So.. ignoring what I said in my last post about culling my camera and lens collection.. I recently ordered a Mandler 50mm f1.4 lens. Unless you've been living under a rock, or.. couldn't be bothered about anything in Leicaland.. you'll no doubt be aware that there's a new kid on the block.. in China no less.. making copies of Leica lenses. But before I get into this 50mm, their latest offering, allow me to give you a bit of "historical" context.
In mid June of this year I reviewed their first effort, the 35mm "King of Bokeh" f2 lens. It was indeed an amazing little lens for a very reasonable amount of money. The Mandler crowd have taken Leica designs from the 50's and 60's, designed by Walter Mandler, who headed the ELCAN (Ernst Leitz Canada operation) for many many years, and was their principal lens designer. Some of those lenses have gone on to achieve cult status within the Leica community. Chinese copies of Leica lenses is nothing new. 7Artisans and the very uniquely named.. TTArtisan.. have been making M mount lenses for quite a few years, although some designs have been hit and miss. More recently the likes of Lens Light Lab from China have taken some of the rarer and more esoteric Leica lens deigns and made 1:1 copies of them. Well.. with some improvements that more modern manufacturing will allow. Those copies are in the thousands of dollars, incorporating esoteric elements like Lanthium into the lens glass. And they have copied very rare and hard to find optics that sell in the tens of thousands.
Mandler on the other hand has taken a completely different approach. More in line with the TT/7Artisan crowd, they have taken some iconic but in some ways classical designs, and brought them up to date with some noticeable improvements in sharpness and features, as well made them as inexpensively as possible. I didn't say cheap, because their lenses are really quite well made with very minor cost-cutting. The designs they have copied are so old they are no longer covered by trade mark or copyright or whatever other right there is out there. What they have achieved is demonstrated by a simple fact.. their lenses have sold out on the day of release! That's a hell of an endorsement. I had to wait for their 3rd production batch in order to secure my 35mm lens back in June. For their 50mm lens, I learnt my lesson and stayed up until 2 in the morning to ensure that I would be first in line, and managed to secure my order on the day they released it. A scarce 15 minutes later and they had sold out. Absolutely incredible! The cost is, in Leica terms, an insignificant $368 US dollars.. That gets you priority shipping wherever you are in the world, and packaging that I think not even Leica offers these days.
Upon opening my package this morning from Mandler, I was greeted by a box within a box.. within a box. And inside that box was a clear perspex lens bubble of the sort that Leica used to supply in the 50's and 60's. A little instruction manual showing lens construction, mtf charts, field curviture charts.. And, a letter signed by the owner. As in.. signed with real ink. Addressed to me, the artist. That was quite a nice touch.
On opening the lens bubble, was my (almost) pristine lens. I ordered the black aluminium one because it was a) cheaper and b) lighter than the chrome brass model. However this lens feels dense and substantial! The aperture clicks sound completely different to the Mandler 35mm. A sharper and more positive sound.
As for the lens mount, we have a welcome improvement of 6-bit engravings which will allow you to code your lens so that your camera can tag images with the appropriate focal length and maximum aperture. Both these features, 6-bit coding and closer focusing range were the two negatives I flagged in my Mandler 35mm review, so I'm glad to see that the company has taken those criticisms on board and made a better lens this time around! Besides listening to their customers and reviewers, it also shows a desire to offer a better product, better even than what Leica was able to offer when they first made these designs in the 50s, 60s and 70s. In Asian countries imitation is a sign of respect, and Leica is certainly very well respected.
Now.. this unboxing does not porport to be an image review, simply because I just opened the box and took a few snaps. I do not expect any surprises.. in the sense that I expect this lens to be an excellent optic. As far as I can tell, shooting it wide open, centre sharpness is excellent and bokeh is quite pleasant. Here's a photo of your author (or as Mandler referred to me in their letter.. Artist).
Final thoughts
Modern Leica has strayed more and more into luxury "Velben" territory. A "Velben" good is one where the economics of price and demand do not follow normal rules. The more expensive a product is.. the more demand there is! Leica today makes very high quality lenses, often apochromatic and aspherical designs, but at increasingly unattainable prices. The resurgence of the Leica M system has made demand for everything Leica go through the roof - stock is limited and new releases are stratospherically expensive. This is by design. Leica has become a lifestyle brand, pitching their goods less to photographers and more to affluent people. And older lenses that could be had for a reasonable sum a few years ago now trade at significantly higher prices. This means that if you want to shoot a Leica lens, you need to spend as much as a small car! That's just ridiculous. So I really welcome Mandler's ethos, which is to offer Leica-like quality and design, for the cost of producing it. Obviously their cost is lower than Leica because they are also taking advantage of the Leica design. So in a way it is unfair to compare the two directly. However what Leica charges to design a lens today is all out of proportion with what it actually costs to produce. Ok.. end of diatribe. We all love Leica. They gave us 35mm film. They gave us rangefinder focus. They even gave us autofocus (which they then sold to Minolta). They gave us the first film camera that could be turned into a digital camera (Digital Modul R + R8 film camera). They gave us amazing lens designs, and we are happy they exist, and continue to prosper after weathering two world wars, the SLR revolution and finally the digital revolution. They have tried to compete on equal terms with huge technological change, and very often lost to quicker, larger and cheaper rivals. And so Leica has decided to go in another direction, that of luxury. And if that is the only way they can survive, then I accept that. And why I am happy that the Mandler alternative exists. It allows us photographers to afford the experience the beauty and joy of shooting a Leica M camera with an as close as possible lens experience as well. I don't doubt the technical merits of the various Voigtlanders and Carl Zeiss and TT/7T and LLL and whoever else out there is making Leica clone lenses, but Mandler has managed to get the mix just right. Leica design, with 21st century improvements, in a package that pays absolute homage to Leica itself.
PS - If you found this (pre)review worthwhile and are interested in purchasing the lens you can do so at the following link. I may get a microscopic commission. Please note that I only recommend products that I would personally purchase, such as this lens, paid for with my own money.
