Light Lens Lab 35mm F2 “Apochromatic” review: An original challenge to the modern benchmark

By Keith Wee on September 12, 2026

Use code KEITHWEE for a 5% discount at Light Lens Lab for a limited time. Every bit of savings counts.

Introduction

Light Lens Lab has built much of its reputation by ‘looking backwards‘, recreating rare and historically milestone optics such as the 1966 Noctilux 50mmƒ1.2, the 8-element Summicron 35mm ƒ2 and, most recently, the Leica 35mm ƒ1.4 “11873” Double Aspherical.

The Light Lens Lab 35mm ƒ2 “Apochromatic”, however, is different.

Note that all my product shots are of the prototype set, hence without the standard markings etc.

For once, the discussion is not about whether a modern lens can recreate the imperfections and character of a classic. Instead, Light Lens Lab has stepped into the arena occupied by one of Leica’s most technically accomplished modern lenses: the Leica APO-Summicron-M 35mm ƒ2 ASPH.

in Titanium

in Black Paint

Light Lens Lab 35mm ƒ2 APO (courtesy of Light Lens Lab)

Unsurprisingly, opinions have been very divided.

Some photographers see the familiar proportions, the 35mm ƒ2 specification and the cosmetic design, and question the need to make a lens inspired by a modern Leica lens. Recreating an inaccessible historical lens can feel like preservation; producing something that visually echoes a current product inevitably invites a more complicated conversation.

The Light Lens Lab 50mm ƒ1.2 (1966) and Leica 50mm ƒ1.2 (reissue)

That perspectives are understandable and merits a different discussion which I will touch on later, but these conversations largely also misses the most important point about this lens.

While its cosmetic inspiration is clear, the Light Lens Lab 35mm ƒ2 “Apochromatic” is not an optical design copy of the Leica 35mm APO-Summicron but an truly original Light Lens Lab design.

Underneath the familiar-looking exterior is an all-new, independently developed 11-elements in six-groups optical formula incorporating four aspherical elements, specialised low-dispersion glass and a floating group. According to Light Lens Lab, this is the first release in a new family of independently developed Apochromatic lenses and not a reverse-engineered recreation.

*the Leica 35mm APO-Summicron has a 10 elements in 5 groups design.

In other words, the exterior may begin a debate about homage, but the optical design makes a much more interesting statement: Light Lens Lab believes it is ready to move beyond recreating the past and compete in modern lens design on its own terms.

Let’s take a deeper look at the lens, without the noise.

Disclaimer: The review set is an prototype both Macfilos and Bobby Tonelli also tested, the final production model will only have better optical performance and handling.

tl;dr

The Light Lens Lab 35mm ƒ2 “Apochromatic” is easily the company’s most ambitious lens to date. It is compact, beautifully constructed, close focuses to 0.3 metres and delivers the type of clean, highly corrected output expected from an excellent APO lens.

Light Lens Lab 35mm ƒ2 APO on Leica M10-R

Sharpness is already excellent at ƒ2, not simply at the centre but impressively across the frame, while chromatic aberrations are extremely well controlled. In these two areas, it runs almost head-to-head with the Leica APO-Summicron-M 35mm ƒ2 ASPH. That is no small achievement when one remembers that the Leica has long been treated as one of the reference lenses for the entire M system.

Light Lens Lab 35mm ƒ2 APO on Leica M10-R

All zoomed in samples are at 200%, , simply because 100% is really insufficient to show the level of details reproduction and optical performance this lens can give.

200% zoom – Light Lens Lab 35mm ƒ2 APO on Leica M10-R

The Leica still holds a small advantage in bokeh. Its out-of-focus areas appear a touch calmer and more polished, especially with difficult specular highlights and busier backgrounds, while the Light Lens Lab can occasionally show slightly more texture in the blur. The difference, however, is much smaller than their price gap suggests. (USD2099 vs USD9500)

The Leica remains the more completely resolved lens, but the Light Lens Lab comes remarkably close where it matters most: sharpness, colour correction and real-world image quality.

At USD2,099 for the aluminium versions and USD2,399 for the Titanium Grey Limited Edition at launch, this is not a cheap alternative in the usual sense. Rather, it is a serious high-performance M-mount lens priced far below the Leica, created for the photographer who wants modern APO performance but does not need the Leica red dot or the final few percentage points of refinement.

