The Mandler 50mm f1.4 has landed!

  

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.  

There's even a Mandler logo on the insde of the box
 

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.

 

A personal 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.  

 

Some dust present.. 

 

The focus is smooth without feeling sloppy. Buttery isn't a word I'd use.. the consistency is a bit thicker than butter, if that makes sense.  The focusing ring will stay where you put it.  I like the feeling.  Additionally the lens focuses past the 0.7 rangefinder limit, to 0.5m.  This may not sound like a lot, but the additional 20cm allows you to really move in and frame your portraits, and is a welcome improvement to the Leica lenses of old.  The only lens (until recently) that Leica made that had a close focusing capability was their dual range 50mm f2, but this lens will not mount on any Leica digital except for the M11, so I sold mine.  Back to the Mandler.. Sadly, there is no soft stop at 0.7 to let you know you've reached the end of the rangefinder limit, which may be problematic to film shooters as well as users of older digital Leicas that don't have the option of digital viewfinder (M8, M9, M262).  This is a minor annoyance, but something that I would hope gets improved if ever Mandler releases a V2 of this lens.  

The 6-bit coding is blank from factory - you have to colour in yourself
 

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).

Not sure why I'm not smiling.. I'm just so happy with this lens!

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.

 

Oh camera, oh camera, where art thou??!

As this is my personal blog on photographic and other topics, I thought I'd just start some free-flowing automatic writing roughly in the corner of photography and cameras.  As time has gone by, I realise that I'm as much a photographer as a collector of cameras and lenses.  And to be fair, there really is a lot to collect and try out and play with.  I am attracted by new things, as in new to me, which in most people's book mean antiques. Anything made of metal and glass. Preferably mechanical, as a pose to autofocus tomfoolery. Although obviously electronic cameras definitely are collected and played with.  At the same time, this quest for newness means that I also tire quickly of the less than stellar items, and these are then put back into "circulation". Occasionally, I'll sell something, and then immediately regret it and look for another copy.  This happened with the Nikon F4.. twice! Just because.. it's a difficult camera to use and hold. However, it's place in the Parthenon of Nikon F series cameras, as well as being a truly revolutionary (as well as evolutionary) camera meant that I was always going to like it.  Always in Nikon territory.. the 85mm AF-D f1.4 lens.. what I call the Eye of Sauron.  When mirrorless came out all the AF-D lenses were turned into manual lenses.. but I just loved the way the lens drew, so when I chanced on another, I grabbed it.  I've always had a particular interest in fast portrait lenses.. and currently own 4 examples.. A Leica 80mm f1.4 R lens, the Canon 85mm L f1.2 and the aforementioned Nikon.. as well as a TTArtisan 90mm f1.25 for Leica M.. The fact that they cost me all an arm and a leg means that when I'm out photographing I have to hop around and try to take pictures one-handed.  It also means that I need cameras for each and every system!  God I love collecting camera gear!  And I even make excuses to get more stuff..

Having said all that, I'm actually in a contraction phase. Simply put, I'm culling the collection to the bare essentials.  I've already pared it down significantly from the stratospheric heights of previous collecting sprees, but I've come to the realisation that having a large camera collection just takes too much time to take care of it all, and my photography has suffered. I spend more time cleaning lenses and dusting bodies than putting rolls through them, and that is just sad. Because.. I got into photography because I wanted to take photographs, not to collect cameras. Along the way the impetus inverted.. and now I collect cameras, which I sometimes (rarely) shoot. So time for another drastic reset. 

And so I need to organise my collection into essential, nice to have, and superfluous.  These are arbitrary labels, and one day a camera can drift through from essential, to nice to have, then superfluous, and then straight back to essential! The vagueries of our brains!  But seriously.. I do need to reduce, concentrate. 

