21mm Lenses
Complete guide and specifications
21mm Lenses
The 21mm focal length is a favorite super-wide angle for many Leica photographers. It strikes a balance between the extreme drama of a 15mm and the more "standard" wide angle of a 28mm. It is exceptional for sweeping landscapes, tight interiors, and dynamic documentary work.
Key Characteristics
- Dynamic: Excellent for environmental storytelling where you need to fit a lot in the frame.
- Distortion: Generally very well controlled in high-end M-mount lenses compared to SLRs.
- Framing: Often requires an external finder or Visoflex/Live View on digital M bodies.
Find Your Perfect 21mm Lens
Browse and compare the best 21mm super-wide lenses for your Leica rangefinder. Discover options from Leica (Super-Angulon, Elmarit), Voigtländer (Color-Skopar, Ultron), and Zeiss (Biogon). Use our tools to check filter size, minimum focus distance, and pricing trends to choose the ideal lens for landscapes and dynamic street photography.
The cheapest 21mm M / LTM-mount lens right now is TTArtisan 21mm f1.5 ASPH at €303. Across 18 tracked 21mm lenses, prices run from €303 to €4,296 (median €833). See the live price index ↗
The Thypoch Ksana 21mm f/3.5 ASPH is a manual-focus 21 mm Leica M-mount wide-angle designed to be very small and light for everyday carry. A key feature is its Epoch Coating.73′, which is intended to create warm, amber flare when shooting into bright light, rather than removing flare entirely. Compared with the Leica Super-Elmar-M 21mm f/3.4 ASPH, the Ksana focuses more on compactness and a visible flare look, while the Leica is typically chosen for a more straightforward, corrected rendering. The Voigtländer Color-Skopar 21mm f/3.5 is another compact option with conventional behavior and similar slow speed. The Thypoch Simera 21mm f/1.4 is a different class, prioritizing low-light performance and shallow depth of field, but with much larger size and weight.
The Thypoch Simera 21mm f/1.4 ASPH. is a fast wide-angle Leica M-mount lens, a 2025 rangefinder option closely echoing Voigtländer's 21mm Nokton.
The Omnar CG21-28 rehouses the Contax G 21mm f/2.8 Biogon into a brass M-mount barrel with rangefinder coupling, prized by collectors of Zeiss glass.
The TTArtisan 21mm f1.5 ASPH is a fast, affordable Leica M-mount wide-angle whose rare 21mm f/1.5 aperture made it a notable budget alternative for collectors.
The Voigtländer Color-Skopar 21mm f/3.5 II is a compact aspherical ultra-wide M-mount lens, the 2021 Vintage Line restyle favored by Leica rangefinder users.
The Voigtländer Nokton 21mm f/1.4 ASPH. is a fast wide-angle M-mount rangefinder lens from Cosina, prized for its floating-element design and strong sharpness.
The Voigtländer Color-Skopar 21mm f/3.5 is a compact aspherical wide-angle for Leica M mount, part of Cosina's retro-styled Vintage Line for rangefinder shooters.
The MS Optics 21mm f/4.5 Perar is arguably the most famous creation from Sadayasu Miyazaki’s basement lab in Japan. It’s a "Super Triplet", an ancient optical design resurrected in a package so thin (5.2mm) that it looks more like a lens cap than a piece of glass. It’s sharp in the middle, wild in the corners, and incredibly frustrating to use if you have large fingers. But despite the heavy vignetting and the fact that it turns digital sensors pink in the corners, it offers a specific, high-contrast look and a "pocketability" factor that makes you forgive its many mechanical eccentricities.
The Voigtländer Ultron 21mm f/1.8 Aspherical is an ultrafast Leica M-mount ultrawide from Cosina, valued by collectors as an affordable rangefinder-coupled alternative.
The Leica Super-Elmar-M 21mm f/3.4 ASPH. is a compact M-mount wide-angle prime prized for near-distortion-free clarity and a notably small, well-built barrel.
The Leica Summilux-M 21mm f/1.4 ASPH. (11647) is a fast ultra-wide M-mount rangefinder lens prized by collectors for its rare f/1.4 speed and rendering.
The Voigtländer Color-Skopar 21mm f/4 P is a Cosina-made pancake wide-angle for Leica M mount, prized by rangefinder users for its tiny size and sharp output.
The compact Carl Zeiss C Biogon T* 21mm f/4.5 ZM is an M-mount super wide whose near-distortion-free Biogon optics made it a collector favorite.
The Carl Zeiss Biogon T* 21mm f/2.8 ZM is a Cosina-built super-wide for Leica M mount, prized by rangefinder users for sharpness and low distortion.
The Voigtländer Color-Skopar 21mm f/4 is a compact LTM ultra-wide for Leica screw-mount and Bessa rangefinders, valued by film shooters for its pancake size.
Ricoh GR Lens 21mm f/3.5 is a limited Leica L39/LTM ultra-wide with 9/6 optics, 10 blades and strong GR collector appeal.
The Leica Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 ASPH. is an aspherical ultrawide M-mount rangefinder lens made from 1997, collected for its corrected, high-contrast drawing.
The Kobalux Avenon 21mm f/2.8 is a hand-built Japanese super-wide LTM lens by Y.K. Optical, prized by Leica screw-mount collectors for its compact size.
The Leica Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8 (11134) is a pre-aspherical M-mount ultra-wide prime made 1980 to 1997, prized by Leica rangefinder collectors.
Leica Super-Angulon-M 21mm f/3.4 is a Schneider-built symmetrical wide-angle M-mount rangefinder lens from 1963, prized by collectors for its compact design.
The Leica Super-Angulon-M 21mm f/4, a Schneider-derived ultra-wide M-mount rangefinder lens from 1958, prized by collectors for its symmetrical optical design.