Technicalities

The Light Lens Lab 35mm ƒ2 “Apochromatic” is a rangefinder-coupled Leica M-mount lens with the following specifications:

35mm focal length with an aperture range of ƒ2 to ƒ16, with half-stop detents
11 elements in six groups with four aspherical elements optical design
Multiple ultra-low-dispersion and anomalous partial-dispersion glass elements
Floating optical group design
11 aperture blades design
Minimum focusing distance: 0.3 metres
Length: approximately 40.9mm without the hood; 49.3mm with the hood
Diameter: approximately 53mm with 39mm filter thread
Weight with hood: approximately 327g in aluminium; 360g in titanium
Finishes: Black Paint, Silver Chrome and Titanium Grey

The optical formula is where the real story lies. Apochromatic (APO) correction aims to bring different wavelengths of light into closer alignment, reducing the coloured fringes that can appear before and behind the plane of focus. Light Lens Lab combines specialised low-dispersion glass with four aspherical elements and a newly developed high-transmission multi-layer coating to suppress chromatic aberrations, flare and ghosting while retaining contrast and optical output quality.

The newly designed floating lens optical system is equally important. Instead of moving the entire optical block as one fixed unit, the spacing between selected elements changes as the lens focuses. This helps the lens retain its performance from infinity down to its minimum focusing distance of 0.3 metres, where many conventional rangefinder lenses begin to show weaker optical performance.

Of course, the rangefinder on most Leica M bodies only couples down to around 0.7 metres. Focusing between 0.7 and 0.3 metres therefore requires Live View or the Visoflex, but the extra range remains genuinely useful for food, details and more intimate environmental portraits.

Mechanically, Light Lens Lab has paid attention to more than appearances. The precision-machined focusing mechanism uses miniature bearings, and the lens is offered in two barrel configurations: a smoother classic design and a knurled version providing additional grip around the close-focus section. Both versions share the same optical design and output.

Precision hood mounting

The aluminium versions come with a matching E39 screw-on hood, while the Titanium Grey edition receives a titanium magnetic hood and matching titanium UV filter. Grade Two titanium is used for the limited edition, with aerospace-grade aluminium used for the Black Paint and Silver Chrome models.

While compact as expected, the Light Lens Lab 35mm ƒ2 “Apochromatic” is not an insubstantial one. The weight gives it the familiar density of a premium M lens, and even the aluminium version feels built as a long-term photographic tool rather than a lightweight alternative.

Light Lens Lab 35mm ƒ2 APO on Leica M10-R

Handling

Mounted on a Leica M body, the Light Lens Lab 35mm ƒ2 “Apochromatic” feels immediately at home. Its short barrel does not upset the balance of the camera, the E39 filter size keeps the front restrained, and viewfinder obstruction is minimal for a lens containing a relatively complex floating optical system.

In comparison, the Voigtlander 35mm APO Lanther is 58mm in length, a hefty 30% ‘longer’ which has a real handling cost due to the larger viewfinder blockage.

The focusing action is smooth and deliberate, with enough resistance for fine adjustments. The focus tab makes it easy to judge distance by feel, while the aperture ring provides clear half-stop clicks with sufficiently firm detents to prevent accidental changes.

The 0.3 metre minimum focusing distance adds another dimension to a 35mm lens. At normal rangefinder distances, the lens behaves exactly as one expects: quick, intuitive and well suited to street, documentary and daily photography. Push past the rangefinder-coupled limit using Live View or an EVF, and it becomes capable of isolating smaller details in a way many traditional M lenses cannot.

Optical performance

For the MTF curve readers, the charts point towards a lens designed around high contrast, excellent resolution and consistency across most of the frame (which is quite a feat).

Source: Light Lens Lab

Wide open at ƒ2, the curves suggest excellent overall contrast from the centre through most of the image field. In simpler terms, photographs should already look crisp and punchy even when photograhing wide open which is exactly what the Apochromatic design seeks to deliver. The finer 20 and 40 lp/mm curves remain strong in the centre and mid-frame, though they start to dip over the final few millimetres towards the edges.