One thing I've definitely noticed is that film has become much less important to me.  There was a time, around the early period of full-frame digital, where I abandoned film completely, and sold off all or most of my film cameras.  This happened around the time I got my Canon 10D, a 6mp cropped sensor camera.  It was an amazing camera, and for a while I used it in conjunction with my Eos 3 film camera.. but a summer trip to Italy convinced me that the small digital camera was the way to go.  And so my various manual focus Pentax's went on the block (back then I was still a photogrpaher and not quite a collector).  Then something strange happened.. Over 10 years of digital upgrades and a huge upheaval in the photography market, and I realised that there was the law of diminishing returns that was finally affecting digital photography.  However most of the world had abandoned film, and so film bodies were plentiful and cheap on the secondary market.  Ridiculously so. Enticingly so.  And that's when I pounced and started buying up all the film cameras I'd ever lusted after.  Kodak went through it's bankruptcy and came out the other end leaner and meander and incredibly still making film, so there was still something to put into these cameras.  Ilford went through similar growing pains but thankfully weathered the most destructive phase of the digital tsunami, and was also still open for business..

So anyways, where am I going with all this?! Well.. need to downsize. Because although I've managed to own every film cameras I've ever desired (more or less..) I find that I use film cameras less and less. And they need to be taken care of. Cleaned. Lubed. Shot from time to time. So, having fewer to take care of will mean I'll use them more often.

Stay tuned for what goes on the block!  

An imperfect perfection.. my review of the Mandler 35mm f2 " King of Bokeh" clone

The Mandler in it's proper place, on Author's M10M

As you might have inferred from my previous posts about the Leica M system.. I got sucked in by a beautifully made and designed bag, and went on to purchase one of their most expensive bodies.  Not much cash left over for lenses.. and they can be VERY expensive. So I was excited to hear about the Mandler 35mm lens, released late last year but still very hard to get.  All the internet was abuzz.. Even Mr Leica (Matt Osborne) was waxing lyrical about it.. And so I decided, in my very individualistic and non-consumeristic way, that I needed to have one as well.  And after staying up till 3am for when orders for the next batch would open.. I finally managed to buy one!

 

Just some of the boxes..

And in short order the lens arrived.. And what a beautiful unboxing event it was. There were so many boxes! An outer shipping box. An intermediate lens box. And inside, the actual lens box.. and inside that the clear plastic lens holder a-la-Leica style. And then there were boxes for the filter, the square hood and the metal hood.. It was a long and drawn out experience.  Where am I going to store all these boxes?!

The lens.. was small! And it was light. And it was beautiful.  But it was also Chinese.. so there had to be a problem? Well.. let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet.  The experience of placing it on the camera and taking pictures with it was.. sublime.  This was a lens designed to offer loads of " character".. euphamism for lens defects that.. I really like. Flare? Check.  Vigneting? Check. Sunstars? Check.  Beautiful bokeh balls? Check.  It really did tick all the boxes and then some.  Wonderfully small and compact, it made my M10 almost pocketable. And as I looked at the latest Leica lens releases.. with their Noctilux 35mm f1.2.. and it's massive size, I was happy in the thought that with my M10 Monochrom sensor, I could essentially shoot with this smaller and lighter lens.  My wallet was also extremely happy about this decision, as it was still coming to grips with that I'd ripped out of it to get the M10M.  So far so good.  

Mandler in action, with it's very peculiar flare

 

But (and here my English teacher is rolling in her grave.. never start a sentence with a But!) one's journey with Leica M is never ending.. and so I gathererd more and more lenses to the stable.. almost none of them actual Leicas. And then in my Lightroom.. I started struggling to know which one I'd shot. And it dawned on me.. my M10M, and M8 that I purchased for a song soon after, could both read 6-bit coded lenses. So.. how to code my "clone" lenses?  Simple.. internet to the rescue. And there I found some bright spark who had designed a marking ring for the Leicas where you could mark the codes. And then another bright spark in China copied that bright sparks idea and sold the ring for less than half price.  The story of the 21st century.

