SUPER ELMARIT R 15mm
The latest R-mount ultra-wide-angle lens
A review and photo example of the LEICA Super Elmarit 15mm.
Table of contents
Gallery
- LEICA R8 +PORTRA 160 +DiMAGE Scan Multi PRO
Review
1．Overview
420 Super-Elmarit 15mm were manufactured over the eight years from 2001 to 2009.
Due to the shape of the hood, it is not possible to attach a filter to the front lens. Therefore, a cap is included to protect the lens, but since it is simply attached, it is somewhat easy to come off, so care should be taken.
The main specifications of the lens are 13 elements in 10 groups, 6 aperture blades, a minimum shooting distance of 0.18m, and a 4-color filter built into the lens barrel.
It has the same structure as Leica R-mount manual focus prime lenses, with a focus ring near the front center of the lens barrel and an aperture ring at the base of the lens barrel. The aperture ring has click stops for each judgment.
The serial number of the lens I have tells me that it is one of 100 manufactured in 2002. The 2000s, when this lens was released, was a time when the Japanese currency, the yen, was relatively strong, so I feel like there would be a fair number of them in Japan, but I don’t know how many there actually are in Japan.
2．Usability
The Super-Elmarit R 15mm is a Leica R mount lens with a focal length of 15mm.
This lens is smaller and lighter than the Super-Elmar R 15mm, so it fits comfortably on a small mirrorless camera.
I thought it would be nice to put 35mm film in the Leica R8 and shoot with it as a 15mm lens, so I loaded it with some negative film PORTA 160 that I had lying around in the fridge and shot with it.
The R8 is an electronic camera, so it needs batteries, and I inserted two expired CR2s from 2013 that I had in my room, and the camera started up without any problems. I had purchased these CR2s for the film camera GR1, but since I sold the GR1, they had been lying around without any use.
I removed the DMR from the R8 and replaced the back of the camera with a regular film one, and changed the focusing screen from the DMR to the film microprism screen 14343, but it was not suitable for composing a 15mm wide-angle lens, so I purchased and am using the grid screen 14346. The R8 and R9 focusing screens were quite common in the 2010s, but have disappeared from the market since the 2020s. I found 14346 on Google, so I bought it without hesitation, even though it was quite expensive.
According to “Leica R-Lenses by Erwin Puts November 2003 Chapter 6: 15 mm lens __ LEICA ELMARIT-R 15 mm f/2.8” distributed by Leica in 2003, the microprism screen 14343 is recommended to get the focus peak on the Super-Elmarit 15mm.
It is true that grid screens are useful for composing, but when turning the focus ring, it is difficult to distinguish the focus peak on the screen, so shooting is almost done by eye.
When using film, if you are at a certain distance, there is almost no problem if you set it to infinity. In the case of digital SLR cameras, shooting close up at an approximate distance will result in a slight deviation. If you use it with a mirrorless camera, there is no problem if you check it with the EVF magnification function.
If my DMR (LEICA DIGITAL MODULE R) was still working, I could use it as a wide-angle lens with a focal length of 21mm, but unfortunately my DMR is already broken and has become a paperweight, so I couldn’t use it.
When I used it with a Hasselblad X2D, I confirmed that the usable area does not cover 76% of the medium format digital sensor (44 x 33mm) and does not cover the range beyond 35mm film and 35mm full-frame sensors. This is also due to the fixed hood, so if I cut the fixed hood, the shooting range would expand, but it is definitely not a lens that you should waste in such a way, so I would like to pass it on to future generations in this condition.
3．Add info.
The most appropriate direct comparison with the Super-Elmarit-R 15mm would be with the Super-Elmar-R 15mm.
The Super-Elmarit-R 15mm was designed by Schneider, not Leica, while the Super-Elmar-R 15mm was designed by Carl Zeiss. There is no documentation on who manufactured them.
A detailed comparison of the two lenses is available in “Leica R-Lenses by Erwin Puts November 2003 Chapter 6: 15 mm lens __ LEICA ELMARIT-R 15 mm f/2.8” published by Leica in 2003.
