The Mandler 35mm f2

[boojum]

@Bingley @boojum Congratulations, guys! Now I'm excited hahaha!

@boojum The fish and chips walk images look decent. The centre is very sharp, confirming their marketing materials, and the bokeh is appropriately vintage. It will be good to see images in better light and colour conditions.

At 138g, the Mandler 35 would feel almost like a body cap, rather than a lens. And at $348 USD, that should be just less than $600 AUD after shipping and currency exchange. More and more intriguing!

I have no more use for another lens of any focal length than, as the expression goes, a hog has for roller skates. But the price and the reviews were such a difficult to reist combo I went for it.

I'd show you the good color shots inside my home but then you'd know how messy it is so I skipped that. If I can get some color tomorrow I will put it up. It has gotten good reviews, shows me good color and image and the price makes it a no-brainer. They will not get cheaper.

The fish and chips were shot at 8.0 as the lens does not focus close enough to get the fish in focus. Yes, the fish could have looked better. It was the first off day I have seen there. The fish pieces were small. Maybe wholesale prices for fish have gone up reflecting the jump in price of diesel fuel. But on a Lenten Friday??? WTF!!!

I am ot sure I am not helping anybody by enabing their GAS syndromes.

It's a nice lens at a good price. Matt Osborne and others are right.

 

[Archiver]

@boojum If I had just got that lens, I'd shoot all sorts of the usual daft things at full aperture like flowers and leaves, bottles of ginger beer or lemon/lime/bitters, and then head into the City to shoot some buildings and unsuspecting people. So we're not far apart at all. 😅 Thanks for all the images. 👍

 

[agfa100]

They just dropped mine off at 21:56 on Fri night here in No. VA I got the M mount in AL in silver. Lens is very pretty if the pic's are half as good as the lens looks it's a home run. Won't get a chance to try it until Sunday, wish me luck will put it up against the TT Artisans 35mm 1.4 and the TT Artisans Apo 35mm f 2.0 and my Artra Lab Steel rim copy should be fun. Plus I will have to put out my REAL Ser 1, 8 element 35 2.0 that I picked up used in 1970 for $75.00 as everyone was going to Nikon and not Leica then.

 

[Archiver]

They just dropped mine off at 21:56 on Fri night here in No. VA I got the M mount in AL in silver. Lens is very pretty if the pic's are half as good as the lens looks it's a home run. Won't get a chance to try it until Sunday, wish me luck will put it up against the TT Artisans 35mm 1.4 and the TT Artisans Apo 35mm f 2.0 and my Artra Lab Steel rim copy should be fun. Plus I will have to put out my REAL Ser 1, 8 element 35 2.0 that I picked up used in 1970 for $75.00 as everyone was going to Nikon and not Leica then.

Congratulations! Looking forward to your further impressions.

 

[Bingley]

Here's a sample of test shots made with the Mandler 35/2.0, all on a Leica CL digital. These are large jpegs, straight out of the camera with no post-processing. All of these photos were shot at f2.0:

Mandler 35mm f2.0 test shots by Steve Macfarlane, on Flickr

Mandler 35mm f2.0 test shots by Steve Macfarlane, on Flickr

 

[Bingley]

More at f2.0:

Mandler 35mm f2.0 test shots by Steve Macfarlane, on Flickr

Mandler 35mm f2.0 test shots by Steve Macfarlane, on Flickr

Mandler 35mm f2.0 test shots by Steve Macfarlane, on Flickr

 

[Bingley]

f2.0:

Mandler 35mm f2.0 test shots by Steve Macfarlane, on Flickr

f4.0:

Mandler 35mm f2.0 test shots by Steve Macfarlane, on Flickr

 

[Bingley]

I think these were taken at f2.0:

Mandler 35mm f2.0 test shots by Steve Macfarlane, on Flickr

Mandler 35mm f2.0 test shots by Steve Macfarlane, on Flickr

f5.6 (this lens is plenty sharp stopped down):

Mandler 35mm f2.0 test shots by Steve Macfarlane, on Flickr

 

[TenEleven]

I was on the fence on this because I am already very happy with my LTM LLL 35/2 8-element collapsible.
But now that I saw that this lens is available in LTM.... argh.

My poor wallet!

To be fair it's actually a wallet friendly price, but other expenditures have accumulated...

 

[Bingley]

I will make some photos on film with this lens this week, including bw film. But already it looks like a keeper.

