Hello, can anyone tell me the Tri Elmar Lens's performance?

-- Mitchell Li (mitchli@pacbell.net), July 15, 2001

Answers

Go here...

http://www.imx.nl/photosite/leica/mseries/testm/trielmar.html

-- Bud (budcook@attglobal.net), July 15, 2001.

Tri-elmar review: http://luminous-landscape.com/leica_m6.htm#The%20Tri-Elmar%20ASPH

-- Hank (hgraber@narrativerooms.com), July 15, 2001.

I can only give you my subjective opinion...

I have one, and I love it. Three lenses in one. It is an aspheric lens, and while it probably isn't as sharp as my prime aspherics, I cannot see the difference in my hand-held shots between it and my primes. Color fidelity is excellent as well. The only downsides are relative size (but hey, it IS three lenses in one!), and its maximum aperture of f4.0; but then is does go all the way down to f22, which is a welcome extra stop if you find yourself shooting in bright sun with 400 film!

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), July 15, 2001.

Jack,

Why do you need f22 for 400 ASA film? Sunny f16 rule = 1/400 sec. Hell, at 1/1000 sec you still have a stop and a bit. So why use f22 other than if you really need DOF?

By the way do you know that f22 your Leica will be no better than a Russian lens?

Mike

-- Mike Foster (mike567@acgecorp.com), July 16, 2001.

Mike:

First off, f22 on my 3E is still better than f22 on any other 35 lens I own. Second, the M's shutter is notorious for being about 1/3 to 1/2 stop slow (generating slight over-exposure) at the 1/1000 sec. setting. Third, in strong sun situations like the tropics or the beach or the snow, you can easily go two stops OVER sunny 16 to get the correct exposure. Thus your correct exposure with 400 film would be 1/1600 at f16, or 1/800 at f22, which ironically, is about what the M's actual shutter speed is when set to 1/1000.

Cheers,

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), July 16, 2001.

I'm considering a Tri-elmar and had one further thought. Occassionally a shallow depth of field is desired, especially when photographing people. This situation is easily and superbly accomodated with Summicrons at f2 setting but would not be so satisfactory with an f4 lens. I'll still probably spring for the Tri-elmar for travelling, especially after Erwin Puts' glowing reports. George Doo

-- George L. Doolittle (geodoolitt@aol.com), August 12, 2001.