Wide angle Tri-elmar: "True zoom lens"

[joop]

I just read on luminous landscape the new tri elmar is a "true zoom" lens.

 

quote:

"......from my friend Harold M. Merklinger to the effect that he and his

associates from the LHSA were told at Photokina that the WA-TE, unlike the

earlier Tri-Elmar, was a true zoom and could be used at any focal length, not

just at the 16-18-21mm settings. This was easy enough to try out, and indeed

this is the case. Very cool, especially when used with the Universal Wide Angle

Finder M which also allows in between settings....."

 

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/lenses/wa-tri-elmar.shtml#update1

[jtdnyc]

Makes me wonder whether there's any way to coordinate precisely the setting of intermediate focal lengths on the lens and viewfinder.

[albert_smith]

<I>Makes me wonder whether there's any way to coordinate precisely the setting of intermediate focal lengths on the lens and viewfinder.</I><P>

 

Yup... it's called an SLR. People that keep wanting to turn the nice petite Leica into a do-anything camera might be better served with an SLR.

[vivek iyer]

Jonathan, Re-read Joop's post again:

 

"Very cool, especially when used with the Universal Wide Angle Finder M which also allows in between settings....."

 

No need for an SLR with the new view finder.

[furcafe]

W/the new VF mounted, an M camera is the same size as many SLRs! ;-)

[albert_smith]

<I>No need for an SLR with the new view finder.</I><P>

 

But if they are not mechanically sync'ed, then this is one more step to match the finder to the lens, possibly to some unmarked setting, say 5/8ths of the way from 18mm to 21mm, on both parts, and then focus through yet another finder while metering.<P>

 

So much for the so-called rangefinder speed of use. The rangefinder sings with a single focal length and some manual adjustments of position.

[vivek iyer]

Albert, You should try one of the Nokia cell cams. You can zoom/focus/meter etc at the touch of a single button. Manual focus SLR and zooms need more than two hands as well.

[albert_smith]

<I>Manual focus SLR and zooms need more than two hands as well.</I><P>

 

It is not the number of hands that I am talking about. It is the number of times that you need to move your eye away from the finder to get the shot. If the finder and lens are not matched, then there is a break in the process. You can't change the lens' focal length and then not change the finder, and that means looking at the lens and then setting the finder to that same setting, and if it is at one of those in-between focal lengths (the point of this post), then it will be an estimate of where the finder should be for its in-between setting.<P>

 

Zooming and then playing catch-up with a finder is counter to the quickness of the rangefinder. I'm not saying it is wrong, just that it is not why I use the Leica M, which I value for its small size and lack of variables (one lens and make it work).<P>

 

I use SLRs for what they are good for and I use Leica Ms for what their strenghts are. I can move my body to the right spot for my known non-variable M lens and frame the subject very quickly with my M and 35mm or 50mm lens. If I want a stepless zoom, I'll grab an SLR.<P>

 

If this new zoom and finder will make you faster and more effective with the Leica M, then good for you. I think it is trying to turn the M body into something that already exists in a more evolved form.

[jtdnyc]

Albert, I agree with you...if you really want zoom capability, reach for an SLR. But Leitz/Leica has a long history of coming up with interesting mechanical solutions for problems that most photographers don't have, and I wanted to know if they had thought of one in this case, if only to be amused by the ingenuity behind it.

 

I once borrowed a Visoflex from a dealer who told me I could keep it, gratis, for as long as it took me to figure out that I didn't want it. Apparently, his strategy for selling R cameras was to lend Visos to M camera users and wait a week.

[vivek iyer]

Given the fact that most M8 users appear to have bought a C-V 15mm lens (for a price less than the Leica view finder), this wide angle tri elmar and the view finder are no step in any direction. If leica sells > a few dozen of these units it will be commendable. So, no rangefinder use (even as Albert finds it) is not polluted by the introduction of this lens/viewfinder and the lack of an effective IR cut filter for it, etc.

[Troll]

The company is about on the rocks, yet making these exotic lenses. Why in the H can't they make a plain old 35/50/90?

[blakley]

At f/4? Who would buy it?

[stuart_richardson]

Bob, what do you expect, a 16mm-18mm-21mm f/1.4 Tri-summilux? Super wide angles are

either slow or huge. The CV 15mm is a 4.5, their 12mm a 5.6 and their 21mm an f/4. The

Zeiss 15mm f/2.8 is huge, and the Leica 15mm f/2.8 and 19mm f/2.8 would be huge on a

rangefinder. I think having a 16-18-21 at f/4 is a pretty big achievement. I am not going to

buy one, but that is not because it is an f/4, it is because I generally don't use lenses that

wide....

[stuart_richardson]

Whoops, I think Bob was responding to Bill about the 35/50/90. Nevermind.

[35mmdelux]

sounds great. but how the H does one tell where in the range one is?

[Troll]

Actually, Bob, what I had in mind is f:2.0 at 35mm, f:2.8 at 50mm and f:4.0 at 90mm. They could do it -- if they would. But it's probably too late.