Leica’s 35mm f/2 Summicron APO-Aspherical is, in my opinion, the finest 35mm-equivalent lens that money can buy. But could Light Lens Lab challenge that claim? Peter Karbe’s design has never let me down, and I want to show you why before I get to the real subject of this piece.
I photographed a friend’s family at her kitchen table, using an M10 Monochrom at around f/5.6. I liked the composition so much that I cropped it tightly. In an odd, amusing way, it reminded me of a Madonna and Child.
Cropped in close, the detail stopped me in my tracks
I made two 12×18-inch enlargements: one for the family, one for myself. Every time I look at mine, the child’s eye still mesmerises me. The glow, the sharpness, the visual elegance — it is remarkable.
I find myself wondering what that same frame would look like from an M11 Monochrom’s 60-megapixel sensor. That is how much I trust this lens. Almost every time I look at pictures taken with it, I ask myself why I bother with any other 35mm optic. I cannot fully explain the answer. I still reach for my eight-element Summicron or the first aspherical Summilux out of familiarity rather than necessity. Perhaps not everything needs to be perfect.
Enter Light Lens Lab
That introduction sets the scene for Light Lens Lab’s own attempt at a 35/2 APO-Aspherical. This is not a copy of Karbe’s design. It is the Chinese firm’s attempt to stand alongside it, with a different optical formula and similar ambition.
I have followed this project for several years. Now, finally, a prototype has landed on my desk.
How I tested it
I shot the Light Lens Lab 35/2 AA — the maker’s own shorthand for APO-Aspherical — side by side with the Leica APO-Summicron-M 35mm f/2 ASPH, across several sessions with an M10 Monochrom, an M10-R and an M11-P. Subjects ranged from portraits and macro studies to a colour chart and open landscape, at apertures between f/2 and roughly f/6.8.
Specification
| Optical design | Light Lens Lab 35/2 AA 11 elements in 6 groups, 4 aspherical |
| Aperture range | f/2 to f/16, 11 blades |
| Minimum focus | 0.3m |
| Length | 40.9mm / 49.3mm (excl./incl. hood) |
| Maximum diameter | 52mm |
| Weight | approx. 327g (aluminium) / 360g (titanium) |
| Finishes | Titanium Grey, Black, Silver Chrome |
| Price | from $2,099 |
The specification and brochure copy come from Light Lens Lab; I have translated the original Chinese material myself.
Build and handling
Handle the two lenses together, and Leica’s influence is obvious.
My sample weighed 340g against 309g for the Leica. The Light Lens Lab design has one extra element, which accounts for most of the difference. Both lenses share the same reassuring detent as they enter the close-focus range.
The prototype I received carries no engraved markings at all: no focus distances, no aperture numbers. That will change before the lens reaches customers, but for now, it gives the lens a faintly ghostly character on the camera.
Focusing on both lenses relies on miniature bearings, and both are silky-smooth in operation. Light Lens Lab clearly understands what Leica owners expect from a lens in the hand, even before you consider the glass.
The MTF curves
Light Lens Lab supplied MTF curves at f/2, f/2.8 and f/5.6, plotted at 5, 10, 20 and 40 lp/mm.
For comparison, here are Leica’s published curves for the APO-Summicron-M 35mm f/2 ASPH.
A word of caution is due here. These are manufacturer graphs, not independently measured results, so any direct comparison between them should be treated gently. Interestingly, Light Lens Lab does not publish the optical diagram for this lens, citing proprietary concerns. Given how much intellectual-property piracy affects Chinese optical manufacturers, that reticence is understandable.
Editorial Note: The following Light Lens Lab 35/2 AA images were taken with a prototype, which may differ in performance from the final production version.
Sharpness and colour
Wide open, focused on the eye, is usually where a fast lens shows its true character.
This shot of a young girl on a sofa echoes the portrait that opened this review. Her eye anchors the frame. Everything else, in focus or not, simply demonstrates what a capable lens can do. The result has the same visual elegance I associate with the Leica.
To check colour rendering, I photographed a GretagMacbeth ColorChecker with both lenses.
I could see almost no difference between the two, despite using an M10-R for one frame and an M11-P for the other. That gave me confidence that any differences I found elsewhere in this test came down to the lens rather than the sensor.
Scenics at f/5.6
Here are two matched frames, both at f/5.6. The Light Lens Lab lens first, then the Leica.
Close focus at 0.3 metres
At minimum focus, I compared crops of an antique clock face taken with both lenses. Leica first, then Light Lens Lab.
The colour difference here comes down to changing light between the two shots rather than the lens itself. If anything, the Light Lens Lab crop looks marginally sharper, though that could equally be a small focusing error on my part. Both lenses acquitted themselves well.
