Leica Elmarit-R 2.8/28mm - is a fast, wide-angle lens with fixed focal length made for Leica-R mount SLR cameras .
The Leica Elmarit-R 28mm F/2.8 debuted at Photokina in 1970, providing Leica R mount landscape, architectural, reporting, and advertising photographers with an ideal lens for their work. It was produced for a respectable twenty-two years, from 1970 to 1992, and was offered in two-cam, three-cam, and R-only configurations throughout the decades.
Build quality is excellent, typical of classic Leica quality. The made-in-Germany Elmarit has a full metal body, including focus and aperture rings, mount, lens barrel, and filter thread. The focus action is smooth and weighty, and the aperture ring clicks into its half-stop detents with confidence. It’s a dense, weighty lens; the kind of optic which is as fun to hold and look at and actuate as it is to shoot.
The Elmarit-R 28mm f/2.8 is very small (only 40mm long and 63mm wide) and built like a tank, but I would expect nothing less at this price point. The weight is nice too (only 275g) and both the focus and aperture rings turn easily. (they’re a little too loose for my taste, though)
The lens extends slightly when focussed to the minimum focus distance, but the front element does not rotate. Manual focus is a joy, because turning the ring from infinity to minimum focus distance (which is 0,3m) takes about 270°.