The Noctilux 35mm Surprised Me (I didn't think I'd like it) + Leitzphone Quick Look

In this video, the new Leica Noctulux that I didn't think I'd like, but wow, what a surprise. And a quick look at a lights phone. Okay, so today I'm here with a brand new Leica Noctilux 35mm f1. 2 on my M5 because my digital one is broken. — Yes. Oh, bum flaps. And this is when it happened. Why isn't it working? It's just running really hot. — That's really — Well, what a pain in the ass that is then. — I said it was another one in there. Now, I don't want to shout out another several K on a Leica body to use while the other one gets fixed. Although it's got to be said perversely, at the same time, I am lusting over 7K knocks, but spoiler alert, it is a monumental lens. Even the size is far from monumental. You know, there's one thing I like about this 35 mm Noctilux is the size and weight. Especially when you compare it to the 50 mm Noctilux. That is one of my all-time favorite lenses. Just not used lenses because it's just a little bit too front heavy on the Leica M. The 50 mm Noctilux is wild but hugely impractical and will compromise your front bits. It's the leather pants of the lens world. This 35 mm Noctylux might be a little bit slow at f1. 2, but the smaller size and lighter weight makes this a lens that you could quite happily carry around and use all day every day. Also, with the focus throw being shorter than the 50, it's a lot snappier to focus for street photography. Well, another great thing about a 35 mm Noilux is that it focuses quite close. For a naughtyux, it goes all the way to 50 cm. That is really practical. It is rangefinder couple down to 70 cm though. So if you want that practical close-up stuff, you will need to use live view for accurate focusing. And if you want maximum bokeh care, you will need to get close-up as a 351. 2 doesn't give you the crazy shallow depth of field like a 50 F1 or faster will. That's perhaps partly why I had some reservations about 35 Noctilux before. Still, it feels easy to tame and it is sharp and sensible somewhat. It could be the only like a 35 mm lens you ever need. I have to say this might just be a better choice than a semilux. It's faster. It is also about 2k more expensive for the third to half a stop extra light. But at least the bokeh looks really lovely. And it really does. In the center, the bokeh balls just melt away. They're just so gooey and delicious like. And then in the corners, the optical vignetting gives the bokeh balls a more cat's eye shape if you like that kind of thing. The only thing is with the straight aperture blades, those bokeh balls quickly become less balllike as you stop down. On the other hand, with those odd number straight aperture blades, it should make those sun stars look a bit sweeter. But, you know, you kind of expect things to be really lovely and kind of sweet when you're paying not just 2K more than the semiles, but almost 10 times than the also really lovely Voitlander 35mm f1. 2 knocked on. And by the way, Voitlander deserve a bit of credit for their 351. 2 to because they did theirs yonss ago. I had the first version, sold it, got goldfish married and bought the second version, sold that, too. Fantastic lenses. I would happily buy one of the newer, smaller ones, which has got to be said is vastly better value for money than the Leica. But, you know, if things were ever about value, then Leica would never be in the equation anyway. Is it a more refined lens than Voitlander though? Well, of course. It has flee, floating lens elements for better performance throughout the focal distance range. It has low distortion, low chromatic aberration, things the Voitlander suffers from, and it's sharper wide open. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this lens is as sharp at f1. 2 as the Sumilux is at f1. 4. The edges are a bit edgier, more softness, more vignetting, but this is a noilux in my opinion. Peak Nocttilux was the 50 mm f1. It's not a lens for admiring the edgeto-edge performance. Quite often the corners were almost completely black, but the center pops and the bokeh is supremely dreamy. It is the Noctilux look, pure and utter silly fun chaos. In the case of the 5095, the Noctilux became a lens that produced a more modern looking, aspherical, more corrected image in an even fatter body. It is a marvel, but I didn't feel like it was as marvelous as the F1. And the 35 mm Noctilux has that modern look too. And I think that works better with a 35 1. 2 than it does the 5095. Bokeare and shallow depth of field is not really the most important thing with a 35 mm lens. A 35 is a more versatile standard. A perfect one lens to do it all. And this Noctulux is the most versatile of all Leica 35s. It's every bit as easy to use as a sumux or sicron with images as crisp looking at moderate apertures and