 

My finger pointing at the offending screw - Voigtlander 35 f1.4 with space for manually applied code next to it

So now I had a marking ring to mark all my lenses.. and here is where I started to see the Mandler wobble a bit.. You see, the guys at Mandler were so busy copying the lens design and elements, that they completely forgot about one of Leica's great modern innovations, which is to let analog lenses talk to digital bodies - the 6-bit code.  If you are new to Leica or shoot exclusively film, this innovation is of no interest, and you are under no obligation to know about it.. But you probably know anyway, because any Leica innovation gets talked about by everyone. And the innovation is to engrave marks in the lens mount, and colour those engraved areas with white and black, and on the camera side what is essentially a bar-code reader scans and identifies the lens.  Not only that, on more modern bodies such as the M10M, the camera is able to apply profiles correcting for basic lens shortcomings, such as distortion, vigneting and (I believe) chromatic aberation.  And.. when you download your pictures and want to know which is your most used lens, the info is there.  Great for the geeks amongst us. I being one of them.  So what's the problem with the Mandler, I hear you ask?  Well, when this 6-bit coding was invented, oh.. when the M8 came out in 2006, most of the Mandler staff were still in swadling cloth.. and so didn't hear about it.  Because... (another roll around your grave Ms whoever you were teaching me english) they put a screw squarely where the 6 bit codes should go..  And considering that this lens was made in 2025/2026.. this is unforgivable..  It also makes this lens a bit less useful than I would have hoped, considering that it's a 1:1 copy of the Leica optic of King of Bokeh fame, and so the optical adjustments would have been perfect for it.  And also because when no lens is present, the camera defaults to a 50mm f2 profile. Which is not the same.  Not by a long (or short) stretch.

The lens hood button squarely where aperture ring indentations are

 

Next bugbear.. though this may be the same issue on the original Leica lens that it was copied from.. When using a lens hood, which has some groves to slot into the lens in a specific orientation (helpful for the square hood design for example) the springs that hold the lens shade in.. also interfere with you operating the aperture ring.  Now granted, one doesn't buy an f2 lens to shoot it at f16, and I am most assuredly a proponent of shooting lenses wide open. So under normal circumstances the aperture will sit at f2 and stay there for the duration of the shoot. However.. because the lens is so small, when you mount the lens, there is so little to hold onto that you invariably grab the aperture ring to mount the lens, and in the anti-clockwise motion of seating the lens, you invariably shift the aperture to a closed position. And when you start shooting, and are attempting to ensure aperture is wide open.. the hood is now in the way.. Solution.. ditch the hood. Better for flare. :-)

After mounting lens, the aperture landed at f2.8. Not bad.. not great.

 

Whilst these two flaws are not completely insurmountable - did Cartier Bresson fuss about which lens he used?  No he didn't.. because he only ever shot with a 35mm lens. Or was it 50? Can't remember..  No, the issue is that, once again, we are reminded of why Leica is Leica, and why the copy-cats are copy-cats. 

I'd like to say that though I've talked mostly about the ergonomics of this lens, the images are really quite nice and usable.  The flare at night is as spectacular as it is intrusive, though it might be a look that you may eventually tire of.  I quite like it and can now pick this lens out from the other 35mm lenses I now own (don't ask!).  The sharpness is enough for what I need, the images are pleasant and full of character.  However I've found it's replacement.. a faster lens with even crazier flare and similar form factor. So.. the Mandler will be going on the chopping block. Sorry my Sino-friend.  

Post script (or PS for short).: a few months after writing the above review I've come to a realisation that this Mandler lens is, despite the drawbacks mentioned above, quite a compact and high performing lens.  Right at the end of my review I alluded to purchasing a Voigtlander 35mm f1.4 lens, and preferring that. However despite the extra stop of aperture, I find I'm using the Mandler lens way more than the Voigtlander. Maybe it's a function of my M10 Monochrom, which can essentially shoot in the dark with no ill effects.. rather.. with an enhanced very film like grain generated by the noise. So.. I don't need a faster lens, and the character of the Mandler is exactly what I like. Crazy crazy flare, sharpness where I need it, and despite complaining about the lens hood ergonomics, I find it more pleasing to touch and handle than the Voightlander that I thought would replace it.  Image quality is a question of taste, and I very much like the taste of the Mandler, dare I say it, over the Voightlander.  Also I have to say that my Sino friends at Mandler have pulled off a very elaborate masterpiece, a homage to the great Leica king of bokeh, with as much respect as they were able to. Indeed, imitation is a sincere form of respect in the far east, an admission that who you are copying is better than you (albeit ALSO demonstrating the capabilities of the copyier).  So I will be keeping this fabulous little lens, even if it will get tagged as a 50mm f2 Summicron by my cameras. 

