Vintage Lens - Modern Optics

There’s been a lot of lens news this year, especially for Leica M users. When I bought my M9 back in 2011 the only lenses available for that mount were from Leica, Voigtländer and Zeiss. The higher quality Leica lenses were expensive and the cheaper lenses from the other companies were, with some rare exceptions, not very good. If you didn’t go for the expensive Leica glass, you could expect to compromise on quality.

These days there are more choices from more manufacturers. It seems that new M lenses are being announced every week. Optical design technology is advancing rapidly. A lot of the new stuff is gimmicky but some of the new cheap lenses out there today are actually pretty good.

I looked at one from a Chinese company called Mandler (named in an homage to the famous Leica lens designer, Walter Mandler). It’s a 35mm f2, modeled on the classic Leica 7-element Summicron.

There’s some hype around this lens and it’s often sold out. It’s part of a new trend among Chinese lens-makers to reproduce a classic vintage lens, but with modern touches, such as better coatings and optics, to provide a ‘best of both worlds’ design.

And the Mandler costs under $400, less than a tenth of what the original would cost (if you could even find one). Sounds like a good deal.

I picked one up to see what all the hype was about. I’ve been shooting it for a couple of weeks and I have some thoughts.

First of all, I’m not a huge fan of the ‘vintage look’ that everyone seems to be seeking. I actually like clinical sharpness and clarity in a lens. A fast lens that provides a super sharp subject and nice bokeh falloff is my Holy Grail. For landscapes, I like it sharp corner to corner. I don’t get the ‘blurry-on-purpose’ thing.

The Mandler does seem to be pretty sharp in the center. But what about overall performance?

I took some shots to compare it to my 35 Leica Summilux (the latest version). It might seem like an unfair test but my goal was not to do a scientific comparison but just to see how wide the quality gap was between them and which one I should take when I go out to shoot.

Center-frame Crop @f8 - Distant Subject

The Mandler does pretty well here, but the Leica is just slightly sharper, with more micro-contrast.

Mid-frame Crop @ f8 - Mid-ground Subject

Mid-frame, the gap widens. The Mandler is not as sharp. There’s a muddiness in the details.

Edge of Frame Crop @ f8 - Distant Subject

Here’s where things go bad for the Mandler. At the edge of the frame it’s quite blurry, while the Leica is still razor-sharp.

Center-frame Crop @ f2 - Close Subject

At f2, and at close distance, I was surprised to see how sharp the Mandler was. (I did reproduce this result since my manual focus skills could be a factor) In this circumstances the $400 Mandler seems to be at least as sharp as the $4000 Leica. Possibly sharper?

Conclusion:

The Mandler is ok. Not a great lens, but ok. What it has going for it is that center sharpness wide open. But outside of that it’s not so great. Seems like a classic field curvature issue with the reduced edge sharpness. Not a good choice for landscapes or street work, even stopped down.

But there is another thing it has going for it and that’s aesthetics. It’s a small and good-looking lens on the camera, which is important—but not more important than performance, unfortunately.

So, again, not a scientific comparison, but just a way to decide which 35mm to grab when heading out to shoot. And the answer for me in most cases will be: take the Leica, leave the Mandler.

Vintage Lens - Modern Optics

Plimoth Patuxet

Bogged