Introduction
Compact 35mm lenses are very popular among the M-mount users and while they usually come with a maximum aperture of f/1.4 or f/2.0, Mr. Ding decided to go for f/1.8, making this a bit of a unique offering. The Mr. Ding 50mm 1.1 Noxlux became a favorite of mine and many others, can they repeat that success with this 35mm 1.8 Pactcron? Let’s try to find out in this review.
This lens will be reviewed on the 42mp Sony A7rII and the 24mp Leica M10 and some sample pictures taken on a Nikon Zf are also available.
Sample Images
Most of the sample images in this review can be found in full resolution here.
Contents
Specifications
This Mr. Ding Optics 35mm 1.8 Pactcron Black Paint has the following specifications:
-
- Diameter: 51 mm
- Length: 28 mm
- Weight: 268g (without hood[49g], without caps)
- Filter Diameter: 39mm
- Number of Aperture Blades: 9 (inwardly curved)
- Elements/Groups: 7/5 (4 Lanthanide, 1 High Refractive)
- Close Focusing Distance: 0.7 m
- Maximum Magnification: 1:16.5 (measured)
- Mount: Leica-M
You can order this lens from the official homepage (affiliate link) for $699
Disclosure
This Mr. Ding Optics 35mm 1.8 Pactcron was kindly provided free of charge by Mr. Ding Optics for reviewing purpose for a duration of 4 weeks.
Handling / Build Quality
Currently this lens is only available with a black paint finish and it seems to be mainly made from brass, as it feels very heavy for a such a small lens – similar to the Light Lens Lab 35mm 2.0 8e I previously reviewed.
The focus ring has a nice, even resistance and turns around 120° from the minimum focus distance of 0.7 m to infinity. The focus ring is also equipped with a focus tab.
The aperture ring has equidistantly spaced half-stop click-stops, the exception being the f/1.8 stop where the next one is f/2.4 and then f/2.8. The aperture ring can also be moved a bit past the f/16 mark and the lens will even be stopped down a bit further.
The click stops are very subtle and close to the f/16 mark the resistance of the aperture ring also increases. If you are like me and you don’t stop you lenses down further than f/11 this will probably go unnoticed.
The lens brings up the correct 35/135mm frameline set and because it is so small there is hardly any rangefinder blockage when using the lens without a hood. With the vented hood there is of course some.
While this is a small 35mm lens, we can find even smaller ones in the M-mount world, some of them even faster, like the MS-Optics 35mm 1.4 Apoqualia in the picture above. The latest high performance lenses like the Voigtländer VM 35mm 1.2 Nokton III are much bigger.
When using Sony E or Nikon Z mount cameras you can e.g. pair this lens with the TTArtisan 6-bit adapter to get EXIF data or with the Techart LM-EA9 adapter to get autofocus.
Vignetting
light falloff
| f/1.8 | 2.5 |
| f/2.8 | 2.1 |
| f/4.0 | 1.7 |
| f/5.6 | 1.4 |
| f/8.0 - f/16 | 1.2 |
Among the compact 35mm rangefinder lenses these vignetting figures are very typical, the Voigtländer VM 35mm 2.0 Apo-Lanthar, the Thypoch Simera 35mm 1.4 and the Artizlab 35mm 1.4 Classic all show similar vignetting figures at shared apertures. Outliers are the Leica 35mm 1.4 FLE and the Light Lens Lab 35mm 2.0 8e, which both show stronger vignetting.
It is recommended to have a look at this article first to get an idea how this brightness graph works.
optical vignetting
In the following comparison we move from the center (left) to the extreme corner (right) and see how the shape of the light circle changes.
Not untypical for a compact 35mm M-mount lens also optical vignetting is on the high side, similar to what we have seen from the MS-Optics 35mm 1.3 II Slim and 35mm 1.4 or the Light Lens Lab 35mm 2.0 8e. The defocused points of light in the corners don’t look as weird as from the Artizlab 35mm 1.4 Classic though.
