p.6 #1 · Leica 35mm Summicron KOB copy by ‘Mandler’
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts. I have a Mandler on order. The Ksana looks tempting too, but it's $250 more, so makes sense to try the Mandler first. If it truly is close to a Leica KoB with better center sharpness, it's a win.
TNBDM wrote:
I took delivery of both the Mandler and a Ksana 35mm a week ago. Trying to decide between the two now. I've shot a couple of rolls of film I don't have developed yet, so I can't pass judgment there. I haven't had opportunity to test on digital via adapter to my A7V, but I hope to do that this weekend.
It'll come down to rendering for me, as handling between the two is close enough that I would adjust to either. If I'm honest though, I think I slightly prefer the handling of the Mandler. Focus is lighter (both are fine, though I think I'd optimally have something halfway between the two). The aperture clicks are much more definite on the Mandler and clearly better for that reason in my book; my Ksana copy is soft to the point of mushy there. They're close enough to identical in size as makes no difference....Show more →
p.6 #2 · Leica 35mm Summicron KOB copy by ‘Mandler’
Is this true? 😯
“Whether it’s ‘Free Shipping Service’ or ‘International Paid Shipping Service,’ the price includes customs duties and taxes, which we will prepay to the carrier… Customers do not need to pay any additional fees. The carrier will handle all transportation and customs clearance matters.”
“Customs duties have been pre-collected by the logistics carrier. No additional fees are required from the customer.”
p.6 #6 · Leica 35mm Summicron KOB copy by ‘Mandler’
I have a silver brass one on the way. Wish they'd offered gloss black on brass, but oh well.
I've had a Leica-CLAed KOB before, the made in Germany version, and it might be my least favorite Leica rendering of all time. But I'm buying the Mandler specifically because the center sharpness and bokeh I've seen from samples so far looks extraordinary. So this is the one time (so far) that I'm happy to buy a reproduction that improved on the original rather than faithfully copy it.
p.6 #8 · Leica 35mm Summicron KOB copy by ‘Mandler’
I've had one as well. Center sharpness wasn't that great. Bokeh is good but obviously a personal preference. The KoB folklore has never been warranted imo. For the price today it's such an overrated lens. Sold it for V5 which is still one of my favorites. Glaring sharpness increase while still having a little character that was lost in V6. Unfortunately I sold the KoB before the latest wave of hype drove prices up again. I'll know next week when I get the Mandler, but from what I've seen, center sharpness is better than the Leica, bokeh is very similar to the the Leica, the Leica produces more highlight glow (which I don't love, but that's a preference). I love the idea of the field curvature creating an interesting separation to a sharp center. I did not buy this for landscapes so edge to edge sharpness is not important to me. Bought it to be a unique environmental portrait lens.
highdesertmesa wrote:
I have a silver brass one on the way. Wish they'd offered gloss black on brass, but oh well.
I've had a Leica-CLAed KOB before, the made in Germany version, and it might be my least favorite Leica rendering of all time. But I'm buying the Mandler specifically because the center sharpness and bokeh I've seen from samples so far looks extraordinary. So this is the one time (so far) that I'm happy to buy a reproduction that improved on the original rather than faithfully copy it.
p.6 #9 · Leica 35mm Summicron KOB copy by ‘Mandler’
Mine arrived today. The glued in lens cap in the base of the presentation case had been placed off center, so the lens never got screwed into the cap. The worker that put the lens into the case just put it in sideways and somehow made it fit. I had to laugh because 1.) if anything goes wrong with a product, I will be the one to get it and 2.) it reminded me of a biology specimen jammed into a jar of formaldehyde Additionally, they forgot to include the separate plastic rear lens cap for me. I think they thought the lens hood I ordered was the box for the rear cap that since they look the same at a glance, just a white box. I have an email into to them asking for a new presentation case and a rear lens cap. Thankfully, the lens was is perfect condition and no harm had come to it, so I'm keeping it.
Build, fit/finish, and operation is on par with an original Leica 35mm vintage lens that has had a CLA (thinking of my 35 Lux pre-ASPH v2 with DAG CLA specifically). It's also on par with a lens like the Voigtlander 35 1.4 Classic. Zero grit or noise on the focusing ring as some have reported – not sure if that's due to the brass vs aluminum or just luck. Like all the M lenses of similar design, you can feel a slight change in focusing resistance if you pull or push the focusing tab toward or away from you as you focus. This is normal in my experience.
(On the SL3) Lens is super sharp in the center with lots of wavy field curvature that required f/8 to clear up the midfield at close distance. At infinity, midfield is super wonky, but to my surprise, right at f/11 the midfield softness is completely gone and the image looks sharp from center to corner. It looks like this lens will be usable for landscape at f/11 and infinity.
Something to note which I should have known better about: the silver aluminum hood does not match the silver brass lens at all. If you get the silver brass, get the black hood. I already had a Leica 12504 round hood in mint condition that needed a home, so I used that. I also had an old version 1 of the Leica 39mm silver filter, which is silver chrome on brass (unlike the current version which is silver aluminum), so that matches well.
p.6 #10 · Leica 35mm Summicron KOB copy by ‘Mandler’
Evidently the lens cap being offset in the base of the presentation case is so the lens will fit in the case with its focus tab. My lens just came loose from the base during shipping, so nothing is defective about the case itself.
Took a few quick test shots at close and macro distances wide open yesterday. As others have mentioned, I couldn’t see any difference in exposure or bokeh between f/2 and f/2.4. But I might be seeing slightly less sharpening in the far corners from less field curvature at f/2.4, so for wide open shooting at close distance, I think stopping down one click from wide open is where I’ll shoot it.
A few of these are similar, but I’m posting some verticals for those viewing the forum on mobile devices. I like shooting test shots of this yucca plant because it contains small details, and I can observe the out of focus rendering both in front and behind the focus point. The width of the plant is about six feet across. Most of these were shot at f2, but one or two of the macro shots might have been f/2.8. Ignore the aperture displayed below from EXIF as that’s an estimate by the camera and is often wrong.
These are all JPEGs straight from the camera, resized directly on my iPhone to 3K pixels on the long side.
I’ve ordered a second copy of this lens in black, so I guess I like it.
LEICA SL3Summicron-M 1:2/35 lens35mmf/2.01/160s100 ISO0.0 EV
LEICA SL3Summicron-M 1:2/35 lens35mmf/2.81/160s100 ISO0.0 EV
LEICA SL3Summicron-M 1:2/35 lens35mmf/2.41/100s100 ISO-0.3 EV
LEICA SL3Summicron-M 1:2/35 lens35mmf/3.41/100s100 ISO0.0 EV
LEICA SL3Summicron-M 1:2/35 lens35mmf/2.01/125s100 ISO-0.3 EV
Additionally, they forgot to include the separate plastic rear lens cap for me. I think they thought the lens hood I ordered was the box for the rear cap that since they look the same at a glance, just a white box. I have an email into to them asking for a new presentation case and a rear lens cap. Thankfully, the lens was is perfect condition and no harm had come to it, so I'm keeping it.