 

Leica Part 1.5 or.. How one bag ruined my bank balance - a review of the Billingham for Leica Combination M bag

Firstly, I must excuse myself for this rather back and forth with Leica. Truth be told many articles exist in the galaxy of my brain, doing concurrent revolutions around my sun (or.. living as 1's and 0's in my Macbook).  So at any time I could have three articles about the same subject, written at different times, about different stages in the thought process.. and being written in bits and pieces, more or less concurrently.  If this confuses you, don't worry, so am I. Basically I struggle to finish anything.. I start, good intentions and all, and then get distracted. My wife says I have undiagnosed ADHD.. I'm also left handed. So.. 

Anyway, this long preable just to say that there was supposed to be an earlier article to my Leica Part 2, but so excited was I when I received my Leica M10, that I wrote that piece, and completely hopped over my earlier work. So, this is my attempt to put the threads of time back in their place..

How one bag ruined my bank balance.. or a review of the Billingham for Leica Combination M bag

The innocuous looking bag.. Looks fairly harmless, doesn't it? 

It’s not often that something small has a massive, outsized impact, all way out of proportion with the object itself.  Think of an asteroid.  When it does happen though, you feel it.  But first a word from our sponsors.. No, no, none of that. Just an introduction with whom you’re “speaking”.  I’m a middle aged man who started photographing at 12 with film, and who over the past years has managed to own every camera that he ever dreamed of in his 20’s, when he struggled to afford expired film.  I own more bodies and lenses than my wife does shoes.. and that’s saying something. I’ve bought and sold into camera systems, expanded and contracted my “collection” through bouts of G.A.S. and progressively owned more lenses and taken fewer pictures with them. Sound familiar?   It was therefore inevitable that I would, one day, try a Leica.  And so it was.. I went on a Leica buying spree.. found a decent looking M3 for a(n) expensive song.. and an actual modern Leica lens, the Emarit-M 90mm f2.8.. supposedly the sharpest 90mm leica has made (words of Erwin Puts, author of the authorative Leica Compendium).  I was set for photographic perfection. And then a strange thing happened. I didn’t like it (pun intended).  The rangefinder ethos just didn’t gel with me. And so like a petulant child, I found something else to lust over, and promptly sold my whole M system (at a slight profit I might add!).  However that wasn’t the end of the affair with Leica itself, as I realised that it wasn’t the brand or the quality I had an issue with. Indeed, the M3 was like a jewel, a mechanical watch with Rolex levels of quality. It was amazingly well built. And the only other camera up to then that could compare to it was the Hasselblad 500c/m (which I also bought during a sleep deprived late night Ebay binge session).  So I then did the next best thing and started buying Leica R lenses and bodies.. and when I had enough I sold off the surplus bits (who needs 4 Leica R bodies?!) and kept the cream.

And then another thing happened.  I needed a nice bag to hold my jewellry.. I mean cameras! And after iterating through the usual American suspects (Lowepro, Temba, Peak Design, ThinkTank) I gravitated to Billingham.  Think of it as if you went from American fast food to a Michelin starred restaurant.  The American stuff just never quite filled you up, no matter how often you went back for more.. The Billinghams were the real deal though. Built to last, unlike the American crap that had sealed seams separate, plastic delaminate and metal bits rust.  No brand (except maybe Temba) survived my rigorous tests..  And so I started getting Billingham bags for different occasions and camera systems.  If you’re a photographer then you know.. you need several bags. One that will take your medium format system. Another for casual walking around. And then, you’ve gone mirrorless, right? Well then, another smaller bag for your mirrorless setup. Minimum 3. Probably many more.

So where am I going with this long-winded introduction into my rather uninteresting personal photographic journey?

Well, after tasting the Billingham style, I happened upon an unusual bag with Leica blazoned on it, but made by Billingham. A black one. Unusual because the Billingham dna is khaki with brown leather and brass.  This bag was different. Simpler. Black with chrome snaps and zips. And an intriguing little label inside that said Billingham for Leica. Such are the wanderings of Facebook Marketplace that you find these hidden gems. And so I researched the bag, and found out that it had been created to hold an M system (whereby the Combination M part of the bag name).  And so intrigued by the bag, I was, that I quickly arranged to buy it.  It arrived.. and contrary to my other Billingham bags I already owned (remember something about at least 3 bags...) this one exhuded.. style. But more than that, it had a simplicity of purpose, that my other Billinghams simply didn't.  There was no fuss with this bag.  It had been stripped down to the essentials, but it's strap went all the way around the bottom of the bag. Quality too. Fewer pockets and zippers than a standard Billingham.. It was perfect. Except.. my Nikon Z8 mirrorless camera wouldn't fit! Imagine that, I had a bag, and couldn't fit my camera.. So what do I do? Sell the bag, right? No... Get a new camera! 

