Smallest Leica M Mount Lenses – 21mm, 35mm, 40mm, 50mm, 90mm)
YouTube video showing the smallest Leica M mount lenses available when compared to normal size lenses. For each focal length 21mm, 35mm, 40mm, 50mm and 90mm I do a hands on side by side comparison.
Lens Comparison – By Focal Length
So for each of the five focal lengths I picked the smallest Leica M mount lens in that FL + another lens to compare size.
21mm Leica M mount lens size review
35mm Leica M mount lens size review
40mm Leica M mount lens size review
50mm Leica M mount lens size review
90mm Leica M mount lens size review
- Leica Macro-Elmar-M 90mm f4 lens (Smallest 90mm)
- Leica Summicron 90mm f2 lens (BIG)
Smallest Leica M Mount Camera
For small Leica M mount lenses you also want a smaller Leica M mount camera!
Perfect Leica Travel Camera
For me the Leica CL film camera combined with a trio of small lenses offers the perfect Leica travel camera kit.
YouTube: Smallest Leica M Mount Lenses
Vintage Small Leica Film Cameras
If we also consider Leica screw mount cameras then you can also benefit from using the very compact vintage Leica iii Barnack cameras.
Smallest Leica Screw Mount Lenses
Also known as LTM lenses or L39 lenses, Leica screw mount lenses are some of the smallest lenses ever made for 35mm film cameras. Some of these lenses can be very affordable if you search on eBay. Vintage Leica lenses tend to be expensive but search for phrases such as Canon LTM lenses, Jupiter lens, Soviet LTM lens and Industar LTM lens. Voigtlander made lenses for both LTM and Leica M mount and offer excellent value for money from my experience.
Leica LTM to M Adapters
You can use Leica LTM lenses on your Leica M camera via a Leica LTM to M adapter. Cheap Chinese adapters can be found on eBay or you can pay more for Leica or Voigtlander branded adapters.
Smallest LTM Lenses for Leica
Here are some of the smallest lenses I own and my smallest LTM lenses for Leica cameras.
- Voigtlander Super Wide Heliar 15mm f4.5 LTM – M Mount
- Russar 20mm f5.6 MR-2 LTM lens – YouTube (V.SMALL)
- Voigtlander Color Skopar 21mm f4 LTM – M Mount (SMALL)
- Canon 25mm f3.5 LTM lens (V.SMALL)
- Orion-15 28mm f6 LTM lens – YouTube (SMALL)
- Canon 28mm f2.8 LTM lens (SMALL)
- Leica Summaron 35mm f3.5 lens (SMALL)
- Voigtlander Color Skopar 35mm f2.5 LTM – M Mount (SMALL)
- Industar-22 5cm 3.5 LTM lens – YouTube (V.SMALL)
- Leica Summitar 5cm f2 LTM lens – YouTube (SMALL)
- Leica Elmar 5cm f3.5 LTM lens – YouTube (SMALLEST)
- Leica Elmar 9cm f4 LTM lens – YouTube
Small Lenses For Nikon F?
Despite me using mostly Leica cameras I used to shoot with Nikon cameras. Generally speaking Nikon SLR lenses are big so you can’t compare to these to the small Leica lenses I mention. The good news is Voigtlander did make a series of small pancake lenses for Nikon. Voigtlander lenses for Nikon F mount are called Voigtlander SL lenses.
Voigtlander SL Lenses for Nikon
Not all Voigtlander SL lenses for Nikon are compact but some of them are. Great examples are the 20mm pancake, 28mm pancake and the older 40mm pancake. I cover some of these lenses on YouTube.
In 2022 Voigtlander manufacture a smallish 28mm lens, a smallish 40mm lens, a very compact 90mm (for a 90) and the fast 58mm f1.4 Nokton. The older lenses are slightly smallest but it’s great to see Voigtlander still making these amazing optics.
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The Leica 40mm f2 lens, originally made for the CL (compact Leica) has been used by me since 2008 on a pair of Leica M4-P bodies, together with a 90mm f4 c and VC 25mm f4. This has been my outfit as an International Photojournalist until very recently. Carried in a black Billingham 107 bag together with a few rolls of film (Tri-X) with more in my checked-in case.
The 40/2 was selected on size, aperture and focal length. It’s more or less mid-way between a 35 & 50mm lens. The vast majority of my shots have been taken with the 40. No shots from this lens have been criticised to my knowledge. Stopped down it’s very sharp and wide open it’s performance is surprisingly good but focus in poor light, is of course key. My two black bodies had their rangefinders checked a couple of years ago with this particular lens and a 33’ tape measure and at 10-20-30-40 feet were spot on.
Thanks Toby, great to hear from you and nice to hear you enjoy M4-Ps too! I have a black pair aswell. I have the very similar Minolta 40mm and it has worked great for me so far. I use the Macro-Elmar 90 and love the size but it is more expensive. I also enjoy 25mm and recently ordered a super small Canon 25mm as my VC is no RF coupled and the Biogon is stunning but too large at times.