LEICA SUPER VARIO ELMAR-TL 11-23

Review and Photo example of the Super Vario Elmar TL 11-23mm f3.5-4.5.

Gallery

Sample photos taken with the LEICA T typ701.

Review

Super Vario Elmar TL 11-23mm is a zoom lens that covers from 16.5mm to 34.5mm in 35mm format. Since the lens covers the APS-C image circle, the lens housing is compact and easy to carry. It can be used as a wide-angle lens of about 17mm in 35mm format, so if you attach this lens to a full-frame camera such as the Leica SL, you can use it as a compact wide-angle zoom camera.

A modern lens that also uses aspherical lenses. Since Leica L-mount lenses control the aperture value on the camera side, the lens barrel has a clean design with only a zoom ring and a focus ring. The trumpet-shaped lens barrel design that widens at the tip resembles the design of old wide-angle lenses and arouses the desire for photography. The larger hood can be reversed using a bayonet method. If you attach a large hood, the presence of the lens will increase even more.

This lens has the shortest focal length among the three zoom lenses for the Leica T series.
The lens for the LEICA T series has the widest angle of a single focal length lens at 18mm, so it is also the widest lens in the series.

The depiction in Jpeg is well corrected. If you take a raw image with a grid pattern, you can see the distortion at wide angle. The autofocus (hereinafter referred to as AF) focusing speed is slow. In the case of this lens, it is likely that you will mainly be shooting landscapes, and if that is the case, there will be very few situations where you will be shooting rapidly or continuously, so the AF focusing speed will not be a concern. As for focusing accuracy, the depth of field is deep, so unless the subject is very mean, you won’t have to worry about focusing.

The F-number is not very bright, the zoom range is about twice as high, and the specs are nothing to write home about.
The price is high for a lens of this class, but considering that it is the only wide-angle zoom lens in the TL lens series, it can be considered unavoidable. As of 2023, the used price is half the list price, but what will happen in the future? I think it’s unlikely that the Leica L APS-C will become a big hit, so I think the price will remain stable as people who like it will just buy it.

Specification

LEICA T/TL Zoom lens Variations

Lens name	SUPER VARIO ELMAR	VARIO ELMAR	APO VARIO ELMAR
Focal length(mm)	11-23	18-56	55-135
35mm equivalent focal length	16.5-34.5	27-84	82.5-202.5
Max aperture	3.5-4.5	3.5-5.6	3.5-4.5
Min aperture	16	16	16
Lens Construction	14elements 10group	10elements 7group	12elements 10group
Min distance(m)	0.2〜 (11〜23)	0.3〜0.45 (18〜56)	1.0〜 (55〜135)
Lens length(mm)	77〜92	60〜80	110〜153
Lens diameter(mm)	73	63	68
Filter Size(mm)	E67(67mm)	E52(52mm)	E60(60mm)
Weight(g)	386 (Lens only)	256 (Lens only)	500 (Lens only)
Release date	2015.3.1	2014.4	2015.3.1
List Price(Yen)	230,000-	200,000−	230,000-