I,m trying to lighten my kit and take just what I'll use about 95% of the time. Plan on taking 15mm V'lander, 24 mm Elmarit, 35mm micron and an extra M6 body.

Thinking about leaving the 50 mm micron, 50 mm Noct, and 90 mm APO at home. Pics will be of people, scenes. Any other suggestions?

thanks

-- Don M (dmaldonadomd@excite.com), March 11, 2002

Answers

When I travel, I use the 90 about as much as the 21/24, which is why I have purchased the diminuitive 90TE in addition to my 90APO. But regardless, I would not travel without a 90. My next trip is going to be with the 21/35/90 combo only, and I am undecided as to whether it will be the TE or APO.

:-),

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), March 11, 2002.

In urban areas I use the 90, otherwise I prefer the 135. I would not go out without one or the other.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), March 11, 2002.

Don, Looks like you're more of a wide-angle guy bringing 3 wide lenses together. When in travel, wide angle for me is especially for architecture and interior shots. I take 21/35/50/90 with 2 M bodies most of time, 50 always mounted on one M body since I'm familiar with the coverage and could grab a shot real fast(framing in my head). 90mm I think it denpends on the mood, sometimes if I want to isolate interesting subject within a crowded, congested area, I'll take my tele-elmarit out, the same applies to the distant view and scenery. From a distance, I can still find an interesting enough pictures to take. But I wouldn't say it's street photography, some photog think it's ceating using 90mm lens. :) For 3 lenses you listed, I'll choose 50'cron.

-- Fred Ouyang (yo54@columbia.edu), March 11, 2002.

Don,

I'm off to Arizona at the end of March and will be taking my 28 / 50 /90 (plus a lightweight tripod). Sometimes I wish that I had a 21mm or 24mm at the wide end, and a 135mm at the long end. However, the 28 / 50 90 give me the best coverage for the subject matter that I like to shoot.

Happy trails.

-Nick

-- Nicholas Wybolt (nwybolt@earthlink.net), March 11, 2002.

Nothing wrong w/your lens choice so long as it matches your shooting style & locale. When traveling, I like to bring a simple 2 lens combo, most often a 35/40/50 + a 85/90/100, w/about 25% of my shots being made using the longer focal length. If I know I'll be shooting mostly indoors, I'll go w/a 21/28/35 + 50 or just a 35/40/50. My favorite "super-light" outfit is an M3 w/40/2 M-Rokkor & the black & chrome or all-black Canon RF 100/3.5.

-- Chris Chen (furcafe@NOSPAMcris.com), March 11, 2002.

I think I used my 90 once last year but I'm not sure...

Seriously, I hardly ever use it and have quit carrying it. The 50mm is my "long" lens. So my travel kit is 24/35/50.

But it really depends on your photo style, as others have said.

-- MikeP (mike996@optonline.net), March 11, 2002.

I used to not carry a 90, not even a 50 when I travel. However, I went back to Segovia, Spain (not a stretch, since I go to Spain several times a year) and waited until dusk to get a tripod mounted aqueduct photo that is one of my alltime favorite photos that my 35 just cannot get. I will never be w/o a 90 again. I even acquired a 50 to see if it gets much use. So, my kit, getting heavier and heavier:

21 SA on M4 (wouldn't take the M4 except I can't find the rear lens cap)

35/2 on M6 (main set-up, 90 goes on here for metering)

50 DR on M3 (90 goes on here for use)

If I was to take what I used 95% and truly wanted to lighten up:

M6 w/35, M3 (need back-up) w/90, Hassy SWC

-- chris chen (chrischen@msn.com), March 11, 2002.

I've been debating getting a 90mm too. I presently shoot with a single 35 Cron as I'm a pilot rather than photographer and can't be fiddling about with lens changing while on the job, so to speak. Having said that, I just ordered a 15mm Heliar to play with;.) I've decided to leave the 90mm for a while until I can decide whether it's really justified. When I used my Nikon system, prior to changing to Leica M, I had and still have a 105/2,8. Did I/do I use it? Nope, barely ever. I fear the 90mm would just lie there staring at me with those awful $1500 eyes...;-)

-Duncan

-- Duncan (pilot@aviationmission.com), March 11, 2002.

Just got back from 22 days in Vietnam...used the 90 a lot for pix of people. Other use for buildings, landscapes very minimal. I might add that I also have used the latest iteration of TriElmar on last two trips abroad and love it. Saves a lot of time changing lenses and is very versitile . It's a beautiful piece of work and really enhances my photographic efforts.

-- George L. Doolittle (geodoolitt@aol.com), March 11, 2002.

Hi, Don:

No matter what I use on travel, from the list of lenses you posted I think that YOUR vision is clearly on the wider side.