The original text was in white on black background, but in my effort to "stealthify" the bag, I coloured in the text with a black marker. Still Billingham for Leica, just more discrete  

And so started my odyssey in searching for a Leica M.. Many hours of research.. many hours poring over the auction sites.. and many hours making lists of features that I needed, and things that I didn't need, or didn't want. And slowly the choice began to coalesce.  The M3 had not worked.. because it was film, and I needed instant gratification.. ahem.. immediate feedback on my out of focus shots.. So digital it would have to be. And then.. an external viewfinder was going to be necessary, because I like using wide angle lenses.. So out went the M8 and M9.. Then.. I thought long and hard about what output I wanted.. And then I remembered my recent trip to italy, where I had used my iPhone exclusively (no space for a mirrorless camera with big lenses), and then converted all my pics to black and white.. So..a monochrome camera (in Leicaspeak, we drop the E at the end). Ok, a monochrom camera.. And so it was, that my Billingham bag precipitated my biggest purchase of the last few years.. 

The slippery slope of owning a Billingham bag leads you down to.. this piece of expensive jewellery

Moral of the story. Use Lowepro!  

 

 

 

Leica - Part 2

When you repeat an action, but expect another result it.. I believe, is the definition of insanity. And if that is anything to go by, then I am insane. Because, yes, you guessed it, I've bought another Leica M.  After my last post, almost a year ago, where I explained in excruciating detail, why I couldn't make the Leica M system work for me.. I've gone and purchased another. However.. I might have cheated a little. And when I say a little.. I mean a lot. 

I mean.. insanity means you can do what you want.. think what you want. and change your mind when it suits you.

And so I purchased a Leica M10 Monochrom. Which.. had been sitting in the back of my mind ever since I heard of Leica's first Monochrom camera back in 2011 with the M9M.  So why is it a cheat?  Well, first off, it's digital, which means that the long wait between badly exposed photography and getting the pictures back from the lab went down from several months (the average time a roll lives in one of my film cameras) down to.. instant. And secondly.. because unlike a Leica M film camera.. with an M10 I can actually use a digital viewfinder and see through the lens. And that changes EVERYTHING.  The whole M equation is completely flipped, upended, rendered moot.  Now.. I can see what I'm doing, and I can get what I want out of the camera (a black and white image) right out of the camera.  This is truly.. amazing. Ok, let me be very clear. This is AMAZING! 

Why? 

Because my love of photography started with black and white images developed in the school darkroom in Sydney in 1982.  And all through my journey through different camera models and film stocks, mostly Tri-X and then Ilford XP (that's how long I've been shooting.. when it was just XP, not XP2!), then digicams, then DSLRs, then mirrorless digital.. I was always searching for the perfect black and white image.  Of course I also shot colour, and enjoyed colour. But it wasn't what I wanted. And I spent endless hours toggling images between colour and black and white, to see which worked and which didn't. And that's time of my life that I'll never get back.  Now however, from the get-go, I have my image in black and white. And with an M10, it's a better image than I've ever been able to achieve with a bayer filter camera (basically all digital's out there)..  Not only is the quality amazingly detailed with it's 40mp sensor, but my camera can see in the dark at ISO 100,000.  Sure, it maxes out at that number, the same as my Nikon Z8 in Hi 2, but at that ISO, the M10 images just look like film with a bit of grain.. Absolutely usable images. Whereas my Z8 is simply garbage.  I now shoot at night.. walking around.. with my M10. Simply outlandish! 

Not only that, but with 3 buttons on the back of the camera, and with a menu written for a child, it is possibly the simplest digital camera I've ever owned.  The Rolex feel of the buttons is not quite there, to the level it was with the M3.. but the M3 was Leica's masterpiece. However the M10M feels sculped from a block of brass, all hard edges and corners in a way that they just don't make cameras anymore.  

