Light Lens Lab 50mm f/2 "Rigid SP II"

Light Lens Lab 50mm f/2 "Rigid SP II"

This lens is an unusual hybrid: Light Lens Lab took the optical recipe of a 1940s Cooke Speed Panchro Series II 50mm f/2 cinema lens and housed it inside a still-camera barrel shaped like the classic Leica Summicron "Rigid" 50mm f/2 body, which is the source of the name. [1][2] The maker presents it as a recreation of the well-known Speed Panchro II cine optic, adapted for Leica M rangefinder use rather than a movie camera. Because Light Lens Lab also sells a separate 50mm f/2 "Rigid" that reproduces the Leica Summicron itself, the two products are easily confused; the "Rigid SP II" specifically refers to the Speed Panchro optical block in a Rigid-style 50mm f/2 housing. [3]

The barrel is full brass and finished in silver chrome, in keeping with the original Rigid profile, and weighs about 250 g. The optical block uses seven elements in five groups, made in house with lanthanide-infused glass, and Light Lens Lab fits modern multicoatings that were not part of the 1940s design. Aperture runs from f/2 to f/16 over eight blades with even half-stop detents, focusing extends to a 0.7 m minimum, and the lens carries a 39 mm filter thread with an A42 hood mount. It is a rangefinder-coupled M-mount lens and is not six-bit coded.

Light Lens Lab opened pre-orders in December 2023, with the chrome version offered first; the company also stated that a screw-mount (LTM) version was planned to follow during 2024. The early pre-order price was set at 849 USD, rising afterward to a 949.99 USD list price. An important caveat for buyers comes from the lens's cinema origins: the earliest Speed Panchro sets were designed for Super 35 cine frames and vignette badly, or can even foul a camera's shutter or sensor, on full-frame Leica M bodies, whereas the later Series II design on which this lens is based was revised to cover the 24 x 36 mm full-frame format. [4]

Optical qualities

Rendering The lens is built to reproduce the so-called "Cooke Look," the soft, lower-contrast vintage drawing for which Speed Panchro cine lenses are known. Published material on the design describes a double-Gauss configuration with line pairs grouped closely but at lower contrast than modern optics, implying gentle resolution with little distortion.

Flare resistance Flare control is a noted weak point inherited from the cinema design. Commentary connected with the project describes only mediocre flare resistance, and recommends using the dedicated hood in harsh or backlit conditions.

History

Development and Launch The lens grows out of Light Lens Lab's broader program of recreating classic optics, which has included reissues of vintage Leica designs and, here, a movie lens. The Cooke Speed Panchro is a long-running cine optic that dates back to the 1930s and remained prized for its rendering; Light Lens Lab set out to rebuild the Series II version of that lens for still photography. The company announced the "Rigid SP II" and began taking pre-orders in December 2023, framing it as a recreation of a 1940s 50mm f/2 cinema lens placed in a Type Two "Rigid" 50mm f/2 still-camera body.

Production Evolution At launch the lens was offered in chrome for the initial pre-order, and Light Lens Lab indicated that a screw-mount version would be added later in 2024 alongside the M-mount release.

Special editions No major factory special variants beyond the stated mount options are widely documented at the time of writing.

Collector Notes The most common point of confusion is the model name itself, since Light Lens Lab markets both a Summicron-style "Rigid" and this Speed Panchro "Rigid SP II"; buyers should confirm which optical block a given lens carries before purchase. Given the design's cinema roots and noted flare behavior, the matched A42 hood is worth verifying as included, and prospective buyers should be aware that genuine vintage Speed Panchro cine lenses are not interchangeable with this purpose-built M-mount adaptation.