We also see that even slightly stopped down the inwardly curved aperture blades create unnatural ninja star or crown cork shaped highlights.
Sharpness
Focus shift
I encountered some focus shift with many of these compact 35mm M-mount lenses and this Mr. Ding 35mm 1.8 is no exception. On stopping down from f/2.8 to f/4.0 the focus shifts noticeably to the back. I did not find this to be much of a problem at longer focus distances, but it might still be a good idea to be a bit careful if using the f/4.0 to f/5.6 settings when not using liveview to focus.
infinity (42mp Sony A7rII, 24mp Leica M10)
The center of the frame looks decent from f/1.8, midzone and especially corners clearly benefit from stopping down though. On the Leica M10 the midzone starts to look good at f/5.6, but for the corners actually f/11 is needed.
The performance on the Sony A7rII is slightly worse due to its thicker filter stack – as was to be expected.
This 35mm 1.8 – similar to lenses like the Artizlab 35mm 1.4 Classic or the Voigtländer 35mm 1.4 Nokton Classic – is not designed to offer amazing across frame performance at wider apertures, if that is what you are looking for check out the much bigger Voigtländer VM 35mm 2.0 Apo-Lanthar, that shows a better performance in this category at f/2.0 than this lens at any aperture.
portrait distance 1.1 m (24mp Sony A7III and Leica M10)
For portraiture it isn’t so important how flat the field is, it is more interesting to see what the sharpness is like when focused at different parts of the frame to take field curvature out of the equation.
We will be looking at 100% crops from the 24mp Sony A7III and the Leica M10. Both cameras do not have an anti aliasing filter in front of the sensor.
Leica M10 <—> Sony A7III
At portrait distances this lens shows a good performance in the center of the frame, it is noticeably softer in the – especially outer – midframe though.
Here the Artizlab 35mm 1.4 Classic showed less contrast but Astigmatism was better corrected, making focusing a little easier.
In the inner midframe this lens does perform better on the Leica camera with its thinner filter stack, in the center and outer midframe there is hardly a difference though.
close 0.70 m, 1:16.5 (42mp A7rII)
Refocused for every shot because of focus shift.
A minimum focus distance of 0.7 m is typical for a 35mm lens in the M-mount world, it’s mainly the latest designs that focus closer. The performance is actually pretty good here.
Flare resistance
Evaluating flare is a complex matter since you can get any lens to look bad if you push it hard enough and a slight change of scenario can affect results a lot.
This Mr. Ding 35mm 1.8 is an all spherical double gauss design and could be described as a “vintage” or “classic” design. Some manufacturers also use “classic” coatings and embrace all kinds of artefacts while others use modern coatings instead. Let’s see which one it is here.
At the maximum aperture we can see some ring like artefacts depending on the position of the light source inside the frame.
Stopped down the artefacts we saw at f/1.8 are pretty much gone and the performance is actually pretty good.
While we have seen some modern 35mm lenses that perform better, this is actually a pretty good performance and significantly better than what I have seen from the Light Lens Lab 35mm 2.0 8e and the Artizlab 35mm 1.4 Classic.
Coma
Leica M10 | Mr. Ding 35mm 1.8 Pactcron | 100% crops from corner
These fast double gauss wide angle designs made of only spherical elements are simply not good at correcting Coma. From f/1.8 to f/2.8 we see strong Coma and a little bit is still visible at f/4.0. As we have already seen in the sharpness section it takes stopping down to f/8.0 – better f/11 – for the corners to look clean.
Distortion
This 35mm 1.8 shows a low amount of mostly uniform barrel distortion which can be easily corrected in post these days.
Some of the vintage 35mm M-mount lenses – still designed exclusively for analogue film – correct the distortion (almost) perfectly though, one such example would be the Light Lens Lab 35mm 2.0 8e.