 

[Bingley]

I was on the fence on this because I am already very happy with my LTM LLL 35/2 8-element collapsible.
But now that I saw that this lens is available in LTM.... argh.

My poor wallet!

To be fair it's actually a wallet friendly price, but other expenditures have accumulated...

You could own both, ya know.

 

[Erik van Straten]

This shot was made with a prototype of the Chinese copy of the first version of the Summicron 35mm f2 that I've got as a present from the makers. A beautiful lens in black paint.

gelatin silver print (LLL35mm f2) leica mp

Centraal Station, Amsterdam 2020

 

[TenEleven]

Yeah that's most likely what it will come down to.... and yes agreed Bingley on digital which is more demanding the lens already looks very good.

I wish there were more LTM lenses - especially for odd focal lengths where you can still focus to 0.7m and with an M/L adapter you can use it on an M and decide what frame-lines it will call up with zero practical downsides. I guess finishing it in LTM means they can not resort to curved cams and other such tricks that make manufacture a bit cheaper.

 

[TenEleven]

This shot was made with a prototype of the Chinese copy of the first version of the Summicron 35mm f2 that I've got as a present from the makers. A beautiful lens in black paint.

gelatin silver print (LLL35mm f2) leica mp

Centraal Station, Amsterdam 2020
View attachment 4889784

Nice shot Erik. I especially love the collapsible because they tweaked the optical formula. It still has a classic look but there is much less coma than in my original v1!


TMax 400 with LLL 8ele collapsible wide open at f2.

 

[Archiver]

It’s a long story but I’ve just received the Mr Ding 1.8/35 based on v4 Summicron. There was a terrible review of an early version and production was halted. It’s only recently reappeared, over a year later.

To be honest I’d forgotten about it completely until I got a tracking email… it arrived this week (see other thread) and seems all OK so far - not Voiglander or Zeiss mechanical refinement but not sloppy in any way. I’ve got it on my M11 this weekend and will put some pics in the Mr Ding thread if I actually get some light.

How did the Mr. Ding lens fare on the M11?

 

[Archiver]

Even Leitz, the name revered by the snobs, started off “ borrowing” the lens design from other greats. Elmar is a variant of Zeiss Tessar, and 50mm Summilux is a repackaged British TTH Xenon (ok Leitz did pay TTH to use Xenon in their Summarit and improved it in their first Summilux).

My point is, when a company starts producing lenses, they have to start from somewhere, not trying to beat Dr. Paul Rudolph and invent a new lens formula. This was what the Japanese did. Most of the JP P&S camera and their TLR used a Tessar lens design. Cosina, a not that well known OEM lens company, purchased the right to use Voightlander, start naming their lens Ultron, Nokton, etc..and now they are known to be a good Leica-compatible lens manufacturer.

That reminds me of the company SLR Magic. In the 2010s, SLR Magic brought some inexpensive micro four thirds lenses to the market, along with some M mount lenses like a 50mm f0.95 Noctilux-alike:

Review: SLRmagic 50mm 0.95 Hyperprime LM - phillipreeve.net

The first chinese manufacturer to release a competitor to the Leica 50mm 0.95 Noctilux was SLRmagic with this Hyperprime in 2013, is it

phillipreeve.net

There was a fair bit of online backlash from the Leica against them, as in, 'how dare a Chinese company make M mount lenses', and they said they would take their lens development in another direction. Their first micro four thirds lenses were more character than crisp, but they now make a range of high quality cinema lenses, including anamorphics. To be honest, the name SLR Magic doesn't inspire a lot of confidence, but companies like Thypoch seem to have learned from the former's marketing mistakes and become successful in the M mount space. And maybe the lens market is a bit different now.

 

[Deklari]

Mandler 35mm f2 prototype lens, Leica M3, Kentmere 400 film, f8, D76

 

[Deklari]

Mandler 35mm f2 prototype lens, Leica M3, Kentmere 400 film, f8, D76

 

[Archiver]

@Deklari How did you get your hands on a prototype? Spill the beans! 😄

 

[Deklari]

@Deklari How did you get your hands on a prototype? Spill the beans! 😄

No idea. I ordered the LTM Silver from the last batch on March 3rd, but I received a prototype. I guess they are out of stock of the new ones, and the system is taking orders with incorrect inventory counts, so they are shipping prototypes to keep customers happy?