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

Light Lens Lab 75mm f/1.5 "Z21"

Light Lens Lab · Leica M · 2026 · Double Gauss

single source, unconfirmed

Also known as: LLL 75mm f/1.5 Z21 · Light Lens Lab 75 Z21 · LLL 75 Z21

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Matte Black Paint / Aluminium Leica M 2026 — —
  1. The reading that the 75mm's 'Z21' is a house code rather than a pointer at an original is drawn here from two statements Light Lens Lab makes on the same page and does not connect: that this lens 'is not an homage to an existing optical formula', and that its optical foundation 'closely follows the 50mm f/1.5 'Z21'' — a lens the same firm's product page calls a homage to the 50mm f/1.5 'S21'. The disclaimer and the lineage claim are both the maker's; the tension between them is this catalog's observation, not a published finding.
  2. STATUS: SHIPPED. Ordering opened 5 June 2026 and fulfilment was scheduled from 30 June 2026; the lens was in stock in the maker's own feed on 4 September 2026. The specifications are still the manufacturer's own, and no independent measurement has been located.
  3. Announcement dating is inconsistent within one document. The blog post is headed 4 June 2026 and its opening line is datelined "June 05, 2026"; the shop feed publishes the product on 4 June 2026 US Eastern. Ordering and fulfilment dates — 5 and 30 June 2026 — are given only once each and do not conflict.
  4. Light Lens Lab claims coverage of a 44 × 33 mm sensor while listing the design frame coverage as 135 full frame, 24 × 36 mm. Both statements appear in the same specification block.
  5. The three lenses' element counts, and where each comes from. Light Lens Lab publishes six elements in four groups for this 75mm and the same for the 50mm f/1.5 "Z21". The Angénieux Type S21 the 50mm copies is described by dealers handling originals — Flashback Camera among them — as "a Double Gauss configuration with 4 groups and 6 elements". The count on the replicas is therefore the maker's own for the maker's own lenses, not a figure carried across from the French original; that it agrees with the original is the observation, not the source.
  6. Every specification on this page is the maker's, and the coverage that is not the maker's does not add a second measurement of anything. PetaPixel, Imaging Resource, DIYPhotography and Leica Rumors all carried the lens on or about 4 June 2026, working from the announcement. Milan Swolfs published a written review, but of a lens the maker put in his hands — he thanks David Chen and the Light Lens Lab team for "trusting me with the 75mm Z21" and does not say whether the copy was a production one. No independent measurement of a retail example has been located, which is why the single-source badge stays on despite the number of bylines.
  7. The evidence that it actually shipped is the maker's own shop: fulfilment was scheduled from 30 June 2026, and the product was listed available at $999 in the shop feed on 4 September 2026. The product page carried a "Sold out" badge on the same day the feed reported the one variant as available — a storefront inconsistency, recorded rather than resolved.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • E55 filter thread with an E55 screw-on hood — the largest filter size in the current Light Lens Lab M range
  • 1 m minimum focus, against 0.7 m on the 50mm f/1.5 that shares the name
  • Six elements in four groups, the same count as the 50mm f/1.5 "Z21"

Matte Black Paint / Aluminium:

  • The only finish offered — a matte black painted aluminium barrel

Specifications

Formula
Double Gauss
Construction
6 elements / 4 groups
Aperture range
f/1.5–f/22
Diaphragm blades
10
Min. focus
1 m
Dimensions
63.5 × 71 mm
Weight
454 g
Filter
55 mm
Years manufactured
2026
Country
China
Material
Aluminium alloy
Original price
$999 (Matte Black Paint)

What reviewers say

History

The interesting thing about this lens is its name, and the interesting thing about the name is that it means something different here than it does on the lens it was inherited from.

Light Lens Lab’s 50mm f/1.5 “Z21” of 2025 is a copy. Its own product page opens “Homage to the legendary 50mm f/1.5 ‘S21’” — Pierre Angénieux’s Type S21 of the early 1950s, a fast double Gauss whose swirl and glow are the whole reason anyone wants one. Z21 is S21 with a letter changed, which is about as direct as a code gets. The 75mm that followed in June 2026 kept the code and dropped the referent. Light Lens Lab is unusually blunt about it: “Unlike many of our previous projects, the 75mm f/1.5 ‘Z21’ is not an homage to an existing optical formula. Instead, it is based entirely on our own optical research, production experience, and long-term goal of defining the ‘Z21’ rendering signature across multiple focal lengths.”

So the same four characters point at a French lens on one product and at a house style on the other. A buyer working backwards from the name to an original will find one for the 50mm and nothing for the 75mm, and that is the fact this page exists to record.

The disclaimer sits awkwardly beside what the same page says next, which is that the 75mm has a “Classic Double-Gaussian optical foundation” that “closely follows the 50mm f/1.5 ‘Z21’” — a lens that is an homage. The element count follows suit: six elements in four groups here, six in four on the 50mm, and six in four on the Angénieux the 50mm copies. Independent research reaching the identical configuration as the thing it disclaims is not impossible, since a fast double Gauss of this era has few other shapes available to it. It is worth noticing all the same, and it is the kind of claim only a schematic comparison could settle. Light Lens Lab publishes no cross-section.

The rest is straightforward. Ten blades, f/1.5 to f/22, 1 m minimum focus — long, and a real limitation on a 75, though the 50mm’s 0.7 m is no closer than an M rangefinder wants either. E55 filters and an E55 screw-on hood, 71 mm long, 63.5 mm across, 454 g of aluminium alloy. It shares a lanthanide-infused element with the 50mm, which is the maker’s stated route to the rendering both lenses are supposed to have. Coverage is claimed to 44 × 33 mm, though the design frame coverage in the same table reads 135 full frame, so the medium-format claim is a tolerance rather than a design target.

$999 in one finish, matte black paint. Ordering opened 5 June 2026, fulfilment from 30 June, and it was in stock three months later.

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 75mm f/1.5 "Z21"? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $1,100 across 5 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $1,100–$1,100). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 2 days: unchanged from $1,100.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$1,100$1,100–$1,1005
2026-09-06$1,100$1,100–$1,1005

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

eBay links are affiliate links. If you buy through one, Glass Bodies earns a small commission from eBay at no cost to you. It does not change which listings appear, their prices or their order — those come from the search and the sort described above.

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

Related: Light Lens Lab 35mm f/2 "Apochromatic"

Sources (7)

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.