) β€” SFK
2382701–2384700 (1969) β€” SFK, the last block marked scalloped
2420201–2422200 (1970) β€” UFK, the first block marked unscalloped
2458501–2459500 (1970) β€” unmarked
2481101–2482200 (1971), 2549551–2550550 (1972), 2652601–2654600 (1973), 2755351–2756350 (1975), 2906801–2907800 (1978) β€” UFK
3414891–3415890 (1986), 3469571–3470570 (1988) β€” unmarked, and the two blocks that break the 2XXXXXX inscription pattern 		The bulk of about 28,300 lenses
Lens head only (11852) Leica M 1965–1992 No block on the Leica Wiki's table is identified as a lens head. Every row is credited to 11851 or 11861, so heads sold as 11852 are either inside blocks credited to the complete lenses or unnumbered on the published list. No separate figure published
Tele-Elmar-M (11861) Leica M 1992–1998 3595960–3596459 (1992) β€” UFK, the first Tele-Elmar-M block
3621633–3621832 (1993) β€” 200 numbers, the smallest block on the list
3634901–3635400 (1993)
3658331–3658830 (1994) β€” UFK
3722803–3723802 (1995) β€” the last assigned block for the model in either version 		Under 2,700 lenses
Red and yellow scales, scalloped and plain knurls Leica M 1965–1998 β€” No figures
  1. Thorsten Overgaard's lens compendium and Sroyon Mukherjee's Casual Photophile review both credit the design to Walter Mandler; the compendium gives the Leitz catalogue number as 11 851 and the run as 1965–1998.
  2. Mukherjee reports Erwin Puts, in The Leica Compendium, judging that Leitz here equalled and in places surpassed the Zeiss Sonnar 135mm f/4, and that the design reached the theoretical optimum attainable at the time.
  3. The twenty-three blocks on the Leica Wiki's serial table sum to exactly 28,300 β€” the figure the head of the same page prints as "< 28,300 lenses". Every block's stated total also matches its own start and end numbers. The published figure is therefore a count of assigned serial numbers rather than of lenses built, which is why the page hedges it with a "less than".
  4. The table's date span runs 1964–1995 while the production era at the head of the page runs 1965–1998. Both ends disagree by a year or more, and the serial evidence is the earlier and shorter of the two.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • A telephoto design: the lens is physically shorter than 135mm, which the Hektor and Elmar are not
  • 18 degrees diagonal; minimum focus 1.5 m

Tele-Elmar (11851):

  • E39 filters; removable hood on the first two versions

Lens head only (11852):

  • The optical cell alone, for focusing adapter 16464 on the Visoflex

Tele-Elmar-M (11861):

  • A telescoping hood built into the barrel; E46 filters

Red and yellow scales, scalloped and plain knurls:

  • Red scale (RS) or yellow scale; scalloped (SFK) or unscalloped (UFK) focusing ring