Bokeh
Let me save you some time here: if you are looking for a lens with a modern, smooth and unobtrusive bokeh rendering, this Mr. Ding 35mm 1.8 won’t be it. With its all-spherical double gauss design and low element count this lens creates a bokeh similar to vintage 35mm lenses from the 1960s to 70s which some of you might adore whereas others surely won’t.
At close distances the bokeh looks pretty normal, but at mid to long distances this isn’t exactly the case, as we will see in the following examples.
At longer distances we see the effect of strong optical vignetting combined with very unfavourable field curvature. This will often lead to the corners being in focus even though they shouldn’t be.
Personally, I find this rendering rather distracting. But there are many compact M-mount wide angle lenses with a similar behaviour (e.g. the Light Lens Lab 35mm 2.0 8e or the Artizlab 35mm 1.4 Classic or the MS-Optics 28mm 2.0 Apoqualia) including many vintage Leica lenses, that people pay a lot of money for, so this rendering must have some fans after all.
Sunstars
Those 9 inwardly curved aperture blades are not the greatest news when it comes to the sunstar rendering,
If you want to know more about sunstar rendering of different lenses have a look at this article.
Chromatic aberration
lateral
It is hard to find any lateral CA here, they are well corrected by this lens’ optical design.
longitudinal
We can definitely see some bokeh fringing in the form of green and magenta outlining at wider apertures and still some at f/4.0. This is still a rather typical performance for a lens like this.
There is some purple fringing visible at f/1.8, but it is gone from f/2.8.
Conclusion
When it comes to M-mount lenses, there are actually two types of lenses being released new today: modern high performance lenses and classic/vintage lenses reminiscent of lenses from the past.
Very often I find people to have very strong personal preferences for one of those two categories and not so much understanding for the other. So depending on which category you find yourself in, you will either love or hate this lens.
Generally this Mr. Ding 35mm 1.8 Pactcron falls in the “vintage/classic” category. While it actually shows high contrast and resolution in the focal plane from wide open (unlike the Artizlab 35mm 1.4 Classic) and makes use of modern coatings (unlike the Light Lens Lab 35mm 2.0 8e) it shows strong field curvature and Coma at wider apertures, leading to a rather strong falloff towards the corners. I also included several samples showing the effect this has on the bokeh rendering at mid to long focus distances.
As said before, this type of rendering is rather popular among the vintage wide angle rangefinder lenses, so if you are looking for a 35mm M-mount lens with vintage characteristics and you value the use of brass and the black paint finish this lens might be for you.
You can order this lens from the official homepage (affiliate link) for $699
Alternatives
There are countless 35mm options for M-mount available. Others which fall in the “vintage/classic” category are the Voigtländer VM 35mm 2.0 Ultron – which I haven’t reviewed yet – and the Voigtländer VM 35mm 1.4 Nokton Classic. The MS-Optics 35mm 1.4 Apoqualia also has similar characteristics at f/2.0, but it is a rare and expensive lens.
Another recent competitor is the Artizlab 35mm 1.4 Classic from China. Generally I found this Mr. Ding 35mm 1.8 to perform a bit better (especially when it comes to contrast/resolution and flare resistance), but the Artizlab is lighter, smaller and cheaper while being a bit faster.
If you are looking for a compact lens with a more classic rendering which is more affordable be also sure to have a look at the Voigtländer VM 40mm 1.4 Nokton MC.
If you are looking for a technically near perfect 35mm 2.0 lens you should have a look at the noticeably bigger and heavier Voigtländer VM 35mm 2.0 Apo-Lanthar.
You can find all my reviews of 35mm M-mount lenses here.
Sample Images
Most of the sample images in this review can be found in full resolution here.
Further Reading
- M-mount lens reviews
- Review: Zeiss Hologon 16mm 8.0
- Review: Leica 35mm 1.4 Summilux-M FLE Asph MK II
- Review: Leica 90mm 2.0 Summicron-M pre Asph
- Analogue Adventures
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