LEICA ELMAR M 50mm F2.8
Quality beyond the price
A review and Photo example of the ELMAR M 50mm F2.8.
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Table of contents
Gallery
- Sample photo taken with the LEICA M9.
- Sample photo taken with the LEICA M8.
Review
1.Overview
The Elmar-M 50mm is a traditional lens that has been on the market since 1930, and the lens we are introducing here is the latest Elmar 50mm, released in 1994.
A total of about 17,000 units were manufactured between 1994 and 2007, but production ended as of 2024.
The lens barrel is available in black and silver, with the black weighing 170g and the silver weighing 250g, which is 80g heavier than the black, as it is made of brass.
The main lens specifications are a lens configuration of 3 groups and 4 elements, an aperture value of 2.8 at full aperture, 6 aperture blades, and a minimum shooting distance of 0.7m.
The filter diameter is 39mm, and new lenses come standard with a dedicated screw-in cylindrical hood 12550 (black) or 12549 (silver).
Some lenses come standard with a 6-bit lens recognition code, and lenses without a 6-bit code can have the code added at Leica Service for a fee.
2．Usage
The Elmar 50mm F2.8 was the cheapest Leica lens available new, with a price of around 100,000 yen depending on the time of year. As of 2024, the used price has not risen much, and you can find it cheap if you look around.
Although it is an inexpensive lens, it is made with Leica quality and the retractable mechanism works smoothly. It does not look cheap. The silver brass lens feels heavy. The balance was also good when attached to a large digital M Leica such as the M typ240.
I owned this lens in silver and black, and the focus ring had a small cutting angle and the helicoid was light. It did not have the sticky feeling typical of manual focus lenses, but was sparse like a Japanese AF lens.
Under clear skies, it has a depiction that allows you to see into the distant scenery without any correction, and has good color reproduction. Because it is an advanced version of a triplet, the image quality in the peripheral areas drops slightly at full aperture, but if you stop down a little under clear skies, it will improve.
With evening and night scenes, the brightness of F2.8 can sometimes be a problem in terms of camera shake.
Aside from this darkness, it is a very versatile lens.
If you have a modern mirrorless camera that can handle high ISO, this lens allows you to try out the quality of Leica lenses without having to buy an expensive standard lens.
3．Differences
Retractable 50mm lenses have been released by various companies, with Leica in particular releasing the old Elmar, Summar, Summitar, and Summicron, and the first retractable lens released in Japan at the same time was the Serenar 50mm F1.9 by Canon.
At the same time as the Elmar, Konica, Voigtlander, and Ms-optics released retractable 50mm lenses with slower maximum apertures.
These retractable lenses have a modified triplet structure for Leica, a Gauss structure for Konica, and a Heliar structure for Voigtlander and Ms-optics, with each company having their own unique characteristics.
All of these lenses are reasonably priced, so it’s fun to compare them.
Specification
| Item | Value | note |
| focal length(mm) | 50 | |
| Maximum aperture | 2.8 | |
| Minimum aperture | 16 | |
| Leaf blade | 6 | |
| Lens configuration | 3groups 4elements | tesser type |
| Minimum distance(m) | 0.7 | |
| Lens length(mm) | 37.6 | Distance from lens mount flange |
| Lens max diameter(mm) | 52 | |
| Filter diameter(mm) | 39 | |
| Weight(g) | 170(Black) | 245(Silver) |
| Release date | 1994〜2007 |
Reference links
Update history
- 2024.11.26
- 2024.06.06
- 2024.03.05
- 2022.05.13
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