Another advantage of the Tri-Elmar - not a question

[ray_moth]

Dear All,

 

<p>

 

With the Trr-Elmar, I have found it useful at times to take a meter reading at the 50mm focal length setting, even when I intend to take the shot at 35mm or 28mm. It gives me a more precise spot reading. Of course, you can do that with other lenses than the 3E but it means swapping lenses. Just another advantage of the 3E!

[george_l._doolittle]

Ray, I do this technique all the time. After perhaps 50 rolls of

slide film all exposures dead on. After getting the TriElamr, I now

have a bunch of surplus lenses.

[scott evans]

I still wish the 3E was a little faster. What do you think? :0) scott

[giles_poilu]

If they could possibly get the Tri-Elmar to F2.8 (even a slightly

iffy 2.8) and bring the close focus down to 0.7 meters in line with

the other lenses it would be a lot more appealing. That extra foot

at close focus makes a big difference.

 

<p>

 

It does seem a real bargain considering the amount of work going on

inside, although when I tried one it had that well known problem of

needing "twiddling" to bring up the correct frames. That exposed

coiled spring at the rear mount looked a bit odd too!

[wilhelmn]

The biggest problem is that it isn't 35-50-90. F:4.0-5.6 would be

just fine, please.

[tony_rowlett2]

Not me. I won't buy anything slower than f/2.8 from now on for

rangefinder photography.

[godfrey]

A 3E would be nice, but I want f/2.8 or faster ...21/35/50 would be

perfect too. Ah, pipe dreams...

[roberto_watson_garc_a]

how many options do we leica M photographers need or want; let me

see... variospot metering is a good reason to consider the TE, but

who don´t need f/2 once in a wile and even often.

 

<p>

 

Perhaps, M leica photography, can be a minimalist

system, a single lens and a single body can be enough to deeply

selfexpress, camera becomes least important, inner perception of what

can be seen is owr sixth scence, therefor a simple and comfortable

camera system can be so suitable, from another side, spaces in the

street changes fast and not programable as in a studio, options are

welcome, diferent lenses is a plus, and so extra bodies, but how many

extra lenses do you need? ...after a 28/35/50 f/4 I personaly would

need a 1.4 or 2, in a 35 and a 50, and so 28/2 would become part of

it, I have read from some TE users the use of 35/1.4 as second lens,

that you know... it becomes first when you least you think of it.

 

<p>

 

Personaly I´ve been learning from use of focal lenghts as owning and

therefore using them, 35,50,90 at 2.8/2/4 have been the bases of my M

experience, 135/4.5 has been a lense with not much use, 21/4 came

later, with a lot of use, three years ago I had the oportunity to

update it to a SA 21/3.4, now all have been up dated, and TriEmar can

in my dreams be a future choice, 35/1.4 asph as my pricipal focal

length has been too a next option from time ago,

 

<p>

 

focal or ´lux versatility?,

 

<p>

 

or both at a co$t of course. Only you can know the focals you need.

For me is important to have diferent combos for diferent places to

go. I feel Tri-Elmar is a lens for day ligth, and it´s shadows of

course we can always use asa 6400 or 1/2 shutter speeds, I wouldn´t

if I had a faster lens at hand.

 

<p>

 

Leica philisophy lives!

 

<p>

 

Thank´s for sharing such use Ray.

[ray_moth]

To be fair to the 3E, if you think of it as the RF equivalent of an

SLR zoom lens then it's not all that slow. Lots of SLR zooms are f/4,

including Leica's own 35-70. However, as many have said, the 3E is

best suited to outdoor walkabout photography in daylight and within

that category it does its job really well. For low light use, unless

you want to use flash, you need something faster and, in my case,

it's a 50/1.4 Summilux.

 

<p>

 

It's true that the minimum focus of the 3E is only 1 metre but that's

not quite as bad as it sounds. Don't forget depth of field. You can

include subjects closer then 1 metre and still render them acceptably

sharp if you take advantage of the DoF given by a small aperture. For

example, a 50mm lens focused at 1 metre has a DoF that starts at 0.85

metres if its aperture is set to at f/16. Using lenses close up often

calls for a small aperture anyway, to maintain good resolution.

[ray_moth]

Oops! Forgot to mention one more thing.

 

<p>

 

A well-known author of Leica books is reputed to have claimed that

different spot metering angles could be achieved with an M6 using the

frameline selector lever on the camera body, regardless of which lens

was actually mounted! (I'm not sure which particular frameline from a

selected pair he thought would be used for the metering: if, for

example, one selected the 35/135 frameline pair, did he think the

size of the spot would be based on the 35mm frameline or 135mm?)

 

<p>

 

Well, with the TriElmar lens you can virtually do what he was

suggesting but, of course, you must change the lens focal length to

select the different frameline, NOT just move the selector lever on

the camera body! In each case, the spot is based on the larger

frameline of the pair (28mm, 35mm or 50mm).

[eliot]

For me, the Tri-Elmar is not suitable to carry as a single lens

because it lacks a Tele setting. If I want a minimal outfit, I use a

two lens combo: 35/2 or 28/2.8 and 90/2.8 Tele-Elmarit. This gives

more versatility and lens speed than a Tri-Elmar. I don't care that

it may be as good as the equivalent single focal length lenses. It

lacks versatility and speed.

[tim_gee]

I'm with Eliot here,

 

<p>

 

The Tri Elmar is 1/3 heavier, sicks out further and in some

circumstances F4 just won't do it. If you can live with that and

light isn't a problem well and good. For me it's another good lens

but not a replacement for the 35 and 50 Chron or Lux. (even though

28mm is a bonus). As ever, horses for courses.

 

<p>

 

Cheers

[Robin Smith]

f4 is too slow for me as I shoot 100 or slower slide film. But, I

think Leica have done the right thing with this lens as it has a lot

of fans. f2.8 unfortunately is not practical as the lens would have to

be very large.

[roberto_watson_garc_a]

non lens is capable of all kind of pictures, and Tri Elmar is not out

of this, otherwise a perfect lens for a sunny day, one M body and not

tele needed.