I wouldn`t leave for a travel without my 90mm but I sincerely doubt that it would be of much use for you. Not enough to justify carrying it all the way and back, at least.

But, then again, who could know better but you . . .?

Regards

-Iván

-- Iván Barrientos M (ingenieria@simltda.tie.cl), March 11, 2002.

This is one of those difficult to answer questions and one I've asked myself quite often. I'm not sure what advice to give except to say I wouldn't go anywhere without my 35 1.4 ASPH & 50 summicron. I used to travel with a 24, 35, 90 combination and have changed that to 21 SA, 35 1.4 ASPH & 50 summicron. I find the 50 much more useful than the 90mm. Last time out I used it quite often. Good luck.

Best, Tom

-- Tom Gallagher (tgallagher10@yahoo.com), March 11, 2002.

Don,

Vacations used to be the time when I most asked myself this question in the past.

Over time, the choice has become prety much settled down to the 24, 35, 50, and 90. If we're going out West, I include the 135 for extra reach in the wide open spaces.

If I plotted the images by lens use, I'm sure I'd find the the 35 and 50 ride the peak of the bell shaped curve, with the wides and the teles somewhat on each side of the down slope

Only when I'm closer to home do I carry an extra body, and that generally to provide for two film choices.

If my single body ever fails on vacation, guess I'll just have to find a dealer and pick up another.

"After all honey, we can't have a vacation without pictures"!

Sneaky huh?

Jerry

-- Jerome R. Pfile, Jr. (JerryPfile@msn.com), March 11, 2002.

The 90 mm is one of my favorite focal lengths - for protraits, architecture, general travel, and landscape. For travel, I use the 90/2.8 Tel-Elmarit (thin, 4-element) because of its diminutive size and sterling optical performance. For overall handling there's none better. The trouble with the 90/2.0-ASPH-APO, as good a lens as it is, is that it's the equivalent of two smaller lenses (weighs you down), which is probably part of the reason you don't want to take the 90 APO or Nocti with you.

-- Eliot (erosen@lij.edu), March 11, 2002.

I noticed that the 75 lux isn't getting any play here. I don't own anything longer than a 50 cron myself, and I'm personally debating how long I should go from here. Thoughts?

-- Jay Bee (JBee193@aol.com), March 11, 2002.

I've converged on a travel rig based around the Tri-Elmar. Other lenses include the 35/1.4 ASPH and the CV 90/3.5 APO-Lanthar. I don't use superwides much, but I'm thinking of adding a CV 21/4 to the kit. The CV 90 is a real sweetheart of a lens - so far I think it's at least the equal of the thin Tele Elmarit I had a few years ago.

Most of my shooting is with the 3E, but I wouldn't want to be without a 90. When I went to Belize a couple of winters ago I took the Leica 90 APO, and it was just too big to be fun. The same would go for the Noctilux if I had one - just too much weight. The APO-Lanthar or a thin T-E make the most sense to me for a vacation 90.

-- Paul Chefurka (paul@chefurka.com), March 11, 2002.

Since buying a 75mm Summilux, I have gotten the idea that Leica will, one day, bring out a 75 Elmarit. Every Leica shooter owes himself a very fast lens, and this new 75 'lux is mine. I wonder, though, if a 35 Lux Asph and a 75 Elmarit would not be a neat two-lens outfit. The 75 Elmarit would be about the size of the 90 TE. Then, too, they might bring out another 3E, but for the longer focal lengths. That way, two 3Es would cover all of the frames of the M7, M6 & M4-P. I'm sure the glass gurus at Solms have thought of that!

-- Frank Horn (owlhoot45@hotmail.com), March 11, 2002.

I like wides, and the fifty is my favorite, but I always take a 90 on the theory that when I'm in unfamiliar territory I might want to stay a bit farther away than I normally do.

-- Michael Darnton (mdarnton@hotmail.com), March 11, 2002.

For travel I gotta have a 90. But the Summicron (pre- or AA) is too heavy for my travel. I never cared for the thin TE - felt too small for my hands and I hated that front-rim aperature ring. I've settled on the current Elmarit with built-in hood. Seems to hit just the right compromise of size, handling, and speed for me. Images are superb.

-- Ken Shipman (kennyshipman@aol.com), March 11, 2002.

I wouldn't travel without a 90 - too many times when I want a detail or a portrait with isolated background or just to stack up some mountains or buildings.

But then I have a 'thin' 90 TE - which weighs and bulks less than two full film canisters - or the 24, or the 35 or 50 'crons for that matter.

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), March 12, 2002.

I'm another who would rather not travel witout a 90mm: in my case an Elmarit, somewhat more portable than the 90 APO. It sits on my M6 TTL .72 and my Tri-Elmar sits on my M6 TTL .58.

-- Ray Moth (ray_moth@yahoo.com), March 12, 2002.