As for lenses.. well, remember that 90mm f2.8 Elmarit-M that I said I didn't use much? Well.. I found another.. a South African photographer who's downsizing.. we had a meeting of minds and an exchange of cash, and now I have my least used lens again :-)  Though I may not use it often.. it is a beautiful lens to work with, and with my high ISO, I can use it with impunity. 

Second Leica lens is quite an unusual one, the 50mm summicron Dual Range (DR for short) which focuses down the the rather useful 40cm.. much closer than the standard 0.7m of newer Leica lenses, which makes it an excellent close quarter portrait lens or semi-macro (nothing with Leica M's is ever truly macro).. Possibly the heaviest densest lens I've ever owned.. it is a joy to use in the same way the M3 was a joy. Mechanical perfection. 

More to say about this development in the weeks to come, but understand this, I haven't felt this excited about photography in quite a while. And it's not about holding a beautifully made object, it's about the images that I'm creating now.. 

 

 

Leica.. or photographic madness

A few years back (or more preciceliy, in 2018) I more or less forced myself to love Leica.  I found an M3 rangefinder in a niche serial number range with most of the later upgrades but with the more aesthetically pleasing buddha ears.. 

Confused?!  Well then, you, dear reader, are not a LEICA PERSON! I admit, I went full bore with my obsession, watching every online video I could find, and eventually purchasing the seminal work of Erwin Puts (1944-2021) called the Leica Compendium, a more or less complete catalogue of all their film cameras and lenses.  

I purchased the book directly from the man, so just a few years before his passing.  I pored over MTF charts, read his lens reviews, before settling on just ONE Leica lens, the 90mm f2.8 M. An absolute work of art, an engineering marvel.. and a lens I hardly used.  To this I added a more functional Canon "Sumilux".. a 50mm f1.4 LTM lens (for those few readers who are not a LEICA PERSON.. it means Leica Thread Mount) which saw marginally more action.. but far too little to justify the expense. 

Leica M3 with Canon "Summilux", with buddha ears hidden behind a leather strap

You see, though I might have considered myself a LEICA PERSON.. I was definitely NOT a rangefinder person.  I knew this of course, when I was given my father's Canon 7 with the absolutely magnificent 50mm f0.95 lens.. which after a few rolls ended up sitting in the cupboard (it's still there, after all these years).  So why persist with the rangefinder madness?  Perhaps my problem was that I had used an inferior Canon rangefinder, and the Leica was the ticket. And the Leica M3 WAS superior in almost every way to the Canon. The weight of a gold ingot, machined to Rolex levels of mechanical perfection (or maybe it's the other way around.. Rolexes are machined like Leicas..). It was truly a work of art, and a fabulous machine, and one that I simply could not use.. In the end I sold it for a modest profit, but I did not miss it. I mean.. it's not like I could wear it on my wrist!

However.. the love affair with Leica HAD been kindled, and so I decided to try out their SLR line, being more in tune with my personal preference. My first serious camera had been an SLR, the Yashica FX2000 followed some years later by the Pentax K1000.. the most basic camera you could hope to find.  So off I went to Ebay in search of some Leicas to play with.. and found myself with three. Just sounds like a good number I guess. First up was the R4, followed closely by an R7, last of the "traditional" SLR Leicas.. and rounded out by the Hunchback of Solms, the R8.  I fell for the R8 after trying out a friend's camera, as even though it was chunky and heavy, it has hewn from a solid block of metal, and evoked the spirit of the M3 with it's watch-like precision, that the R3 to R7 line simply did not, with plastic dials and bubbling top plates.  Then came the lenses, bought and sold in feverish fashion, as I tried to find optical perfection (with an eye to budget).. I mean optical perfection would have set me back several tens of thousands of dollars, so I had to tread carefully.  True, R lenses are generally cheaper than analogous M lenses, but ever since film-makers discovered they could adapt these Leicas to cinema cameras, prices have been going up.  I bought and (stupidly) sold a 50mm f2 

Summicron, thinking the f2 was too slow, and then just as quickly bought and sold a 50mm f1.4 Summilux.. which was absolutely dreadful wide open. I mean, why would one buy a fast lens and then shoot stopped down to f8.  And then I bought another Summicron, which in my experience is the sharpest with the most pleasant bokeh of any of the 40 odd 50mm lenses that I've used in my life. Even better than my Canon 0.95 dream lens (you remember, the one that's still in the cupboard?).  I tried some late zooms from Leica, the rather astounding 21-35 f3.5 and 34-70 f4 and both were beautifully built, with ranges that were quite useful.. but the relative slow speed and resultant dark viewfinder meant they were not my favourites, and were soon moved on. 

