Leica's Three-in-One (3)

Advantages
I rarely carried the 28mm, 35mm and 50mm Leica lenses together in my bag because I considered the 28mm and 35mm, or the 35mm and 50mm too close together... but the speed with which the frame selection and angle of view is changed on an M6 plus Tri-Elmar combination opened up my eyes, literally, to the true difference in angle of view between a 28mm and 35mm, and a 35mm and 50mm. Seeing the suspended frame-lines in the slightly wider than 28mm viewfinder is a revelation. I realized in a very short time with this varifocal lens just how different the 35mm angle of view is to the standard 50mm.

I took many photographs with the Tri-Elmar at all three focal lengths for comparison purposes and found that the optical system is so well corrected with two aspheric elements that resolution does not noticeably improve at all on stopping down at any of the three focal lengths... in other words, the lens can be used at its widest aperture for much of the time if necessary. Considering that with an f/1.4 or f/2 lens it is customary to stop down to f/4 to gain a bit of resolution, if not depth-of-field, it was a revelation to find that under less than perfect lighting conditions I could use this lens at maximum aperture and not suffer the consequences seen with many other lenses from several other systems.

An interesting Tri-Elmar review was carried out by Erwin Puts where after extensive testing with a pre-release prototype he found that only the most recent versions of the 28mm, 35mm and 50mm single focal length M lenses bettered the Tri-Elmar... and that all of the earlier generations (which are no slouches) were outclassed by a noticeable margin. Furthermore, the current versions of these lenses were equaled in performance in many picture taking situations. I'm not going to try to qualify Erwin Puts' statements which are highly regarded in any case... it is up to you to decide what type of photographer you are, or are becoming, in order to justify the purchase, or not, of such a desirable lens. The 50mm f/2 Summicron is outstanding as a "street" lens and justification enough to go back to using a standard lens for much of one's photography. After a while you don't find that fixed focal length limiting and by using your own two feet you can quickly alter the framed area of a grabbed scene in the viewfinder... (as Korean war photographer David Douglas Duncan said, "Get close, then get closer") and the clarity of the viewfinder makes it easy after practice.

If, however, you are a traveler who likes to go lightweight then the Tri-Elmar is probably the lens for you. You only have to compare the tidiness of the lens compared to the bulk of a pro-spec AF zoom in the 24-85mm range to realize that all the extra glass necessary with an SLR lens, plus the motor-driven focus drive, etc., weighs heavy on the shoulder and wallet regions!

On his Luminous Landscape site Michael Reichmann also said, "I am extremely happy with the Tri-Elmar. It exactly meets my needs for a walk-about lens for street and travel shooting under normal light conditions, even with ISO 100 color transparency film."

Recently I've been turning away from 35mm SLRs because of their increasing technological complexity and battery dependency... whilst at the same time gaining nothing that a manual camera and meter cannot provide in the hands of a someone with a modicum of understanding about light and exposure. Most of the features of most of today's cameras are under-used by the majority of camera users... they are arguably the product of company and advertising one-upmanship in the never-ending race for more sales.

If I were a photojournalist I would worry that the Tri-Elmar was also too highly specified offering three lenses in one and as a result under specified in having a maximum aperture of only f/4. But if I were a traveler the lens would almost be the perfect companion... apart from the annoying cut-off within the 28mm viewfinder frame because of the length of the lens. As I'm not the former any more and can hardly claim to be the latter (although we plan to live the RV life from this year) I feel I'm wrestling with the old problem... do I really need it or do I simply want it? I once became so overburdened with equipment that my photographic creativity suffered. I think the Tri-Elmar would have released me from that burden and freed me up to do more interesting personal photography... and more often.

In fact it is sometimes rather tempting to rethink in terms of having both Tri-Elmars for traveling... but that would mean keeping both Leica rangefinder and Nikon DSLR systems (the latter for macro and long lenses)... which could defeat two of the objects of traveling... freedom and lightness.

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