they're really quite incredibly sharp while being able to do a bit of the wild stuff at f1. 2. I have to say I did wish it had the old kind of Noctilux magic but yet it has impressed me so much that I can appreciate it for what it is. A compact super fast lens made to offer up everything with as very little compromise as possible. That is other than the upfront cost. But if you can stomach that and aesthetic is to your taste, then you can certainly enjoy this silly yet sensible lens that is quite possibly the finest 35 mm lens Leica has ever made. Now, before we move on to the lights phone, this video is sponsored by Storylocks. When I'm editing videos like this one, there are always little things that help bring the story together, like establishing shots, background music, sound design, and that's everything that Story Blocks can be useful for. Story Blocks is an all-in-one creative toolkit with a huge library of footage, music, sound effects, and templates all in one place, so you can spend less time searching across different platforms, and more time actually building your video. The library is also 100% humanmade, created by filmmakers and artists around the world, so the footage is real and professionally produced. And everything you download is royalty-free and pre-licicensed, which means you can safely use it in your monetized YouTube videos. So, to get started with building better stories with Story Blocks, you can use this link right here. And they're offering 15% off any annual plan for a limited time. And that discount is only available through this link here or in the description box down below. Anyway, here we are at Aperture. And oh, this is saucy. What have I just spotted? That's an interesting liker right there, Dan. — Vintage. — They don't make them like they used to. See? Oh, I've cracked into it. Don't tell Patrick. I'm just sneaking into his cabinet. — 17 Ultra. Is it — the lights phone is Leica? Call it. Is it Leica or Xiaomi? Xiaomi or Leica? Well, underneath the skin, it shares the same hardware. The main cam being a 50 megapixel 1 in Light Fusion sensor with F1. 6M lens. Quite simply for photos and video with the bigger than your average smartphone camera sensor with like a color science, the images from the main camera are really pleasing to the eye. A bonus with the lights as they add some physical and non-physical features, too. This is got proper aperture on it, you know. — Yeah, — that would be the cool control ring that allows you to do stuff like zoom, change ISO, shutter speed, exposure compensation, or switching between like a looks. And talking about looks, it also has this essential mode. But what you could select the camera? — What's that? You can select any. — No, — that's just black and white, isn't it? — I mean, presumably somebody is quite geeky about likers who's made this. Well, the camera UI is designed by Leica. So, I guess if anyone's going to be geeky about Leica, then it's Leica, right? And it gets geekier, too. There's Leica shutter sounds and five Leica bokeh simulations, which is a nice novelty. But the stuff that really matters on top of the already excellent image quality, you've got the option of shooting DNG RAW, Ala Leica. And it ends up feeling like a very promising package for photographers. — Not sure what's going on, but — I don't understand what that is. just Rod Stew on the steps — or even video peeps. So anyway, I'm testing out the lights phone. I'm testing a video on the lights phone. This is 4K 30. It does 8K 30. Is it? Yeah. — Wow. Let's have a look. So this AK30. In fact, it does 4K120, which is not bad. Wow. For some reason, I feel like the sound of having the 8K is more impressive than the actual increase in image quality. It's got a like a pancake cuz maybe 200 mm, not 200 megapixel. — That is the megapixels. — You happen to have 200 megapixels on a — It does like I don't know multiple shots, isn't it? — On 3. 2x. — Why is it — Well, let's have a go. — Is that 200 megapixels? Obviously that is just as simple as this guy. I mean the obvious one you want to sell, isn't it? — It's the same DNA. Yeah, of course it's but it's the same DNA, isn't it? You know, I mean very simple controls, nice light. — Oh, processing 200 megapixel image. — Look at that. — It's a multi-shot. So the other question is if you then do — iPhone versus Lights phone. — Let's just do JPEG, right? Or H E F — Heath. He got the heath. — I got put them right next to each other. — Right. So — one times — and we're halfway to doing a really good YF Jean impression. — 3. 2 times. — Impression failed. — So it doesn't go between one times and 3. 2. — You go 3. 2 two and four. Then let's try that. — In my opinion, for the JPEGs, the most significant difference is the color in mixed lighting where the lights phone produces something a little bit more pleasing than the iPhone 17 Pro Max.

Check out the color on the cameras and lenses there. — Got 200 megapixels. — Oh, look, I've got an advert from Camera World. Look at — that. 200 megapixel image. — Yeah. Okay, you got 200 megapixels. — Well, the 200 megapixel shot from the lights phone does look clearer. But yeah, that's pretty much all the time I had with the lights phone. I feel like for overall image quality, for stills, I actually prefer the colors of the images from the Lights phone. For video, I still feel like the stabilization is a little bit smooth on the iPhone, but nothing to really diminish my very positive feeling about Lights phone cameras. Although I only had a very short time with it, I do think it's got great set of cameras and photography features. Although the price is a tad bit on the high end, it is only just a slight bit more expensive than the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and it looks absolutely fantastic. — Wow. Brass shiny — shininess. I — think those lenses fit on the front. — How do we find it? — Let's see how the shutter work. — Oh. One more time. — Don't put your finger in there. — Oh, good. — Oh. Oh, you got a cigar there. — Oh, yes. Yes. — Handy. A bit too big. Should be strong enough. Let's see. No. Give me where's the matches?