LEICA ELMARIT R 19mm 1st

Old-generation trumpet-shaped wide-angle lens

A review and Photo example of the LEICA ELMARIT R 19mm 1st.

Gallery

The example photo was taken using a LEICA SL typ601.

Review

The Elmarit 19mm is a wide-angle lens for the Leica R mount released in 1975.

The Type 1 model introduced here is a lens that is already about 50 years old, and has a splendid front lens that looks like an old-fashioned wide-angle lens. Its appearance is very similar to the early model of the Russian-made Mir-20M (20mm/F3.5), but since this lens is also a minor lens, I don’t think many people will remember it.

Designed and manufactured by LEICA, this is an early lens that was designed by the company and had a wide-angle lens designed in-house, and the hood is a bayonet type that is fixed with two pins, which is common for LEICA lenses of this era. This lens becomes very large when the hood is attached, and if you are used to the compactness of the 19mm II model, you may hesitate to take it out. When attached to the LEICA SL typ006, the balance between the body and the lens is good, but it has a powerful and powerful appearance.

For the 21mm and 15mm R-mount wide-angle lenses, the technology was provided by Zeiss and Schneider or procured through OEM, but both the first and second generation 19mm were designed and manufactured by Leica. It may have been the result of weighing sales volume against the cost of design, but it is interesting to see what happened during this period.

This lens is one of the rare lenses that has been rarely seen on the used market for some time, but the image quality is that of an old wide-angle lens design, and the distortion that is unique to wide-angle lenses can be noticeable from the results of shooting. The lens I own is old and the glass is sometimes deteriorated, so the image quality is a little blurry and low in contrast even in front light, and when backlit, there is a mysterious reflection of light due to ghosts or flares and an extreme decrease in contrast.

The wide-angle lens characteristic of getting close to the subject while enveloping the surroundings can be fully enjoyed, so the image quality can be managed with digital correction, and if the used price is low, I think it is a lens worth trying.
If you only consider practical performance, it seems safe to choose something like Carl Zeiss’s Z series Distagon 18mm.

Lenses are available in 1-cam, 2-cam, and 3-cam versions, and I don’t think they were manufactured with a regular ROM terminal, and I have never seen one with a modified ROM terminal on the used market. It is one of the rare lenses that is rarely seen on the market, despite the long manufacturing period and the total number of units manufactured (8,200).

I acquired this lens in exchange for my own Summilux R 80mm / 3-cam, which I had entrusted to a used store and was left unsold. Since I already had the new 19mm, there was little need to own it, but my curiosity to try it won out and I acquired it. However, as mentioned above, there was nothing particularly noteworthy about the image quality, so I sold it quickly.

Specification and Competitor

Items	Type-I	Type-II	note
Focal length(mm)	19	19
Max aperture	2.8	2.8
Min aperture	16	22
Lens Construction	7群9枚	10群12枚
Leaf blade	6	6
Min distance(m)	0.3	0.3
Lens length(mm)	58	60	マウント面からの距離
Max diameter(mm)	88	71
Filter Size(mm)	82	–
Weight(g)	815	560
Production number	8,200	5,900
Release date	1975-1987	1990-2003

Reference links

ELMARIT-R 19mm F2.8(I) Leica wiki

Update history

2024.7.30
2024.04.13
2023.12.14
2022.12.31

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