Shoten Kobo has announced the Lailens LTM 50mm f/1.1 KP, a manual-focus prime lens for Leica M-mount taking as its optical reference the Hugo Meyer Kino Plasmat 5cm f/1.5, a pre-war German cinema lens from the 1920s and 1930s that is widely regarded as one of the most optically distinctive lenses of its era and commands prices well above $12,000 on the used market when examples surface at auction — a figure that has almost certainly increased since the last documented sale in 2011.

The Kino Plasmat design is associated with a characteristic rendering at wide apertures: a pronounced softness, substantial spherical aberration, and a glow around highlight areas that produces what is commonly described as a painterly or dreamlike quality. The Lailens does not simply replicate the original formula at f/1.5, however: it extends the maximum aperture to f/1.1, which is considerably faster and implies a substantially more complex optical construction. Shoten Kobo has not disclosed the number of elements or groups in the design, stating only that the lens has a 13-blade aperture diaphragm and that at maximum aperture it delivers rendering consistent with the Kino Plasmat aesthetic. The minimum focusing distance is 0.5 meters in live-view use, extending to 0.7 or 0.9 meters depending on the camera’s rangefinder coupling.

The project has an unusual origin: Shoten Kobo was initially commissioned by a single individual to attempt a recreation of the Kino Plasmat, and the eventual decision to produce 70 units was made after that initial commission was completed. Each unit is therefore part of a run that was never planned as a commercial product from the outset. The lens measures 44.5mm in length and weighs 308 grams, with a 52mm front filter thread. It is natively an L39 screw mount lens and ships with an adapter ring for Leica M-mount compatibility, making it usable on rangefinder bodies and, via standard adapters, on mirrorless cameras.

Here are some sample pictures, courtesy of Shoten Kobo: