Brightin Star’s New Silver X-Slim 28mm f/2.8 Lens

credits: Brightin Star

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 is available in a new “Liquid Silver” finish. Underneath the new finish, it is the same tiny full-frame manual-focus lens as before. From the lens mount, it sticks out by just 9.9mm, while the complete lens measures 21.5mm long because part of the optical construction extends back into the mount. Weight comes in at 125g.

Inside, the 28mm f/2.8 uses six elements arranged in five groups, paired with a nine-blade aperture diaphragm. Focusing is completely manual, with a range from 0.7m to infinity, and the lens includes proper rangefinder coupling when used natively on compatible Leica M cameras. Despite being designed for M Mount, it can also be adapted to quite a few other mirrorless systems. Brightin Star offers kits with adapters for Canon RF, Nikon Z, Sony E, Fujifilm X, L-Mount, and Fujifilm GFX, although adding an adapter naturally takes away some of the appeal of that extremely thin 9.9mm profile.

One little thing that has changed is that now instead of the yellow markings of the original, the Liquid Silver version uses black and red markings. Brightin Star has also shared a rare bit of sales information, saying that it has sold nearly 10,000 units of the original black version since its introduction. The new Brightin Star X-Slim 28mm f/2.8 Liquid Silver is available for $318.99.