The following is a partial excerpt from the article, which is roughly the content of the article. This document contains detailed discussion of ultra-wide-angle lenses over 17mm, and is very useful.
- Difference in focal length: Super-Elmarit is 15.6mm, Super-Elmar is 15.4mm
- Distortion: Super-Elmarit is up to 2%, Super-Elmar is up to 4%
- The article points out that the distortion curve is more important than the maximum value.
- The degree of improvement in peripheral light falloff due to vignetting improves with one stop for Super-Elmarit, and with 2.5 stops for Super-Elmar.
There is no other direct comparison between the two, but the article devotes a lot of text to explaining the improvement in image quality.
Looking at the summary alone, there doesn’t seem to be much difference, but it’s up to the photographer to decide whether to consider this an evolution of 20 years or more, or whether Super-Elmar is sufficient.
Carl Zeiss’ Distagon 15mm, a representative old 15mm lens, has sister lenses sold by several manufacturers, including the Super-Elmar 15mm, through OEM and blueprint sales.
Schneider’s 15mm lenses do not seem to be provided to anyone other than Leica.
Apart from the Super-Elmar, there are very few prime lenses with a focal length of 15mm that cover the 35mm format, such as the Zeiss Distagon 15mm ZM, Voigtlander Super Wide Heliar 15mm (1999), and Zeiss Hologon 15mm (1972) for rangefinder cameras, and, excluding the Zeiss Distagon 15mm F3.5 series for SLR cameras, the new Zeiss Distagon 15mm F2.8 and LAOWA 15mm F4 WIDE ANGLE MACRO (2016).
As for the wider 14mm range, Sigma has released several 14mm prime lenses for SLR cameras in the past, with the 14mm F1.4 DG DN | Art | being the pinnacle. For mirrorless cameras, several manufacturers offer lenses such as the Sony FE 14mm F1.8 GM G Master (2021), Samyang 14mm F2.8, and Pergear 14mm F2.8 II.
When Leica does not have the resources to develop its own lenses, it uses other companies. This attitude has not changed, including the L39 screw, Leica M, Leica R mount, and the L-mount alliance in the 2020s. There is no need to do everything in-house.
With the advent of the mirrorless era, the sophistication of design software and improvements in manufacturing technology have made it possible to produce such wide-angle lenses relatively cheaply. Still, the Super-Elmarit R 15mm will not fade as a Leica R mount lens, the last ultra-wide-angle lens.
As a Leica R lens freak, I have been looking for this lens for a long time. I would occasionally see it on eBay, but when I was thinking of purchasing it, the yen was depreciating, so the option of purchasing from overseas had almost disappeared. At that time, a camera shop I’m familiar with had acquired one from a collector, so I was approached about purchasing it, and I was able to acquire a beautiful item complete with lens box and other accessories.
Lenses generally stay with the collector, and as the collector gets older, they appear on the market when they get rid of things they don’t use. I think it’s interesting that when they do appear, several lenses appear at the same time. As I mentioned earlier, my own lenses will eventually end up on the market as well.
Among the R-mount lenses I would like to try is the APO-SUMMICRON-R 180mm, but although I have seen it quite often second-hand, it is expensive and I can’t afford it.
Specification
| Lens name | SUPER ELMARIT | SUPER ELMAR |
| Focal length(mm) | 15 | ← |
| Max aperture | 2.8 | 3.5 |
| Min aperture | 22 | ← |
| Leaf blade | 6 | 5 |
| Lens Construction | 13 elements in 10groups | 13 elements in 12groups |
| Min distance(m) | 0.18 | 0.16 |
| Lens length(mm) | 85.3 | 92.5 |
| Max diameter(mm) | 83.5 | 83.5 |
| Filter Size(mm) | – | – |
| Front Cap | Special metal hood | 14294 |
| Weight(g) | 710 | 815 |
| Release date | 2001 | 1979 |
| Production number | 420 | 2980 |
Reference links
Update history
- 2025.2.3
- 2024.10.5
- 2024.02.17
- 2023.11.17
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