Serial-range notes

2046001–3723802
THE RULE. Leitz never numbered a model from one and never put a date inside the number. Serials were issued in blocks drawn from a single running sequence shared by every lens the company made, so a number dates a copy only against a block list. Find it in the SN Start / SN End table on this lens's Leica Wiki page and read the year off its row; twenty-three blocks cover the Tele-Elmar between 2046001 and 3723802, and a number falling between them belongs to some other Leitz lens rather than to an undated example of this one. Failing that, the general Leitz lens year list maps the whole sequence to years regardless of model, and it agrees with every block on this page. The twenty-three blocks add up to exactly the 28,300 the head of the page prints.
3595960–3723802
THE VERSION LINE. The five blocks above β€” 3595960–3596459, 3621633–3621832, 3634901–3635400, 3658331–3658830 and 3722803–3723802 β€” are the only ones the table names Tele-Elmar-M, and they total exactly the 2,700 the head of the page gives that version. Nothing below 3595960 is a Tele-Elmar-M on the published evidence, which makes this the cleanest single test in the entry: the telescoping hood and E46 filters begin at 3595960.
2046001–2047000
1964, a year before the 1965 first year given at the head of the same page and throughout this entry. The general Leitz lens year list puts 1964 at 2015701–2077500 and so places this block in 1964 independently. Both dates are recorded rather than one chosen.
the first digit
The wiki's inscription line gives TELE-ELMAR 1:4/135 LEITZ WETZLAR 2XXXXXX and TELE-ELMAR-M 1:4/135 LEITZ WETZLAR 3XXXXXX, which reads as a rule: a two-million number is the older lens, a three-million number the newer. Its own table breaks it. The blocks 3414891–3415890 (1986) and 3469571–3470570 (1988) are three-million numbers credited to the plain Tele-Elmar β€” 2,000 lenses for which the first digit gives the wrong answer.
2384700 to 2420201
The knurl changes in this gap. The last block marked SFK β€” scalloped focusing ring β€” ends at 2384700 in 1969; the first marked UFK, unscalloped, begins at 2420201 in 1970. Nothing between them is assigned to the lens, so the changeover cannot be placed more finely than those two numbers.
2046001–2047000, 2082801–2084800
The only two blocks marked RS, red scale, and both are also SFK. Red scale with a scalloped knurl is therefore the earliest configuration and covers 3,000 numbers across 1964 and 1965; no later block carries a scale marking at all, so the yellow scale has no published range.
2907800 to 3414891
Eight years with nothing assigned. The list runs 2906801–2907800 in 1978 and then jumps to 3414891–3415890 in 1986, on a lens catalogued continuously throughout. A Tele-Elmar numbered in that gap is not covered by any published block for this model.
3722803–3723802
The last assigned block, 1995, against the 1998 end given at the head of the page and throughout this entry. No serial numbers have been published for the final three years of the model.

Specifications

Formula
Telephoto
Construction
5 elements / 3 groups
Aperture range
f/4–f/22
Min. focus
1.5 m
Filter
39 mm (Tele-Elmar (11851), Lens head only (11852), Red and yellow scales, scalloped and plain knurls) Β· 46 mm (Tele-Elmar-M (11861))
Years manufactured
1965–1998
Country
Germany

What reviewers say

History

The Tele-Elmar is the lens people mean when they say a 135 can be sharper than a rangefinder deserves. Five elements in three groups in a true telephoto arrangement β€” physically shorter than its focal length, which the Elmar and Hektor 135s are not β€” and by every account the highest-resolving lens Leitz made for the M mount for most of its thirty-three-year life.

The irony is the camera. At 135mm the M’s rangefinder is working at the edge of its precision: the frame is small, the depth of field is thin, and focusing errors that a 50mm lens would forgive are visible. The Tele-Elmar resolves more than the body can reliably place. That is why it is cheap now and why the people who own one tend to talk about tripods.

Its versions are told apart by hoods and scales rather than glass: red or yellow depth-of-field scales, scalloped or plain focusing rings, and β€” from 1992 β€” the Tele-Elmar-M with a telescoping hood built in and E46 filters. Fewer than 2,700 of those were made in six years, under a tenth of the model, which makes the last version the scarce one.

As with the 90mm Summicron and the Hektor 135, the optical cell unscrews for the Visoflex. Leitz sold the head alone as 11852.

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 β€” but no human wrote these sentences.

Example photos

Sample photo wanted β€” shot with a Tele-Elmar 135mm f/4? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $450 across 38 fixed-price listings on 2026-10-19 (middle half $330–$800). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 10 days: up 6% from $430.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-10-19$450$330–$80038
2026-10-18$450$330–$80038
2026-10-17$450$330–$80038
2026-10-16$510$330–$80039
2026-10-15$360$320–$63033
2026-09-21$430$330–$64040
2026-09-19$390$330–$61042
2026-09-18$390$330–$61042
2026-09-11$430$330–$61039
2026-09-06$430$330–$61039

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

Show 46 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 β€” 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-Telyt-M 135mm f/3.4 Β· Elmar 13.5cm f/4.5 Β· Hektor 13.5cm f/4.5

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 β€” corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.