Was hoping to get the 75mm f/2 "SPII" this week while in HK but it ends up being more expensive because to taxes bringing it home. $6,200HK. Maybe in a few months time.
I can’t reply to the preorder thread for the 75mm f2 so will do it here, I’m picking up a copy today in HK. So if anyone has preordered it’s probably being sent soon. My 35mm f1.4 was also sent today.
This time of year the rising Sun extends a shaft of light onto my Tucson Saguaro framed with a flowering tree while mostly everything else remains in shadow. LLL 35 mm 1.4 double AA image.
Close in the lens is great and fairly easy to use. I have struggled to use this lens for scenics, especially open even with its large image circle. But a subject like this were the center third is sharp and the rest swirls off to out of focus as well as the distant scene beyond the focus point. So many defects, outlining, purple fringing out of focus yet it all is a bit abstract and kind of works to my eye.
Close in the lens is great and fairly easy to use. I have struggled to use this lens for scenics, especially open even with its large image circle. But a subject like this were the center third is sharp and the rest swirls off to out of focus as well as the distant scene beyond the focus point. So many defects, outlining, purple fringing out of focus yet it all is a bit abstract and kind of works to my eye....Show more →
It's a very challenging lens for landscapes, especially wide open. The field curvature, combined with the real drop in performance off axis, makes it tricky to use. I do wish the transition between center and edges wasn't so abrupt.
I have had better success treating it differently, keeping the subject in the center and letting the off axis falloff work in your favor for a bit of natural isolation.
The LLL Z21 I thought was a lens for the brave as the Heliar was but it turned out to be not even for the bold but for the daring.
I resigned myself to use it with caution, wide open when I know it will shine and 2.8-4 when I don’t think it will and I don’t have high standards in good rendering.
Love the lens but is it a hard one.
I too wished the transition to the side vortexes be more gradual.
Sonnar-7 wrote:
The LLL Z21 I thought was a lens for the brave as the Heliar was but it turned out to be not even for the bold but for the daring.
I resigned myself to use it with caution, wide open when I know it will shine and 2.8-4 when I don’t think it will and I don’t have high standards in good rendering.
Love the lens but is it a hard one.
I too wished the transition to the side vortexes be more gradual.
Which one do you prefer? I shoot the Heliar primarily f2 and above and I think it’s nice, soft look is enough to keep using it. Although the purple fringing I really find off putting sometimes with colour film. I think sometimes maybe it’s best only used for portraits, where it shines. Does the Z21 offer something different?
damonnomonon wrote:
Which one do you prefer? I shoot the Heliar primarily f2 and above and I think it’s nice, soft look is enough to keep using it. Although the purple fringing I really find off putting sometimes with colour film. I think sometimes maybe it’s best only used for portraits, where it shines. Does the Z21 offer something different?
I do prefer the Z21 although I find the Heliar easier than the Z21, I had some good results with it in digital and film but O always found it lacked a little bit.
The missing parts for me are the flares, they are quite hard to provoke, I love that Voigtlander did offer the SC option on some lenses as it showed they care about rendering, but lately their SC is too effective and they just simply do it less and less. It’s too bad because the Single coating of the Nokton 35mm 1.4 is almost perfect. Just use it Voigtlander, what are you doing?
The other thing is the lack of sharpness, I don’t mind lenses with ok to meh sharpness but it’s nice when you had-ce it in the center. The Heliar is lacking in that regard and my standards are not high.
I wish CV would make a version 2 of that lens.
The Z21 Jase some lovely flares(although I wish the lens was not so receded in its body, what are you doing LLL,? If you give us beautiful flares, own it, put the frontal element where I can put it to the test) but still they are easier to provoke I think.
The Z21 has also a good central sharpness even wide open.
It’s still a harder lens because of the quick collapse in performance when moving away from the center.
The lens is more forgiving on film though.
I prefer the Z21 but those two lenses are challenging.
dumchidumchi wrote:
Just saw some pics on the upcoming R-Super Six 50mm f1.9 from LLL. My guess is it's based on Dallmeyer Super-Six. The lens looks like a 50mm f2 Rigid.
I got an interesting email from LLL last night the elcan is back in stock, they had a blog that they would cease production, and this was quite some time ago. I guess they changed their business goals, I have mine, it is a remarkable lens so it is great more will be available, the 8 element 35 is also again available. Both of these reproduce very rare and expensive Leica lens and are in my opinion great tiny E39 lenses.
Light Lens Lab has released a new batch of their popular lenses after being sold out for some time, including the well-known LLL 35mm f/2 8-Element, the 50mm f/2 Elan, and several others.
Fred Miranda wrote:
Perhaps this is the lens you saw?
That is interesting for sale and not announced, assuming not some AI thing. It would make sense for LLL to replicate Dallmeyer and perhaps following on the SPII rigid housing it could be simpler cost-efficient way to put optics into a housing without full new design and engineering new housing since it would be an optics type not an actual replica, like the SPII rigid. Being comfortable to the rigid lens design using both rigid and SPII it is going to get confusing to reach for one or another of the nearly identical now "triplets". Still odd up for sale from a Chinese ebay store before announcement, assuming it is real.
A quick anecdotal report for 50mm SPII and Rigid coverage on the GFX (50R). The Rigid has a much larger image circle than the SPII. Not sure if the SPII in the Rigid housing would fare better, but I assume not.
– LLL 50 f/2 Rigid (not SPII) – all distances: 16:9, 1:1 and 65:24. Infinity at f/5.6 at the corners/edges looks good at 50mp with these crops. With full 44x33, hard vignette corners are minimal at all distances.
– LLL 50 f/2 SPII (original housing) – useful for wide open at closer distances with 1:1 and 65:24 crops. Infinity with these crops has soft corners/edges but no hard vignetting. With full 44x33, there is substantial hard vignetting at all distances.