Two stunning zoom lenses of Leica design (earlier ones were Minolta derivatives)

But in the sine-wave that is our life's journey, my period of expansion into the Leica R world was followed by a period of contraction.  Gone now is the R7, fun as it was to use. 

Possibly the most comfortable R to hold, because of the extra bit at the bottom

Gone is the R8.. 

which I regretted as soon as I'd sold it.. But in my mind.. I had a plan.. to own the best that was ever produced, of anything. And what's better than an R8?! Well, an R9 of course!  Released in 2002, 6 years after the R8... I must say, in 6 years they didn't make any major changes! BUT... it is the very last film slr from Leica, and the refinements are quite nice. Lighter, focus and recompose actually works (my R8 would reset the meter when you recomposed.. defeating the objective...pun intended). And it's rather chunky design is actually quite pleasant to hold.  A lock on the mode dial, which I was constantly moving by accident on my R8, and a nice little frame counter on the top plate. Small things. But they perfected the already pleasant design of the R8. In black of course..

As for lenses, I've settled on a trifecta. A 35mm Sumicron, which a LEICA PERSON knows is an f2 lens.  Then my 50mm Sumicron.. which is simply stunning. And finally an absolutely dense lens, the 80mm summilux f1.4.. a singular portrait lens!  These would by my only lenses.. a perfect numbers. Oh, but wait.. I haven't mentioned my other camera.. the one I didn't sell?  Leica's last fully mechanical SLR, the R6.2. In absolutely perfect condition. But if I'm honest.. I shoot with the R9 more often. The second body is just so I can swap between colour and black and white. Or when I want to be a bit more discrete, as it's profile is about half that of the R9! 

Will this be the end of the story?!  Or will I be tempted by yet more bodies and lenses? If (my) history is anything to go by, if GAS principles hold true, and if the perfect number of anything to own is N+1, with N being the current number owned... then yes, I will most likely indulge in a lens here or there.. My penchant for landscapes means I will eventually need a wider lens. And I quite enjoyed the 135mm focal range in the past, so having another (lighter) portrait lens may be welcome. However those are only desires.. my needs are most assuredly already met by what I have! 

Why I sold the Z7ii.. or how relaxed and learned to love film.. again

Yes.. I've sold my Z7ii.  I know, this may not come as a surprise to you all, considering my last post.. but I have to admit I am more than saddend by it's departure.  I... miss it!  I know I've harped on about all the Z7ii's failings and short-comings, whilst tempering my excitement for it's positives.. It's a dainty camera built to D750 levels with a D850 sensor.. It's mirrorless, and that's new so it's great. What was even greater, and perhaps rather unsung, was it's ability to take lenses from other marques and.. autofocus them.. in may cases better than on the original cameras. And with the focus zoom function, you can really nail focus on the eye. So out I went and purchased every single Canon L lens I'd ever wanted.. and away I went.  By most indications I did shoot quite a bit with it.. A total of 10,000 shots. In 23 months, so just under 2 years.  That may not seem like a lot, but I'm not a big shooter, and though more recently I'm doing more sports shooting, I prefer portraits and landscapes, where spraying and praying is not really required.  Only one other camera averaged the same volume in my stable, and that was the D810.  So notwithstanding all the shortcomings I alluded to in my previous post, this, in fact, was quite a successful camera for me.  Maybe the lack of bulk and weight made me want to take it along more often? Maybe the added joy of using different lenses from different makers made me want to experiement more with it?  Who knows.  I simply have to conclude that it was a great little camera, and more than suited to my requirements.  Who knows.. I may hunt for a used one as a back-up camera :-)