The Leica Tri-Elmar M is Leica’s only wide angle three position zoom. Is it a zoom, well sort of… It is a lens with three distinct positions, and it only performs well at these specific focal length positions. We have a lens that covers 16mm, 18mm, and 21mm focal lengths. We are going to look at its strengths and weaknesses…

It is arguably one of the best wide angle lenses in the world, easily holding its own today. A few other wide angle primes are better, but they are primes, they’re supposed to be better. If you want a small unobtrusive wide angle lens then this maybe your ticket.

For this test I used my Leica 24 megapixel M240. The M240 only records an approximate aperture value. There is no electronic link with M lenses to the camera. Yes, there is a 6bit coding on the lens, but that only tells the camera what lens is attached. No aperture information is passed. When you examine the files you may see an aperture value, again it is only an approximation. I did record that actual aperture values used in this test independently.

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I purchased this lens because I was tired of using manual focus lenses with adapters. I have recently been to Myanmar with the A7s and a Leica 80-200mm F/4.0 lens. The Leica did produce quite exceptional results, but I experienced a lot of critical focus misses. This is the rub of MF lenses. So, here we are with some initial thoughts on the Sony FE 70-200mm OSS F/4.0 G Lens. The lens is white along the lines of the Canon telephoto lenses. It is a relatively light lens for its focal length range, and so far the AF seems to be quite quick.

Image samples from this super lens. Manufactured in the 1950’s these are still super – if you can find one in good condition.

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I was on a test shoot of this lens with Ron Sheffler. I have added my own samples from this lens. and a link to Ron’s Review:

The Sony 35mm F/1.8 (50mm equivalent) lens is a small, light and fast standard lens for the NEX system. The lens has a fast F/1.8 aperture. It ships with caps, a petal shaped hood, box and a one year warranty in most countries. It is only compatible with Sony NEX camera’s. The Lens specifications are as follows:

Lens Type : E-mount 35mm F1.8
Lens Mount Type : Sony E-mount
Aperture Range : f/1.8 – f/22
Focal Length (35mm equivalent) : 52.5 mm
Filter Diameter : 49 mm Lens
Construction : 6-8
Minimum Focus Distance : 11.88″ (0.3 m)
Angle of View : 44° (APS-C)
Aperture Blade : 7 blades Circular Aperture
Dimensions Diameter x Length : 2 1/2″ x 2 13/16″ or 63 x 45mm
Exterior Finish : Black Steady Shot Mode: Active Lens-based Image Stabilization (OSS)

We are adding sample images from this lens. The review will follow.

We tested this lens on a NEX5n and the results were very very good. I think that it will be even better on the NEX6! This is a small, light zoom that covers the 35-70mm range for full frame. On a NEX crop it becomes 53-100mm equivalent. This lens demonstrates little lateral chromatic abberations, little fall off, and excellent colour contrast. You can expect the famous contax “look” and sharpness. Critical to any adapted lens is the adapter. We used a Kipon type adapter that allows the lens to reach infinity focus at the correct point.

Is your Adobe Lightroom catalog a mess? is it slow and bloated? Check out this article on how to get it organized and under control. Organizing Lightroom

Check out this link on UV filters. After a blurb on UV light and its effects, they test the best and score them according to UV ray reduction. One thing that they don’t test is durability… UV Filter Test