Flare and backlighting
Wide open, with the sun buried in the leaves, the Light Lens Lab lens handled the scene well. At f/5.6, direct sun produced only a little flare and a pleasant sun-star. I found no focus shift as I stopped down, and the rangefinder tracked focus accurately at infinity throughout. Colour fringing and chromatic aberration, the two faults I watch for most closely on a fast wide-angle, simply did not appear.
Real-world results
Test charts and MTF graphs only tell half the story, so here is how the lens performed on ordinary subjects around the garden and further afield.
Day lilies at f/2, near sunset. Only a few blooms are sharp, yet the whole frame feels smooth and coherent.
Queen Anne’s Lace
A grab shot of a friend hamming it up, at around f/4.5. As with the Leica 35 APO, there is smoothness alongside genuine sharpness. The result never looks clinical.
Shrimp scampi at f/4.8, cropped. Only the centre of the plate is critically sharp, yet the overall impression is one of realism, because the lens draws so smoothly outside the plane of focus.
A day lily at closest focus, around f/4.5,
What Light Lens Lab told me
Mr Zhou, spoke with David Yu-Heng Chen, and was refreshingly candid about the company’s ambitions and its limitations. His comments below are lightly edited for clarity.
Mr Zhou said: “Many of our future products will move toward the AA series — ASPH plus APO. We will only begin pursuing AA designs once our technical capabilities reach a sufficiently high level. Too many people are copying us now. If we continue making replicas, they won’t generate significant volume or properly demonstrate our technology”.
Frankness
He was equally frank about the constraints of building for the M mount. Once a lens is associated with an M camera, viewfinder blockage becomes an issue. An M lens cannot be too large. Producing an APO lens while keeping an M lens small is much more difficult.
On the gap that remains between his company and Leica, he did not hold back. Based on LLL’s design targets and actual testing, he felt that their resolution and sharpness were better than Leica’s. So what was lacking? Leica works without regard to cost. LLL cannot do that. Light Lens Lab continues to improve quality through refining its production processes, to match the fit and micro-finish of Leica. At the same time, the intention is to reduce the rejection rate of aspheres through better quality control. These rejects of course are not sold. Since there is no visible effect on the lens rendering, it is simply a matter of pride.
The most striking disclosure concerned what Mr Zhou called spectral weighting — his explanation of the elusive “Leica look”. The spectrum visible to the human eye is roughly 400 to 700 nanometres. But when you want the Leica character, you often need to extend the design range to about 380 to 720 nanometres. The question is how you weight those different spectral regions. What people call the Leica look frequently comes from placing slightly more emphasis on the blue-green region. Chinese lenses typically end up with a red bias. This is a closely guarded trade secret.
He also claimed the lens has an unusually large image circle. Because the image circle is so large, the lens is basically usable on a 44x33mm medium-format sensor. It is hard to verify that claim with access to a suitable camera, but it is a striking one for an M-mount lens of this size.
Pricing
Light Lens Lab offers the lens in three finishes, with or without knurling on the barrel.
| Finish | £ pricing | € Pricing | $ Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black paint | £1,600 | €1,900 | $2,099 |
| Silver chrome | £1,600 | €1,900 | $2,099 |
| Titanium limited edition | £1,830 | €2,175 | $2,399 |
Comparisons to alternatives
Against the Leica APO-Summicron-M 35mm f/2 ASPH, the natural yardstick, the Light Lens Lab lens gives away remarkably little in outright sharpness, colour neutrality or resistance to flare. Where it cannot yet compete is in the fit and finish of the aspherical elements — exactly the area Mr Zhou himself flagged as unresolved.
Against my own older 35mm Leitz and Leica glass — the 8-element Summicron and the first aspherical Summilux — the comparison is less about resolution and more about character. Both older lenses have quirks I have grown fond of over the years. The Light Lens Lab optic, like the current Leica APO, sits closer to technical perfection, which is not always the same thing as personality.
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Sharpness and colour neutrality close to the Leica benchmark | Prototype tested carried no engraved markings |
| Smooth, silky focusing action | Aspherical finishing not yet at Leica’s level, by the maker’s own admission |
| Genuine APO correction with minimal chromatic aberration | MTF data is manufacturer-supplied, not independently verified |
| Compact and reasonably light for an APO design | Unproven long-term reliability, from a young manufacturer |
| Roughly a third of the Leica’s price | No optical diagram published |
Verdict
This is lenticular perfection from a small optical company that, by its own admission, is still learning some of Leica’s oldest secrets. It was a pleasure to use, silky smooth in operation, compact, and light for what it delivers. The images it produces are sophisticated, elegant and transparent.
I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone who wants APO-Summicron performance without the APO-Summicron invoice, provided they can accept a young company’s inevitable teething problems along the way.
Leica made Peter Karbe’s masterpiece without regard to cost. Light Lens Lab has made something remarkably close to it, at a third of the price. That, in itself, is the real story here.
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