Third-party glass for Leica’s M-mount tends to fall into two camps: dirt-cheap manual primes and eye-wateringly expensive exotica. Brightin Star’s new APO M 35mm f/1.7 ASPH. is aiming squarely at the space in between, and it’s doing so via a route the company rarely takes — a live Kickstarter campaign.
First shown at CP+ 2026 in Japan back in February, the lens is now available to back, and the numbers suggest Brightin Star isn’t cutting corners on the optical formula. Inside the barrel sit 11 elements arranged across seven groups, with six aspherical surfaces doing the heavy lifting. The apochromatic design is the headline: Brightin Star claims well-controlled chromatic aberration, which is exactly what you want from a fast 35mm intended for high-resolution sensors and unforgiving pixel peepers.
The rest of the spec sheet reads like a lens built for people who actually enjoy manual focusing. There’s a circular 11-bladed aperture diaphragm for smooth, rounded bokeh, and the focus ring offers a generous 307° of throw — plenty of travel for precise rangefinder-style work rather than the twitchy, quarter-turn feel of cheaper primes. Close-focus lands at 0.3 meters (one foot), which is respectable for an M-mount optic given the format’s traditional limitations.
Despite that ambitious glass count, this isn’t a brick. Brightin Star lists the weight at roughly 266 grams (9.4 ounces) with a length of just 43 millimeters (1.7 inches), keeping it in step with the compact ethos that draws people to Leica bodies in the first place. On a small rangefinder or one of the mirrorless cameras that accept M glass via adapter, it should feel nicely balanced.
Here’s why the Kickstarter angle matters: the campaign price is US$759, which Brightin Star pitches as a 37% discount against the eventual retail price of $1,199. That’s a meaningful gap, and for a lens with this many aspherical elements and an APO badge, the early-bird figure looks genuinely aggressive next to what Leica-branded 35mm primes command.
A few caveats worth keeping in mind. This is manual-focus, manual-aperture glass — no autofocus, no electronic communication — which is par for the course with affordable M-mount options. And because it’s crowdfunded, backers are trusting a delivery timeline rather than pulling stock off a shelf. Brightin Star expects shipping to begin in November.
If the optical claims hold up in the field, the APO M 35mm f/1.7 could be one of the more compelling third-party primes for M-mount shooters this year — a fast, compact, apochromatic 35mm that doesn’t require a Leica-sized budget. The proof, as always, will be in the corners.
