diff --git a/src/basic/log.c b/src/basic/log.c
index a8056d2635..571f5e43dc 100644
--- a/src/basic/log.c
+++ b/src/basic/log.c
@@ -396,9 +396,10 @@ void log_forget_fds(void) {
         console_fd_is_tty = -1;
 }
 
-void log_set_max_level(int level) {
+int log_set_max_level(int level) {
         assert(level == LOG_NULL || LOG_PRI(level) == level);
 
+        int old = log_max_level;
         log_max_level = level;
 
         /* Also propagate max log level to libc's syslog(), just in case some other component loaded into our
@@ -411,6 +412,8 @@ void log_set_max_level(int level) {
 
         /* Ensure that our own LOG_NULL define maps sanely to the log mask */
         assert_cc(LOG_UPTO(LOG_NULL) == 0);
+
+        return old;
 }
 
 void log_set_facility(int facility) {
@@ -744,7 +747,7 @@ static int write_to_journal(
         if (LOG_PRI(level) > log_target_max_level[LOG_TARGET_JOURNAL])
                 return 0;
 
-        iovec_len = MIN(6 + _log_context_num_fields * 2, IOVEC_MAX);
+        iovec_len = MIN(6 + _log_context_num_fields * 3, IOVEC_MAX);
         iovec = newa(struct iovec, iovec_len);
 
         log_do_header(header, sizeof(header), level, error, file, line, func, object_field, object, extra_field, extra);
@@ -1096,7 +1099,7 @@ int log_struct_internal(
                         int r;
                         bool fallback = false;
 
-                        iovec_len = MIN(17 + _log_context_num_fields * 2, IOVEC_MAX);
+                        iovec_len = MIN(17 + _log_context_num_fields * 3, IOVEC_MAX);
                         iovec = newa(struct iovec, iovec_len);
 
                         /* If the journal is available do structured logging.
@@ -1193,7 +1196,7 @@ int log_struct_iovec_internal(
                 struct iovec *iovec;
                 size_t n = 0, iovec_len;
 
-                iovec_len = MIN(1 + n_input_iovec * 2 + _log_context_num_fields * 2, IOVEC_MAX);
+                iovec_len = MIN(1 + n_input_iovec * 2 + _log_context_num_fields * 3, IOVEC_MAX);
                 iovec = newa(struct iovec, iovec_len);
 
                 log_do_header(header, sizeof(header), level, error, file, line, func, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL);
diff --git a/src/basic/log.h b/src/basic/log.h
index 2da6d5767d..0412e8a871 100644
--- a/src/basic/log.h
+++ b/src/basic/log.h
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ int log_set_target_from_string(const char *e);
 LogTarget log_get_target(void) _pure_;
 void log_settle_target(void);
 
-void log_set_max_level(int level);
+int log_set_max_level(int level);
 int log_set_max_level_from_string(const char *e);
 int log_get_max_level(void) _pure_;
 int log_max_levels_to_string(int level, char **ret);
@@ -491,6 +491,15 @@ size_t log_context_num_contexts(void);
 /* Returns the number of fields in all attached log contexts. */
 size_t log_context_num_fields(void);
 
+static inline void _reset_log_level(int *saved_log_level) {
+        assert(saved_log_level);
+
+        log_set_max_level(*saved_log_level);
+}
+
+#define LOG_CONTEXT_SET_LOG_LEVEL(level) \
+        _cleanup_(_reset_log_level) _unused_ int _saved_log_level_ = log_set_max_level(level);
+
 #define LOG_CONTEXT_PUSH(...) \
         LOG_CONTEXT_PUSH_STRV(STRV_MAKE(__VA_ARGS__))
 
diff --git a/src/core/execute.c b/src/core/execute.c
index cdc1277956..26b2c0fb4a 100644
--- a/src/core/execute.c
+++ b/src/core/execute.c
@@ -396,6 +396,7 @@ int exec_spawn(
         assert(ret);
 
         LOG_CONTEXT_PUSH_UNIT(unit);
+        LOG_CONTEXT_SET_LOG_LEVEL(context->log_level_max >= 0 ? context->log_level_max : log_get_max_level());
 
         r = exec_context_load_environment(unit, context, &params->files_env);
         if (r < 0)