ELMARIT M 21mm ASPH.

Leica Elmarit M 21mm review and photo examples

Table of contents

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

Review
Aspherical version of the Elmarit 21mm, one of the aspherical wide-angle lenses after the Summicron 28mm.
It is a well-researched wide-angle lens with almost no distortion or vignetting to worry about. There are no negative aspects of the aspheric surface, such as dirty bokeh.
The design was slightly slimmer at the tip of the lens, and the filter size was changed to E55. Lenses from this period began to move away from Leica’s original filter diameter of E60 (60mm) and back to the normal filter diameter. (Leica lenses as of 2023 still use the commonly distributed filter diameters such as 67mm and 82mm.)
Unlike its compact appearance, this lens is slightly heavier than its spherical predecessor due to the increased number of glass elements in the lens, and when mounted on the camera and ready to shoot, it feels heavier than the former Elmarit. The weight of the camera and lens must have a certain degree of weight to prevent camera shake, and this lens is well-balanced when mounted on an M-type Leica.
When I was using this lens, I used both the M9 digital camera and the M6 film camera, and the results taken with the M6 + reversal film are shown in the photo examples. The reversal film was converted to electronic data using NIKON’s COOLSCAN ED V and VueScan.

The aspherical wide-angle series to which this lens belongs includes the 28mm, 24mm, 21mm, and 18mm lenses, of which the 21mm and 24mm lenses are siblings, with identical hoods and barrels.
The 21mm and 24mm lenses were replaced by the slightly darker Elmar series a few years later, and the current lenses as of 2023 are the SUPER ELMAR 21mm and ELMAR 24mm.
It is a natural consequence of the nature of a rangefinder camera that there are many single focal length lenses, but the variety of Leica and Koshina’s rangefinder lenses is very attractive to those who enjoy playing with lenses.
The abundance of Sigma’s single focal length lenses in 2023, when I am writing this, is an interesting example of Sigma’s unique approach of not compromising its position as a third party that continues to supply lenses to other companies while also being a camera manufacturer.

Specification
Some aspherical 21mm lenses have the 6-bit code added and some do not, depending on the production date. Those without the 6-bit code can be exchanged for a new one at Leica for a fee.
The spherical ELMARIT 21mm did not have a 6-bit code when it was manufactured, so most lenses do not have a 6-bit code, but this can also be exchanged at LEICA customer service.
SUPER ELMAR is supposed to have a 6bit code on all lenses from the time of release.

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