How Much Is a Used Leica Elmarit-M 21mm Worth? (2026 Price Guide)

If you shoot digital M, favor the ASPH (1997 onward, made in Germany): it has far cleaner corners, lower distortion, and behaves better on modern sensors. The Canadian pre-ASPH has a loyal following for its rendering and is more affordable, but expect softer edges and more field curvature. For film-only use either is enjoyable; for digital the ASPH is the safer choice.

Yes, always. No Leica M body has a built-in 21mm frameline, so you frame with a dedicated 21mm optical viewfinder in the accessory shoe (or use the rear screen / EVF on a compatible digital M). The rangefinder patch is still used for focus; the accessory finder is only for composition.

Wide M lenses with deep rear elements can produce vignetting and magenta or cyan color shift toward the corners on digital M sensors, and the pre-ASPH 21mm is among the lenses that show this. The effect is worse on older sensors and can be reduced with 6-bit coding or lens-profile correction in software. The ASPH version is better behaved but not immune.

Check for haze, separation, and fungus in the rear group, confirm smooth focus and a clean aperture, and verify whether the lens is 6-bit coded if you want automatic digital M correction. Pre-ASPH copies are often uncoded, which simply means selecting the lens manually in the camera menu.