- First video interview with Light Lens Lab founder Mr. Zhou
- 20-minute discussion reveals the stories of popular LLL lenses
- LLL’s goal roadmap and other upcoming projects are also covered
Since its inception in 2018, Light Lens Lab has built an excellent reputation among Leica fans for its M-mount lenses for Leica cameras.
Some LLL lenses are a love letter to rare Leica lenses that very few people have the opportunity to see, let alone touch or use, painstakingly recreated down to the smallest detail, including the choice of metal and characteristic optical quality.
Others are reinvented vintage Leica lenses with reworked optical constructions for improved image quality.
But what all LLL lenses have in common is that they are path more affordable than the real thing, while still giving users the closest possible experience to those sought-after Leica M lenses.
Take the Leica Summilux 35mm f/1.4 (“11873”) – a rare dual aspherical lens produced in the early 1990s, limited to a production run of less than 2,000. It would cost you around $25,000 / £20,000 / AU$40,000, but LLL has recreated the lens 98% and is selling its creation for a fraction of the price, around $1,500 / £1,043 in its online store.
YouTuber Bobby Tonelli describes the original as the “Holy Grail” of Leica lenses and compares it to the LLL homage on his YouTube channel – let’s just say he’s seriously impressed with the affordable LLL alternative.
Recently, Tonelli was able to do something no one else had done before: arrange a video interview with Light Lens Lab founder Mr. Zhou.
Their 20-minute discussion (link below) reveals the story behind Light Lens Lab, delves deeper into some of the high-profile LLL lenses available for purchase, its lens roadmap, and other upcoming projects including redesigning a classic Chinese TLR camera and directing its own film. The cat is well worth the detour.
Look on it
“We want to reach this level”
The story behind Light Lens Lab is actually quite heartwarming. This is not a soulless company, but one born from fandom. In his own words, Mr. Zhou is a big fan of Leica and once owned more than 200 Leica bodies and Leica M-mount lenses. He was a regular member of Leica groups in China, where the idea of dismantling and recreating Leica lenses was born.
His first project was another 35mm lens, an 8-element lens from 1953. He did not have the design ability to remake the lens, but his patent had completely expired, the patent documents were publicly available, and he was able to follow Leica’s prototype to create a complete replica with great attention to detail.
The more he used Leica lenses, the more impressed he became with the performance and quality of such a small optic, the type he chose to recreate. Zhou says: “In such a small package, to achieve the highest possible quality – Leica has done it very well and it is hard to surpass it. »
“So I have always tried to follow the path taken by Leica, and that is why, in terms of finish and quality, we have gained wide recognition.”
Other projects include a rare Elcan lens worth $50,000 – again, Leica had issued the Elcan optical patent – as well as a 1966 Noctilux, which took four years to make. One of the obstacles was that two of the glass types from the original had long been out of production, but with the help of the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Zhou was able to match the original 70-year-old formula by remelting/remanufacturing this special glass.
The results? Equally small and lightweight lenses of similar, if not better optical quality, featuring essentially the same character looks, including bokeh.
Some Leica lenses can be both expensive and hard to find, so it’s no wonder that so many Leica fans appreciate Light Lens Lab’s dedication to recreating rare Leica optics. I haven’t tried an LLL lens yet, but I’ve read enough reviews online from discerning Leica fans to believe the hype.
And Zhou doesn’t stop at vintage Leica lenses. He remakes modern Leica lenses, once again selling his creations for a fraction of the price, and has reserved an “ACDK” series (Angineux, Cooke, Dallmeyer and Kintoptic) – lens types with a distinctive look; If you’re a movie fan, you know Cooke’s legendary look.
Zhou also revealed another long-term project: reworking a traditional Chinese TLR camera with a modern design to achieve better mechanics and optics, as well as making his own film, much like Leica did recently, and of course, following in Fujifilm’s footsteps.
Manufacturing of lenses, cameras and films. “We want to reach that level,” Zhou says, and honestly, I support him.
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