Perhaps the longest lived named family of lens designations. Spanning the decades in various physical and optical embodiments the 90mm/9cm Elmar it first appeared as the "FAT" Elmar (cemented 4/3 triplet) in the 1932-33 time frame. The "THIN" Elmar reigned from 1933 through 1951. One of the earliest of these "THIN" Elmars is the illustration for this lens category and has an internally engraved serial number only.

The very earliest "THIN" Elmars have a 4 element triplet (cemented rear two elements) design. They have a many vane aperture mechanism for true round symmetry which for economy reasons later changed to much simpler mechanisms. Early 9cm Elmars have the focusing scale and mounting ring in Nickel which changed later to chrome. At serial number 592,451 in 1946 coatings (less than the most durable historically) were introduced.

Post WWII an optical variation of lens coatings (developed during the war by Zeiss and others) were introduced first in less durable coatings and soon after in more durable hard coatings generations. Sometime in 1954 the lens formulation was improved upon significantly, not by alteration of glass curvature but by substitution of new glass.

A "NEW STYLE MOUNT" with a Vulcanite wrapping was introduced in 1949 and continued in screw mount to 1963. NEW three element design. F-Stop calibrated in international units with minimum F-32.

In 1964 the 4 element Elmar was retired in favor of a 3 element Elcan formulation formulation
which was followed in 1973 by the "M-C" mount (4/4) 90mm Elmar.

A very small number of screw mount collapsible mount 90mm Elmars were produced in the mid 50's along with the introduction of the "M" series Elmar.