Unleash Hollywood Magic: The Light Lens Lab Speed Panchro II

#lightlenslab #leica #cinematic #cinemalens #leicacamera
Crave that "Hollywood look" for your photography? Dive into the dreamy world of the Light Lens Lab Speed Panchro II, a modern recreation of a Hollywood legend. This 50mm f/2 Leica M mount lens promises vintage vibes, buttery bokeh, and characterful quirks - but can it hold up in 2024? Join me as I put it through its paces, exploring sharpness, flare, bokeh, and real-world shooting scenarios on a variety of cameras, Leica SL2-S, Nikon Zf, Leica M7 and more. Discover if this budget-friendly "Cooke Look" alternative lives up to the hype, or if it's just a nostalgic pipe dream.

My Gear:
Camera: FujiFilm GFX100II, Nikon Z8, Nikkor S 105 f2.8 Micro
Sennheiser AVX with Zoom F6
MacStudio M2 MAX
Mac Studio Display
Lights: Aputure 300X Amaran T2c, Amaran F21c, Amaran COB 60X, Amaran P60c
Display Cabinet: Terravault
Chair and Desk: SecretLab

[erockvaughn]

I bought it to play with and really like it. I got some stunning images I did for Dior. I a model on the shoot and we walked around New York and got some awesem shots as well. Very vintage vibe. I shot with a Nikon Z8 and Leica M adapter. If want unique look this is the lens to get. If you are only a pixel peeper this is not your lens.

[Kevon]

This lens is special, I love the vintage Cooke lenses - especially when Panavision took these S2 designs and added anamorphic elements (I'm sure the modifications are more complex than that) and created the now famous Panavision C-Series lenses, which are absolutely gorgeous and seen in many films new and old.
I agree that the 50mm Summicron Rigid is absolutely amazing, I hope LLL's SPII in a Rigid barrel is just a test run for them to do a real 50 Rigid and/or Dual Range remake like they did with their great 35mm 8 Element lens. Plus they have the luxury of modern, more durable lens coatings and having the Rigid focus down to 0.7m like all Leica lenses have done for a very long time now.

[settingofthesuns]

I have the same black w/brassing version, and it's been glued to my M11M since I got it. Strangely, I love shooting this at longer distances for landscape/architecture at f/2 so that everything glows. At infinity and f/2, it still has good sharpness out to the corners. It has a very unique look at f/2, a lot like a very good copy of the Leica 35mm Lux pre-ASPH v2. In fact this might be the only 50mm M lens that equals the 35 Lux pre-ASPH v2 for glow. Regarding flare, you may want to use a lens spanner wrench to remove the built-in UV filter, which causes quite a bit of veiling flare I don't get without it or when using a high quality clear or UV filter.

[markusbuechter]

Thanks again for another informative and even "entertaining" video. I like your balanced views and presentations and your final personal opinion. I bought the SP II and still own it. I did not shoot as much with it as I thought. Now this may be due to the fact that I am fortunate enough to own the latest Leica 50mm Summilux ( completely different price point, I know) and the 50 Elcan Replica from LLL as well. I like the special glow the SP II creates in some situations, but if I put a black mist filter on my Lux I get a similar (not the same) effect. Still I like the optics and the build quality is nice but the form factor is a bit odd. It is a bit long for a 50mm f2 and being long and slim it just does not look to nice on an M body either. The Elcan replica is a 50 f2 as well, has a very nice rendering and a perfect compact size for the M. So I grab this lens more than the SP II.

[rossxjohnson]

Nice video. While I do appreciate the look and what LLL are doing, it's not really my style. That said I am curious by their 1966 50mm 1.2.

[crispin]

Very nice video, as always. LLL make very nice lenses. Beautiful to hold, look at and look through. I have the SP II. I should use it more. I've preordered the 50mm F1.2, which I think many are really looking forward to and are curious about. My curiosity is the ability to focus at F1.2 on an M3 and M7.

[michaelacedeno]

Having had this for a few months now, this thing is butter between f/2.8-f/4 if you want a more medium format look.

[scroy]

Thought about the speed panchro, but ended up ordering the 50 1.2. I'm looking forward to getting my lens soon.

[bolajipopoola]

Thank you for the video. Can you share where you got the case and strap for your M7?

[VizionZine]

I took some very cool and moody shots on the Sigma fp with this lens. It also looks great on my Nikon Zf. I wish it had the 6-bit encoding though so I could use my adapter for better manual focusing on the Zf. Focus peaking doesn't always work on this lens especially wide open. I mostly use the CV 50mm f1 on my Zf for that reason.

[GatorheadLuis]

I bought it and sold it after a few months. It felt gimmicky to me but can see why someone would like it. It’s a “cool” lens to add to a collection but it wasn’t really a “special” lens to me. I also didn’t like how big the thing was with hood attached.

[SummersSnaps]

I think the only issue with lenses like this is you need to be at the top of your game to knowing where the lens is going to actually trump in a particular shot. Your opening shot at 0:03 for example is awesome, a good example of the soap bubble bokeh effect working in its favour and arguably going to be better end result that some other 'normal' modern optic. But there are plenty of examples where the look kinda looks rough, aggressive, chaotic where an argument could be had that it's rendering worsened the shot. So it becomes a pricey specialist tool, like a lensbaby lens or trioplan.

Personally, the biggest problem is the cool characterful lenses are all manual focus still. You can get a second hand Takumar 50/1.4 which has similar traits also for far less coin. Only the Touit 32 can be said to having some of this cooke character with AF (a true rare gem of a lens).
I'd like a company with some guts to start making very decent lenses with like the LLL guys but put in some AF as well. Sirui's latest Sniper trio of lenses would be about the only ones I know of currently that have actually done this (kudos to them!).

[JeDxDeVu]

Just got mine today. couldnt care less about sharpness. Only thing thats annoying is the the hood coveres the dot that shows the aperture

[JimmyCheng]

I can see the appeal of those bubbly bokeh to some ppl, but to me the rendering is simply not that pleasant, let alone the optical quality. zeiss 50 1.5 sonnar would be a better choice for most ppl who want charater.

[Old-School-Liberal]

I don’t support counterfeits, copies or knockoffs in anything. Especially cheap Chinese lenses.