Light Lens Lab 35mm ƒ2 APO on Leica M10-R

There is also some separation between the sagittal and tangential curves in the extreme corners. This suggests that while the centre should be bitingly sharp at ƒ2, performance at the corners will dip for fine details. Very few lenses ever come close to such optical performance across the frame at wide-open aperture.

Stopping down to ƒ2.8 sees the lens “change gear”, with improved consistency away from the centre and a much less pronounced decline towards the corners. By ƒ5.6, the curves are impressively flat and closely grouped across almost the entire image field. This points towards excellent centre-to-edge sharpness, making the lens as comfortable photographing architecture and landscapes as it is capturing portraits and daily moments at ƒ2.

Source: Light Lens Lab

The astigmatic field-curvature chart tells a similarly impressive positive story. Both traces stay close to the zero line and remain relatively close to each other through most of the frame. This suggests a comparatively flat plane of focus with very well-controlled astigmatism. There is a little divergence towards the extreme edge, which corresponds with the slight drop in the wide-open MTF curves, but nothing here appears to be a concern.

Light Lens Lab 35mm ƒ2 APO on Leica M10-R

Distortion is also exceptionally well controlled. The curve shows only a very small amount of barrel distortion and remains well below one percent. For real-life use, straight lines should remain straight, with little need for software correction.

Light Lens Lab 35mm ƒ2 APO on Leica M10-R

On paper, the Light Lens Lab 35mm ƒ2 “Apochromatic” promises exceptional sharpness at ƒ2 and near-uniform performance across the frame once stopped down.

Of course, MTF charts are never the full story. They do not tell us how a lens renders transitions, skin tones, flare or out-of-focus areas, and the provided aberration chart does not show longitudinal or lateral chromatic aberration.

At ƒ2, the first impression is simply how much detail the lens resolves. Fine textures are reproduced cleanly, contrast is strong without becoming aggressively harsh, and sharpness extends convincingly towards the edges. Stopping down improves the extreme corners, but this is not a lens one needs to stop down simply to make it behave.

Light Lens Lab 35mm ƒ2 APO on Leica M10-R

In direct comparisons with the Leica APO-Summicron-M 35mm ƒ2 ASPH, the Light Lens Lab comes much closer than its price might suggest. Both resolve an exceptional amount of detail, and any difference in practical sharpness is small enough that individual focusing accuracy and technique will probably matter more.

Light Lens Lab 35mm ƒ2 APO on Leica M10-R

Chromatic aberration control is another highlight. Even around reflective surfaces and hard backlit edges, purple and green fringing are exceptionally well controlled. Like the Leica equivalent which holds the benchmark, the Light Lens Lab comes to essentially head-to-head here, producing files that require little, if any, chromatic-aberration correction in post-processing.

I really tried stress-testing situations to tease out chromatic aberrations but the Light Lens Lab 35mm APO easily shrugged these off. In fact as mentioned, this is one of the rare times I do 200% zoom-ins.

This clean correction does not make the output lifeless. Colours remain natural with a very pleasant ‘pop’ and good tonal separation, while the transitions from highlights into mid-tones feel smooth. There is enough micro-contrast to give subjects presence, but the lens avoids the brittle, over-sharpened look that can sometimes be associated with highly corrected modern optics.

Light Lens Lab 35mm ƒ2 APO on Leica M10-R

Bokeh and rendering

Bokeh is where the Leica retains its narrow lead (probably helping to justify the USD7500 difference)

Both lenses produce smooth transitions from the focused subject into the background, and both can create excellent subject separation at ƒ2, especially near the minimum focusing distance. However, the Leica’s out-of-focus highlights look slightly cleaner and its busier backgrounds settle into a more cohesive blur. The Light Lens Lab can reveal a little more texture in specular highlights and a touch more activity in messy backgrounds.

Light Lens Lab 35mm ƒ2 APO on Leica M10-R

200% zoom – Light Lens Lab 35mm ƒ2 APO on Leica M10-R

This does not make the Light Lens Lab’s bokeh poor; far from it and the rendering remains pleasant, rounded and natural.

Light Lens Lab 35mm ƒ2 APO on Leica M10-R

The difference is one of polish rather than an entirely different character, and one that becomes much less obvious to the general user versus 100% zoomed-in deliberate side-by-side comparisons some photographers enjoy.

Light Lens Lab 35mm ƒ2 APO on Leica M10-R

200% zoom – Light Lens Lab 35mm ƒ2 APO on Leica M10-R

It is also worth noting again that I was working with a pre-production sample for this review and the final production behaviour will be worth revisiting.

Conclusions

The Light Lens Lab 35mm ƒ2 “Apochromatic” may wear its inspiration openly, but calling it merely a copy would unfairly undersell what Light Lens Lab has achieved. One can be choose to be unhappy with a third-party lens maker but it does not change the fact of this achievement.

For years, Light Lens Lab has shown that it can recreate difficult historical lenses. This lens seeks to answer a harder question: can the company create a modern optical design of its own and stand alongside one of the finest lenses Leica currently makes?

Light Lens Lab 35mm ƒ2 APO on Leica M10-R

The answer, perhaps unpleasant to the ‘purist’ Leica fans, is a very close yes, and it is not like no one else has tried, like how the Voigtlander 35mm APO-Lanther released a few years ago was a decent attempt but fell short in comparison to the Leica APO Summicron 35mm at the very basic level of size comparisons.

This feels less like another homage and more like Light Lens Lab’s graduation from recreating optical history to writing a chapter of its own.

Light Lens Lab 35mm ƒ2 APO on Leica M10-R

The Leica APO-Summicron-M 35mm ƒ2 ASPH still remains the benchmark. Its construction, consistency and bokeh carry a final layer of refinement, and photographers who want the most resolved version of this concept will seek out the Leica; like how some reviewers have concluded the Viltrox 135mm ƒ1.8 was achieving 90% of the Nikon Plena’s optical performance but at a fraction of the price. There are other options for everyone even for Nikon Z’s top tiered Plena lens, with options from 7Artisans, Samyang to Viltrox.

We forget that there are users who will see the remaining 10% to optimum optical performance as a necessity worth paying for because they can and do appreciate the difference, while there are users who are satisfied forgoing this last 10% of performance for a 80% cost saving.

And it is with this line of thinking I find some of the discussions around this lens a distraction. Understanding what we need (or probably want) is the exact reason why I photograph with a Leica MP and M4 film body instead of a Konica Hexar, Voigtlander Bessa or a Minolta CLE when in theory they all do the same thing.

Competition also spurs improvement, like how Leica surprised us with the Noctilux-M 35mm ƒ1.2 with a combination of optical performance and size where no other maker has managed to.

At just above USD2,000, what one pays for the Light Lens Lab 35mm ƒ2 APO is not nostalgia but correction: high resolution from ƒ2, near non-existent colour fringing, extremely low distortion and consistent performance across both the frame and focusing range – a performance package which no other lens maker has achieved with this set of lens specifications except other than Leica.

Most importantly, the 35mm ƒ2 “Apochromatic” points to a more interesting future for Light Lens Lab. The company has already proven that it can look backwards effectively. With this lens, it has shown that it may also be ready to move forward with confidence and I am sure the world of M-lens choices is surely going to be even more interesting for all of us.

Light Lens Lab 35mm ƒ2 APO on Leica M10-R

Thank you for reading.

Use code KEITHWEE for a 5% discount at Light Lens Lab for a limited time. Every bit of savings counts.

My other Light Lens Lab reviews worth exploring:

Light Lens Lab 35mm F1.4 Aspherical “11873” review – a modern tribute to a legendary lens.
Light Lens Lab 50mm F2 Speed Panchro II – Reviving the cinematic classic.
First Impressions of the Light Lens Lab 50mm F1.2 ASPH (1966) – recreating the mythical
Reimagining Vintage: Light Lens Lab 28mm ƒ2.8 Lens Review

Disclaimers:

1. All product photos and samples here were photographed by me. I believe any reviewer with pride should produce their own product photos.

2. All images were shot with a prototype set of the Light Lens Lab Light Lens Lab 35mm ƒ2 “Apochromatic”on my M10-R.

3. This review is not sponsored and the prototype lens returned at the end of the review.

4. I write as a passion and a hobby, and I appreciate that photography brands are kind enough to respect and work with me.

5. The best way to support me is to share the review, or you can always help support me by contributing to my fees to WordPress for the domain using the Paypal button at the bottom of the page.