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.  

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..