ELMARIT M 21mm ASPH.

Leica Elmarit M 21mm review and photo examples

Gallery

The example photos were taken with LEICA M6 +KODAK E100VS +NIKON COOLSCAN ED V.
The location was Meiji-mura in Aichi Prefecture.

Review

As the name suggests, the Elmarit-M 21mm ASPH. is a 21mm wide-angle lens that uses aspherical lenses.

It is one of the lenses that used aspherical lenses after the Summicron 28mm, and the image quality of this lens has been improved by thoroughly studying the roughness of past wide-angle lenses, so there is almost no noticeable distortion or vignetting in the raw state. In addition, there is no negative aspect of asphericity such as dirty bokeh.

In terms of design, the tip of the lens has become slightly smaller, and the filter size has been changed to E55 (55mm).
Lenses from this period began to move away from Leica’s original filter diameter E60 (60mm) and return to normal filter diameters. (As of 2023, Leica lenses use commonly available filter diameters such as 67mm and 82mm.)
The lens focus ring has a focus lever (finger hook lever) that fits firmly on the finger, and combined with the smooth rotation unique to Leica manual focus, this lens makes shooting easier.

It goes without saying that with used lenses, but we recommend that you always check the rotation of this focus ring. Lenses that do not rotate smoothly are likely to have a warped lens barrel or abnormal grease, and maintenance is required. Maintenance costs for Leica lenses can be high, so I think it’s better to buy a product that you are satisfied with in advance.

Depending on the time of manufacture, this aspherical 21mm may or may not have a 6-bit code. For those without, Leica can exchange them for mount parts with a 6-bit code for a fee.
The spherical ELMARIT 21mm did not have a 6-bit code when it was sold, so most lenses do not have a 6-bit code, but you can also request an exchange at LEICA customer service.
All SUPER ELMAR lenses have had a 6-bit code since they were sold.

Unlike its compact appearance, this lens is heavier than the previous spherical type model due to the increased number of glass sheets that make up the lens, and when attached to a camera and held up, it feels heavier than the old Elmarit 21mm.
I think that a certain amount of weight is necessary for cameras and lenses to prevent camera shake, but I feel that this lens is just the right balance when attached to an M-type Leica.

When I was using this lens, I was using the Leica M9 digital camera and the Leica M6 film camera at the same time, and the photo examples shown are the results of shooting with the Leica M6 + reversal film.
The reversal film was converted into electronic data using NIKON’s COOLSCAN ED V and scanning software VueScan.

The aspherical wide-angle series to which this lens belongs has been released in 28mm, 24mm, 21mm, and 18mm, of which the 21mm and 24mm are sibling lenses with the same hood and almost the same lens barrel.
A few years later, the 21mm and 24mm were replaced by the Elmar series, which has a slightly darker maximum aperture, and as of 2023, the current lenses are the SUPER ELMAR 21mm and ELMAR 24mm. The 21mm is the only one named SUPER, which may be a remnant of the SUPER ANGLON.

Due to the nature of rangefinder cameras, it is natural that there will be many prime lenses, but the abundance of prime lenses from Leica and Cosina, which make rangefinder lenses, is very attractive for those who enjoy playing with lenses.
In addition, the abundance of SIGMA prime lenses in 2023 as of the time of writing this is interesting as a unique initiative by Sigma, which is a camera manufacturer but also does not lose its position as a third party that continues to supply lenses to other companies.

Specification and Competitor

Items	ELMARIT	ELMARIT ASPH.	SUPER ELMAR
Focal length(mm)	21	21	21
Max aperture	2.8	2.8	3.4
Min aperture	22	16	16
Lens Construction	8elements in 6groups	9elements in 7groups	8elements in 7groups
Leaf blade	8枚	←	←
Min distance(m)	0.7	←	←
Lens length(mm)	46.5	46	43
Max diameter(mm)	62	58	53
Filter Size(mm)	E60	E55	E46
Lens hood	12543(Old-pin) 12537(New-hook)	12592 14041	12465
Release date	1979	1997	2011
Production number	13,930	7,250	–
Weight(g)	290	415(Silver) 300(Black)	279