The most powerful telephoto zoom lens: VARIO APO ELMARIT 70-180mm

A review and Photo example of the LEICA VARIO APO ELMARIT R 70-180mm F2.8 with the mirrorless digital camera.

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Gallery
Review
Specification and more
Reference links

Gallery

The following cameras were used to take the sample photos:

LEICA SL typ601
LEICA CL typ7323
SONY α7Sii

1．Overview

The LEICA VARIO APO ELMARIT R 70-180mm F2.8 was released towards the end of the Leica R mount era, with 2,250 units produced between 1995 and 2000. I’ve seen lenses with an R cam and a ROM connector.

The lens I own has a ROM connector, serial number 378xxxx, and was one of 500 made in 1997, so I purchased it at a fairly high price.

One issue I had when using the genuine Leica L-R lens adapter (16076) was that the focal length recorded in the EXIF file was 70mm, regardless of the lens’ focal length. This may be an issue with the R adapter L and the LEICA SL typ601, but if the focal length information is inaccurate, it seems like flash operation would also be questionable. However, since very few people use flash with this lens, this probably isn’t an issue.

Below is the EXIF result of shooting at the telephoto end of 180mm, and you can see that the recorded focal length is 70mm. Some R-mount zoom lenses with ROM terminals can record values according to the focal length.

2．Usability

If you don’t mind the weight of 2kg, this is a convenient lens that can handle focal lengths of 70mm, 90mm, 135mm, and 180mm.

It’s unfortunate that the minimum shooting distance is 1.7m throughout the entire range, which is limited to the 180mm specification.

The APO-Elmarit 180mm is a short-focus lens that costs about 300,000 yen, so if you have to choose one, you’ll have to decide whether to go for the sharpness of a prime lens or the convenience of a zoom.

The advantage of the LEICA VARIO APO ELMARIT R 70-180mm F2.8 is that it is a zoom lens.

The advantage of the APO-Elmarit 180mm is that it has a short minimum shooting distance of 1.5m and is lightweight at 1kg, about half the weight of this lens.

The lens is operated in accordance with the rotating zoom lens of the Leica R mount lens, with a zoom sling at the base to change the focal length, and a focus ring in the middle.

MF rotating zoom lenses are easier to use with the focus ring at the front, so this is a rational arrangement. The focal length is changed internally inside the lens barrel, but changing the focal length changes the lens length slightly. The shortest lens length is 180mm and the longest is 70mm.

The lens hood is built-in, and when pulled out, it is about 30mm long from the front end of the lens. Although the hood is longer than nothing, it has almost no effect on image quality, even in backlit situations.

Also, since it is a medium telephoto lens and there is no protrusion on the rear lens, it can be used without any problems with the EOS-1DsMK III.

3．Summary

In conclusion , to sum up the LEICA VARIO APO ELMARIT R 70-180mm F2.8 is a manual zoom lens that allows you to continuously change the focal length from 70mm to 180mm, a typical telephoto length.

There’s nothing to complain about in terms of image quality, and the minimum focusing distance of around 1m leaves nothing to be desired.

On the downside, it’s heavy, and despite using a rotating zoom with separate zoom and focus rings, it’s not autofocus.

Specifications, considerations, etc.

This lens, in line with modern trends, features an F2.8 aperture across all focal lengths.

Zoom lenses with an F2.8 aperture across all focal lengths are a specialty of Japanese manufacturers. While Japanese-made zoom lenses with similar specifications cost around ¥200,000, the used price of this lens is roughly double to triple that. Due to the limited availability of this lens in Japan, used prices at shops are likely to be consistently high. As of the time of writing this article, in 2023-2024, it was available on eBay for around ¥300,000, suggesting a drop in prices worldwide. Newer F2.8 zoom lenses from Japanese manufacturers have been released with minimum focusing distances of around 1.2 meters, making them inferior in terms of specifications. As of 2024, Japanese-made lenses have become significantly more expensive, but Leica lenses have risen even more in price.

This lens is the first zoom lens to feature the “Apo” prefix, and its name is unique: it’s the only one with a name that uses the standard order of Vario, Apo, and name, while other Apo zoom lenses use the standard order of Apo, Vario, and name. When you look at this lens, you wonder why it is like that. I suspect there is no deep reason for this, such as the first person in charge coming up with the name without much thought, or the next person in charge not liking the sound and changed it, but as far as I have researched, I have never seen any references to this.

There are few zoom lenses that can be considered original Leica lenses, and the following lenses, including this one, would fall into this category.

Vario Elmar R 21–35mm F3.5-4.0 ASPH.
Vario Elmarit R 35-70mm F2.8 ASPH.
Vario Elmarit R 28-90mm F2.8-4.5 ASPH.
Vario Elmar R 105mm–280mm F4.2
Super Vario Elmar SL 16-35mm F3.5-4.5 ASPH.
Vario Elmarit SL 24-90mm F2.8-4 ASPH.
APO Vario Elmarit SL 90-280mm F2.8-4 ASPH.

As for other Leica zoom lenses, I’ve heard that some of the lenses for the TL are designed and manufactured by KM, while I’ve also heard that Sigma OEM and Panasonic are collaborating on lenses for the SL, but little detailed information has been made public.

Although it no longer has an F2.8 aperture throughout the entire range, an ideal development of this lens would be the APO VARIO ELMARIT SL 90-280mm F2.8-4 for the LEICA SL, which has an F4 aperture at the telephoto end but has a longer focal length making it easier to use.

There is also the Leica Vario-Elmarit SL f2.8/70-200mm ASPH., which is thought to be a Sigma OEM, but in that case the cheaper Sigma version, the 70-200mm F2.8 DG DN OS, seems sufficient.

Item	LEICA VARIO APO ELMARIT R 70-180mm F2.8	APO ELMARIT R 180mm
focal length(mm)	70-180	180
Maximum aperture	2.8	2.8
Minimum aperture	22	22
Lens configuration	13elements in 10 groups	7 elements in 5 groups
Leaf blade	8	8
Minimum distance(m)	1.7	1.5
Lens length(mm)	189.5	132
Lens max diameter(mm)	89	76
Filter diameter(mm)	77	67
Weight(g)	1870	970
Production numbers	2,250	400
Release date	Year 1995	Product end y2000

Reference links

VARIO-APO-ELMARIT-R 2.8/70-180 Leica wiki
Canon Leica-R Compatibility Database
APO ELMARIT R 180mm・Shige’s hobby
Non-extendable APO VARIO ELMARIT SL 90-280mm・Shige’s hobby

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Update history

2025.8.25
2025.1.20
2024.03.26
2022.05.26