Dan Kerin

 Leica 28mm F/2.8 Elmarit ASPH

Over the years the 28mm has become ever more popular within the Leica community. Historically 50mm and 35mm were the most common focal lengths and this can be seen with how many of these lenses Leica made in the mid to late 20th century however as photography changed more and more people were looking to go wider. Up until the release of the Aspherical Elmarit in 2006, Leica had produced half a dozen 28mm lenses but many of these were starting to show their age. When Leica announced the 28mm Summicron ASPH in 2000 this was a big hit with the Leica community as up until this point the fastest 28mm’s had been f2.8. This being said the Summicron was still a large lens, so Leica began working on a replacement to the aging 28mm Elmarit. The new ASPH Elmarit was announced in 2006 and is still a current production lens at the time of writing this. The lens consists of 8 elements in 6 groups with a single aspherical element. Coming in at 180g and measuring 30x52mm this lens is super light and small making it a great every day carry. The lens has a 39mm filter thread meaning filters can easily be found and supports 10 aperture blades which can render some very nice out of focus areas. But don’t be expecting too much remember this is still a 28mm!

I think the reason this lens has a somewhat cult following is due to its overall size and high performance. For many shooting 28mm (including myself) we generally shoot stopped down and zone focus meaning the relatively slow aperture of f2.8 doesn’t really affect us. Mounted on the camera the lens feels great. Its small size means you don’t really notice it and with it being so light it means you can carry your camera around all day without feeling like its weighing you down. When using this lens, I paired it with the 12526 plastic lens hood which does the job but is very plasticly. Leica would learn from their mistakes and future hoods would be metal. Other than this minor nit-pick the lens is generally very well made and feels like a Leica lens should.

In practice this is a fantastic little lens. Right off the back I was really liking the small form factor. When mounted on a Leica M which supports 28mm framelines it makes for a really small setup. Being an f2.8 lens you need to keep this in mind and shoot accordingly. The relatively short focus throw made zone focusing a breeze and when combined with flash or a high ISO film it’s almost like using a point and shoot. Sharpness is good however personally I did not notice a huge difference between this and the version 3 non ASPH which came before. As I mention on all of these reviews, I am using film and not always shooting still scenes or optimising development for maximum sharpness but nonetheless this is a very capable lens and especially for the size and price it performs exceedingly well. Though Voigtlander have been coming out with some amazing lenses as of the time writing this review (2026) they have not been able to make a lens as small as this which performs as good which still makes this a good buy in my opinion. If your goal is to create a super small and compact 28mm setup with the Leica M system and you don’t prioritise wide open apertures then this lens is a lens for you!