Brightin Star’s Incomprehensibly-Thin 28mm f/2.8 Lens Now Comes In Stylish Silver

Brightin Star’s X-Slim 28mm f/2.8 Pancake Lens for Leica M Mount was originally launched in black in 2023, and now it’s available in a new “Liquid Silver” finish, looking as stylish as ever.

The 28mm f/2.8 full-frame lens is remarkably thin, measuring just 9.9 millimeters (0.39 inches) long from the lens mount. It’s also very lightweight, of course, weighing 125 grams (4.4 ounces).

The lens is a bit thicker than that overall, though. Some of the optical design, which comprises six elements arranged across five groups, extends inside the mount. Its total length is 21.5 millimeters (0.85 inches). The lens has a nine-bladed aperture diaphragm. Brightin Star promises sharp resolution and minimized aberrations despite the compact optical formula.

The manual focus lens can focus from 0.7 meters (2.3 feet) to infinity, meaning it is a far cry from a macro lens.

While a native M lens with rangefinder coupling, Brightin Star clearly markets it for a broad range of photographers. The company sells it by itself for $318.99, but also bundles it in kits with different mount adapters, including for Canon RF, Nikon Z, Sony E, Fujifilm X, L-Mount, and Fujifilm GFX. The adapters push the price up just a bit to $354.99.

Naturally, adding an adapter, even the thin ones Brightin Star makes, increases the thickness, which arguably hurts the ultra-sleek vibe a bit. But on the other hand, the new Liquid Silver finish is very nice, sporting what Brightin Star calls a “refined metallic texture.” It trades the black version’s lacquered finish and yellow text for a bare metal look with black and red text.

With the release of the new silver version, Brightin Star has also taken the unusual step of sharing sales information about the original black lens. While not specific, the company says it has sold “nearly 10,000” units of the black lacquer edition, which is quite a respectable number for what is ultimately a relatively niche manual focus lens.

Pricing and Availability

The Brightin Star MF 28mm f/2.8 Liquid Silver lens is available now for $318.99 directly through Brightin Star. This is a special discounted launch price; the lens regularly costs $368.99 through authorized retailers.

Image creditsBrightin Star