Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Light Lens Lab 35mm f/2 Eight Element

Light Lens Lab · Leica M + LTM · 2020 · Double Gauss

Known as “LLL 8E”, “8 Element”

Also known as: LLL 35mm f/2 Eight Element · Light Lens Lab 8 Element 35mm · LLL 8E 35/2 · Light Lens Lab Summicron 35 replica · 8E

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Leica M bayonet Leica M 2020 — —
Leica Thread Mount (LTM-M adapter supplied) LTM 2020 — —
  1. The comparison of replica against original on weight and blade count is this project's, drawn from the two entries' published figures rather than from any source that sets them side by side. The recreation weighs 206–261 g against the original's 150 g, and its ten straight blades match the 577 screw-mount originals rather than the sixteen-blade bayonet versions that make up the bulk of the 36,150 built.
  2. The maker's own formula wording is "Double-Gauss Design, Eight Elements in 6 groups". The Leica Wiki describes the 1958 Summicron as a modified Gauss. The element and group counts agree; the two descriptions of the type do not, and neither party publishes a cross-section to settle it.
  3. Weight is published as a range because the barrel material changes with the finish: 206 to 261 g over solid brass, stainless steel and titanium. Length is given as 35.5 to 36 mm and diameter as 51 mm. BastianK weighed his example at 228 g without hood or caps.
  4. Blade count is a reviewer's observation rather than a published specification. BastianK reports "10 (straight)". The maker's spec table gives the aperture range and the half-stop detents but no blade count. His copy came "free of charge by the Light Lens Lab NA distributor for reviewing purpose for a duration of 4 weeks" — a loan rather than a purchase, though the existence of a North American distributor is itself evidence that the lens was in retail distribution, which is more than can be said for several others in the range.
  5. The one measurement anyone has published against a modern lens is BastianK's vignetting figure: 4.0 EV wide open, against 3.8 EV for the Leica 35mm f/1.4 FLE ASPH. No equivalent measurement of a 1958 original has been located, so the replica has been measured and the lens it copies has not.
  6. Dating is staged rather than single. Pre-orders closed on 15 December 2019, first deliveries ran through 2020, and a revised batch that dealers call V2LC went on sale in December 2020. This entry dates the family 2020, the first shipment, not 2019, the announcement. A third year is in circulation: the Leica Lens List records the Eight Element as a 2018 lens, which is the year the company was founded and two years before anything was delivered.
  7. Finishes listed on the product page in September 2026: Black Paint, Chrome, Black Paint with Brassing, Stainless Steel, Titanium Grey, a limited "Time" version, and special-edition sets in Bare Brass, Ceramic White, Safari Green and high-gloss Black Paint, plus two H.C.B. special editions. The list is not fixed — editions are added and withdrawn — so the count quoted anywhere is a count on a date. On 4 September 2026 the maker's product feed carried those twelve finishes as fifteen orderable configurations once the LTM versions are counted separately, spanning $1,049 for chrome in bayonet to $2,200 for titanium grey, with four of the fifteen in stock. Every figure in that sentence is a figure for one day.
  8. Glass claim: elements are "made in-house with lanthanide and lead infused". The 1958 lens used a thorium-free lanthanum type developed in Leitz's own laboratories. Both statements describe a lanthanum-bearing high-index glass; neither can be checked from outside a laboratory, and the maker publishes no glass code for this lens as it does for the 50mm f/1.2.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Engraved Light Lens Lab; nothing on the lens imitates a Leitz engraving
  • Eight elements in six groups, the same count as the 1958 original
  • E39 filter thread and a clip-on A42 hood of the IROOA pattern
  • 206–261 g against the original's 150 g — the replica is the heavier lens by a wide margin

Leica M bayonet:

  • M bayonet cut directly into the barrel

Leica Thread Mount (LTM-M adapter supplied):

  • 39mm screw thread; the box includes an LTM-M adapter

Specifications

Formula
Double Gauss
Construction
8 elements / 6 groups
Aperture range
f/2–f/16
Diaphragm blades
10
Min. focus
0.7 m
Dimensions
51 × 36 mm
Filter
39 mm
Years manufactured
2020
Country
China
Material
Solid brass, stainless steel or titanium, by finish

What reviewers say

Optical Ratings

Aggregated from the reviews above — follow the links for the full picture.

Vignetting
heavy wide open
Flare & ghosting
period-typical, poor

History

Light Lens Lab began with the hardest target it could have chosen. The 1958 eight-element Summicron 35mm f/2 is the lens whose reputation has outrun every 35mm Leitz made since, and the product page says what the exercise is without ornament: “Recreation of the famous 35 mm f/2 V1.” V1 is the first-version Summicron this catalog holds separately, 36,150 of which exist.

The published numbers match where it counts. Eight elements in six groups. f/2 to f/16 in even half stops. An E39 filter thread and a clip-on A42 hood of the IROOA pattern the original was sold with. Minimum focus is 0.7 m with rangefinder coupling, which is the plain bayonet original’s figure — the goggled M3 version reaches 0.65 m and the 577 screw-mount lenses stop at 1 m, so the replica follows the middle one of the three. Even the glass claim is in the right family: elements “made in-house with lanthanide and lead infused,” against the thorium-free lanthanum type Leitz developed in its own laboratories for the 1958 design.

Two things do not match, and both sit outside the optical cell.

The first is weight. The original is 150 grams, and that number is one of the three things the first-version Summicron is identified by — the lightest fast 35 Leitz ever made. The recreation weighs 206 to 261 grams depending on whether the barrel is brass, stainless steel or titanium. Same glass count, more metal around it, and a lens between a third and three-quarters heavier than the one it copies. Nothing in the maker’s copy acknowledges the difference.

The second is the diaphragm. BastianK counts ten straight blades. The original’s bayonet versions have sixteen; only the screw-mount version — 1.6 per cent of production — has ten. Out-of-focus highlights are shaped by blade count and blade form, so on the point where the eight-element’s rendering is most often argued about, the replica is following the rarest version of the original rather than the common one. That is a judgement drawn from the two entries’ own figures; no source sets them side by side.

The dating is staged, which is worth stating because single-year claims for this lens circulate freely. Pre-orders closed on 15 December 2019. First deliveries ran through 2020. A revised batch that dealers label V2LC went on sale in December 2020. The announcement year and the shipping year are not the same year, and this entry uses the shipping one.

What has grown since is the finish list rather than the lens. Black paint, chrome, brassing, stainless steel, titanium grey, a “Time” edition, several special-edition sets and two carrying Henri Cartier-Bresson’s initials — a dozen or so at any given moment, added and withdrawn without announcement, all of them the same eight elements in six groups. The optical entry is one lens; the storefront is a catalogue of surfaces.

Expand Collapse

This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Example photos

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Light Lens Lab 35mm f/2 Eight Element? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $1,200 across 40 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $1,100–$1,500). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 2 days: unchanged from $1,200.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$1,200$1,100–$1,50040
2026-09-06$1,200$1,100–$1,50040

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

Show 30 more listings

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Listings updated 2026-09-11. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Summicron 35mm f/2 (v1, eight elements) · Light Lens Lab 35mm f/2 Collapsible Eight Element

Sources (9)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this lens, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.